Growing In Wisdom

Treasures In The Garden

 

Good things come to those.......

 

As we get older we find out

that true happiness is NOT in

how much money we make

or how much education we have achieved,

how big our house is,

 how fancy our car.

 It's finding PEACE, JOY, CALMNESS

in our life - that will be the most important things to us.

 Our FAMILY is what matters

 LOVE is what matters.

 Things of QUALITY-  not QUANTITY!

....... who wait and grow in the ageing process slowly, wisely and graciously!

 

My word for today is "WISDOM!" 

 

Making Memories

From my garden

Treasures In The Garden

 

You can never hang out with negative people

and experience a positive day....... 

 

Good people bring experience.

Worst people bring lessons.

 Best people always bring

experiences to commit to your memories.

                                                                 Soul Writings

 

.......Never regret knowing people in your life!

My word for today is "Memories!"

Asking for help

More of those pesky rainbow lorikeets.

    From My Garden

I am keeping my thoughts centred on what I wish to experience more of in my life:

More love,
more happiness,
more positivity,
more enthusiasm,
more motivation,
more inspiration,
more travel,
more communicationa with my family,
more giving,
more excitement,
more LIVING.
I have all of the rest of my life to live.
I have 100% of the rest of my life to live.

It is in admitting to and accepting that I have many weaknesses as well as strengths, that I have many times called on God's help to get me through. And it is in that, that I have found my true potential.
And I am enjoying my new found freedom of getting on with life and not looking back.

 In these last few days we have met up with a young  lady who was part of our lives
for 2 years when she was just a young baby - through the fostercare programme. She was such a lively little being and won the hearts of our family with her love of life. Myssie was lucky to be returned to her family and had a good life .
For a while we missed her bright little nature, but  knew we had to move on and not continue to mourn for what could not be.
Well, through the institution of Face Book and the help of an"Unlikely Genius" we made contact again. And she has turned out to be a lovely person - much quieter than the lively tot we first knew, but that's growing  up-  but none- the- less a nice human being. That's all we can ask of our children. That was what I always wanted for my children, and that's exactly what I got.
 And I can only thank God for the children who touched my life over the years and enriched my life beyond all measure. I am sure that some of them have no idea what they have done for me, and now they are gone and living there own unique lives have little thought for what they gave me and what I have learnt about being a human being, and through them have learned to move on and continue with life in it's present form.

And of course God's help  in moving to that space has been immeasurable. Thank you Lord for being there.

I wish you a day of love and happiness and that you find life worth living every single day. C

God is everywhere

A Rose for love

             From My Garden

Faith does not only believe that God can, but that God will.
And.... faith without works is dead.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
 I still have 100% of my life left to live.




I can't imagine life without God in it......
in the birth of a baby
in a child's smile
in the love of a Mother for her children
in the sincere love between husband and wife
in a beautiful sunrise or sunset
in the greeting from my dog/ cat when I come home from somewhere.
in a beautiful rose
in a sunshower
in the goodness and kindness within people.......
in the innocent eyes of my grandchildren
God is everywhere if I take the time to look.

Take time to look at all things beautiful and maybe you too will find God there. ..... and share your find. C.

Those precious Moments



An abundant crop of oranges. A reward
 like this makes gardening well worthwhile.



         From My Garden

Even if happiness forgets me sometimes I never give up .... I keep on keeping on.

I am responsible for making my own happiness.

Happiness is Not having things. It's inner peace, a spiritual glow, a reaching out to others, a love of self, and appreciation of the good things life has to offer.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
 I have 100% of the rest of my life to live.

To wake up to sunshine today was so uplifting. After a number of overcast, raining and gloomy days, and still suffering a little jet lag, was not very helpful to my spirits. But today is so much brighter. It was nice to get back to church and catch up.

Father John is in Vietnam for 5 weeks and we have been blessed with the prescence of Father Dan, who has such a sunny disposition. He makes any gloomy gospel reading seem bright and encouraging. Today he spoke about the disciples being sent out to preach wearing sandals and only having one tunic- to travel light. aand Father Dan said......" and when the washed their tunics they sat around in their underwear while their tunics dried"...... which made us all think about how difficult it must have been for the preachers to go out to spread God's word.

And afterwards a cuppa and scone and shared conversation with other parishioners we hadn't seen for 5 weeks. A bit of lightheartedness when, after about a half hour, Bob turned up looking a little flustered, saying that he and Father Dan had spent all that time trying to get out of the church. While he and Father Dan had been deep in conversation the church had been locked up with them still inside talking. Naturally everybody thought that was quite hilarious. But Bob wasn't impressed because he had to go back in and fix the door they had broken out of.
 Even going to church can be exciting as well as rewarding.

If I am going to continue to participate in the game of life I am going to need to continue to  appreciate each precious moment and most especially the lighthearted ones............. come join me in finding and appreciating those precious moments. C

Another magic day.

From My Travels

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
I have 100% of the rest of my life to live.

Today is a lovely sunny day - still not warm, but much more conducive to lifted spirits
We arrived in Dublin after a 31/2 journey in a really huge ferry boat.

Our first stop after leaving Wrexham in Wales was at Llangotten.
Everywhere we go it is 20p ...2p. One place it was50p.

a narrow boat travelling on a canal

Here we saw colourful narrow boats that travel on the canals in many areas of the UK.. We encountered rain here again.

We visited a pretty little village with the strange name of Betswy- Co-ed

We visited shops and a very pretty park.... and this was where the sun made an appearance. Nigel bought a raincoat. So we knew this would be the time when the rain would disappear.
On the next part of our journey we encountered bike riders, high mountains. deep valleys, hikers, slate mining, and a large lake.This was the Snowdonia region of Wales. Mt. Snowdon is the highest peak.

And on to that town with the very long name with the weirdest meaning. It was very pretty also.

The town with longest name and the weird meaning

We crossed the Menai Strait to the Isle of Anglesey where Prince William flies a rescue helicopter. He and Kate have a home here. And down to the Port of Holyhead to catch our ferry to Ireland.

 Tonight we are staying at Jurys Inn which is opposite Christchurch Cathedral -Anglican denomination. We have been out to look at the Cathedral (it is massive ) and post some postcards.

Our hotel room is very nice and inviting. We will be staying here for two nights, At 9pm. the sun is still shining brightly.

What was good today?

Visiting the place with the very long name and weird meaning.

What I was grateful for.

 That our journey so far has been a safe and interesting one.

God in my life

Sunshine, nice travelling companions, getting to visit the Cathedral, the man who told us where we could post our postcards.

So we have once again had a delightful day. It is great to be able to share with you Wish you were here to share it personally.

Christchurch Cathedral

God bless. c

Looking up as well as down. Beauty is everywhere.

        From My Garden

From morning till night

 May this day glow bright

And be nicer than ever before....

As experiences come and go

May your happiness grow

May your dreams be fulfilled

Even more...... 

A winter's day

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

There is no greater journey than to follow the path of my dreams, to create my destiny, to live my life fully, and experience all that life has to offer me.

I cannot choose all the experiences that will come into my life but I can choose how to handle them.

Well, after a lot of busy days I am at last finding time to blog again this week, and last week we celebrated two important times in our church season.

 Last week was Ascension when Jesus said goodbye to earth and moved permanently to heaven, leaving behind his legacy of love and caring for the apostles to share with the rest of the world.

 And this week is Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles to empower them  with the ability to speak in different languages so that the messages God wanted to convey could be understood by everybody.
And we here are also left with the same legacy of love and caring and peace to share with those we meet in our everday lives.

We have been lucky enough to share our home with our cousins this weekend. We have had an amazing time conversing and sharing our comings and goings and family experiences with each other.
 Yesterday we attended a thanksgiving day to show generous members of our community the appreciation of the citizens in our little town for good things they have done for people in need.  It was sponsored by local combined Christian Churches. We had a picnic lunch, shared some hilarious games. and some guessing competitions ( I won one of those), and children's races. It was a really good reason to get together to celebrate.

Today we said goodbye to our visitors. We are alone again.

We have had some lovely rain, some very cold weather, some gorgeous sunshine and fluffy white clouds in our region today. We have loved warming around our beautiful fire, eating lots of hot soup and stews and enjoying the change in our climate this week.

Sharing our toasty warm fire

What has been good  for me this week?Having our family visit with us, attending the thanksgiving picnic.

What I have been grateful for this week.
Being cared about, feeling well and having somewhere to feel warm and toasty.

God in my life
Attending church, having good and kind people in my life, daily prayer. I no longer have my little white book to read each night, so I am feeling a bit lost. Our next little book won't come out until Advent is on it's way, which is a long way away. I will have to find something else to fill that time.

If I am going to participate in the game of life I will need to appreciate each precious moment.

So till the next time we meet let happiness go with you as you go. And let that happiness grow.... and as it expands and grows within your heart.... pass it on. Peace be with you, C.

Being happy is......

In my succulent patch again

        From My Garden

          Being happy is not owning things.
                    It is having inner peace,
                           a spiritual glow,
                    a reaching out to others,
                            love of self,
          appreciation of the good things in life,
                         having dreams.

Positive Energy nurtures the Soul

The water feature and bridge under construction

   From My Garden

The innate creativity within helps me
      to create miracles in my life.

Inner Creativity

Ivy growing on the fence

     From My Garden

I have  creative power within and use my
  creative talents to express myself often.

Mother's Day

                                                                                         

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

  Changes can begin in a moment,and

I am willing to make changes right now.

Well, I have just spent two very great days. Yesterday, our second son and his beautiful partner came to visit us. We shared a meal- well two in fact-, lots of conversation, laughter, and companionship. I was so excited when I knew they were coming. By the time they arrived I was nearly bursting. I had four members of my family with me, which was the best present  I could receive.

Last night we went to vigil service. The congregation was small and there was no organist, but the people sang like angels and the service lacked for nothing. Our vigil service was for the 6th Sunday after Easter and the second Sunday of the calendar month. I was the second reader of the word. We spoke about how much God loves us, that God is love, and that Jesus said:

" Love one another as I have loved you". If we love each other with the same unconditional love  God gives to us, we will live in a wonderful world.We are asked to respond to this unique and unconditional love from God in words and in deeds.

As an example: a Mother's love....Mother takes care of us, loves us, journeys with us through life. Through childhood, adolescence, mature age, Mother is an important part of our life's journey. And so we respond in words and deeds to honour our Mother.

How will we honour God for His unconditional love?

Today is Mother's Day. It has been great today and yesterday. I have been hearing from my children, one by one. They are scattered in places far away. So it has been wonderful to have contact, making Mother's Day very special indeed. Thank you .

We mowed four lawns today. On Mother's Day......? Well, I quite enjoy lawn mowing. There's always the end result: a great looking lawn, a job well done, and a lovely warm shower to wash off the grime.

Today I wish you happy moments , space for peace and relaxation, and a time where dreams can come true. And.... pass it on. C 

Back To being Positive Again.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

I now accept, and very much appreciate,
the abundant life I have been given.

Another day of feeling positive. I think it must be the good nights sleep I had last night. I think that is the answer, for me, anyway.

The storm on its way

We have just experienced a really lovely storm. It didn't last for long, but while it rained it was giving my garden a replenishing drink. Digger wasn't very happy. He just doesn't like those storms. There's lots of noises he doesn't like- the weedeater, the lawn mower, the blower, the vaccum cleaner. He will attack the motors and bark at them, but he hides away from the storm.


This morning we went off to the dump the offload a trailer load of grass clippings and prunings, and we came back with a trailer load of mulch. The mulch is free if we load it ourselves. We came home and offloaded that into the back garden. Wow! It really looks nice. This is probably the sixth load we have brought back. Still have loads of garden areas to go. It is so satifying to have a job well done.



The finished mulching job

Last night I watched "Celebrity Apprentice" Never watched that before. It just happened to be on while I was knitting. I actually enjoyed it.

The good things from today:
Getting the mulch and spreading it; weighing myself- I now weigh 88kg; the great lunch I made -pasta, pesto,ham and tomato salad. So Yum!  That's part of my diet I follow to lose weight. The food is so beautiful, and I am never hungry. I am now more enthusiastic and motivated.

What I am grateful for today:
The rain, feeling positive, cool weather, being energetic.

God in my life:
The storm, lovely food, a nice garden, my liile white book and praying.

Today I wish you peace, happiness, a positive attitude, lots of happiness and an abundance of love in your life. All these things are a sign of prosperity of spirit. C

Another Day

Hello, Great world!
Another wonderful day!

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

Life is very simple.
What I give out comes back to me
Today I choose to give love.

Today began with an early visit to the dentist. Now you would think that wasn't so good. But my my dentist is young which is nice to start off with. And he is very kind. He explains all the procedures that wil follow. He makes me feel comfortable and I feel cared for. Yes, the needle hurt. But that was for only a short while. My mouth became numb, and my filling was done very quickly, and it was all over and I was out of there in 20 minutes.

I realised last night that It is my Grand daughter's birthday on Tuesday - a very special birthday, 13years old, a teenager- and I hadn't bought her a birthday present for this very special day. So I quickly raced out and got her earings and studs at the jewellers. The man there was so kind. He helped me sort out how much money I would need to send for ear piercing, wrapped the gift in gift wrapping, gave me an envelope to send the present in, gave me seniors discount and was thoroughly pleasant and obliging. I went to the postoffice to send my gift. I couldn't send it express in the packet the jeweller gave me and had to send my tiny parcel in a huge bag. I am praying that my darling grand daughter will get her gift in Melbourne tomorrow.

And then my cousins arrived. Well, we have done nothing but chatter since then. We've been out to dinner at the RSL in our nearby big town to celebrate Judy's birthday which is also tomorrow. And would you believe... it is my sister's 48th wedding anniversary  tomorrow as well.  So it will be a very special day all round.

We didn't watch TV tonight. We were too busy chatting.

What was good today?
Having my dentist fit me in to have my tooth fixed, getting my grand daughter's gift bought and away, having my cousins visit.

What I was grateful for today
Having my tooth filled with very little drama, and the very nice man at the jewellers who was so helpful and kind.

God in my life
All the good  and positive things that happened to me today, lovely weather, prayer.

And so another day is going to end, hopefully with peace and goodwill becoming a reality all
 round the world, with everybody having a good night's rest. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me

Good night! C.