Blogging Tip: Leave A Comment

I'll not soon forget the day when a blogging acquaintance e-mailed to tell me that I had been the answer to a prayer she'd prayed that very morning!

You see, I'd been to her blog earlier and read some of her recent posts (I hadn't been in a while).  I left a comment or two on ones that had been meaningful to me. By doing so, I had no idea that I'd stumbled into the stream of her earnest request.

A short time later, I found an e-mail from my friend saying that I could not have any idea what my comments meant to her that day. For that very morning, as she got up, she asked God to please have someone leave a comment so that she could know for sure somebody was reading her posts.

When Sulo found a notice in her inbox indicating someone had been to visit and left comments, she was so happy.  As she put it... "What did I see... your e-mail with the comments -- an answer to my prayer as a confirmation. What more proof do we need to believe God hears our prayers? Aren't we so blessed to have such an awesome God who cares about even minute things like page-viewing!"

Wow.. humbling to say the least to realize I'd been the answer to Sulo's heart cry. And, to realize how easily I could have ignored the little urge to go visit that morning when she came to mind. In my view it surely was a glimpse of heaven in a most unexpected place -- for both of us!

Surely this is a timely reminder of just how valuable our comments are to each other. This is not to trip guilt when we can't or don't wish to leave a note. But when we do feel a rising up in our heart in response to something written in a post, a few words in reply makes the heart connection we are all looking for complete.

For me, that is what blogging's all about......

Hugs,

Brenda

xox

 

Letter in the Post

 

Dear Beautiful Friend,

What a lovely morning. Lots of storms and rain these days, but also lots of beautiful sunshine and hot weather. 

There's a cool breeze blowing in my window as I type and it feels sooo refreshing.

Earlier I thought I heard the finches in the backyard. We had families of them nesting in our neighbourhood this spring and a few still hang out around our feeders. Oh, and there I hear the chickadees... they are cheeky, aren't they?

In my own inner world, I have been in a place and space of 'emptying'. It was only a few weeks ago that I realized that turns out to be my focus 'word' for 2012.  Emptying.

I've been getting rid of junk and also good stuff that has become 'excess clutter'. I'm finding we no longer need or want it. And I've not only been letting go of physical material things, but old mindsets and habits and other useless heart musings. The emptying, clearing out process has helped me to see that I've also 'dropped stitches' of some good and wonderful habits, ideas, and projects that I once had in my life... and I see how vital these are -- for my happiness and those around me -- to pick them up and re-integrate them into my present life. Things like playing the piano, doing some new needlework (I've been looking at crazy quilting), hosting special tea parties for friends...as well as choosing to give thanks and be happy in all things, bar none.

And to my surprise, I am also in a space to relinquish ownership of many books that I've enjoyed and been nourished by in the past. It seems that it's time to move forward. Make room for the new. Not be afraid that I'll 'lose' something in the letting go. After all, those sentences I underlined and pages I've starred are already in my heart and a part of my DNA, so I don't always need to 'keep' a whole book for what already is 'me', yes?

Oh my... how easy it is to chat on e-mail. I find e-mail a most freeing expression for me. Remember when the two of us could 'cut a rug' of conversation in a short swath of time using this modern technology. That back and forthing of words in a flash across cyberspace that nourished and encouraged and made us laugh or think more closely.

Yes, that's another area I want to pick up and cherish again... to write letters, both the pen and paper kind as well as the e-ones. E-mailing with that come-as-you-are kind of writing... which, in fact, Huffington Post bloggers recommend that's how bloggers should post. Mmmm.... guess I'll take that back to heart too.

It's been a delight to think about you, dear friend, and to wonder how you are doing. Now I best be off.

I'm steam cleaning my living room/dining area carpet (one day that carpet is coming out and being replaced with something easier to care for). With all the furniture out of the room, I am feeling quite free and light. It's as if I'm seeing that I don't 'need' so much furniture.

For a few days, or maybe even longer, I feel like I'd like to live as if I were at that beach house Ann Morrow Lindbergh wrote about in her timeless book, Gift From The Sea. You may recall where she describes how little there is in that little shelter and yet it nurtures and protects and gives room to breathe. Of course that's a summer time feeling, isn't it? In winter we like to cozy up and snuggle. But in summer, we long to let the breeze in and be nurtured by the expanse of it all.

Oh... I did start off to say good bye. On that note, I am off now! Best get to that carpet.

Here's wishing you a WONDERFUL day, dear friend!

Hugs,

Brenda

xox

Photo source:  Graphic Fairy

Please Note: This post was first written as a email to a dear friend.

It turned nicely into a blog post. 

We're Off Catching Glimpses

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” ~ Henry James

Summer's calling me to come out and play...

so we away for a few days.

See you soon!
Brenda
xox

Choosing A List of Twelve Books

It is evening here and I just finished brushing my teeth (hope that's not too much information), but there I was minding my own business, as it were, when a wild out-of-the-blue thought careens through...

Which actually sprang from an earlier thought of how I tend to read so many books that it's sometimes difficult to keep the details and facts straight in my mind about who said what and when -- especially when I'm trying to convey this great story to someone else. Rarely had such problem in the past, but maybe there is just too much information I'm trying to stuff in there without giving thoughts room to breathe or time to settle in and get comfy before I shift my eyes to the next book.

So here comes that out-of-the-blue thought... about reading less, and giving myself more time to really focus on one book or one author or one topic at a time. So that I could pay attention to what I'm reading and really think through the ideas, stories and themes presented. Either letting them become a part of my DNA with those 'aha' moments...or...recognizing that no, that's not for me and gently discarding it.

What if, for whatever reason, I was only allowed to take twelve books into the next year, which ones  would I carefully choose to pack for my journey? Knowing that these twelve books would have to carry me through 365 days -- and nights -- of entertaining, informing, teaching, encouraging and inspiring me. I can feel you shaking your head.... believe me, so am I.  Surely that isn't possible!  Only 12 books in a year?  That's one book every 30-31 days!

But just think about it -- it could be a perfect opportunity to slow down, to really take time to hear what the author is saying, to let it change our hearts or clarify our thinking. Maybe it would reveal something about ourselves we've never noticed before. Or maybe we'd start to hear the nightingale that lives in our heart and we'd realize we've been feeding it monkey food and we need to start feeding it proper nightingale food. 

With my toothbrush back on the holder (I must have put it back, I'm not holding it anymore), I flew to my desk, as I could feel a posting bubbling up.

So here it is... plus the faltering start to my list. Hmm... is the Bible considered one book, or would I have to choose a particular book within it?  Oh dear.  If I can't take the whole thing, then maybe the Books of Psalms for encouragement and comfort, the Book of Proverbs for wisdom, and the four Gospels (to set my eyes on the life and ministry of Jesus since He's the perfect image of how I want to live my life).

Definitely some pencil chewing, tap-tap-tap, screwing up my eyes to think better, gazing out the window where the sun has long since set.

So, as I think further on this and start to listen to what's in my heart, what would you begin adding to your list of twelve? That is, if you can imagine such a thing and if you'd be willing to ponder such a challenge.  How hard would that be for you to choose just twelve?

I look forward to hearing from you!
Brenda
xox

 Photo source:  Lilac and Lavender

   

Press Restart and Begin The Day Again

Do you ever wish you could just start your day over? There are days when something gets off on the wrong foot and it doesn't seem to get better as the day progresses. There are days when you wish you could just start over ... in computer language, reboot and begin again.


I'm in the middle of reading The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith. Mma Ramotswe finds herself thinking about a similar thing. She's bothered by they way a certain situation is unfolding in her day. She can't stopping thinking about it, but recognizes brooding over what's going wrong is not the way to make it better: One never gets anywhere with anything that way.

On this particular occasion, Mma Ramotswe decides the day would just have to be 'restarted'. She and her assistant in the detective agency, Mma Makutsi, get away from the office for awhile, each deciding what specific thing will 'restart' the day and make it a better one for them.

Mma Ramotswe knows a peaceful drive into the countryside will bring balm to her unsettled mind. And Mma Makutsi knows shoe shopping will be a great way to 'restart' the day and make her world right side up.

"...Each of us needed to find just the right way to take our mind off our problems, and it did not matter what that was---a drive in the country, an expedition to a shoe shop, a quiet cup of tea under a cloudless sky; each of us had something that made it easier to continue in a world that sometimes, just sometimes, was not as we might wish it to be."

I know a drive into the country would work for me, as would a quiet cup of tea. Shoe shopping? Not so much, but drop me off at a used bookstore and we can happily while away an hour or two, totally forgetting all that ails our thoughts. It would be the perfect 'restart' button for me.

Now I'm wondering, if you wanted to restart a day gone awry for you, what would turn your world right side up?

Wishing you a beautiful day,

Brenda

xox