I love coffee, I remember the first time I really enjoyed coffee. It was with my dad. He had an espresso maker and one evening decided that us kids, and we were kids should try some. It was in the evening and he got out the cute tiny cups and made us each coffee and we each put in a large amount of sugar. It was rich thick and sweet. Of course we were bouncing off the walls that evening. But it was a remarkable taste.

Since then I have drank coffee black so dark so lovely. When I add cream sometimes just a touch so it is a deep brown or with so much you could ask if I was drinking cream with sugar. On ice plain is another lovely vision, or on ice with cream and some hazelnut flavoring. Each time I drink the coffee I have so many options add sugar, add spices, add ice or cream. Just go to a coffee shop, look at the choices. Wow…

Now there are some of you who do not like coffee, that is okay. The same can be said about cakes. Add strawberries and you have a lovely pink cake. Heck I love cake batter and I have never had a piece of cake I did not love.

God created us humans in his image. We are pink, sometimes red with too much sun, tan, dark, tall, short, fat, skinny, young and old. There are a bunch of us who are spicy, some are sweet or bitter, smooth, or nutty. The combinations are unlimited. Still human and still very much loved.

Today the devil tried to steal my joy of blogging. I made the mistake of looking at how many people had visited my page. No one. hmm…. so of course I started the why bother who cares I should just stop. Give it up. Just another failure to reach out and connect to others. Like anyone cares.

So there I sat on the porch coffee in hand missing the beauty going on all around me. Birds, sunshine coming through trees, the perfume of flowering bushes. GOD.

I opened YouVersion and the devotion was 2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

I should not be timid about writing. God will send people to my blog as they need it. The blog is not for my ego but for me to have time to pull my thoughts together and see God in the world. I am to offer and share what I am writing. It is not about how many people follow or read, it is about so much more.

I will write with love, love of God, and love of others. I will develop self-discipline by setting aside time to write.

How many times have I let the devil steal my joy? All the projects I quit because of self doubt or because someone said something negative. I have to keep my eyes on God and not on the stats of a blog site.

Psalm 119:36 ESV
Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!

Our vocabulary changes with the group of people we are with, we use words that have meaning to them. I watch Bones and Dr. Brennan never changes her precise vocabulary. So most people need someone to interpret the words. She also has a hard time understanding pop culture sayings. So she will say, “I don’t know what that means” I love that. She really does want to know.

When I am with my mother who is an artist I have to be aware that the use of picture drives her crazy. Is it a photo, drawing or a painting? To love her I need to know her language. She shows love by giving paintings to us. She shares the beauty she sees, so she is sharing her love.

My husband lives in the world of music and will make references to musicians, types of music and so on. Harmony, hook, cord, melody and fret all mean something to musician. So to understand my husband I have to work on understanding his vocabulary. He will play the Ukulele and sing for me, and I can hear his love.

We all have a certain vocabulary, mine is of a high school teacher. I do not go to work, I go to school. My kids are my students, so if I am talking about my kids I am talking about my students.

Christ gives us a new vocabulary that we add as we grow with him. We are part of the vine. Translation, we are part of his body. Which means what?

At the end of every Bones it shows a drawing of a boy pointing to a tree saying “Whats that mean?” So maybe, when we do not understand something we should ask ourselves whats that mean? to them? to me? I need to say “I don’t know what that means” Maybe we need to understand what is the real meaning of a word, of an action or situation. So that we know what it means to us? Then just maybe the world will start to change. I cannot change all the violence and hatred that is going on. BUT, I can reach out to others, talk to them and ask them what does that mean to you. I want my vocabulary to be one of love and to do that I must know the vocabulary of the individual.

In the mornings I get up and before my coffee I deal with my dogs, one is let out and the other is put in the garage. Then I fill up my bird feeders. But this morning as I was feeding my birds I noticed one of my hanging basket of flowers was looking sad. The flowers were wilted. What how did this happen? Duh, I did not water them.

How many times do we do that, forget to water a plant. It starts to droop and look sad, then slowly turns sick colors and then dries up and dies. I have in the past killed a large number of plants from neglect. Even today before going outside I noticed an inside plant. I plant in my bathroom, a room filled with faucets. All I have to do is turn the water on and fill the glass sitting next to the sink. But instead I washed my hands and told myself I would water it later. Really I did that and it was not the first time and probable not the last. I neglected it, the watering of a plant.

So as I sat on the porch drinking my coffee, I watched my newly watered hanging flowers come back to life. Wow.

How often do we forget to water our souls? How long do we walk past the water that is freely given to us?

During this time of quarantine I have spent a great deal of time looking out my windows or sitting on the porch. There are a lot of birds out here in the country. In the past I would call them by generic names. Red, yellow, black, blue, you get the idea. But this year I wanted to learn more about them. Did you know that woodpeckers have a large variety of types small to huge? I would call them all Red-headed woodpeckers. I was wrong, not a one of them was a true Red-headed woodpecker. I do have, Hairy, Red-bellied, Pileated, and Downy Woodpeckers.

I also fell in love with Cowbirds. They make a very distinct sound, my cousin Lisa says it is a liquid sound. Since I liked them I wanted to know more about these black birds with lovely brown heads. It seems that they are considered parasitic birds because they lay their eggs in other birds nest and have the other parents do all the work. Yikes how awful. How can I like these creatures? So I continued learning. The Cowbird use to follow the bison and eat the insects that bothered the bison. Since the bison were always moving the birds could not stay and raise they young. Okay I get it now, foster care while the parents are working.

Really the point I am trying to get to in my round about way is that as humans, we need to know each others names. Stop the “theys” and “thems” . Look the people in their eyes know them as individuals. Jeffs, Tonyas, Malcolm, Aliyah, and Cindys….. It should not be one group over another. It is about reaching out and knowing who each person is. Love all, admit when we do not know and learn while loving.

God had Adam name all the animals so that he would know them. Jesus knows his sheep, he lived with us and still loves us. He knows our names our issues. He loves us. That means that while you are looking into the eyes of the “theys” and “thems” you are looking at someone that is loved by God. When you make a hateful all inclusive statement about “thems” you are making that statement about people whom God loves. Stop, Look. Love.

I still love my Cowbirds, I enjoy their silly sounds. They are lovely in their own way, just as Cardinals, Blue-jays, and the variety of Woodpeckers.

A parade is a procession of people or vehicles moving through a public place in order to celebrate an important day or event. 

In the last few weeks I have been to, two important parades. (don’t you love the to two and too in the English language)

First was for Mother’s day. The retirement community that my lovely mother lives in, set up a special parade for all the mothers. So the tenants sat six feet apart and all the loved ones drove their decorated cars around the building. The smiles were so worth the effort. As Bob Goff likes to say do LOVE. What a wonderful way to show love.

Yesterday was another parade day. With the ending of the strange quarantined school year there had to be away of saying farewell to our seniors. In years past seniors would walk the halls starting with preschool to the high school. It was always fun to clap, hug, and cry as the young men and women walked by my classroom. The other students in the building would lining the hallways and cheering.

BUT, not this year. Instead, the social distancing and the small issue of school being closed caused a change of plans. The parade was changed to the seniors riding in cars while teachers stood behind their cars in the parking lot. It was a farewell of tears, clapping but no hugs. However the love was overflowing. The meaning was clear, we love you. God loves you. Love is decorating waving clapping crying standing in the rain. Love is GOD.

Parades, the parade of David as he moved the ark, the parade around the city of Jericho, Jesus entering Jerusalem on the back of a colt donkey, the parade of Jesus carrying the cross, the parade of life. Make your parade one of love and kindness. Let joy overcome the obstacle of life. There will be obstacles, do what you must but always do it with God being the marshal of your parade.

“One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats.”

Iris Murdoch

Sometimes I have to lay in bed and pray to God to help me find a reason to get up and do something anything. Why….bother getting up for what reason. Dear God help me!

And He does. Sometimes God sends me a bird tapping at my window, a whiff of coffee, or a song in my head.

Does not mean the gloom is gone, but it does get me moving.

I then move and find continuous treats or gifts from the most generous God. I just have to remember to look for the crumbs the Hansel and Gretel way of life. And if the birds eat the crumbs that is okay, the birds become the new treat from God.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton