Anne

....Anne stood under the willows, tasting the poignant sweetness of life when some great dread has been removed from it. The morning was a cup filled with mist and glamor. In the corner near her was a rich surprise of newblown, crystal-dewed roses. The trills and trickles of song from the birds in the big tree above her seemed in perfect accord with her mood. A sentence from a very old, very true, very wonderful Book came to her lips,

'Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning."

anne again

"Peppermints always seem to me such a religious sort of candy---I suppose because when I was a little girl Grandmother Gordon always gave them to me in church. Once I asked, referring to the smell of peppermints, 'Is that the odor of sanctity?"

(this reminded me of Grandma Davies cause she always had peppermints in her purse if I needed them in church!)

More of Anne

"When she came to the end of one life it must not be to face the next with the shrinking terror of something wholly different---something for which accustomed thought and ideal and aspiration had unfitted her. The little things of life, sweet and excellent in their place, must not be the things lived for; the highest must be sought and followed; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth."

"But the summer had been a very happy one, too---a time of glad living with summer suns and skies, a time of keen delight in wholesome things; a time of renewing and deepening of old friendships; a time in which she had learned to live more nobly, to work more patiently, to play more heartily."

"We are never so interesting when we have learned that language is given us to enable us to conceal our thoughts."

A Good Sheep

From --a Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23-------7 fresh attitudes need to be aquired:

1. "Instead of loving myself most I am willing to love Christ best and others more than myself".--deliberate act of my will--lay down my life---self-lessness or self-sacrifice in contradistinction to selfishness. "Most of us know little of living like this or being 'led' in this right way."

2. "Instead of being one of the crowd I am willing to be singled out, set apart from the gang."

3. "Instead of insisting on my rights I am willing to forego them in favor of others.....Even in the loving atmosphere of the home, self-assertion is pretty evident and the powerful exercise of individual rights is always apparent.....the person who is willing to pocket his pride....There is a tremendous emancipation from 'self' in this attitude. One is set free from the shackles of personal pride. It's pretty hard to hurt such a person. He who has no sense of self-importance cannot be offended or deflated. Somehow such people enjoy a wholesome outlook of carefree abandon that makes their Christian lives contagious with contentment and gaiety."

4. "Instead of being 'boss' I am willing to be at the bottom of the heap......When the desire for self-assertion self-aggrandizement, self-pleasing gives way to the desire for simply pleasing God and others, much of the fret and strain is drained away from daily living....The person who is prepared to put his personal life and personal affairs in the Master's hands for His management and direction has found the place of rest in fresh fields each day. These are the ones who find time and energy to please others."

5. Instead of finding fault with life and always asking 'Why?' I am willing to accept every circumstance of life in an attitude of gratitude.....Human beings, being what they are, somehow feel entitled to question the reasons for everything that happens to them....We are often quick to forget our blessings, slow to forget our misfortunes.....But if one really believes his affairs are in God's hands, every event, no matter whether joyous or tragic, will be taken as part of God's plan. To know beyond doubt that He does all for our welfare it to be led into a wide area of peace and quietness and strength for every situation."

6. "Instead of exercising and asserting my will, I learn to cooperate with His wishes and comply with His will....When a man or woman allows his will to be crossed out, canceling the great I in their decisions, then indeed the Cross has been applied to that life.

7. "instead of choosing my own way I am willing to choose to follow in Christ's way: simply to do what He asks me to do......do, ....go....say....re-act....in the manner He maintains is in my own best interest as well as for His reputation (if I'm His follower....Precious few have either the will, intention or determination to act on it and comply with His instructions....God wants us all to move on with Him. He wants us to walk with Him."

These were all under the chapter--"He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name"s sake"

Ann quotes and comments etc

Since it is Spring , I thought some of these quotes were right on:

"Everything is new in the spring," said Anne. "Springs themselves are always so new, too. No spring is ever just like any other spring. It always has something of its own to be its own peculiar sweetness. "

"The girls walked sliently down the red, twilit treetops, filling the golden air with their jublilant voices. The silver fluting of the frogs came from marshes and ponds, over fields where seeds were beginning to stir with life and thrill to the sunshine and rain that had drifted over them. The air was fragrant with the wild, sweet, wholesome smell of young raspberry copses. White mists were hovering in the silent hollows and violet stars were shining bluely on the brooklands."

When I read the part about the raspberry copses I had to go make Lipton raspberry tea--as I sat outside on the patio drinking the tea and looking at all the flowering bradfords in the neighbor's yard, the wind came and the entire area was enveloped in a thick yellow smog---the pollen in the pines was so heavy that the whole area was filled with it and with tons of tiny seeds raining down from the trees--it was awesome.

Only Me

This probably can only happen to weirdo me! Yesterday I was enjoying the beautiful Spring morning....This is Conway's splender time when springtime just bursts for joy. The azaleas, bradfords, dogwoods, daffodils, tulips and soon the wisteria are all shouting and proclaiming Glory! I was revelling in all of this and happened to watch a squirrel trying to climb my front birdfeeder poll. The pole is shaped like a thin shepherd crook with an added flip. The squirrel jumped too low and tried to shimmy up and then slid all the way to the ground--it was hilarious. Then he jumped higher on the pole and quickly turned and jumped on the feeder. I smiled and thanked God for seeing such a funny sight and was impressed with how quickly the squirrel learned. A few minutes later I looked back out the window and what did I see??? A squirrel at the feeder, but another one writhing in the road. ... So life and death displayed in one scene. I thought, how ironic to see all of the beauty of life and the sadness of death in one glimpse. Yet this is how life actually is; everyday ....but the encouraging thing is there shall be a new heaven and a new earth when everything has been transformed. Amen

Good Quotes

"We do not remember days, we remember moments" Cesare Pavese

"The only way to live is by living fully. We should create our lives into a festival of growth and permanent creations." Chamalu

Good Quote from CS Lewis

"There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine they are guilty of themselves...it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind."

Promise for Wisdom

Proverbs 2:3-7

For if you cry for discernment,
Lift your voice for understanding;
If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures'
Then you will discern the fear of the LORD,
And discover the knowledge of God.
For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;.......

This is an encouraging promise!

when God says no it is also his yes to something else

When God says, "No" to a prayer he is really saying "yes" to another door. God said a no to Chip going to Italy, but opened the door to the Grand Canyon trip. He said a no to the house on 18th for Grandma and Grandpa so we will see what happens now.

Drinking vessels---a quote from Simple Pleasures and J.B. Priestley

"I firmly believe that the pleasure you get from a refreshing liquid--whether it's coffee, hot chocolate, or juice--depends as much on the vessel you drink from as it does on the drink itself. My coffee mug has to look pretty, and it has to be light while having enough substance that it won't break in my hand. The most important thing is how the rim feels on my lips. If it feels rough or thick, that mug is down for the count and won't get used.

"I make a point of using my best fancy glasses for everyday events. I just pretend I'm a very special visitor at my own table. It's such a pleasure to have my morning juice in an elegant crystal stem glass instead of the old jam jar.

"We plan, we toil, we suffer--in the hope of what? A camel-load of idol's eyes? The title deeds to Radio City? The empire of Asia? A trip to the moon? No, no, no, no. Simply to wake up just in time to smell the coffee and bacon and eggs. And, again I cry, how rarely it happens! But when it does happen---then what a moment, what a morning, what a delight!"

ON A VISIT YESTURDAY TO EOWYN'S SPIDER ABODE I HAD THE PLEASURE OF A WONDERFUL FULL BODIED BREW OF ESPRESSO. I DRANK IT FROM A POTTERY TYPE CUP AND ENJOYED IT BECAUSE I, UNLIKE THE ABOVE QUOTE, AT TIMES LIKE A THICK RIM--ESPECIALLY FOR A FULL BODIED DRINK. BUT I LOVE DIFFERENT CUPS BECAUSE THEY GIVE YOU DIFFERENT FEELINGS. I LOVE GLASS TEA AND COFFEE MUGS BECAUSE I LIKE TO SEE THE COLORS---IE , FOR TEA THE NEAT AMBER COLOR OR THE RICH DARK COLOR , OR GREEN COLOR DEPENDING ON THE BLEND! SOMETIMES I ENJOY LIGHT MUGS, SOMETIMES HEAVY MUGS, SOMETIMES ROUND RIMS, SOMETIMES WEIRD SHAPED RIMS. VARIETY IS SO ENJOYABLE WHEN IT COMES TO DRINKS; BUT NOT WHEN IT COMES TO POINSONOUS SPIDERS AT EOWYN'S!

now this is some bathing beauty--what a cutie--but too serious since she gets serious when looking at the little red light displayed on the camera!1

the day

Spring is coming and the warmth and joy of it is delicious. Went to a Lenten lunch and it was refreshing being with others from different denominations, but all seeking time with God. Just a nice time of fellowship.

here is a poem by McQuilkin--

Let Me Get Home before Dark

It's sundown, Lord.
The shadows of my life stretch back
into the dimness of the years long spent.
I fear not death, for that grim foe betrays
himself at last, thrusting me forever into life;
Life with you, unsoiled and free.

But I do fear.
I fear the Dark Specter may come too
soon--
or do I mean too late?
That I should end before I finish or
finish, but not well.
That I should stain your
honor, shame
your name, grieve your loving heart.
Few, they tell me, finish well...
Lord, let me get home before dark.

The darkness of a spirit
grown mean and small,
fruit shriveled on the vine,
bitter to the taste of my companions,
burden to be borne by those brave few who love me stil.
No, Lord. Let the fruit grow lush and sweet,
a joy to all who taste;
Spirit-sign of God at work,
stronger, fuller, brighter at the end.
Lord, let me get home before dark.

The darkness of tattered gifts,
rust-locked, half-spent or ill-spent;
A life that once was used of God now set aside.
Grief for glories gone or
Fretting for a task God never gave.
Mourning in the hollow chambers of memory,
Gazing on the faded banners of victories long gone.
Cannot I run well unto the end?
Lord, let me get home before dark.

The outer me decays--
I do not fret or ask reprieve.
The ebbing strength but weans me from
mother earth and grows me up for heaven.
I do not cling to shadows cast by immortality.
I do not patch the scaffold lent to build the real, eternal me.
I do not clutch about me my cocoon,
vainly struggling to hold hostage
a free spirit pressing to be born.

But will I reach the gate in lingering pain, body distorted, grotesque?
Or will it be a mind
wandering untethered among light fantasies or
grim terrors?
Of your grace, Father, I humbly ask...
Let me get home before dark."

more cleaning stuff

Just want to remember that the magic bath and shower eraser does a terrific job cleaning the black scuff marks off the stairway. It is a sponge-like thing--similar to the Mr. Clean one. It has blue in the center and white on the outsides. It does a better job on the stairs than the Mr. Clean kind. It wiped right off with no scrubbing.

cleaning scuff marks off of floors

I found a way to get my scuff marks off of my kitchen floor. I used white (non-gel) toothpaste. The eraser did not work , but this took it right off. Sometime I shall try a tennis ball, but I do not think this will work , since my sneaker would not take it off.

March weekend

Had a wonderful weekend with all my baby dolls!

The best doll is the one in the middle of course---what a cutie!! Very enjoyable at all times (especially because the parents cleaned the poops!).

We helped Greatgrandma and Greatgrandpa do some cleaning up for the sale of their house. Praying for God to work mightly on their behalf to direct their paths.