On Sundays I always try to catch the TV broadcast of Joel Osteen.

If you have never listened to him I suggest you do so at least once.

He is the Pastor at the very successful Lakewood Church, in Houston,Texas.

Joel’s message is always a positive message for living and believing in God and all He can do in our lives.  Encouraging us to let go of negativity and doubt that often bring us down.

The message last week was ” Be a Miracle to Someone”.

You can do this in small ways everyday, small things in the lives of people to encourage them or show them that you care can be huge, and life changing.

Pick up the phone and call someone who may be alone or feeling so lonely.

Hug someone in pain.

Smile at someone, say “good morning”.

Listen to someone with your heart.

Buy someone a cup of coffee.

As Joel stated, “don’t just be someone passing by”.

Friday I was at one of my favorite stores, Michael’s Arts and Crafts.  I was in the isle where you would find drawing paper and crayons for children.

A sweet lady came up behind me and said, in a giggling way, “I love crayons”.  When I turned around I realized that she was mentally challenged.  She appeared to be in her twenties.  I replied, “I love crayons too”.  She was with someone who may have been her mother and she was pointing out all the things she would like to buy.

When I was in the checkout lane they came up behind me. Again she kept asking for things and especially wanted an “Angry Birds” coloring book that just cost a dollar. The answer she was given was “no”.

As soon as I left the store I realized that I should have bought the coloring book for her.  I am sure it would have made her very happy.  Why didn’t I do that?

I was one of those “passing by” people.  Oh how I regret that I didn’t do that simple something to brighten her day.

I imagine now how she would have said in her giggling sweet voice and smiling face, “Oh, Thank You”.

If you have the chance, be someone’s miracle tomorrow.

I know I will never miss that opportunity again.

Love to all.

Before my day comes to an end I find peace and joy in writing down my thoughts.

I have kept a journal for several years now and I wish I had done it all of my life.

You can do this anytime during the day, it doesn’t have to be at bedtime.

I journal everyday, but do it when you want to or feel the need, it is not meant to be a chore.

It is so beneficial to me to write down something that is on my mind. Examining a stressful situation by expressing my thoughts and feelings allows me to step back and take a look at what is upsetting me before saying or doing things I will regret. Cruel, harsh words are hard to take back after being spoken.

I try to be as honest in my writings to myself as I possibly can.  It is calming just laying down your worries.

There are so many journals on the market today since journaling is being seen as a positive thing to do in your life.

There are many types, art journals, travel journals, prayer journals, and gratitude journals just to name a few.

One other thing that I do everyday in my journal is to add at least one thing that I am grateful for that happened during the day.

Here are just a couple of examples from my journal this past week.

– My grown son came over to me as I was reading, fluffed my hair, and said “I love you Mom”.  Do you know how many people never have anyone to say “I love you” to them?

– Thankful that we were able to help someone this week by giving them our spare refrigerator that we kept in our garage for extra drinks and such.  These folks are broke and were having to use coolers to keep their food cold. Right now they are lucky to make the mortgage payment.

Being thankful is so very important to loving your own life.

I thank God every morning for another day and every night for the joys and gifts of that day.

Give yourself a gift today of a journal, and give this a try.

Happy joyful, peaceful, journaling!

Today was just one of those days.

I went into my bedroom and passed my cat sleeping in the window.  The window was up, and a breeze was coming in, that was all it took.  I laid down across my inviting, made up bed, and gave myself the joy of an afternoon nap.

If you have not yet explored the joy of afternoon naps, I urge you to do so and discover this instant magic medicine!

For those who work, I know it is difficult, but find the time to treat yourself on the weekend.

You don’t need to justify it!  If you are sleepy, just sleep.

It is like a “reboot”.

It motivates and refreshes us to get up and go back to the things we need to get done.

I have read naps also have several health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure.

Happy weekend everyone, give yourself a “reboot” when you can!

Take an awesome nap!

I was recently visiting one of my favorite blogs and the post of the day was the blogger’s trip  with her husband to Spain.  The photos were really beautiful.

Seriously, I know I will probably never be able to go to Spain. It is not in our budget or something we think about doing in the simple life we lead.

But…….I was able to get away for a few days with my husband to beautiful Rising Sun, Indiana, on the Ohio River. My sister and her husband joined us as well.

I would like to share some of the special moments of our jaunt……

—  We were all sitting outside on a really pleasant evening just talking about this and that, and the talking led to laughing, the uncontrollable kind of laughing we always did as children.  We laughed until we cried!  Remember?

—  I took a “selfie” of all of us!  Only my second one in my life.  They seem kinda silly to older folks, until you take part in one.  What fun!I

—  I just recently started “Texting” and love it!  I can keep in touch with my son during the day, and connect with my dear sweet nieces.

The problem I have is that it takes me forever to complete one line.  Constantly touching the wrong key, deleting and typing over and over again.

I have a feature on my phone that allows you to speak into the phone and it will type your message. I tried it!  What a hoot!

I spoke into the phone and it never typed what I said, and seemed to pick up what everyone else was saying around me. It was as if it had a mind of its own.  When speaking into the phone to complete a “text” to my niece about her father, it ended up saying “he is the fattest”, what the heck, I didn’t say that!  Again, we laughed at what the darn thing was typing until we cried.  We almost wet our capris!

–  As my conversation with my sister continued, we decided to call our brother in New York City.  It seemed like the perfect time for us to connect with him.  We spoke to each other and all said, “I love you, and miss you so much”.  We are criers, and after we hung up, our eyes were filled with tears. Denny is a lovely person, so very dear to us.  He is the baby of the three of us.

Rising Sun, Indiana is not Spain, but I wouldn’t trade the moments we shared together that evening for a trip anywhere.

What a joyful time for all of us!