Time

(for every season)

I have been thinking alot about time lately. I really don't know why other than I am doing a biblical study on "Resting in Him". Last week I spoke on Stress. I seem to be an expert on that. But more importantly as the stress increases in my life I realize I need more of Jesus. I need to spend more time with Him. This week I will speak on "Knowing your Season". The biblical reference for this is Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Time is mentioned through out these verses.

Is time important? Is there a time for everything in life? What time is in my life now? What Season am I in now? What seasons have I been through? Besides Baseball, Football and Basketball?

My theories are many on Seasons. I guess I would be somewhat of an expert on the 4 Seasons. Considering I've been through many Seasons spiritually and physically. Oh and to contemplate these and write about them are somewhat a mixed blessing.

So here goes my take. Fall has been amazing in my life. It's one of my favorite seasons. I wish I got married in the fall. In October. It would have been awesome. If I did, it would have been the one time I actually listened to Bill. (nah, just kidding) It's a time for gathering, preparation. I love the colors of fall. I love the newness of things for me. At this point in my life a new Bible Study usually. The kids have new teachers. The squirrels are invading my world more frequently and dropping nuts on my car.

Winter is bleak, barren, nothing grows. I remember all the stagnant years of my life. Where mentally and physically and spiritually I had been clueless. Nothing was happening. I remember loosing that first love. It was winter. I hate going through winter but I realize we have to. The benefits of winter are few for me, but I do like snuggling down with some hot tea or coffee. But when I do I begin to ponder and think about the how bleak and dreary life can get.

Spring is too busy for me, that is my crazy season. Yes I am a nut job. Ah but the sun is finally out and winter is over. That is what I like most about spring. I'm finally renewed, getting it. Breathing. It was always the hardest for me to be inside especially when I was at school.

Summer is rest for the busy season in my life. But not really, that's when I fill my life up with as many activities that I can do in the nice weather. It's when I do what I call my secular reading. Yes I enjoy books in the summer that are not too Christian. Summer is when I go to Belize and catch up with my friends there.

There is a another season in my life, it's called "Now". I realize that right now, I wont ever be able to go back to that now. It's over forever. I realize though there are 4 physical seasons there really is many other seasons that happen in our Time Span of life. And at one point it was "Now" but not anymore. Oh how I savor the nows, and the yesterdays and the yesteryears but I look forward to many more nows and many more years and what God and His agenda for my future has in store for me.

25 Random Things about me

1. I love walking on the Beach, either alone or with a good friend.

2. I was a wedding singer. Sang at many weddings.

3. I sang a duet with my husband at our Wedding.

4. I was a grandmother at 45.

5. I have seen Pride and Predjudice at least 10 times. And I would watch it again.

6. I love the Lord with all my soul, mind and heart. I can't wait to get up into heaven.

7. I like Jazz. And I love to hear Alto Saxes.

8. My pinkie toe is curled in and looks deformed.

9. I jumped about 35 feet into water in Belize.

10. I've been skinny dipping.

11. I've sang at few funerals and at one that I sang at I broke down in Tears.

12. I worked in Psychiatirc and drug ward.

13. I got married at age 19. It was the best thing I have ever done in my whole life.

14. I love to take pictures of Random things.

15. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, thats assuming I would grow up.

16. I been to Belize doing missions trips since 2003, and I have friends that I miss now.

17. I have trouble sleeping at night, even when I work hard at trying to sleep I still can't sleep.

18. I took Latin in Highschool, why I don't know.

19. I was in drama group called the Storm Troopers and I played Pinkus in "The Front Page"

20. I used to play softball 3 nights a week. And I was good, very good.

21. I once sang a duet with a friend and we both stopped singing at the same time and cracked up for the same reason, the piano player played the wrong note. And we had a fairly full house.

22. I am married to my best friend in the whole wide world, Bill, he is my soul mate. We talk every moment we get a chance to. And my favorite thing we do together is pray. We have been married for 26 years. And if I had to do it over again, I would do it in a New York Minute.

23. Okay I confess, I didn't do well training my kids, you think Now that I have dog, I can train Him.

24. Spent 2 weeks in Italy

25. I've been Scuba diving in St. Croix and snorkling in Belize. I horsebacked through a rainforest in St. Croix. And I've seen and experienced the Grand canyon in person.

Borrowing with Pleasure!

Okay, I want to blog something today and I am a list person and love them. So I borrowed this list from Gail, http://silvermine.blogspot.com/ who borrowed it from http://an-authentic-life.blogspot.com/2009/01/100-things.html . who borrowed it from http://kaysthinkingcap.blogspot.com/ So needless to say if they can do it, so can I. The bold highlights are all the things I have done! And for the benifit of the reader, I even gave comments.

1. Started my own blog (encouraged by Someone)
2. Slept under the stars (In Belize on an Island)
3. Played in a band. (Yep, I was a wedding singer)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower ( I was invited to one that never happened by my Husband before were married)
6. Given more than I can afford to charity (It's those darn starving kids, they get me all the time)
7. Been to Disneyland/world (Too many times)
8. Climbed a mountain (Cannon in New Hampshire and a Mountain in New York too)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo. (Many, Many times)
11. Bungee jumped -(I have no desire)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea (On that same Island in Belize)
14. Taught myself an art from scratch. (I learned how to play guitar myself)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. (climbed lots of stairs)
18. Grown my own vegetables. (Only to have them eaten by wild animals)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight (while laughing my head off)
22. Hitchhiked (don't tell my mom)
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill. (Those of us who do call it a mental health day)
24. Built a snow fort (with my loyal dog Misty at my side when I was a little)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping -(At the pits in Wilton)
27. Run a Marathon (In May of 2001 in Vermont)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (Yes with my Husband)
29. Seen a total eclipse (Yes, Magnificant)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (I have pictures to prove it)
31. Hit a home run. (SWEET)
32. Been on a cruise (Carnival to the Bahama's)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community (February 2008)
36. Taught myself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (I'm always Satisfied)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person (was in Italy didn't make the trip opted for the Uffizi)
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David (His hands are so big)
41. Sung karaoke. (in a Lunch Bar in Belize)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (Many times, for many reasons)
46. Been transported in an ambulance (yep in a car accident)
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person (was right outside it but the Pope died and the Conclave was going on)
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
.51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (Scuba in St. Croix & snorkling the 2nd greatest barrier reef)
52. Kissed in the rain (after an argument about going to ET)
53. Played in the mud (Many times when little)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (Peter Pan & a Mad, mad, mad world is what I remember)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (Duncan and Duncan Plumbing LLC)
58. Taken a martial arts class (Tang soo doo muk duk kwan)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies. (even as an Adult GS leader)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason (Yep, it's called love)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (Yep)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (always by accident)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. ( a mercedes matchbox car)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square. (Not on New years Eve)
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (Toes)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. (Michael Mansfield, he's dead now)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (yes with my two favorite people)
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican (Stood outside of it in the rain, the line was long, didn't go in, the Pope died)
82. Bought a brand new car (many times)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper (Yes, mostly for softball)
85. Read the entire Bible (Close but no cigar)
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox. (when I was 2)
89. Saved someone’s life (Twice, I saved a little girl from getting hit by car again after she just got hit and my mom from choking on a peice of meat on Mothers day)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one (too many)
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone (Yep)
99. Been stung by a bee. (Many times, they love me)
100. Ridden an elephant (why would anyone want to)

And What Have YOU done?

There is a song that you hear almost on every radio station during the Christmas season, the song is Happy Christmas. I can hear now as I write this. Can you? The first few lines repeat over and over in my head. They are written by John Lennon who always seemed to have a handle on the culture. I can't get them out of my mind.

They go something like this:

"So this is Christmas

And what have you done

Another year over

And a new one just begun"

So now that 2008 is over with, what have you done, what have I done?

Did I help someone in need?

Did I sacrifice myself for someone else?

Did I feel someone elses pain?

Did I listen?

Did I hug someone?

Did I give someone a ride?

Did I go the extra mile for someone?

Did I take someone out for Coffee?

Did I go to that wake that I didn't want to go to?

Did I cry with someone with great loss?

Did I step out?

Did I empty my pockets?

Did I?

Did I?"

Did I?

Oh, What have I done? Oh, What have you done?