Love others as much as you love yourself.  Matthew 22:39

Hello Dear One,
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        I am praying that you have a truly joyful week.  I try my best to love and serve my neighbors.  I really do!  But as I have been writing the past few weeks, too often I serve from an empty well.  Growing up there was never much money—no savings. On payday my mom would go to Isalys.  They had the best chipped ham ever!!!!  When she got home from the store, we made sandwiches with one slice of ham.  Did you catch the part where I said “chipped ham?”  Then we would add leaf lettuce and tomato from the garden.  I often longed for just one more slice, but that pound of ham had to last a week.  I could have one glass of milk a day at dinner.  No seconds. And, we only used the good dishes on Sunday when we had company.  And I had Sunday shoes which I was never allowed to wear to school.  “Save them for good,”  my mother often bellowed.
 Recently, I have been trying to learn to relax without feeling guilty and indulge a bit.  Last night I had a breakthrough.  I have lovely coconut body wash and I pumped it three (3) times, instead of two.  I felt deliciously naughty. Imagine my delight.
 Life is supposed to be lived joyfully. I am asking you to treat yourself better. Our needs do not always have to be last on the list.  Indulge!  Splurge!  Drink your tea from the good China cup.  Live dangerously and use four sprays of body wash. You are a child of a King, act like it!
                                      Linda

​Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.                                                                                                                                                      Luke 6:35  
Dear Sweet Friend,
            This morning I called you my sweet friend.  I know that in your heart you are loving and merciful.  This week, be kind to everyone, including yourself.  Life is tough and everyone is going to make mistakes.  It is part of being human. And we are not all alike.  We come in many colors, races, religions, and sexual orientations.  We are human, all together, one family under God.   And it is not our job to judge others.  Choose what is right for you, for your family, and allow others the same opportunity to live their lives as they feel led.  Let’s lift others up.  Reach out your hand.  Do what is right.  Racism is ugly.  Sexism is ugly.  And pointing fingers is ugly.  Let us not accept hate speech.  Love and accept others who are trying their best to get through this very day.  Bend down and lift up your brothers and sisters.  Love lifted me. God’s mercy and grace saved me.  And we are called to “love one another as I have loved you.  By this they will know that you are my disciples” (John 13: 34-35).  Let others recognize that you are a Christian by your love. 
                                    Do and say what you know is loving and merciful always,                                                                                                                         Linda

Behold, I am making all things new.                                                                                                                                                             Revelation 21:5                                                                           
Good Morning, dear friend,                                                                                                                                                       
       Last week I wrote to you about allowing myself time to just “be.”  And Madison Taylor, whose writing I adore, wrote this week, “Consider that relaxation should occupy a prominent place on your to-do list.”  God is speaking!
What I didn’t fully explain is that I am delving into a life transformation and learning to relax and enjoy this season is close to the top of my list. I am feeling deep in my soul that God is calling me to renewal.  My oldest son who is 50ish, a personal trainer, and nutrition expert is teaching me about “new” findings on healthy living. As a teenager, he was addicted to clean eating, steaming broccoli for a snack when he came in on a Saturday night.   I clearly need to get him a DNA test to make sure he is mine.  LOL. He has suggested and nagged me for years to make changes in our diet, cleaning products, etc., and informed me of how chemicals and pollution are having negative effects on our health.  So, I am finally listening.  I am embracing renewal.  So, dear one, I ask, “In what area of your life is God calling you to renewal.”   It’s a new day, new adventures await!                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Enjoy your life.                                                                                                                                                                     Linda
 

​I came that they may have and enjoy life. . .John 10:10
 
Hello Dear One,  
            Many years ago, I came across this interesting word:  Anhedonia.  It is a French word coined in 1897 by psychologist Theodule Ribot and means the inability to experience pleasure.  Those suffering from depression or other mental disabilities may actually “fear pleasure.”   They feel that if they for a moment enjoy their life, disaster is just around the corner.  While life certainly contains bumps in the road, it is important not to get stuck in the rut.  Life offers many pleasures as well. 
            I have been known to be a workaholic.  Probably stemming from my childhood when more than once my mother caught me lying on the glider staring up at the clouds daydreaming, and I got reamed out.  Wasting time, that’s what she called it.  Time to daydream in my marriage and while raising two sons, working and attending college, there was barely time for a quick shower.  Perhaps, if I had valued sheer delight more, I would have found more me time. But better late than never.  Jim is on the mend and needs less assistance and I stopped teaching; still pastoring, but only six months of the year.  And wa-la, time for pleasure.  I am reading material that interests me and not work related. And, hold on, I have discovered Netflix and have been binging on a series which shall remain nameless because it is valueless, but super funny and entertaining. So, I ask you, “What are you doing for sheer delight?”  Give yourself permission to enjoy your life.  Now is the time, today is the day.  Daydream.  Just let your mind wander.  Enjoy some down time.   Am I enjoying my life to the full and overflowing?  No yet, but I am on the journey and it feels so good.  Make time for pleasure, you deserve it.                                                                                                                  Linda

​ I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. . .                                                                                                      Psalm 139:14
Hello Friend,
          Tomorrow is Father’s day.  My dad died over twenty years ago and yet I ponder:  “What pile does my dad fit into?”  I didn’t have that father-daughter relationship of which sappy movies are made.  He was a World War II veteran who made a difficult transition into family life.  While he never talked of his war experience till very late in life, clearly as a young man seeing his best friend blown to pieces right in front of him and slaughtering the enemy would leave a haunting impact on his soul. Not one to display any emotion, he was stoic and unavailable.   Yet, I believe he did his best and isn’t that about all we can ask of others.  I was reading a favorite blog and saw this picture.  I really believe to my core  that it is time to stop sorting people.  We are humans making our way through a complicated existence called life.  We are  going to make mistakes.  We are all going to fail others and ourselves.  But we also have our good days when we are loving and kind.  Let’s extend grace to our dad’s tomorrow.  And then, accept God’s grace for ourselves.  No relationship is without its hiccups.  Acceptance of “what is” and not wishing otherwise brings a great sense of inner peace.  Praising God for all Father’s today,  Linda

Each one should test their own actions.  Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else. Galatians 6:4-5
Good morning beautiful friend,
        This morning I have a question for you.  How often do you look in the mirror and say to yourself, “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”  Don’t be so quick to say, “Me, Never!”  My bet is that you do.  You may not be taunted by the Wicked Witch, but those devil thoughts do come often to mind.
         Be real with me.  Those thoughts that say, I could be happy “if only” if were skinnier, blonder, taller or younger threaten our contentment.  Are you drowning in comparisons?  No jealous thought is ever life-affirming.  James 1:15 tells us that comparing our looks, social status, finances, etc., actually leads to death.  Death of peace.  Death of self-confidence.  Death of joy.  We can’t celebrate the life we have been given; we can’t celebrate our uniqueness if we are coveting another.
        Friend, this day, I want you to know deep in your heart that you are beautiful, gifted, and deeply loved by God.  You are the best you, precious in God’s sight.  Look in the mirror and smile.  Celebrate you!
                                          Loving you always, Linda



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​8 Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [[a]in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. 1 Peter 5:8
Dear Worried Friend,
          Recently, I had friends for lunch and we were discussing the topic, “What you don’t know about me.”  One sweet friend confided to the group that she spends hours at night fretting about things that may or may not happen in the future.  I get it.  On some level we all have anxiety about the unknown--what might happen someday.  That word “someday” is the real culprit.  It results from our failure to live in the now. Another way the devil steals our joy is when you and I focus on a current problem and give it way too much power.  We put that issue front and center in our mind.  We allow it to grow so big that we can’t see everything else around it.   When we worry about the future or blow a problem out of proportion in the now, we miss the joy that Jesus promised to each of us.  Jesus affirmed that in this world you will have tribulation, BUT, be of good cheer. 
          Friends, I implore you, don’t allow satan to suck up all of your joy. He will devour you if you allow those anxious thoughts free reign in your mind.  Choose joy.  Make up your mind to find little bits of good in this world.  When it is raining in your life and in your mind, raining fear, raining anxiety, raining doubt, choose to look for the rainbow.  Tiny miracles happen every day. When dark thoughts loom, memorize a life-affirming scripture.  Call a friend and ask for prayer.  Your emotional balance is at stake.  Do not suffer alone.  Reach out.  I promise you that joy will come knocking at the door of your mind longing to come in and stay.  It is okay to welcome joy. Tell satan to get behind you, you are trusting God for a sunny day.      Linda