Super Sized Blessings!

 
My wife and our eldest grandson are pictured yesterday on the occasion of his 16th b'day. Interesting to see the changes over the years. For the first 5 years of his life this young man(now 6' 2" and innumerable pounds)was my wife's constant companion. I didn't have the pleasure of spending as much time with him as I would have liked until about 6 years ago. By age 10 he and Cheryl were about the same height. What a difference a few years can make! A super-sized blessing is what I would call him these days. My wife also qualifies for this title, as well as my soon to be 5 year old youngest grand daughter. Any one of these three individuals can spin my hours in any number of directions beyond my ability to control. I worry about so many folks in my life that sometimes I forget to worry about me, and that, too, is a blessing. There are some facets of our lives that remain unchanging, always. God's love is the first to come to mind. We never outgrow God's love, or our need for all that He provides. We get bigger, older, sometimes wiser, but God never changes. In the hearts and minds that accompany our journey through life there are other unchanging loves. I've learned that no matter how many children we have there is plenty of love to go around. No matter how many grands we are blessed with there is enough love to go around. When it comes to our brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter how many we gather about us there is always plenty of love to spare for one more. Blessed is the man who when he starts counting his blessings from the smallest to the largest, the list grows and grows even while we are trying to add it all up. The list is longer today than it was yesterday, and it will have grown again before I waken in the morning. The choice is ours, though, of whether or not we are going to "super-size" those blessings. We make those choices in our relationships everyday. I give thanks that our Lord chose only one size for His blessing of our lives, and that was super! In Christ's Love, Preacher. 

A New Year Begins

 
I've been experiencing a form of writer's block. Not only have I found it difficult to get into the blog mode, but even writing to friends has slowed to a mere trickle since the start of the new year. Our snow and ice situation worsened this evening when my wife did a quick slide on to her backside during the latest round of "strange" weather. Our temperatures were hovering at the 26 degree mark and a light mist was coming down. Not ususally a problem, just strange that it wasn't snow, the weird part is how it freezes on pavement and leaves everything looking good, but slick as snot on a doorknob! Another very strange thing has happened with our weather, there has been no wind to speak of out here for a week. It's different, and unlike most of the years on the Great American Desert in the winter we aren't having mini-blizzards to make us totally miserable. The most interesting thing, though, is the people. Smiles seem to be far removed from day to day life and nobody is telling jokes like they usually do. It's becoming a strange winter. A little sunshine goes a long ways when things have been really gray for awhile. My prayers have been including a "ps" at the end of each with regard to my personal lack of brightness. All in all, though, life is far better than I deserve it being. I give thanks for that, and for my multitude of blessings shared each day with anyone who is willing to hear. God bless, Preacher.