My Reading Blog

I think of embracing as giving someone a hug.  And we all need hugs.  But, it's also about embracing life - capturing all that makes me, me and keeping it together.  Do I embrace everything in my life - no, there are many things that I don't want to include in that embrace.  But, by embracing everything, good and no so good, that's what makes my life worth living. I think how God has embraced all of us in his loving arms.  He put each of us here on Earth to embrace one another, to serve and care for, to share our faith, to teach and learn.    Lord, help me to embrace with your loving arms so that I can embrace those around me.

It just takes a "moment" to: Reach out to someone Share with someone Care for someone Say "yes" or "no" Make a phone call or send an e-mail Smile Listen and not speak Enjoy the world around us ....The moment possibilities are endless. If we pass up that moment, we could lose out on so much. So let me make each moment count.

To be free - free to be who I want to be, free to do what I want to do, free to do something new and different, free to quit something if I don't enjoy it. I'm so thankful that we live in a country where we have freedom - there are times when people take advantage of this freedom and ruin it for others.  When you hear about the oppression in other countries, we are truly blessed to live in America.  We take our freedom for granted and most of the time we don't even think about being free - unless we perceive something being taken from us. Lord, you have given me the freedom to choose what I want to do.  I ask that you guide me to live my life to be free from sin, free to help others, free to accept others as they are, free to enjoy your blessings, free to share your love.

Live - to experience every moment of every year, month, day, hour, minute, second, nanosecond to the fullest. Life is full of ups and downs, but if we focus only on the terrible or troublesome things that happen, we can't really live it to the fullest.  The saying "Take time to smell the roses" comes to mind when I think of the word "live".  How can we truly live if our lives are so busy and rushed that we don't take time to enjoy the little things? I think it is much easier for me at this point in my life to "live" - to experience those things that I never took time for before.  Did I enjoy my children as much as I do my grandchildren?  Or was I too busy just trying to get everything accomplished?  Did I enjoy the satisfaction of accomplishment in my employment or was I too frustrated by things that went wrong?  Do I focus more on the negative than the positive? We have a sign hanging in our house that says:  "Never get so busy making a l...

Book Cover:The Curtlees are a powerful force in San Francisco, unscrupulous billionaires who've lined every important pocket in the Bay Area in pursuit of their own ascent.  So when the family's heir, Ro Curtlee, was convicted of rate and murder a decade ago, the fallout for those who helped to bring him to justice was swift and uncompromising.  The jury foreman was fired from his job and blacklisted in his industry.  The lead prosecutor was pushed off the fast track, her dreams of becoming district attorney dashed.  And head homicide detective Abe Glitsky was reassigned to the police department's payroll office.  Eventually, all three were able to rebuild their lives. And then Ro Curtlee's lawyers won him a retrial, and he was released from jail. Within 24 hours, a fire destroys the home of the original trial's star witness, her abused remains discovered in the ruins.  When a second fire claims a participant in the case, Abe is convinced, Ro is out for...

When I think of the word "Cherish", I think of something dear and precious, something or someone to put on a pedestal and admire.  I'm sure over the years, I have cherished many people and things, but as I write this, I think that I Cherish my husband, children, and grandchildren the most.  They are what makes me want to keep on going and doing.  "Things" come and go, but family and friends remain steadfast. I see all of the disjointed families in this world and wonder why they are that way.  What makes parents berate their children when it is so much easier to build them up, give them encouragement and cherish them. I look at the joy on a child's face when he/she gets an extra hug or smile or when a parent takes time to read a book or play a game.  I see the joy on the face of a person who is in a nursing home when they get a hug or someone takes time to talk to them.  These are all ways that we can cherish those around us.

When I first saw what the word of the day was, I thought I can't relate to that word.  But after pondering it for a while, I thought about how a mother and father bird so carefully and diligently bring twigs, fuzz, and anything handy to build a "nest" for their soon to be laid eggs and as they sit in that nest on those eggs until they hatch and then so faithfully bring food to those little birds.   We've watched our chickadees do this for several years now and it is amazing how 4 or 5 baby birds survive all crunched into this little space that Mama & Daddy bird have created for them.  And then, in the blink of an eye, they are gone....  And then the process starts all over. In our human way, we too create a "nest" for ourselves and our family.  It's a place to call home, a place to care for our young children, a place for them to come back to when they need to be comforted, and as they get older and have their own "nests", they can still ...