one of the best sentences in the whole world!!!!! IMO

From:

Winne-the-Pooh
~A. A. Milne
Chapter Nine
In Which
Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded by Water

"In after-years he liked to think that he had been in Very Great Danger during the Terrible Flood, but the only danger he had really been in was in the last half hour of his imprisonment, when Owl, who had just flown up, sat on a branch of his tree to comfort him, and told him a very long story about an aunt who had once laid a seagull's egg by mistake, and the story went on and on, rather like this sentence, until Piglet who was listening out of his window with out much hope, went to sleep quietly and naturally, slipping slowly out of the window towards the water until he was only hanging on by his toes, at which moment luckily, a sudden loud squawk from Owl, which was really part of the story, being what his aunt said, woke the Piglet up and just gave him time to jerk himself back into safety and say, "How interesting, and did she?" when -- well, you can imagine his joy when at last he saw the good ship, The Brain of Pooh (Captain, C. Robin; 1st Mate, P. Bear) coming over the sea to rescue him."

My Bubble

I spend almost all of my time in a sphere of like minded people.
Maybe we don't agree all the time, but "If two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary"
Also, for back ground, I'm taking a class called "Woman: Aware and Choosing" (WAC)

I went out last night with some ladies from a whole different life style and world view. It was interesting. Most of it was fine, some was a little uncomfortable. After coming home, I couldn't sleep...I had just eaten a whole cannoli! ;0) So I read in my WAC book. It was encouraging that it said right in there I don't have to justify my choices! to anyone really. I am able to make decisions, but I owe no one an explanation.

My choices are very counter culture.
I stay home and take care of my husband's and children's needs. I teach them. I encourage other mothers in our work. I worship and pray. I typically don't watch TV when I do have a spare minute, and I never eat bon bons. ;0)
Society may say I am foolish to just do these things....I'm not "contributing to our home" because I don't bring in a paycheck. I am crazy to "ruin my kids" keeping them home from school; and what about the poor school that's "missing their money" because they have one less child? Why do I have so many? Don't I realize the world is crowded?
I don't have to give anyone the answers to all of these questions.
Certainly God can be glorified in my answers to some, but I really have no need to try to argue my decisions, nor allow myself to feel bad because people don't understand me. I have a right to choose the intention of the question and the freedom to simply not answer.

That was freeing for me.
I hope it is for someone else too.

Lessons from the Seasons : Summer

With summer in full swing and HOT here in So Cal, I'm compelled to continue the series I started; Lessons from the Seasons.

So far, my summer lesson has been maturity and weeding!

Our plants 'new spring growth' gains in size, strength and color.
We see areas of our spiritual growth start to show baby fruit, ripening, maturing.

We also see amongst all the beauty, the weeds!
No where do I see this better illustrated than my tumble weeds.
I pulled out over 142 from only one side of one of my iris beds...yes, I counted. Where I pulled every little to big sized weed one morning, I found medium sizes that evening! Where did it come from? How did it grow sooo fast?!?

In this analogy, I see 'little' sins in life grow quickly! Maybe you feel you just weeded, but now there's something growing, again. "Take every thought captive" means constant weeding!!!
The good news is that the littler they are the shallower the root; much easier to pull out.

I hope this encourages diligence. Soon the Autumn will come to enjoy the harvest of the promising fruit you see!