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Not Judging

Posted by eph21920 on January 11, 2017 in Answer, Doctor, Family, New, Stranger

My dad had another appointment with the cardiologist today. He doesn’t see his doctor every time he goes, though. When he last saw the doctor, he made adjustments to my dad’s blood pressure medication as they try to get that more controlled. Today’s follow up appointment was with one of the Nurse Practitioners. The office called a couple of days ago to change the time of the appointment. That was fine. Then they called yesterday and said the NP was not going to be available and they would like to schedule him with their new NP. My dad reluctantly agreed, but tried to keep an open mind. I could tell he was nervous going in. The woman he saw was young and pretty and smiled a lot as she spoke with my dad. That helped immediately. She had read the previous notes and was familiar with the changes made to the medication. She fully understood the situation and everything that my dad brought to her attention. She reassured him that he is really doing very well and gave more guidance on the blood pressure issue. My dad felt fully confident in the appointment. When we talked about it later, he said that is why we shouldn’t judge people right off the bat. So true.

I Found God today in a good example of not judging people.

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Don’t Overthink

Posted by eph21920 on January 10, 2017 in Answer, Connected, Family, Job

Each morning my parents and I have been reading a meditation book with a paragraph or two that gives us food for thought to carry throughout the day. This morning the first line was, “Beware of overthinking things.” My dad talked about the importance and need to look at things from all angles before making a decision. I agree to some extent, but I can make myself crazy thinking and rethinking things over and over again. The message was to live in the present moment, not worrying, and putting your attention on God who has you in the palm of His hand. Later in the day, my brother called. He has been taking an online course and has been talking about starting his own business. I was glad we were on video chat so we could see his excitement as he told us that he took the steps to begin his business. He settled on a name, websites, tag line, and description. As we talked, he said that he had recently watched a workshop about getting started and the advice was, “Don’t overthink it.” It was very helpful to him and got him motivated. We figured today’s meditation was meant specifically for him.

I Found God today in my brother’s example of not overthinking things.

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Uprooted

Posted by eph21920 on January 9, 2017 in Faith, Grateful, Problem

Every morning when I open my curtains, I peer out my window and up the window well to look at the top of a tree so I can see what the weather is like. This morning I looked up, but didn’t see the tree top. I had been listening to the wind blowing and as I strained my neck, I could see the top of another tree blowing like crazy. I heard my parents chattering as they opened the blinds upstairs, so I went up to take a look. There was my morning tree leaning into another with half of it’s roots and a big chunk of earth coming up from the ground. As the wind gusts rose to near 100 mph, the tree bounced up and down, tearing the grass from around the rest of it’s base. We were waiting for it to come all the way down and land on the fence, but the other tree that it was leaning on kept that from happening. We were very grateful that it fell the opposite direction from the house. Several people including my dad called the HOA of the complex and they sent out a tree crew. When they arrived and assessed the situation, they realized that the tree had likely been planted incorrectly from the beginning as it didn’t have the large tap root that was necessary to anchor it in the ground. The tree couldn’t be saved. My parents and I and other neighbors watched as the crew got ready to cut it down. I had taken some pictures and videos and thought it necessary to also record the tree coming down, so I stood at the window with my phone aimed at the action. It didn’t take long for the guys to realize they were on camera. They all turned and waved before they got into position. They tied a rope to the top of the tree and then tied that to the base of another tree to hold it in place. Three of the guys held the rope while the fourth started the chain saw. My parents and I watched in anticipation. It only took about 2 minutes to cut through the trunk of the tree. At the last cut, the guys on the rope pulled hard and the tree top fell right between the trunk in the ground and the fence. We were very impressed. One of the guys made the sign of the cross and pointed up. My dad went out and congratulated the crew on a job well done. He came back in and reported that they were a family operation. The crew included the dad and his 3 sons. They gave my dad their business card so I could share some pictures and video with them. On the back of the business card was written Psalm 121. I looked up the scripture and it speaks of how God is our protector. I thought it was an incredibly appropriate and beautiful verse.

I Found God today in protection from a fallen tree and in a family business who shared their faith.

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Unexpected Memories

Posted by eph21920 on January 8, 2017 in Fun, Grateful, Joy, Life, Past, Youth

This morning when I looked at my phone, the first thing I saw was a picture from 10 years ago. It was me and the youth group I worked with at that time. Included with the picture was a thank you from one of the guys. I was overjoyed and humbled at the same time that the young man took the time to send the picture. It brought back so many memories as I looked over the faces of about 25 teenagers who are now young adults. We had some great times and, although they say they learned from me, I learned so much from them. I also saw the young man who died in an accident a few years later and remembered what a difficult time that was for everyone. These young people and their families changed my life and compelled me to grow in unexpected ways. I am in touch with some of them and feel blessed to see how they have grown over the years. It brought me joy all day to go back and look at the picture, read the note, and to pray for each individual.

I Found God today in a special memory shared by a considerate young man.

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Productive Without a Plan

Posted by eph21920 on January 7, 2017 in Answer, Family, Home, Plan

I used to wake up with a plan for the day and think of all the things that I wanted to accomplish. More times than not, I would have too many things on my mental list and not enough time to do them all, which would frustrate me. I have learned that things work better if I get up early, exercise, pray, and then see what is going on with my parents before I continue on with my day. That is what I did today. I had no plan. As I made breakfast, I noticed the kitchen throw rug needed to be vacuumed. I looked at the rest of the hardwood floor and saw that the whole kitchen floor needed to be cleaned. I figured I would clean the small table and take care of the floors after breakfast. After I did the dishes, I moved everything aside to wipe down one of the counters and realized it was in need of a good cleaning as well. So, I cleaned off the kitchen chairs and table, moved everything on all the counters and scrubbed them, shined the stove and microwave, and vacuumed and washed the floors. Oh yeah, I also did two loads of laundry. I even was able to get my mom outside for a walk and took one myself in the brisk winter air. I just kept doing the next thing that needed to be done. I could not believe how productive I was for a day that I had absolutely nothing planned.

I Found God today being productive without stressing about it.

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Remaining Joyful

Posted by eph21920 on January 6, 2017 in Answer, Children, Faith, Family, Joy

I used to have the ability to go to Mass just about every day. While admittedly, I sometimes felt it as an obligation, I always felt more at peace if I kept it up. One of my “resolutions” this year in my quest for peace is to try to get to Mass more often than just Sundays. I thought I would start with attending Mass on the first Friday of each month. I didn’t think about it again until this morning. I don’t know the reason, but I suddenly realized it was the first Friday. I looked up the Mass schedule for the nearby church and the time fell right into place for the day. I knew it was God giving me a nudge and I wanted to listen, so I headed to the church at noon. My parents and I had gone to this particular church before and my mom said that the deacon reminded her of my brother. He was there today and gave the homily. He talked about being a grandparent and how excited he and his wife are to see pictures and videos of their granddaughter who lives too far away. I could totally relate to everything he said. He expressed how the world around us can make us fearful, worried, and anxious. But if we trust in God, we can – and should – remain joyful. He said thinking about his granddaughter brings him tremendous joy. When we start to feel anxious, depressed, or worried, we can try to push away those thoughts and replace them with those that bring us joy. I appreciated his words and took them to heart.

I Found God today in a reminder of the joy in my life.

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First Job Offer

Posted by eph21920 on January 5, 2017 in Answer, Family, Job, Joy, Opportunity

My son will be graduating from college this May. He will complete 5 years of classes, studying, testing, projects, working, and internships. He has been in the process of looking for a job and interviewing as he searches for the right place to begin his new career. He called today and eagerly told me about his first official job offer. He was so excited as he explained the details. I wished I could have jumped through the phone and given him a big hug. After we hung up, I told my parents the news. All three of us were teary-eyed as we talked about how hard he has worked to prepare himself for his future. And that future now is right around the corner. It was a moment to be especially proud of the young man he is becoming and to share in his joy.

I Found God today in the joy of an opportunity for my son.

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The Vision

Posted by eph21920 on January 4, 2017 in Answer, Connected, Faith, Love

My sister works at a natural foods distributor and always brings us some interesting and yummy treats. The other day we cracked into a “Chocolove” peppermint in dark chocolate bar. It was delicious. When we had finished the bar, my dad discovered a poem on the inside of the wrapper. It was called, “The Vision” by Alexander Pushkin. As all poetry goes, I suppose, it could mean different things to different people. To me, the poem spoke of a spiritual encounter along with the open-mindedness and awe of youth. As years go by, the wonder fades and we are left battling the ups and downs of life. But then, there is again a hint of something more than ourselves and we have the opportunity to re-connect with the spiritual realm. Perhaps this is the writer’s intention, perhaps not. Regardless, it was much more than I expected to find on the wrapper of a candy bar. It touched my heart and gave me reason to ponder.

I Found God today in a poem that connected me spiritually.

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Reducing Meds

Posted by eph21920 on January 3, 2017 in Answer, Doctor, Family, Grateful

My mom had an appointment with her neurologist today. She had been seeing the PA for the past 3 years and we didn’t really feel we were being helped, so we were glad that she finally got to see the doctor himself. She has had so many medical issues since she last saw him and we got him caught up on everything that happened. We talked especially about how these things caused the Parkinson’s Disease to worsen and how that affected her even more. When he responded, he did seem to know what he was talking about, so that was somewhat reassuring. I hadn’t felt that way from the PA. During my mom’s last hospitalization, she was given additional medication for additional symptoms that popped up. Since that time, she has been steadily getting better and stronger. After some testing and questioning, he said she should be able to stop one of the medications. He said from his standpoint, she looked like she was doing pretty good. That was encouraging news. We had a similar experience with a different doctor last month who took her off another medication. So in the past month, my mom had 2 comforting doctor appointments and was able to stop taking 2 medications. That made my mom, my dad, and me very grateful.

I Found God today in encouraging doctor reports.

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Grateful for Honesty

Posted by eph21920 on January 2, 2017 in Answer, Car, Grateful, Trust

The other day when we were heading up to the cabin, I was searching for my snow boots and gloves, but couldn’t find them anywhere. I remembered putting them in and taking them out of cars as I made several trips to the airport in cold and snowy weather, but eventually I lost track of them. They were expensive boots that I have owned and have counted on for years. I took one car to the car wash a few days ago and had the interior cleaned. My mom said she was afraid someone there might have taken them. I called the car wash today, told them who took care of the car, and described my boots. I asked if by chance the boots were taken out of the car and not put back in. The young woman on the phone spoke to the one who cleaned the car. She knew exactly what I was talking about and had the boots there. I was ecstatic and said I would be in to pick them up. I took the blazer that had made the trek to the cabin and needed cleaning as well. I dropped it off at the beginning of the wash and went inside. I spoke to the woman who cleaned the car a few days ago. She apologized for leaving the boots out and as she headed to retrieve them, a young man appeared with boots in hand. The gloves were still tucked inside where I left them. I thanked them both. As the two young men were finishing up the blazer in another area I went on over and put the boots in the back. I told them I wanted to make sure they didn’t get left behind again. They also knew that the boots had been sitting there for a few days and were glad that I got them back. So, evidently, there were quite a few people who knew that my expensive snow boots and gloves were there and had been left behind. They were all honest and left them to be reclaimed. I was very grateful.

I Found God today in honest people and found snow boots.

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