A FAMILY DIVIDED

I have purposefully unplugged from all the political turmoil.  I am not commenting.  I am not putting my two cents in---not even one cent.  I do not reply when you comment on your leanings.  I am staying away from the fray, out of the storm, and choose instead to fly under the radar. My profile is SO low, my nose is leaving a channel in the dirt.



My family is a family divided when it comes to politics.  We are conservative, liberal, and some are even way off the beaten path.  We all look through different eyes, we all think differently, and we even live very diverse lives.  We are sometimes in opposing camps when it comes to politics.  Nothing wrong with that---I respect their right to believe differently from me.  It does not affect my love for them--one iota. We can agree to disagree with no malice.  Politics will never supersede family.

The world does not seem to hold this view. Politics has become a fighting sport.  I have never enjoyed blood baths or human carnage.  

There is a line of thinking that if the side I support does not win, the world as we know it will come to an end.  Some say taxes will rise and others believe we need a flat tax.  Some say we need universal health care, but I have never heard of anyone being refused necessary treatment.  Some say we are losing all our freedoms, and others say we have never been free.  I have had others tell me, from both sides, the country we live in will never be the same.  

I agree the country we live in will not be the same.  It has never stayed the same. Check out your history books.  The government was formed with checks and balances.  We do not live in a dictatorship-one branch of government does not determine how we are ruled.  It takes all three--to make, implement, and interpret the law.  Whoever is president-when the final vote is counted-the sun will come up the next day and the world will keep turning.

Most important~either you believe in an omnipotent God or you don't.  HE ALREADY KNOWS who will be our next president.  HE ALREADY KNOWS our future.  I trust that God will use the next president to carry out His plans for me--for our country.  HE is never surprised and HE can use ALL THINGS for Good for those that love Him and are called according to His purpose.  

I have already voted~and I have no intention of saying who I voted for.  I respect your right to vote your conscience and I hope you respect mine.  Wednesday morning--I am still going to think of you with great fondness and admiration--and I do not need to know for whom you voted.  I love you no matter who the next president is!

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Proverbs 19:21

THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

 I seem to be missing on the blogosphere more than present in the past few months.  Life has taken many strange twists and turns-as we all realize~and I am here but also profoundly affected by all that has transpired in this year.


Unlike this slogan appearing on shirts all over America, I firmly believe there is something to be learned--some lesson to gleam from all that has transpired this year.  One particular thing I have been reminded of is to not ask

"What ELSE could possibly happen?"

That seems to be just asking for trouble!

After being locked down tight since March 13, I left Labor Day and spent the next six weeks helping #1 Daughter with Virtual School.  I came away with a deep admiration for teachers--I already admired them--but virtual school took it up a couple more notches. 


I could write a book on the four weeks of sitting by a kindergarten students elbow "doing school."  

I came home nine days ago to isolate for 10 days before heading to help with #7 grand.  After six weeks of being with a family of six and all the wonderful chaos that entails--it has been quite an adjustment to being home and completely alone.  Looking forward to my time helping with this little wonder~


One of the things I have observed while gone and then isolated, is the circle of life continues--whether I am in the midst of it or not.

A dear friend's beloved father in now in hospice with days left on this earth.  He is a wonderful and Godly man-beloved by all who know him.  Certainly one of the finest men I have ever known.  His family adore him and are searching for how to let him go and how to go on without him.  What a wonderful and remarkable legacy.

So I head to Austin to help with one who is just beginning his trek through this crazy world and others are sitting by the bedside of the loved one who has lived a long and productive life trying to help him leave this world wrapped in a cocoon of the love they feel for him.  The circle of life is a beautiful thing--even in the midst of all that is happening in this eventful year.  A year for the record books filled with the every day trek through life.  Don't wish away what might seem to be a nightmare of a year---embrace the ordinary and remember the gift of life is a blessing.  No matter how bleak things may seem-there is always joy found in the midst of life and lessons to be gleamed in every circumstance.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord

plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11