The Good, the pure, and the lovely

  “Timing Is Everything”   My Perspective Makes a Difference "A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE POND",  discovered and photographed by our middle son. Bible verses often speak to me in different ways at different times. They can be medicine for my soul. But sometimes, it's not the right time for that particular "medicine" (verse or passage). This morning, I read some verses that were just what I needed, but in a different moment, could have leveled me- like a few moments that occurred just last night.  Yesterday was a beautiful day. The day held a rare, special feeling that made it glow like one of the "best days ever”. It wasnt the weather, it was quite uncomfortable around here. And it definitely was not because I was in a tropical paradise, because I stayed close to home and the midwest is wonderful, but it's no tropical paradise! Instead, it glowed because each moment fit together just like it was supposed to, only better. Days like that are rare and preci

Come On a Photo and Word Journey With Me: Taking a Deep Breath , Sharing the Present, Looking Into My Past     Our dog, Marvel, lounging-  with us at the pond. OR ~ A walk through some photos with me while I reminisce and share my thoughts Some of "our growing guys" lounging at the pond. Welcome back. I am so glad you dropped by. For a few weeks now, we (my family and I) weathered multiple cycles of conversing, writing, re-writinig, editing, and publishing as I churned out posts with their support, insight and edititing prowess holding me up. After I pushed through the last large piece, I was not sure what was up next on the blog. As an escape, I dipped into boxes of old photos that needed to be organized and cared for before our move planned for later this summer. I enjoyed looking at the many pictures and, sharing some of them, and I even turned a few of them into "art pieces." I would also love to digitize those photos soon. I found some beautiful ones from my ea

Sunday Where My Heart Is Resting These Days ~A Heart Story That Might Sting Just a Little~ 💜💓💙 💓 💜 Happy Sunday. I hope today finds you blessed and refreshed. Confessions are hard, but I hope that in sharing mine, I can bless you and even myself as I pour them out. Sundays are quite different now than they used to be. I used to put so much pressure on myself to "get everything right" on Sunday mornings that I often missed the blessing or the refreshing/resting, and sometimes I missed both.  In my hurry, scramble and push to show up looking my best and in drive to do my best at home and at church. Once children came along, then having "the children" looking and doing (behaving) their best always trumped, but never took away my scramblings to also have myself appearing cared for. I think that I missed the whole point of Sundays. I admit, I was quite young and naive. On top of that, I took my religion quite seriously. I took EVERYTHING seriously. The reasons for w

Sunday Evening   Happy Sunday Evening. I share with you a photo that brings me joy, happiness and contentment.  I hope it makes you smile today as well.   With Love, Christine ALK+ and happy

  Journey Part 3 - The Conclusions ~  Forgiveness is my key to emotional healing.  ~ I believe that forgiveness and emotional healing aid physical healing. I have been given so much help in the area of emotional healing. Family, friends, Sunday School teachers, pastors, teachers, our awesome family counselor and so many members of my healthcare team continue to support and encourage not just my physical needs, but also my emotions. I have been blessed to also be given forgiveness liberally from others which frees me to forgive more easily myself when I need to.   Forgiving, I learned over the years, is my key to digging out bitter thoughts, angry replies and over time releasing the hurt that drags me back to the pain in my mind. I have 43 years of solid “practice in forgiving”, but please, please don’t ask for my report card.  I hesitate to share that I rarely felt the "feeling of forgiveness" until recently, and that feeling occasionally wavers. That’s the thing about forgi

My Springtime Sunday Blessing 🐦 My recent posts take days and even weeks to write, edit and "publish". Today, I send off a quick "little note" to you. I could not sit through the lesson that blessed me this morning and not offer you the chance to also listen and hopefully be blessed. I went to church today to hear this sermon. I feel as if I waited a lifetime for this. One may wonder, how do you wait a lifetime for a teaching or sermon? I'm not always sure, but sometimes, I just know that I NEED to hear a lesson and it comes at the perfect moment. This moment, I needed this teaching. Maybe, if you have time to listen you may hear something that you've been waiting for too. May you be blessed today. May you rest and gain strength and insight for what lies ahead. May whatever YOU need to hear today be brought and delivered the way what I needed to hear was neatly and delightfully brought to me. The link to "my lesson for today" is provided below, al