Let the Dead Things Go

This.  I fell in love with this quote.  It's time to pay attention.  Pay attention to the changing seasons around us.  Life is so full of seasons.  The obvious outdoors, but also of love, friends, circles.  Life, death and decay exist in all levels of our seasons.  And we must let each season have it's time.  When relationships are alive, let them live.  When relationships are dying, let them die because it is only after death that decay happens and allows new life to spring forth.  And that new life only makes us stronger and more empowered.  It grows and blossoms more richly and more beautifully than ever before.

A beautiful friend told me days ago it was time to move on from a dead situation.  To just live.  No what ifs.  No regrets.  And I think he was right.  Now, we can't ignore our circumstances and just hope for the best.  We have to face them, daily.  But if we face them with the knowledge of what season they are in, we will be able to see the loveliness of the changing of the seasons and be free to live, stronger and more empowered.

Reality slapped me in the face this week.  Not the typical get off your butt and get busy, you're running late kind of reality.  But the reality of something so negative that had filled my life for so long it eventually took over until I was like a dilapidated building ready to implode, which I did.

The irony is that the old reality that camel slapped me in the head is no longer my reality.  Because you see, I come from a long line of Hughes' with really big heads.  Literally.  And a camel slap to me is just another day.  An occupational hazard, you might say.  But I was forced to be strong and face this reality head on.  (No pun intended!)  And you know what?  I did.  I did not try to revive and bring that dead reality back to life.  And although I was nervous and shaking and scared, I let the strength of the new life growing in this season take over and burst through the decay that was trying to keep me suffocated under it all.  And I told it to go and not come back.  And when that old reality walked out of the bar where I was working, I slumped to the floor and released all of the suffocating death and decay still lingering.  And with the strong hand of a friend, I got up off the floor, wiped my eyes, and took a deep breath of the new life I am embracing, stronger and more empowered than ever before.  And I realized something.  The old, dying reality?  It will only continue to get weaker until it is completely decayed.  And the new life in me?  It will only continue to grow in a richer environment through that death and decay.  And it will be beautiful and strong and vibrant.

I am entering a beautiful new season in my life.  I love the circles and relationships and new life happening all around me.  I choose to let the dead things go and let new life spring up.  Pay attention to the seasons, my loves, especially this one.  Let the trees show us how lovely it is to let the dead things go.

Love Leaves Legacy

Have you thought about the legacy you're leaving?  What others will remember or see or think about when you're gone?  What your children and grandchildren will have that you left behind?

Dictionary.com defines legacy as:  something handed down or received from an ancestor or predecessor.

So many times in society we hear stories about children who inherit massive amounts of land or business or money, left as a legacy to them most times by their parents or grandparents.  Sometimes, as in my case, since I still haven't found my rich, dead uncle, what we perceive as legacies are more simple items, like antique tools or gadgets used by our grandparents that we hang on the wall or continue to put to their original purpose.  I don't see anything negative about either one of these types of inheritances we leave to our children, as long as they are taught the respect and responsibility that goes along with it and don't become just a spoiled, wanting-for-nothing brat.

But... yep, here I go again... are those things really the best legacy we can leave for our children?  Don't get me wrong; things left from generations ago are great.  My house is full of them and I love the memories they carry along with knowing my grandma or grandpa used to use that exact item, probably on a daily basis.  Those items help keep the past alive and keep me grounded.  But when it comes down to it, do others see the real legacy left behind in those things hanging on the walls of our homes?

Albert Einstein had another view:  "Never regard study as a duty but as an enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later works belong."

R. Alan Woods said about Einstein's quote in his book, The Journey is the Destination:  a book of Quotes with Commentaries, that Einstein was referring to his legacy he left behind for future generations to help benefit them in their own daily walk through this gift of life given us by God.

I am a firm believer in leaving things better than we found them, helping to pave the way for our future generations (no handouts, just guidance!), as what we leave behind will be what our children will have to work, clean up, enjoy or throw away.  A quote I've heard many times says, "We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."  I've said before that we have a God-given responsibility of being caretakers of our earth.  Just another part of a legacy -- how we leave our part of the earth that we walked upon for our children.

But what about our moral legacy?  A legacy of love or faith or tradition?  When you're gone, what will folks remember most?  What stories will they tell?  What am I doing to ensure I'm leaving more than just things for my daughter?

Do you want to know what humbles me more than anything?  Then read on.  If you don't, then skip the rest of this paragraph.  What humbles me most and brings my heart to it's gut-wrenching knees while at the same time raising my hands in awe-struck wonder and praise is that I have been left the most amazing legacy that could be imagined.  By the grace of God, through faith, I have been left a legacy of love.  Christ's love.  He died for me!  What a legacy!  And the absolute best legacy in the world that I can leave my daughter is that same legacy of God's gracious love.  Love leaves a legacy.

What are you leaving behind?

Change

Another change is soon upon us.  September is more than half over, the weather is dipping for a few days and fall is technically here with the feel of if just around the corner.  I've already seen folks decorating with colored leaves, acorns, pinecones and scarecrows.  I used to be one of those people.  Now I just kind of let nature take over my yard.  You know, the scraggly, weedy, totally natural look?  That's me!

Living on a farm and being a farmer, we are used to change and I think being a farmer prepares us well for change.  We are used to the fact that change is a staple of life and changes are thrown at us daily.  The weather changes, animals' moods can change our plans very quickly, birth and death both bring changes.

But change can be a beautiful thing.  I don't ever want to be one of those people that loathes change, falling into the "same-old, same-old" routine, becoming stagnant in my life and daily awareness and learnings.  If we choose to honor change, we will walk with it hand in hand and be able to work with what we're handed.  If we choose to curse change, we may ourselves be cursed with misfortune.  By understanding the powerful grip that change has upon our lives, we can accept it with respect and grace.  By respecting it, we can embrace it.

I choose to embrace change.

Worthy

I love spending time outside at night.  Warm weather is easier to stay longer, but even on the cold winter nights, the crisp air brings a sense of peace to the night.

I'm a big stargazer, though I am not very learned of the constellations and celestial objects in the sky.  But just the awesome magnitude of the never-ending sea of stars and cosmic bodies makes me feel such a part of something so magnificently wonderful and sometimes so unworthy at the same time.  Such a small speck of grain in such a vast desert.

Truth is, we're really all unworthy.  We're born that way.  But the story doesn't end there; it's only just beginning.  We may think we're unworthy, and by society's standards, may fall into that web of lies.  But the real truth is that we are worth more than we can ever imagine.  Not financially or socially, but soul-ly.  I know, I just made up a word.  Don't let it distract you from my thoughts! :) The thing is, the cosmos, the celestial objects, the millions of stars, all the way down to the plants, the mountains, the seas, these things were all created for us.  They were created for us because even though we may feel unworthy, we have a purpose, and every one, no matter our wrongdoings, has a worth that we cannot comprehend.  We have a worth that is not judged by human standards or opinions.

The question of our worth is one that has been asked for centuries.  Psalms 8:3-4 says,

I look at your heavens, which you made with your fingers.  I see the moon and stars, which you created.  But why are people even important to you?  Why do you take care of human beings?

 Fact of the matter is, we are all worthy.  I know.  I just contradicted what I said a moment ago.  Hang on.  Just as the stars and moon were created, we were also created, each one of us unique and completely different from any other.  Unique.  Extraordinary.  The only one of our kind.  And, just as the stars and moon worship, we were created to worship.  (If you've read anything I've written, you've heard that before!)  All of creation was created to worship (see Psalms 148), and when we don't, He misses us.  He made us in an amazing and wonderful way, and we are worthy.  We are worthy, because we are loved.  Loved with an unfathomable love.  Loved no matter our circumstances, our nationalities, our status, our wrongs.  We are loved.  And because we are loved, we were deemed worthy before we even knew we were unworthy.  We only have to accept it.  The heavens declare the glory of God, day after day after day.  When we, too, declare His glory, worshipping through song, prayer, meditation, whatever, we will begin to glimpse our worthiness.

You are loved.  Don't be missed.

Spiritual Cancer

When the Cornerstone Bank in Waco, Nebraska, was robbed of some $6,000 in November of 2012, the bank employees were able to give the police a fairly good description of the teenage girl who pulled off the crime and the car in which she escaped.  As it turned out, the investigators didn't really need those descriptions, because the thief recorded a YouTube video titled "Chick bank robber" boasting of her criminal prowess.

Fanning out the cash in front of the camera, 19-year-old Hannah Sabata held up a sign that read, "I just stole a car and robbed a bank.  Now I'm rich, I can pay off my college financial aid, and tomorrow I'm going for a shopping spree."  Later she held up another sign which said, "I told my mom today was the best day of my life...she just thinks I met a new boy."

Hannah's brief criminal career ended later that week when police took her into custody.

Just like Hannah's immodest boasting quickly caught up with her, we are warned against the dangers of what many Christian and religious teachers agree is the utmost evil:  pride.

I've opened up a big ol' can of worms, haven't I?  Condescension.  Superiority.  Snobbery.  Imperiousness.  Overbearingness.  Haughtiness.  All synonyms of arrogance and pride.

I think we're all familiar with the knowledge that by delighting in ourselves and our accomplishments, rather than taking pride in the fact that we were able to please someone or God and leaving it at the fact that all is well, is where we can fall into the trait of becoming condescending, in turn becoming unreasonably arrogant and prideful.  And if we fall to the point of not caring what others value or think of us because their opinions or ideas are of no consequence to us, then we have reached the epitome of the worst pride.

C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity,

The real black, diabolical Pride comes when you look down on others so much that you do not care what they think of you.  Of course, it is very right, and often our duty, not to care what people think of us, if we do so for the right reason; namely, because we care so incomparably more what God thinks.  But the Proud man has a different reason for not caring.  He says "Why should I care for the applause of that rabble as if their opinion were of value, am I the sort of man to blush with pleasure at a compliment like a young girl at her first dance?  No, I am an integrated, adult personality.  All I have done has been done to satisfy my own ideals - or my artistic conscience - or the traditions of my family - or, in a word, because I'm That Kind of Chap.  If the mob like it, let them.  They're nothing to me."  In this way really thoroughgoing Pride may act as a check on vanity; for, as I said a moment ago, the devil loves "curing" a small fault by giving you a great one.

I believe it is an easy trap for us to fall into as humans.  It's our nature to be proud of our accomplishments, of who we are, where we come from and to boast of such things.  It is not as easy to have humility and meekness.  One of the biggest ways we can start to accomplish this, though, is to stop talking and start listening.  I've always heard that God gave us one mouth and two ears for a reason.  To talk less and listen more.  A trait of a sincerely humble person is one that is genuinely interested in what you said to him, not in telling you how his way is the right way or the only way.  Generally, these are cheerful, intelligent folks who are able to easily enjoy life and I believe the reason is because they are not thinking of themselves.  There is no perfection trying to be achieved.  They know perfection on earth is impossible; we can only better ourselves as we work toward our life's main goal of Christ.  As Leo Tolstoy once wrote, "An arrogant person considers himself perfect.  It interferes with a person's main task in life -- becoming a better person."

In Muhammad Ali's heyday as the heavy weight champion in boxing, he had taken his seat on a 747 which was starting to taxi down the runway for take off.  The flight attendant walked by and noticed Ali did not have on his seatbelt and said, "Please fasten your seatbelt, sir."
He looked up proudly and snapped, "Superman don't need no seatbelt."
Without hesitation she stared at him and said, "Superman don't need no plane."


"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."  Proverbs 16:18

Choosing Joy

Joy is often thought to be the icing on the cake for what makes life worth living, but what happens when we seem to lose our joy?  Like there's no real purpose, every day is filled with the same old, get up, go to work, come home, go to bed, do it all over again tomorrow routine?

We are all human, and life is daily full of choices.  Many of those choices we must make whether we "feel" like it or not.  Like going to work on Mondays.  I know I would love to have a day to sleep in way past the sun coming up and then when I wake up, roll over and stay in bed for the next four hours.  While I do love sleep, that's a bit unrealistic and not a healthy choice.  And besides, I know several animals that would be a bit upset if I didn't get up and take care of their needs every morning.  So, even when we don't feel like making that choice, we make the choice to get out of bed and go to work, even on Monday morning.

Joy is one of life's choices we must make.  We can be going through a rough time, having a bad day, ready to quit, but if we choose to trust the situation, we will surely see that the end of the circumstance holds promise.  Or, we can avoid joy, reveling in our negativity, complaining that life is full of sorrow, depressing, and full of despair and we will be destroyed by it.  It's a choice.  And we have the freedom to choose.

I am reminded of the life of Corrie ten Boom, whose entire family was arrested and imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps for harboring Jews in their home in the Netherlands.  She wrote much about the months she and her sister survived through three separate camps, and even after the death (from illness) of her sister, the continual joy in every circumstance was her choice.  She chose joy in a Nazi concentration camp.  And her joy became contagious.  She did not let them steal her joy.  What faith!  After a clerical error released her from the infamous Ravensbruck concentration camp only days prior to every other female her age being executed, she wanted to share what she and her sister had learned in those camps:  that "there is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still."

You are a treasure to God.  A person who has forgotten what God treasures will not be filled with joy.  Are we going to trust that life's circumstances, painful as times may be, hold promise?  Or will we be filled with despair and let it destroy us?  I need to take this one step further, though, and tell you that choosing joy is not just a choice we must make.  It's a command.  "Always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Whatever happens, give thanks..."  ~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18  Puts a little more pressure on the choice, doesn't it?

Every day we face choices.  Every day we choose to get out of bed and face the day.  Don't face the day without making the choice for joy.

"Joy does not simply happen to us.  We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day."
~Henri J.M. Nouwen

Living Life Forward

Have you ever thought about your story?  How you got to where you are now?  We all have one.
 And most are filled with many, many chapters that seem like they happened an entire mini-series ago.

There are chapters of joyful, wonderful times that we openly share with everyone.  You know those times, all the happy pictures and posts on Facebook, the times with family and friends, the new jobs, the goals reached, the exciting events in life.  We're happy to share those times with everyone.

And we all have chapters that we'd just as soon have deleted, though they don't necessarily defeat us, more just annoy us.  You know what I'm talking about.  Those not-so-good choices we made that our mothers still have included in the family encyclopedic photo album.  Those somewhat embarrassing times that we thought were quite grand at the time and now look back and think, "Wow.  That was stupid."  You know, like really big hair, really bad clothing styles and really bad boyfriend choices.  But mom won't tear those pages out of that photo album, so we live with the more-than-vivid memories when company visits and laugh it off to young ignorance.

And then there are those chapters of shame.  There may not be actual photos of these times, but the  memories in our minds are just as clear as if they happened yesterday.  The life-changing events that we didn't expect, the choices made hoping to please someone we loved for what we thought was the right reason, the times of loss, defeat, heartbreak.  The times we'd just as soon forget completely.  The shame and regret and feeling of total unbelief that we trusted so completely, loved so passionately, and didn't see the signs pointing to the coming failure or loss.  The 20/20 times.  The times that when we look back, we can see clearly with 20/20 vision what was coming, but we were so infatuated with the moment we didn't allow ourselves to see reality.

Each chapter has it's importance, many times for later use.  It can be a lesson for us to learn, sure, but more importantly, it can be a lesson for us to share.  If we will approach each chapter in life as a lesson to be learned, we will be inspired, able to focus on living a courageous life, and ultimately become unstoppable with God's grace.  We must not allow pride to get in the way, but we mustn't be ashamed of our chapters, for each one has a purpose.  And if we will allow it, God will take our chapters, forming them into a beautiful story, and use that story for His glory.

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward."
~Soren Kierkegaard

Working for a Bigger Purpose

Labor Day. A time to honor the "American labor movement and contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country." ~Wikipedia

Labor:  physical or mental work, especially of a hard or fatiguing kind; toil. ~Dictionary.com

 I believe true happiness and contentment can only come when we are able to love and enjoy what we are laboring for. For me, that comes from remembering why I was placed here. I believe I was put here to be a caretaker of God's creation. I think we have removed ourselves so far away from that in society these days. We're too busy keeping up with our schedules, so we'll let the tree-hugging, charitable types take care of creation. Or nature. Or the woods and forests. The animals and people. That ought to be enough, right?  Throw some extra change in the plastic jar at the convenience store. Set up a monthly debit to my favorite save the trees and animals charity. 

Personally, I believe the purpose of my labor is so much bigger than that. And it's when I am able to focus on that bigger purpose that I am most content. At peace. When I start worrying about keeping a lot of people happy or what others think, that's when I lose my focus of that bigger purpose. I am not convinced it's my job to save the world, change the world, feed the world. I am convinced that it is my job to work hard, be productive, and be a caretaker where I am. When I am focused, then I am content and feel the effects of a job well done.  

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20  Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart. -NIV

These Hands of Mine

These hands.  I used to have pretty hands, I was told once.  Office job hands, manicured with polish and nary a callous.  Hands that for years played piano daily, agile and limber, soft to the touch, not rough and hardened.

Today these hands tell a different story.  They have learned to be strong with a gentle touch, learned how to feel the most intricate parts and pieces of equipment and tools, learned the feeling of the onset of mastitis in an udder while milking, to feel a fever through the touch of an ear, how to gently massage pain away, the ability to grasp a 50-pound bag of feed or a 50-pound trace mineral block, and the indescribable feeling of an unborn calf still in its mother's womb.  And yet today, these hands completed a task they had never yet before done.

Today these hands reached for heaven as I prayed for wisdom with all my strength.  The wisdom to understand my animals.  Their feelings, their pains, their happiness, the reason for their actions.  And I believe I was granted that request.  Today, my hands completed the task that I knew must be done from that wisdom.  Today, my Abigail told me through that wisdom that it was okay.  She was tired.  And hurting.  And as she placed her head in these hands of mine, I felt her blessing to complete the task that I knew must come.  And in that moment, these calloused hands with their cracks and roughness became the soft hands of a mother soothing her child.  And as the task at hand was completed, these rough hands of mine held her head for the last time as she slipped quietly away.

Rest in Peace, my precious Abigail.

Stepping Stones ~ Finally Seeing Out Loud

Instead of asking, "How could she do such a thing?", why not try asking, "What was going on behind the scenes that was so hard she felt she had no other choice but to do what she did?"

Okay.  I'm being silent no longer.  I have broad shoulders, I am a warrior and I can put up with a lot, but I am tired of being continually used as a stepping stone.  Some of you may remember what I am referring to.  For the rest of you, and as a reminder and a good read for us all, I'll be including my Stepping Stones article here.

Many months ago, I was told by my husband that we no longer had a marriage, merely a business relationship.  Not being sure exactly how to handle that realization, I was ready to leave.  But I didn't.  That thought went against every moral fiber of my being.  So I prayed harder.  And kept myself even busier with our businesses.  If you are familiar with the movie Fireproof, then you are familiar with The Love Dare.  It's 40 days of actions starting with more simple ones graduating to more difficult things to help fireproof and strengthen your marriage.  It's not only for struggling marriages, but for anyone wanting to strengthen their relationship with their spouse based on faith in God.

The Love Dare?  I did it twice.  80 days plus.  I prayed, I journaled, I poured my heart and soul into those little thoughts, reminders and actions every day.  When I asked my husband what he wanted from me, he told me all he wanted was for me to be nice to him.  My response was that anyone can be nice to him, but I was his wife.  There should have been more.  After 80 days, things were still the same.  Oh, they were a bit more pleasant, I guess.  The niceness was there, but there was no more love or kindness.  I guess that had already died long ago.

For the last couple of years, though, there have been business as well as personal things happening in our lives together that I didn't agree with.  When I asked why there was never any conversation about those things, I was told I was very verbal with my opinions, there was no need for discussion.  Apparently my opinions didn't matter.  And that was verified when a previous relationship became more important to him than the one I was striving to make better.

The blinders slowly started to fall off.  I was realizing more and more that I had become what so many others that had passed through our ranch and our lives were.  Stepping stones.

A little over two months ago, I left.  Abruptly.  With my belongings that were mine prior to our marriage of 16 years and my Jersey cows.  My daughter, Taylor, has been my stronghold, and was actually my encourager to find myself again and rise above.  She left with me and we are together, breathing, laughing, and rising above.  I'm finding myself again.  And I'm seeing life out loud.

There have been many rumors circulating around the crowds that know us.  Most are untrue or half truths, as rumors will be.  But the biggest, that is the furthest from the truth, is that I have already replaced my husband.  First of all, I left merely two months ago.  I would hope if I was replacing him that I would be smart enough to take more time than that.  Second of all, you all know me better than that.  I guess maybe you could say I replaced him with me.  But there has never been another man throughout my marriage to him and at this point, I certainly don't look for there to ever be another.  And trust me, I'm okay with that.

I have been through every level of a failing relationship that exists.  Disbelief, denial, anger, sorrow, fear, and finally, acceptance.  And, no, I've never completed a 12-step program, so I imagine there are more than those emotions and actions I have named.  But, as I stated earlier, I am a warrior.  The release of all those emotions and actions has been more phenomenal than anything I have ever experienced.  I cannot count the number of people that have seen me the last couple of months and tell me I look ten years younger or I'm glowing.  And it has nothing to do with happiness, for I believe you can choose happiness.  It has to do with healing.

When a toxic person can no longer control you, they will try to control how others perceive you.  The misinformation, stories and lies are unfair, but you must stay above it and know that other people will eventually see the TRUTH, just like you did.

I wrote my Stepping Stones article in response to a Facebook post that was probably the one thing that brought my situation to complete awareness for me.  These are my words, from my heart and soul.  And only the beginning of my story.

~Stepping Stones~
I have never understood how one person can truly believe they are solely responsible for their own success.  Hang on, all you entrepreneurs (that's kinda funny since I was recently told I wasn't of an entrepreneurial mindset -- ha!).  I do believe we make our own paths.  But, that path is always lined with others who haven't quite "made it", not because they can't or won't make it, maybe because they're just not rising to the top as quickly as others.  But those not rising as quickly to the top inadvertently seem to become stepping stones to success for others.

It's a sad but true fact.  And I'll be the first to admit that it can feel as if your soul is being ripped right out when you realize you've become one of those stepping stones.  Just another tool along the path for someone else's success.  No credit given, no respect, thank you or pat on the back.  Just the knowledge that you've been used up, stepped on and left behind.

When we realize we've been that person, that stone, it can bring all sorts of emotions to light, some we never knew we really even had deep down inside.  Hate is a very strong emotion, and I don't believe I've every truly felt it, but I can imagine this strong feeling would be close.  Bitterness, ugliness, rage all rearing their heads, all fueled by unbelief.  Unbelief that one person could and would be so emotionless and so wrapped up in themselves, so full of arrogance that it makes no difference the persons that are being used for stepping stones, as long as their goals and dreams are coming to fruition.  Because people get hurt in the process of rising to the top.  Success equals survival of the fittest, right?  But when it comes to the point that those people being hurt are the ones closest to us?  It's a funny thing how sometimes questioning a person on their rise to the top about their morals, ideas, goals or reasons why they are pursuing these dreams suddenly makes the relationship with that questioning person become toxic in their minds.

Once our "stone" person comes to these realizations and can muddle through part of the negative emotions brought on, they begin to see things in a much more enlightening way.  They've seen many other poor souls fall victim to this insensitivity and toxicity brought on by our stone stepper but brushed it off to life's experiences and just being hardened by those experiences while still being a good person overall.  Truth is, stone steppers are full of their own insecurities though they hide them well.  The chips on their shoulders are filled with the praise and admonition of those who have only met them on the surface and can only see their self-proclaimed successes, which, of course, are astronomical and unattainable by any other mortal.

I've known hard people in my life.  Folks hardened by life, experiences, failures and sins unaccounted for.  Hard life experiences can lead to success if you can admit to those failures and sins.  I've also known well a man who is admittedly never wrong.  No matter what.  No apologies.  Just never wrong.  Now, a single person might get away with this attitude for a very short while, but only because of their single status.  Once a commitment is made to family, this belief cannot be further from reality.  Families are units.  Plural.  Not a bunch of single people fending for themselves.  Opinions, ideas, thoughts matter.  Everyone is involved.  Everyone.  It's not a high school principal corralling a bunch of hoodlum kids.

Arrogance destroys relationships.  Arrogance destroys families.  Pride will leave you all alone, even surrounded by your stepping stone fans and admirers.

Okay.  There's a bright side.

I choose to not be left alone.  I am surrounded by truth and loyalty.  I am surrounded by a sisterhood of girlfriends who share the same passion for life and family and friendships and faith.  And that loyalty runs deep.  Deeper than any arrogant stone stepper could ever understand.

Here's the thing.  To the stone stepper, I may have been a stepping stone on his way to success.  But in reality, I am a ROCK.  I am strong.  I am flexible.  I am resilient.  And I am full of faith.  A renewed faith from withstanding the storms of being stepped on, kicked around, dug up and plowed under.  My rough edges are continually being smoothed out by those storms.  And one day I will be a polished, exquisite stone, unparalleled in beauty to the stepping stone I once was.

Do I regret being used as a stepping stone?  Not completely.  For it is only through the storms of life that we can become a solid ROCK.

Blessings ~ d

One Solitary Tree

I love trees.  I love plants and flowers, for that matter.  But trees are different.

They're majestic.  One solitary tree standing atop a high hill or a wide, open pasture demands respect and honor of all who see it.

They're comforting.  Trees provide shade from the heat, protection from the wind, and a good hiding spot while playing hide and seek.

Trees can make you feel one with nature, if you just listen and look.  Have you ever felt the sway of the branches of a majestic tree and felt your cares blowing away with the wind?

Some trees are more beautiful than others.  Some trees I dislike very much.  Like those nasty thorn trees, which we have an abundance of on the ranch.  Sure, they provide the same shade and protection, until you get too close and smack your head with one of those evil huge thorns sticking out from the trunk.  Then they're not so nice.  But, I suppose they have their purpose.

Some trees are not so beautiful in appearance, but more so in purpose.  Like the tree in the photo.  This is my tree.  Not the prettiest tree on the ranch.  Definitely not an evergreen or beautiful flowering tree.  Nothing special about it, really.

But, you know why it's my tree?  Because of what's under it.  What makes this tree so special is that is provides a canopy over the final resting places of some of the most special critters on the farm.  Our Farm Dogs, and one pretty special cat, that have completed their lives here on the farm, doing their jobs, guarding their animals, protecting their flocks, and being our best friends, this is their final resting place on the farm.

I love this tree because when life gets too overwhelming, when I need a place to reenergize, cry, laugh, or just pray, this tree is where I go.  And I sit and lean against that tree and talk and reminisce with my favorite buddies.  It's a place I can sit and I can look around me in all directions and not see anything but nature.  No distractions.  Nothing but trees and pastures, creeks and ponds, hillsides and valleys with animals grazing.  Being there, surrounded by miles of nature, brings a unexplainable peace to my heart and soul that I find nowhere else in life.

There's nothing but solitude under my tree.

I love that tree.