What I Saw This Morning

The fog/low clouds this morning made it necessary for
this vulture to take time out to dry its wings.

I am so lucky to be able to wake up and see clearly.... when I was little, I would wake up to a hazy world and I thought that was what everyone saw. Then when I went to first grade I got my first set of glasses and realized there was a whole lot I'd been missing... no wonder everyone thought I was a 'cotton-head,' a 'lay-about,' a dithering ditzy little girl. I could not imagine how the world moved so quickly in such a fog.

Closer view of the vulture drying out its wings.

As I grew, so did my eyes and the focal point stretched farther and farther away from the back of the eye, making me more and more near-sighted so that by the time I was 16 I was, without correction, legally blind. Fortunately for me, I was able to wear the 'new' contact lenses and that was the first time I saw my feet as they really were - rather large!

During my teens, the contact lens product changed and evolved so that I went from wearing something impermeable to those that were the beginnings of tiny plastic lenses that you could wear all day. But in my 60's, after wearing contacts lenses of all types and varieties for more than 40 years, my eyes were beginning to rebel, and I was not as confident of my driving as I had been. I felt as if something was off.  I went to a wonderful opthamologist, a fellow who was teaching eye surgery at a university in Florida, and he determined that along with the dry eyes of contact wearers, I was also losing vision because of cataracts. Surgery..... scary.... eyesight.... gasp.

Colombian sparrow checking out the gutter for water.

Colombian sparrow shaking off the water from a gutter bath.

I was warned of the risks, but the risks of not doing anything were greater. I am sure Dr. B. likes a challenge, but he also is careful. He let me sit in to watch one of his surgeries, and feeling confident of his skills, I was ready to proceed. So we both forged ahead and at the age of 62 with a couple of months between surgeries, I was given new eyesight that, for the first time, allowed me to see at 20/20 in one eye and 20/30 in the other - without contacts!!! I continue to be amazed as I wake up and SEE the world and now when it is foggy, I know it is because I am up in the Andes clouds, not because I am 6 years old and near-sighted.

How wonderful to have a toy that really moves!

So today I am once again giving thanks for my eyesight, and especially was reminded of this gift when I sat with a blind friend last night. The photo of the motorcycle's license plate may or may not be a sign to anyone else, but I interpreted it this way.

2:4 Corinthians? "My message and my preaching were
not with wise and persuasive words,
but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power."

WHAT I READ THIS MORNING... This is an important posting from Deludia about medical thefts which we have to make sure we work to divert - at all costs! Please take time to click on this link and be aware...Deludia's posting about medical theft

Redemption

Easter is a new beginning. Spring offers hope for the summer, fall and winter to follow. All the newness of the time is a reminder of the Redemption bought and paid for by the Christ energy of the past. In the Bible, the Old Testament is a story about a time when mankind had to work and work only to receive a reward after death. The New Testament is a story about one man who worked and worked to give the message that rewards of this life are here and now, if we care to see them. "All this and more can you do," Jesus said. It is true a lot of church messages are that if you are "good" in this life, you will be rewarded by a trip through the pearly gates instead of to some dreary hot place. But forgiveness and being redeemed for the "sin" of _______ (fill in the blank) can and should happen now.

Our power is not in the government, but in ourselves. We are all of one "blood," and whether or not you are a believer of the story of Jesus Christ, it is undeniable that no matter the color of an individual's skin, when pierced, the blood flows red. When we allow the governments to segregate us by color of skin, beliefs, status or other means, we forget who we are and we will lose our 'Redemption.'

In Matthew 22:36 the people ask of Jesus: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

My grandmother, after losing the love of her life during World War I, vowed to fight for peace. What she did not know, and many other still refuse to see, is that the governments of the world make money on wars. We watched what might be determined to be a "silly" movie called "The Men Who Stare at Goats," (2009) (if you click on the link, you can read a review.) with the premise that the government was working on a team of psychic warriors to infiltrate their enemy's minds. But they are already doing that in various ways when people will not think for themselves, and allow the so-called leaders to tell them what is right or wrong.

I do not propose to be a teller, only to suggest that spring is a time to awaken from the slumber of winter and to take a new look around at what is going on and how you may be being tricked into thinking you are not "One"with all others. Just a thought.

Blessings on this Easter morning.

What if....

What if you were faced with a life-threatening illness and you had to make a decision (in a few short hours, possibly days) which would determine how long the remainder of your life might be? 

Would you know where to do go to get information?

Would you know if that information was reliable?

Would you know what the information-provider's agenda was?

This is what newly-diagnosed, critically ill individuals face and some face it alone, because they don't have partners in their life or because they don't have families or because the relatives are too far away or for some other reason.

I'm not offering up any kind of pity-party for anyone, but I am suggesting that as this fragile green earth spins faster and faster, we seem to have less and less time for our neighbors, acquaintances and even family.

Before I headed out West, I received a phone call from a neighbor to tell me that he and his wife were temporarily moving into "assisted living " quarters because of her cancer treatments and her care requirements which were beyond his capabilities. They have family living nearby and they have friends and neighbors like me. But clearly he wanted me to know that when I didn't see them around that they were open to having visitors in the new place. I was deeply touched and will certainly go and see them when I return.

And it brought home to me, in yet another way, that we are interconnected. That each smile, each touch, each effort made on behalf of another does have value.

So if you are reading this and you know someone who is facing a difficult time, perhaps you will be led to offer up some of your time to do something to ease their challenge. Not because someday you might be facing your own mountain, but because today is all we have... and what we give is our presentness... our being... and letting another living man or woman or child know that they have been seen or heard.

As Above, So Below

Recently I was listening to a pastor who really, and I mean REALLY, knows The Bible. He was reminding the faithful that our Creator is with us always, and to prove the point he was delineating how we were created in His image... that there is a pattern to His Creation (us) based on 'threes.' Our bodies and the world around us are put together in 3's... (even the dots!) And the trinity/triangle is the strongest form. Our arms have three segments, our legs have three segments, the body itself is comprised of the head, trunk and extremities. The earth has a core, mantle and crust. An apple has a core, the fruit and the skin. Pastor T. said "Further, in The Bible, Moses received those tablets with 10 commandments... you have 10 fingers to remind you of them.  And if that's not enough, you have as a master gland, the pituitary which provides 10 different chemicals to keep you in balance. You are a living Bible... you have 33 vertebrae so you can walk and stand up straight to remind you of the life span of the Messiah..." As we enter the season when the Messiah was born, because he was born in Abib, the first month (God's time - not the calendar established by Pope Gregory), and if you haven't picked up The Bible recently, perhaps you will to find out how the Lord wants to use you for His purpose.