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Category Archives: Joy of Life
He Created a Legacy of Beauty
“Mom, I know I am going to be leaving soon when I graduate from college. I have seen the way you light up whenever we give you flowers. I would like to create flower beds for you.” My son Alex and I stood by the lamp post in our front yard as we chatted.
He continued, “You could pick out the flowers you want but in addition to seasonal flowers, we can also plant perennials so they will come up year after year.” His excitement grew as we talked. I looked around. The trees had begun to bud and the soft green of early spring reassured us that winter had gone. It was indeed time to think about spring time planting.
Posted in Beauty, Beauty in Character, Beauty Surprises, Joy of Life
Tagged Be kind, change lives, each kindness matters, healthy relationships, Kindness, kindness matters, love one another, make a difference, random acts of kindness
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Choose Life And Renew Your Hope
“…I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIV)
Daily, we have the opportunity to make choices. God invites us to choose life and the things that bring us life, joy and blessings.
What brings us life? Fear of the Lord in the sense of reverence for God and His ways bring us life. “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.” Proverbs 14:27 (NIV) We often think of reverence as something stuffy, formal and certainly not fun. However, reverence for God means respecting the way He made us and He made us to have fun! Recreation means to “re” create. He meant for us to take time to refresh, renew and “re” create ourselves.
Posted in Be An Overcomer, Enjoy Life, Joy of Life
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A Treasure Restored
“I can’t believe it!” I heard a young woman exclaim as she grabbed the glass Christmas tree sitting on the shelf. “This is exactly like the one I broke that belonged to Grandma!”
I stood in the aisle at our local Goodwill store on New Year’s Day. I had watched her reach down to pick up the glass Christmas tree. She turned to her young son and showed him the tree. Then she picked it up and cradled it in her arms like it was a long-lost treasure.
Her joy captured my attention so I smiled at her. “Well, this is God’s gift to you!”
Posted in Beauty Surprises, Father God Loves YOU, God's goodness, God's Love, Grace, Holiday Reflections, Joy of Life, Restored
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Famous In The Eyes Of A Few
“Mrs. Gibson, are you a substitute for our class?”
“No, I am sorry. Not today.” Her lips turned into a pout.
“I sure wish you’d come to our class.” Another boy told me as we stood in the cafeteria of the intermediate school.
When I reached my 5th grade classroom assignment, a girl ran up to hug me. She looked up at me with a big smile, “You’re going to be our sub today!” A couple of others reached out to give me hugs.
Posted in Joy of Life, Kindness, Mercy, True Beauty
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Give Thanks For Small Acts of Kindness
Yesterday when I shopped in our local grocery store, right when I needed something. a sales clerk rounded the corner and asked, “Are you finding everything?”
I smiled, “You appeared at the right time because I’m actually looking for. . .” and I told her what I needed.
She immediately said, “Well this is over here. I’ll take you there,” Then she told me where the other item was. After I finished with the first one and walked into the main aisle, she came out to make sure I got to the right place for the second item.
Posted in Beauty in Character, Caring for Others, Joy of Life, Keys to Success, Kindness
Tagged good deeds, gratitude, Kindness, random acts of kindness, reducing stress
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Desires Fulfilled Bring Life
Today, I had a lot to do. I walked by my watercolors. My heart longed to stop and enjoy them. Most of the time I walk on because it takes time to get everything out and then put it away. Because of other demands with my work, those creative urges get repressed and leave an an unfulfilled longing.
However, today I decided to apply the 15 minute principle. I pulled out my little travel case of watercolors and sat down and began to play with them. I have taken drawing and watercolor classes before but set those on the shelf for years. Recently, I started going to a watercolor class again.
Posted in Beauty Surprises, Joy of Life, Keys to Success, Stress management, Stress Relief, Wisdom Nuggets
Tagged dealing with stress, manage stress, reducing stress, stress and anxiety, stress relievers
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Nature’s Quiet Beauty Brings Wealth
Birds chirping. Wind gently stirring in the trees. Rich green everywhere I look. This is the nature walk I frequently enjoy along a creek that runs by our house. When I walk far enough down the road into a secluded section, the path becomes more wooded with trees lining both sides of the road.
When I used to walk, I’d often take my iPhone with me to listen to books while I walk. This made my walk for exercise pass more quickly. I felt more productive since I could absorb wisdom and knowledge from the books at the same time on my walk.
Posted in Beauty Surprises, Joy of Life, Nature's Beauty, Stress management, Stress Relief, True Beauty, Wisdom Nuggets
Tagged dealing with stress, keys to success, manage stress, managing stress, nature, nature's beauty, real beauty, reducing stress, stress relievers, true beauty
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Keep Fit and Enjoy Long Life
“These are farm eggs. See how big they are. Daisy came by with eggs today and handed them to me to give to my friend Rebecca. “No one wants them because they’re yellow in the middle. People are used to the pale yokes. Those pale ones have chemicals added to the feed they give to the chickens. These are from chickens that eat grass and whole grain and corn. That’s it.”
” I can’t believe! People don’t want the farm eggsThey would be more nutritious.” 
I opened the carton and examined the big eggs.
Posted in Health Wisdom, Joy of Life, Seniors Having Fun
Tagged enjoy life, exercise, health, manage stress, physical fitness
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