T.V changes

If you would have told me when I was in college and taping Days of Our Lives and THE REAL WORLD that I was going to one day come home from 8:30 til 11:00 most days to cook dinner, clean, and turn on Christian television shows, I would have laughed and probably thrown a drink in your face! Oh, the grace of God and 15 years!

Just today, Beth Moore on James Robinson said the most simple, profound thing: she said "Jesus Christ changes lives!"

Bishop Jakes belted out these statements:

Nothing will teach you to pray like trouble.

Grace may give u a thorn to keep you from being high and mighty.

Life will make you a prayer warrior.

Joyce is sharing a word and this struck me: looking at the problem will give you worry. Looking at God will give you faith.

I am encouraged! I am ready to face the world. Search your tv and radio for some good news and a good word!

Father/daughter arm wrestle

Three of my four children can now wrestle me on the trampoline and get me to the point that all I can utter is MERCY! I seem to be growing older and weaker. They seem to just be growing.

Banner bragged on her strength being superior to mine last night and then went on to say she could beat her daddy too. He laughed and suggested they just start with an arm wrestling match right then, right there at the table.

He let her carry on for a few minutes and then proved himself by only using half of his strength to beat her. Poor baby! That was my first thought. My second thought was: did she really think she could beat him? She would need to call in the army of her younger siblings and me to help her. The task will not ever be done alone.

When they began, she was full of herself! When they were finished, she was back to reality, knowing that her daddy is pretty strong. He gently provided her with a reality check by demonstrating his power and told her that she will need daddy around for a while longer!

Reminds me of myself when I think I can do anything alone! I can't. I fail daily when I step out alone at home, at work, anywhere and everywhere I go
without the help of my Father.

One of my life verses is: "I am the vine. You are the branches. If man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from me you will do nothing.". John 15:5.

This verse is a biggie! We can do nothing without HIM! We will loose every time we step out alone. Are you connected to the Lord today or trying to do this thing called life alone?

Pet Pea?

Living with a large family is probably the main inspiration for my writing or perhaps writing and running up and down my country road are the only two things that will possible keep me sane.  My group does inspire me and with the Lord's help, I will remain sane.  My large group was smaller this weekend. The girls and I had some extra bonding time because it was opening weekend of deer season, youth weekend to be specific. 

Banner is a great baker.  She carries on, bosses us all in the kitchen, and loves it when she can totally take over a project and make it her own.  Can you say FIRST BORN child? 

She spent some time yesterday creating a perfectly moist and splendid red velvet cake and then topped it off with homemade cream cheese frosting.  It looked wonderful.  I had to sneak by before she properly unveiled her masterpiece and cut me a small sliver.  She said with her hands on her hips, "MOM, that is my pet peeve."  Sadly, I knew that it was, but I just could not resist. 

Blaise was in her usual spot perched on the bar and said, "Yeah, MOM, that is my pet pea too."  I questioned her choice of words by a raising of one my eyebrows and she confirmed her disgust with using the same exact words again,  "Yes MOM, that is my pet pea when you do that." 

Blaise does this often.  She copies the other members of her family attempting to preciously mimic us all, messing up and mixing up her words just a tad.  She cracks me up every time and reminds me that I too can be off the mark at times with many things in my life.  "Pet Pea" made me think that being close really does not cut it at times in life.  I heard a friend say years ago that partial obedience is disobedience.  She added too that delayed obedience is disobedience.  Ouch, and it still hurts.

If this sounds confusing, ponder this.  You ask one of your children to clean their room.  They do clean one area, but come nowhere close to cleaning the entire room.  Does that work?  Not really.  Maybe you ask your spouse to pick up a few ingredients at the store for you because you have a certain recipe in mind.  Does it work without all of the key ingredients?  Probably not!  Does pay the bill by Wednesday work if writing the check is delayed and it does not happen until Thursday or Friday?  I don't think so. 

When the Lord tells us to do something, we need to just do it.  That quiet nudge, soft whisper is meant to lead us and guide us.  Maybe it is a phone call you need to make, a friend who needs to hear from you, a relative who needs your forgiveness, or a sin or habit that you know to simply obey the Lord about.  The time is today for any and every type of obedience. 

Nothing makes me happier than an obedient child.  Life at home and work is so much more fun when everyone just does what they are supposed to do.  Life is not very fun for me when I am in charge if I am faced with disobedient people all around me.  Imagine for a moment how your Father in heaven must feel... when you obey, he is happy and proud of you, knowing that your good decision will lead to a blessing.  When you disobey or delay obedience, He must think..."Why?  Why?  Why do you make this so hard on yourself?"  He must feel frustration just like we do when our love ones are not obedient.  

Today, doesn't just take a step in the direction of oobedience, but obey fully. 

Jeremiah 7:23


"but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you."

Oh, I want my life to go well!  This must be the key.  This is GOOD NEWS!

Strong tower

I've had this visual of the Lord for a few years now. He is a pillar. He doesn't move or change. He's firm and grounded. He's forever stable and forever faithful. It goes with Proverbs 18:10. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe."

When I feel confusion and wonder if the Lord is present, overwhelmed and tired without a clear thought to stand on, or like a chicken with my head cut off running around to and fro, I only need to remind myself that I am the one running, circling, and changing.

The Lord has not changed! He is CONSTANT!

A look, a prayer, a silent plea in private to my Father and I back in connection with the Creator of the universe. That settles my soul, quiets my mind, and reminds me that safety is NEAR! I have a strong tower. Do you?

Time for...

Time to stop texting. Time to stop posting. Time to stop talking. Time to stop worrying and calling a friend to make you feel better. Time to stop pointing fingers and placing blame. Time to stop reasoning and replaying events, doctors reports, cure rates, offenses, hurts, words negatively spoken over you, gossip, and what the latest pole says about our nation in you mind.

It is to time to pray and live in faith. It is time to start a LIST in your home of what you are thankful for. Do it as an individual, family, business, club, or team. It is time to enter into HIS gates with Thanksgiving and praise. It is time to remind yourself that the Lord has NEVER turned HIS back on you and that He never will! We live in a fallen world, but Jesus has not fallen. He is alive and well in the hearts of His people. If you do not know Jesus as your Savior, it is time to get that right.

Let our words and worries for our local community and our town cease. Let our prayers begin!

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Faith is knowing Jesus is present when the trial begins. We have to, as believers, stop panicking at the first and grumbling through a trial, then praising our Father at the END that He was faithful. Let's begin to pray through the hard times, trust Him all along the way.

On the visual here, we as a community of believers need to go for option #2.

#1 is better than nothing, but 2 is living with FAITH!

Time to pray today and move forward in faith!

Fishing

I was running today and had a few thoughts about fishing and how it ties into life. 

Life takes patience.  So does fishing!  Some people are better at the game of patience.  Some people are experts at just sitting back, watching peacefully, taking in the scenery joyfully, and waiting for long periods of time with little or no action.  Others have to go out and make something happen!  These may be the Hillbilly Hand Fisherman, the ones that do not wait for a bite often and would literally go out and put the fish on their hook if they could.  There is no such thing as WAIT for many people, especially in the instant, drive-through culture we live in today.  (I am in the instant group often I must admit.)

I have seldomly been fishing with a group when there was not also a game of musical chairs or the GRASS LOOKS GREENER going on.  Around here, land or pier, if someone catches a fish, everyone else wants to move to that "honey hole" as we call it.  In life, we often want what others have.  We think their job, family, children, talent, clothes, house, land, toys, etc. must be better and wonder what would happen if we could just move on over into their territory and have a go at it.  Chances are that even with different surroundings, you would still be YOU and your life would still be YOUR life, meaning you would still have some green grass days and some days where the grass needs mowing, watering, and tended to, much like our relationships. 

Back to fishing...I am like a bobber at times.  Yes, I am and might I say a "busy, blonde bobber."  I have knowingly allowed myself to be CAST out into waters that I know are dark, destructive, and that quite honestly have no business in.  I have bobbed up and down when I could have still been safe and sound on the pier basking in the sun of my Lord and Savior.  Does this make sense at all?  Even if I am a believer in Jesus and I know I am one of His saved, chosen children, I have still allowed sin in my life and at times knowingly.  I am not and will never be perfect until the Lord calls me HOME to live with Him in heaven, but I also can not give up on holiness and aiming to live more like Jesus and less like the world.

Is there a logical solution to not bobbing? 
1.  YES, stay out of the water. If you have a weakness that the Lord has helped you identify, stay away from it.  Don't expect to be able to sit on the top of the water and just CHILL. You have, we all have, an enemy that will be in the dark, under the surface, lurking with an ugly scheme, and he will bring you down if you allow yourself to venture into his territory. 
2.  Don't compare yourself to others and think...well, at least I am not like so and so!  That type of reasoning means that you are already in unsafe waters and most likely beginning to bob.
3.  Understand this:  Your bobber will not be taken down for the same reasons mine will.  We are all different, made up of different DNA, behaviors, experiences, addictions, habits, etc.  Every believer in Christ must be willing to be honest about their own weaknesses and learn to avoid the places, people, stores, situations, and occasions that could cause them to change from a person of strength into a person of weakness.  When we are weak, we are susceptible to bobbing, being taken out, pulled under, hooked, and eventually destroyed by the hurt that is always a consequence of sin.  There is grace and forgiveness, but sin is always painful.  Ask the Lord to show you personally what may, can, will take you down.  I read Psalms 139 often and focus on the last few verses.  It is a guarantee to show me what the real story in my life is when I read it, sit, and listen to the Lord.
4.  Keep this in mind:  My former pastor at LHBC in Dallas, Mark Farish, said years ago "If you are on a diet, don't go in a donut store."  What words of wisdom those are!  They are profound words of wisdome and relate to my thoughts here well.
5.  When you find yourself on the edge and tempted to venture BACK into the old habit or sin  pattern, hit the play button in your mind and speak the Word out loud.  My last bobbing experience could have been avoided with these: 

John 16:33 says "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome this world."   

"Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and He will come near to you."  James 4:7-8
 
I am loved, I am chosen, I am a child of God, the Lord has plans for my life.  (something my kids and I say daily on the way to school.)

Every believer will be tempted, face trials, and engage in a spiritual battle.  The good news is that you are not alone.  Come near to God and He will come near to you. 

I pray today we all take a step away from what can bring us down and a step in the direction of Jesus. 

Last volleyball game, one team!

There is Something pretty amazing about being in my OLD junior high gym watching the 7th grade girls play Mexia and now watching the 8th grade girls warm up.

The varsity volleyball girls just strolled in to watch and parked themselves, still in workout gear and with schoolbags, in the bleachers. So cute!!!

It is almost like the older team couldn't stand it. They just got up and went over to stand on the other side of the gym to be closer to the 8th graders and support them in their "Pregame" activities. Some dance, some just smile, some grab wild serves and gently toss them back to an 8th graders.

I just munch on popcorn and take it all in. There is laughter, music, and lots of conversation

Teamwork at its best is when different age groups are all together supporting each other, setting an example for each other, and knowing that really we are one team! The example being set here today makes me so thankful that I live in and am blessed enough to raise my kids in Fairfield!

I call it unity. I pray for unity for family, school, church, and community. We are building more here than just good teams. We are building lives together. We are called to build well!

Will you help someone today build well and show them Jesus?

High school students: you are building a younger persons life whether you realize it or not because they look up to you!

Teachers: we build lives daily! May the Lord fill us up so we can overflow...even at 3:15 when we are tired!

Parents: ask the Lord to help you build today with love and kindness.

Support someone today on your TEAM and show them that you LOVE them by the example you set.

One note

Over 2 years ago a friend taught our lesson in Sunday school and passed around a handwritten copy she had jotted down when listening to a preacher. The notes were a numbered list of how to deal with conflict. I subbed that year and made a few copies of the note and passed it along.

Just this week my daughter's teacher mentioned the note and how it had helped her. I told her I could only take credit for passing it on. I was amazed at how the true words handwritten on notebook paper were still being passed around and used, nothing fancy, just TRUTH.

I know that the Bible tells us that the Word is powerful over and over again, but I realized that when we share the Word with others that amazing things can happen. So often we pass on gossip, our opinions, a tell it like it is text, a facebook comment, a critical word, or even just a little "jab" as my husband calls it. Let's face it: those things are NOT of the Lord and will never bring about anything worth a flip.

However, a word, note, verse, or even copy of a sermon or devotional will never be lost or forgotten. It may sit on a shelf, in a file, or in a book, but when it is found and read, it will bring LIFE and HOPE to the one reading it. Isaiah 55:11 says "so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.".

Just a coincidence?

Last Friday I had to make a trip to Atwoods in Corsicana to pick up a few tree stands for the Monico boys. On the way out, I spotted a larger than life canister of PIK-NIKs, otherwise known as "The original shoestring potatoes. ". I bought them for Bosque because they are usually his snack of choice when we run into Rob's. I pondered the purchase and decided that he deserved a treat since his foot had a head-on collision earlier with a scorpion in the kitchen.

We walked out of school that afternoon about 4:30 too pooped to party and he said"Mom, do you know what I really wish I had for my snack today...some pick-NIKs". I nearly fell out because he had no clue that sitting in the back of my car was a can of then waiting on him. I thought...what a blessing! I was in the right place at the right time and made my kid's day!

Another one today: a friend came by the library and shared with us that her DR had recommended a extensive and complex procedure. I told her about my easier one and my DR. The phone rang and another friend standing there got a call from her DR about the same simple procedure that I had just mentioned within the last 2 or 3 minutes. Suddenly there was another option for our friend in need and it seems to be a much simpler solution.

Simply conversations of coincidence? I don't think so. I see it as divine intervention! When was the last time you had someone on your mind and the phone rang with them on the other end of the line? The Lord is at work. We must recognize it.

When the next challenge comes up or mood turns "sour" like mine did tonight, remember how the Lord has orchestrated the details in the past and that He will again.

Psalms 71:17 says "Since my youth, O God, you have taught me and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.".

Keep on declaring and He will keep on working!

Light it up!

Blaise got some new socks that are supposed to glow in the dark. They have to be activated...go figure! They are activated by light. She had out her Dad's high powered flashlight yesterday trying to charge them up! I am ashamed to say that I am not sure of the final outcome, but she sported them today in high fashion.

Her little light shining on the socks reminded me that we all have a light to shine. Jesus is the real light. He is the true source of all light, but uses us to do His work. He desires to shine through each of us.

I have seen people all around me shining today. Banner, the oldest Monico, was shining bright when she nicely encouraged and helped the crew get ready this morning. Grandparents were shining at volleyball games and the elementary students were shining today at the pumpkin patch. Bosque was my shining light tonight because he helped pass out food here in Fairfield and said when he is a teenager and can drive, that he will be driving up to town on Mondays to help.

Your light is either on of off, have you invited Jesus into your heart?

Maybe you are the only light around at home, work, or school. Shine bright because you may be responsible for witnessing to those closest to you

We all shine in different ways. Don't compare yourself to others! (Personality Plus by Florence Littauner helped me learn this.)

Check out Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala to get your light brighter if you feel dim.

Blessings to you today. SHINE!

Sprained ankle

Two kids today at work had ankle issues. One was a young lady who had been to physical therapy and had cute, hot, pink tape to give her support. The other was a young man who turned his ankle in P.E. and had a miserable look on his face.

Both took me back to 3rd grade to the old high school gym and fourth quarter of a Little Dribbler's game when I am sure I had the greatest JUMP SHOT ever recorded in history.  I went up, shot released, followed through just like I had been taught, and came down...landing all wrong on my ankle.  I know I heard a pop, break, fracture to say the least.  After ice and elevation, I settled into the fact that I had a sprain.  I have never gotten over that one.

A verse that keeps on coming to mind since my attention has been drawn to ankles is Psalms 18:43 "You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn."  Have you ever felt like that for whatever reason you needed some extra help or a broader path?

Anytime we are walking with the Lord, not being perfect because we will never be, but seeking Him and spending time with Him in His Word, we have a promise.   He promises to stay with us at all times, guide us onto the right path, and even make the path broader when we may start to stray!  I love it!  It gives me hope and feels so good to know that in basketball I may turn an ankle again, but walking with the Lord and on His path for my life, I am safe and sound.

Coffee filters: MIA

I try to get up a few mornings a week and start the coffee for Branden when he is in the shower at 5!!! I stumbled in here this morning and nearly gave up on my task when I could not find the coffee filters! I searched high and low. I finally carefully rinsed out the old one and used it, making a decision to tackle the game of hide and seek in the daylight later and after I had a little more rest and some coffee. I decided to put off what needed to be done.

Oh! How often I do that! I put off paying bills, weeding my flowerbed, and even cleaning out the oven which today nearly set off the smoke alarms. However, the list just mentioned are things that can be put off! They can wait.

There are some things in life that CAN NOT wait. I'm dealing with a personal one now, not fun, but necessary for my survival and if the Lord is ever going to really have His way in my life!

Maybe I am the only one who has THAT ISSUE holding them down, keeping them in bondage, and popping up every now and then? I'm dealing with mine. I mentioned 2 weeks ago that I wrote out new notecards for my kids and was claiming in faith a verse for each of them. I'm adding one today for me! And... I better get up now and find the coffee filters.

The dog mess

My Bosque has been blessed with a strong sense of smell, at least on some days we call it a blessing when things in his surroundings smell pleasant! Today that was not the case because he discovered some dog mess on his shoe right after we left the house.

I am glad we were early to school because I had to do a major operation on his shoe before he would go into school, being suspicious of even the slightest odor. He prides himself on his personal care and covers himself from head to toe in AxE body spray every morning before he leaves the house so the dog poop odor was not going to cut it.

Right after I finished the "mission clean shoe" and sent Bosque on his way, I saw an ex student that I knew was moving today. I was able to stick a paper towel made card for him on his mom's window to wish him luck! It struck me that a blessing came to me because I was delayed at school and had to take care of the mess!

This week has been so humbling for me! The Lord is reminding me day after day to take care of my own personal messes in my life and that His blessings will follow. Such a humbling thought to think where I would be without Jesus in my life! I guess a MESS!

Flashback: Sam's & Outback

After a lazy, relaxing day yesterday without much physical or mental activity, My mind and body seemed to have worked all night in my sleep to make up for it. I was a waitress at Sam's here in Fairfield and the Outback in Arlington all night long. I woke up tired and frazzled because, like all nightmares involving waiting tables, I was the only waitress with a restaurant full of hungry, impatient guests. I frantically ran around all night in my sleep.

My first thought this morning was fact or fiction? Was I a part-time teacher or a busy, stressed out waitress responsible for an entire restaurant all by myself? My feet ache just thinking about the miles I would have to cover or that I did cover last night in my slumber.

Ah, a sigh of relief. The dreams were fiction and I still have my HOPE that I can do the job that is set before me today. HOPE because even when my plans fail, I goof up, or I allow my little world to become too busy, the Lord will hold me up and will not leave me alone in my own nightmares.

Dreams of falling, life failing? This is a promise from Psalms 37:23-24: "If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand."

Washing the windows

Today I decided to spiff up the windows at home.  No, not all of them, but only the ones in the big room that drive me crazy when the evening sun comes in and it looks like we are trying to create window art with random dirt patterns.  I really thought when I completed the outside work that my job was done.  I skipped on in and was surprised when I discovered that my job was really just beginning.  The windows were dirtier on the inside than they were on the outside. 

Oh, inspiration in rare form and as usual, a thought came.  When we look at a problem in life, an unresolved issue, a conflict, we usually think, assume and even suggest to everyone involved that the problem is NOT an "inside" one or one with us, but the problem is an "outside" issue, like outside of ourselves and not our fault, but someone else is to blame.

It is really easy to place the blame elsewhere, cast the stone, or call the other party involved the dirty one!  This happens at work, home, in families, and with friends.  Most women think that IF only our husbands would change...life would be perfect.  Men do the same, can't let them off of the hook here.  Students blame the teacher and the teacher blames the kid.  Co-workers blame each other and brothers and sisters refuse to own up to any wrongdoing! 

I am learning when conflict arises to look inward and at myself first.  I studied Luke years ago and Luke 6:41 really hit me hard then.  Now, it comes back to mind.  Jesus is speaking and asks "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"

Do you have conflict or unforgiveness in your life that you have easily blamed on someone else?  If so, maybe it is time to really analyze and decide if the source of the problem was an "inside" or an "outside" job.  This may help you see your true role in it.  Don't just sit around then with a clear view of the truth, do something about it and make it right! 

Relationships are made right and can only survive when we see the plank in our eye and then DIE TO SELF! 

Next week will start with a FUN blog.  This one is tough.

Big T

For those of you who knew Big T, no explanation needed. For those reading who did not, he was a larger than life, big man with a big heart. The Big T chili cook-off is this weekend. My crew will go some. I guess my son, Brazos, has Big T on his mind because he wrote about him in a poem today, thus inspiring my blog for today. My kids loved Big T and the way he would effortlessly sit on the back porch here and shoot the bull with them.

Gary P. Nunn coined a phrase about Big T years ago that is worthy of some thought. Gary said "Big T is all give and no take." We should all take note and make life more give than take! Jesus himself said it is better to give than to receive.

I read a book this week to kids at school called The Pumpkin Runner by Marsha Arnold about a man who won $10,000 in a contest and only kept enough for some new overalls and boots. I asked my students what they would do with the money if they had won it. I was amazed: I heard give to charity, the children's home, a cancer patient, church, and even to an older sibling wanting to go to college.

That's all give and no take! That's the key to happiness in life.

One problem, one play, one pitch

Sitting here at the table helping Bosque w subtraction and he has to borrow! He gets ahead of himself and starts crossing out numbers trying to borrow before he even knows he has to. He has torn a one inch hole in his paper from erasing. He can't seem to go one step at a time!

I'm watching the Rangers and can't help but think the players and their fans may suffer from the same issue as Bosque... Not being able to just deal with one pitch, one out, one game at a time. I already had myself at the World Series again and now there may be a play off game Friday to decide their fate.

Humans tend to struggle with taking one day, one play at a time. Our minds go to what's next instead of what's now. We worry about what COULD happen and rob ourselves of present joy!

There are many scriptures that teach this. Today I will go with the one that hangs in my hallway: Be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10.

Take a deep breath and say it out loud!

Be still, rest in the fact that God is God and live life one day at a time, one play at a time, one problem at a time!

Pressing on...

Why is it that somedays just seem to flow and others, well... They seem like a fight or like a disaster, a total nightmare? I sure don't have an answer, but I do know that hard days are usually days that we are run and ruled by our feelings and that life is just so full of questions we could just scream! My better days are the ones that I keep my feelings in check and focus on the truth. A truth that will always give me some pep in my step or some HOPE in my day that seems to be absent of HOPE is this one "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Hebrews 3:12-14.

Praying today for those who need the HOPE to press on. Our only goal in life has to be a relationship with Jesus and life here on earth with Him, followed by eternity in heaven. If you need that, ask Him.

Give a word

Sitting here at Baylor Dallas for my 6 month check-up, sipping my familiar coffee, hot chocolate mix that used to soothe my tummy when it was in knots.

A husband sitting just to my left uses a walker. He is the caretaker for his precious, elderly wife in a wheelchair. The nurse helped them get to their room. A man behind me just whispered to his wife, "You aren't worried, are you?". I am able in this present state of great health to just take it all in. People look at me like I am too young to be here in my Eagle volleyball Tshirt and tennis shoes.

I just met a new nurse of Dr. Copper's who was super sweet. We talked baseball, kids, and marriage. Now I sit and wait. I can hear Dr. Cooper's voice in the room next to me practically begging a man to eat more. I hear him suggest daily banana splits, only at a cancer hospital would you hear that.

My goal of the day here is to encourage someone with a smile, a word, or maybe a door held open. We can do that everywhere we go, you know. An encouraging word is free and easy to give at work, the grocery store, school, or especially at a place like this where lines of worry seem to frame everyone's face.

I silently pray...Lord, let me encourage someone here today. Maybe even my doctor who lives and breathes in this cancer filled place everyday of his work week. May my good health fill him with a needed dose of hope.

My mind is on this search for someone to encourage obviously because of where I today, but also because Bosque, my 8 year old, encouraged me last night. When we were unloading the car last night after a road trip to the Ranger game, he looked up from the pile in his arms that he was struggling to tote in and said, "What would we do without mom?". That simple question from the mouth of a babe was all I needed to keep me going. His kind words motivated me and I perked up. I plan to motivate and encourage someone today! I'm on the hunt. What could I possibly to today that would have more meaning? Nothing!

Proverbs 16:24 says pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the souls and healing to the bones.

Proverbs covers what negative words, gossip, and lies do as well. Let's just save that for later.