Weather....or not

Colorado Springs got its first snow today with the temperature hovering around 30, going down to 18 degrees tonight.  I can't even see the mountains right now, but I'm sure they are pretty.  I think we'll get more snow tonight and then warming up a bit next week.  Meanwhile on the right coast, Hurricane Sandy, a late-season perfect storm screamer is heading from Cuba, threatening many eastcoast states, all the way up to NY and Boston.  It's not going to be pretty.  They are likening it to the storm of 1991.  A lot of kids are going to be disappointed on Halloween!

This has been such a wonderful week.  I find myself smiling and even laughing for no ràeason.  Well, there is a reason.  I am extremely hopeful that I'm going to be hired for what would be the perfect job.  An opportunity to use what I know and who I am but go in a different direction.  Recreate!  Fulfill a dream!  Stand by - second interview on Monday. I'm so ready to join a great team and start doing my "thang!"

Addendum:  Not hired yet.  They loved me and actually see me in a yet to be created position which will open up around June or July.  The doctor's practice is growing so fast that he has already outgrown all three of his offices.  I think they are probably going to have a big reorganization, open a new larger office and maybe see me in the role of office manager.  We'll see.  Can't say I wasn't disappointed, but God's got this, so I wait.

New Photo Blog

I find I take a lot of photos, but I'm glad because it's so fun to go back and remember good friends, good times, lots of memories.  Summer of the best years of my life were those working at Patrick Henry College in Virginia. I took so many pictures during those 4 years.  If there is a photo of you that you don't wish to be posted, let me know and I'll remove it.  It's not my wish to compromise anyone's privacy.  So if you are an alumni at PHC during fall 2004 to summer 2008 come along with me and enjoy Pic.Some.Memories.    http://picsomememories.blogspot.com/

Friendship Porch - A poem I wrote several years ago about some dear friends

I wrote this for our best friends in Virginia, Joan and Jeff, who lived out in the country in a log home with land and horses, and a barn, and a warm wood stove in the winter. We did everything together and were together almost every weekend doing something. Sitting on their log home's sprawling front porch in the evening with the sound of peepers in the twilight glow, we'd drink pina coladas from plastic goblets shaped like pink flamingos, and laugh the night away. We had so many memories for so many years. Good times. Good memories.

FRIENDSHIP PORCH

Twilight filters its last yellow glow

Thru unrolled slats on the floorboards below

Golden dog chases the orbiting ball

Nightfall deepens as the marsh bugs call.

Sipping our drinks from the pink legged birds

Soft horse sounds from the field could be heard

Rocking chairs creak and citron smoke wafts

As on friendship porch, the four friends laugh.

Orion shines bright from his inky throne

Old dog and young kitten on the mat are prone

It's good to be here where we've been 'oft before

As laughter and love wrap ‘round us four.

Waves from the step as we leave for the night

Our two favorite folk haloed by light

Our kindred and faithful love burns like a torch

Lighting the way back to the friendship porch.

Back Home

We've been in a hotel for a couple of weeks but are back home...rather, we are back in Ron and Brenda's home. We had what you could call a divine appointment the very first Sunday we were here. We went to New Life Church and after the service lingered to eat in their cafe thinking we could maybe talk to someone. I introduced us to a couple about our age at the next table. One thing led to another and we ended up spending the entire day and having supper with the Neuenschwander's.  It was one of those rare and wonderful blessings where you just hit it off instantly with someone. At the end of the day we felt like we'd been friends for years. Downside...their permanent home is Ft. Wayne. Upside...they are letting us stay in their condo while we find our own place.  So you see...divine appointment. New friends and new home.  God is good. Come back Neuenschwanders!

Happiness Dwells in the Soul

Happiness Dwells in the Soul

Today is 10-11-12 and the beginning of my blog.  I'm beginning with the subject of happiness. Is it elusive, or is it near at hand?  Since moving to Colorado Springs I've had a lot of time on my hands while looking for a job.  I spend a lot of that time hiking some of the wonderful trails, my favorite and most inspiring place being Cheyenne Canon, a wonder of creation. I've dusted off my sketchbook, pastels and charcoal sticks and begun to draw again, something I'm rusty at but have missed. I've also been seeking God more. I have been happier than I've been in a couple of years. I don't think it is possible to be constantly happy nor should it be.  Without sorrow, how could we experience joy?  Without unhappiness how would we recognize joy when we bump into it?  Further, if possessions, people, success or our personal looks are the objects of our happiness, what happens when we lose those things? However it does seem to be our innate desire to pursue happiness, but where is it?  I like what Thoreau said...

So, back to the title, "happiness dwells in the soul".  The soul is your mind, your will and your emotions.  Aristotle said, "To live happily is an inward power of the soul." So perhaps happiness lies not so much in our circumstances as it does in our attitudes.  What we set our minds on and meditate about, exercising our will to make positive and healthy decisions, and choosing to take control of negative thoughts which really trigger negative emotions (the basis of cognitive behavioral therapy). It's a choice.  So today I choose to sow in myself the seeds of happiness rather than apathy or despair. Happiness can be enhanced by others, but doesn't depend on others. It resides within.  Where do you find happiness?  I find joy in the beauty of the mountains and nature, art, good books, friends, helping others, and most of all my relationship with Jesus Christ.  With God's help that's where my soul will dwell.  Phil. 4:8  "...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

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TODAY IS A GIFT - THAT'S WHY IT'S CALLED THE PRESENT

 Francesco Petrarch, the first "Renaissance man" said, "It is appointed for us to lose the present in the expectation of the future." He was obviously aware that we spend a large majority of our time somewhere else other than in the present moment. "Planning for the future, worrying about the past so much so that by the time you reach middle age the two horses, Past and Future, are engaged in a life-and-death race along your internal time line." Competing for your vitality, stealing your present. The time you spend on past responsibilities, past regrets, past relationships, eats into the time available for growth and progress toward your future growth.

For anyone who has ever read C.S. Lewis', Screwtape Letters: Wormwood (a devil) said it was one of their goals as devils to cause people to focus on the future. "We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow's end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap on the altar of the future every real gift which is offered them in the Present."

So don't miss the moments and beauty that are around you today. Live every moment with love, grace, and gratitude. Be happy with what you have and excited about what you want. You'll never see the gift of the present again.