Scatter the flowers

  "You are the salt of the earth.  But remember that salt is useful when in association, but useless in isolation."  ~Israelmore Ayivor, Christian author 👀 "Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you."   What a great song by  The Police , though a bit strong.  But do you  ever feel like you're being watched?  Like you are being judged because you profess to be a Christian, so people are evaluating your responses, your actions, your intentions?   As Jesus says in the book of Matthew 5 , we are to be the  ' salt of the earth' (Matt 5:13).  What does that mean, as a follower of Christ? 👀  And what if  sometimes we're more like pepper - spicy, with appearances of soil, and we make people respond with a sneeze - they just want to get us out of their system?  Are we kicked out for letting God down? (Why did I choose a cat for this one?) What does s...

  Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery "She's been a blessing to us, and there never was a luckier mistake than what Mrs. Spencer made- if it WAS luck.  I don't believe it was any such thing.  It was PROVIDENCE, because the Almighty saw we needed her, I reckon." Marilla, upon Anne's mistaken arrival to Green Gables. You've probably heard the name Anne of Green Gables- she was a vibrant uneducated orphan, lacking in social graces, who showed up 'by mistake' for Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert (who were expecting a young boy to help with the farm).  This classic has won our hearts over through the years as the unexpected turns into a beautiful story of acceptance and love, attributed to the Providence of God. While Anne was fictional, this story is not-  -jealously loathed by his brothers (bad) because he told the truth (good) about dreams he had, he was thrown into a cistern and left to die, then sold into slavery (definitely bad).  As a slave he was prom...

"No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks." ~ James Allen, British writer & philosopher   S acrifice, honor, dignity, heroism, courage- all words to describe the meaning of today's recognition.  Men and women who fought for our country's freedom so that you and I could freely worship, freely speak, freely work and live.  We wake up every morning and have endless choices, with no one determining our paths. I can freely write this blog because of them.  You can freely read this blog because of them.  There isn't enough gratitude. Most of us have not lived in a time or place where we have experienced war firsthand, so this kind of heroism honored today is something we know little about.  But we may know someone who did, or who served in some capacity to fight and maintain that freedom, and we talk about them today to keep their stories fresh and honor their memories.. Memories - they keep us connected to the ones we love and give their lives me...

  "A puppy is the ultimate distraction" ~ Philip Rosenthal, TV writer Ever sit down to check your grocery list on your phone, then start downloading digital coupons, then go to Pinterest to check the recipe and start pinning for a half hour, but start looking up whether an ingredient is high in sugar or carbs, remember to log everything you've eaten for the day in your app and get depressed because you're already at your limit and it's only 10a.m., so think that maybe you'll go exercise to burn some cals and carbs so you can eat the rest of the day, realize you don't have any workout clothes clean so start a load of laundry, notice how dusty the wood floors are on the way to the laundry room so give that a quick dry mop, then figure why stop there so dust the furniture as well, catch a glance at the clock and realize you have 15 minutes before you have to leave, so frantically fix your hair and makeup, rushing out the door wondering what happened to the mo...

google image "Do all the good you can,    by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. ~ John Wesley, theologian 💛 A pastor standing in line at a convenience store noticed a man with his wife and son in line in front of him that were unable to pay for their items.  The pastor quietly said to the man, "You don't need to turn around but please accept this money."  The man did, without ever knowing the giver.   💛 Nine years later this pastor was invited to speak as a guest at a church, where afterwards a man came up to him and shared that several years ago he, his wife and son were destitute and were living in their car after losing everything.  They made a suicide pact, to include their child, but first wanted to buy him some food at a convenience store.  When a stranger offered to pay for their food and not be looked at, he had also told...

  "Weak people get revenge, strong people  forgive, and intelligent people ignore." ~Albert Einstein "      Do these sound familiar?           "Did you get your license over the phone?"          "So (sarcastically), great use of your turn signal"          "Hey go ahead and take your half out of the middle."          "*#!?*" I know - I've never heard/said them either (wink wink).  We may have every right to question people's driving abilities because it can be incredibly dangerous.  We carry precious cargo in our cars with our family.  If people are in a hurry they should leave early and plan on traffic.  And weather (as we all know living in Denver) can add scarier dynamics so people should just slow down. But what if someone is distracted because they just got bad news or experienced a life-altering event?  What if their boss or spo...