GBE Week 14 Growing Wild

Growing wild....don't you just love wild flowers? They are one of God's precious gifts. I watch for wildflowers all through the year and notice the tiniest of them in the yard...beside the road or in a distant field on a road trip. But that's not where this blog is going to be heading...NOPE! We're going to talk about life, the road up ahead and "Growing Wild" and how I would like to incorporate into my own life.

Often when we get to the "upper" years of our lives, we are expected by society to act accordingly. According to whom and what book of reference I'd like to ask? Who says just because I turned the big 50 this year that I have to bring out the rocker, accept my gray hairs and dress "my age"? Now mind you, I don't plan on enrolling in a pole dancing class, or ordering a new wardrobe from Victoria Secrets...but I don't think I'm ready to be put out to pasture just yet either! This gal has got a few more miles left in her game!

I've spent the vast majority of my adult life trying my best to behave. Act like the daughter, sister, wife, aunt, friend and mother that I was supposed to act like. And causing myself a some grief in the process. Simply because I was trying to live up to those society rules of life. Early in life, I was care free, living like the wind....zooming up and down, north to south and anywhere in between. I had the "live now...in this moment" attitude and have had many a fond memories to go along with that thought process.

Now that I have many years of life experiences under my belt, I feel that I can be a better judge on "growing wild"...with faith, grace,dignity and passing out the love that always has been abundant in my heart. To allow the best qualities in me out...to not keep them restrained or live in fear that if I allow my heart to show too much, I'll allow you out there to see too much of me. I don't want to live like that anymore. What was acceptable yesterday no longer applies. I don't have to answer to anyone but myself and God.

I don't want to "settle in and settle down". NO! I want to be like those lovely wildflowers in nature!  They look so delicate, but in reality they are quite capable of weathering storms and coming back up year after year to show off their inner strength along with that outward beauty. I don't want to "settle" at all as a matter of fact. I have a game plan for my life. That plan involves being honest..even when it hurts, realizing I don't have to give anyone an answer...I can simply say because I wanted to and not feel guilty about it! Letting go of things I have no control over, forgiving myself and others, not being defined by my past mistakes and not worrying so much about the trivial things in life that can bog us down. Allowing God to work on me each and every day so that I can bloom and grow wild with a zest for life and all it has to offer me.

Having a nice hot cup of herbal tea and rocking is lovely, but I won't let it define me. Nope, not I! Each day we are given a canvas. It is our job in life to fill that canvas up with all the colors of the rainbow and have fun creating our own unique work of art! Growing wild...want to come along on the journey? It's easy..just say YES! Thanks for stopping in my friends, remember you are loved and you are important! Have a great week!

No beginning, no ending...

This weeks GBE 2 assignment is a picture prompt write on the above lovely photograph! As usual, I am totally ill prepared and have not a clue where this is leading. So here we go gang! Enjoy the ride as my fingers do the typing!

The wedding ring, a circle that has no beginning, no ending..it is meant to stand for eternity. Two hearts joined together as one...standing by each other through the good times as well as the bad times. But life can  get complicated, one moment all seems well and the next...the legend of the ring isn't so firm standing anymore. Choices are made by one or both parties that can send the meaning of the wedding ring out into the abyss- sometimes whether we agree with that choice or not.

Maybe right now in life, one of you has a ring on and the other doesn't know where that ring is even located. Or maybe both rings are stored away safely with memories of a better time, or in some cases the memory is better left in the box (or the pawn shop) with the hurt from that time in life. Perhaps the rings are on a see-saw. One going up, the other down...not knowing if the rings will fall off the see-saw or maybe they will slide a little toward each other with time and find their way back to the finger they once were on.

In black and white terms what I'm saying here is that I believe in love. Love that can withstand the test of time, true love will have bumps and bruises, even a few war scars, but it deserves a chance to bloom full, be appreciated, protected and preserved. It deserves to  have a chance. So if you are at a crossroad, don't be afraid to take a stand for that set of rings if that is what your heart is telling you. Weather the storm and hold on tight, try to be patient. God works in His tiime, not ours.  Take the higher road and go down that crossroad with love, kindness and grace. And don't be too prideful to admit you're not perfect and you've made mistakes, and ask for forgiveness for yourself as well as the person wronged. It might not solve anything, but you'll be doing the right thing--for YOURSELF. You never know what might be around the next curve that life throws. No beginning...no ending...that can also be known as faith and hope..and a deep belief in a crazy little thing called love..

I realize some of you will not agree with my take on this topic, and that is okay. All I ask is that no matter how painful it might be, try to keep your heart open. Most of the time, blessings pop into your life when you aren't looking or expecting them!  As always, remember you are important and you are loved. Have a good week my friends!

Intuition..Can you hear me?

This weeks GBE 2 assignment was to write a blog on the word "intuition". Once again I did an "ugh" because it seemed to be beyond my thinking power at the moment or more honestly, not anything I felt I wanted to write about!  So my friends as usual, the fingers will do the typing and together we will see where this one goes!

There are times in life when you walk into a situation and you get a feeling you shouldn't be there. Or perhaps you meet a person that everyone has spoken highly about and you get that thing in your tummy that this person just isn't your cup of tea. On the other side of the spectrum, we may meet a person or go to a location and feel that in this particular situation it"s like a second skin to us. It seems so comfortable...no adjustment time needed. Kind of like putting on your favorite old pair of jeans or PJ's. I refer to this feeling as my God voice. There have been times I listened with great concentration and obeyed it and was so happy that I did, but then there have been many occasions I decided I was just being paranoid, silly, or stubborn and went full speed ahead! To crash into that brick wall that was sitting there waiting for me. Yes indeed...I should have listened!

I don't know about you guys, but I am one of those gals that can make a decision and talk myself right out of it in a microsecond, only to end up doing what I first thought I should! Or I have been known to make a u-turn and head back home because of a split second decision. So indecisive! It has been rumored that this word has "female" as part of the definition in the dictionary! That seems unfair for females as many women I know go for it and don't second guess themselves at all! My thoughts are that it is more a matter of not trusting your inner gut feeling...that God voice! And if you don't trust, you can't make a good decision.

What I can tell you right now in this moment in my life is that my "God voice" is getting louder. It is telling me to TRUST, to be patient and the plans for me will all be laid out. However, it seems the flesh of me somehow gets ahold of a megaphone and keeps me walking a zig zag trail that goes in circles. Like when a person is reading a book and wants badly to skip to the last chapter to see how it will all come out. When that happens, I need to get myself quiet (well as quiet as my mind will allow!) and refocus. I remind myself that I know that I have the strength to conquer any task thrown my way-even if I don't feel that way in that moment in time.  I've had to fight for most things my entire life. This section in my life is no exception to the rule. And in the scheme of life in God's eye, this moment is a blip...not a forever feeling that I feel as a human. Easy? Not by a long shot. But I will forge ahead and put more and more trust in my God voice. For it does say "Trust in Him at all times…. pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us." –Psalm 62:8. God knows my heart, I know that. I also know that He knows EXACTLY where I need to go. All I need is for someone to send Him a Fed-Ex package filled to the brim with glowing chalk that way He can use it light the way to the path I should be on. And God, please remember that not only am I near sighted with a stigmatism, but now I need reading glasses on top of it all! Make that path glow, make it glow, make it GLOW!

So as for intuition, it seems to me some of us are more in tune with it than others...and that's okay. Not one of us is perfect, we are occasionally going to take a tumble. Get up and keep walking! Take one day at a time, and for those of us out there that struggle with our gut or God voice...let's try a little harder to believe in ourselves and what that inner voice is telling us! After all, those brick walls leave me with one big ugly lump on my forehead and a heck of a headache! Have a great remainder of the week my friends and as always, remember you are important and you are very loved!