A serious older woman

well...probably older than any of my readers.
I'm watching the videos of the April 10-12 T4G conference.  Really good listening.  http://t4g.org/
David Platt talked about common certain words in the conversation of some...of such as these, I was.
 To mention hell, Jesus Christ, God to emphasize a point or to sound like those I was speaking to at that moment...but using these in loose, irreverent ways.  I would liberally sprinkle sentences with these, not giving a thought to the reality of any word.  He reminds us these are certain and a real place or person.
I have given my attention and allegiance to Christ for almost 50 years now.  And my speech has definitely changed.  Oh, it wasn't as one tries to improve their grammar, but as one who's grammar has been taken over...operated by another.  As if I moved over and let the Spirit drive, doing it as if in 'auto-pilot'. 
I didn't change my speech immediately...it took awhile to learn to 'drive' behind the wheel with another...two sharing the seat.  After time, I took over the wheel and enjoyed the view (conversation)...it became as natural as the rest of my words.
My goal is that eventually, ALL my words will be pleasing to my Driving Instructor.

Brilliant colors today...

did the relatives and disciples of Jesus notice the beauty of nature the morning after Easter?  As I write, I'm looking out at our yard and neighborhood.  Bright greens, Carolina Blue sky...even the boring greyish bark of the trees look good.  It (the bark) covers a factory of life within, years of growth, maturing for its use in the future. 
Or were the women and disciples so immersed in the mystery of the missing body they didn't notice the life around them?
Today is victory...then and now...He's gone from that place...He is risen!

I got lost in reading old sermons from Desiring God site this morning.  This is too good not to share:
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/10-resolutions-for-mental-health at the bottom of the article is a quote from another:

 Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.

I believe God, the Creator of everything, painted the canvas around me and then placed me right in front of it.  It fills my sight and thrills my heart. 

One of my favorite flowering vines is Clematis...I have several.  Here are three that are blooming today:

The whitish is one I transplanted from a shady spot in the yard only 3 weeks ago...why not enjoy the 'canvas' around you today?

boy, I get myself in trouble...

just by opening my mouth.  I'm pretty opinionated; here's one of my opinions:

I'm really tired of reading and hearing about one 17 year old juvenile and the man who shot him, in self-defense according to the newspapers.  It has taken up way too many minutes of air time or of journalism articles.  I remember there are military defending me every day, many who are killed or injured...in war zones around the world.  They certainly don't get the attention they deserve.  Come on!  It's getting 'wacky' unbalanced.
I learned of another juvenile in the North Iowa area we're from, who several times shot his mother last week.  The community mourns the loss of a woman of character, a wife, mother, daughter, sister.  One who was helping to save lives in her nursing career.  A tradgedy noted only in the local papers, but felt by so many.
I find it difficult to think of these things:

 "...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
(Philippians 4:8 ESV)

My photo on March 15...my birthday (75th)

encouraging message

I've been watching and listening to inspiration from 2011 Desiring God mission conference:
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/from-every-land-to-every-land-the-internationalization-of-missions-its-potential-and-the-price#/watch/full

from Michael Oh, a missionary from Japan:
Brazil has sent out over 2,000 international missionaries.  They are the 1st he has heard of that gives 75% of their church budget for global missions.
In 1951, the largest InterVarsity student ministry was in China...1 out of every 18 college students was involved in an IV group.  The Communist government placed spys in each of the group...and the spys became believers.  He said that a conservative figure is that today there are 75,000,000 Christians in China.
Today South Korea has sent out over 21,000 missionaries to 175 nations.  It is today very likely the Number 1 missions sending nation in the world.
Multitudes are hearing of Jesus' work on their behalf in African countries and the middle-East, etc.

What an exciting time to live in.  I feel insignificant compared to these excited, sharing saints.
"To every nation; to the Jew first."

read this and yawn!

An article in MSNBC.com says:  Yawning is not contagious.  (when I see someone yawn, I invariably follow with a yawn).  But instead,  he says YAWNING is somehow connected to changing levels of body activity.  A pianist YAWNS just before an important performance, Olympic athletes YAWN before the big event.  this is interesting:  embryos begin YAWNING eleven weeks after conception.
"He says YAWNING is somehow connected to changing levels of body activity, changes from one state to another, like inactive to active or vice versa, but nobody understands just what the connection is."
A yawn expert, psychologist says..."Every vertebrate species YAWNS.
Fish YAWN.
Birds YAWN.
Alligators YAWN
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077304/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Now you know...aren't you glad you have this fact to share? 

           Enjoy your day.  The great Creator God made it for us to enjoy.

just a few thoughts...

I took this photo minutes ago.

 There's a crew of roofers putting new roof shingles on the house behind us.  I don't know what country these men are from but they're all speaking Spanish and...they're are all HAPPY workers.  Yes, hard workers, but so happy.  It's nice to see people who have work at all, and even more gratifying to watch HAPPY workers!

I'm still checking out scones and visited Panera again this week.  I noticed two middle-age couples sitting next to my table.  They were all Asian and were speaking in their own language.  That's so cool...they could speak as freely and loudly as they chose, and very few people in the crowded cafe knew what they were discussing.  They seemed to enjoy their food and I noticed they weren't drinking tea or eating rice cakes.  They were eating lots of carbs and sugar and drinking COFFEE.  That surprised me.  Also, they didn't look like they had just arrived in the U.S.  The women had very curly hair (perms?), all had blue jeans and wore Nikes.  I realized I had my own stereotype.  Is that a type of bias?  Don't know, but it was fun watching them and sharing it with you.

I'm so very thankful we weren't in the awful storms of last week. 
"Preliminary government estimates say that there were more tornadoes in a single day during the outbreak than ever recorded in history. Of the 312 twisters that were spawned, 226 occurred within a 24-hour period."  Huffington Post.

"Frequent and intense tornado outbreaks resulted in 552 tornado-related deaths in 2011, the second deadliest year on record, from 1,709 tornadoes, raising fears that this will be another devastating year for tornadoes."  Meteriologist, Paul Yeager on Huffington Post.  HP's photo below:

I won't use the too common comment of today, 'MY HEART BREAKS FOR THEM'...that phrase is often over used and said with out meaning.  I'm able to keep them in my thoughts and actually DO something about it...pray for them.

"Oh preserve us and our habitations, that we be not buried in the ruins of them as Job's children were."  Job 1:19

It's beginning to look like Spring.

I recently mentioned I don't really have a 'Bucket List'.  I'm quite content with where I am and who I am in life.  But, I thought of some items I would put on a 'Heaven List', if I made one:

NO screen doors...(cuz' no bugs!)
NO glue boards (to catch mice, voles, etc.)  (I snared 3 or them this week in the kitchen)  YUK!
NO noisy power mowers or leaf blowers...one big pasture kept short by sheep, goats and cows.
NO processed foods filled with pesticides and additives...fresh foods ready to pick and eat from royal orchards.
NO crying babies; only fat and happy youngsters...the Word promises "no more tears".
NO murderers or grifters like Capone or Madoff...because NO sinners are allowed.
NO drivers with "road rage"...cars won't be necessary to travel on streets of gold.
NO gossip...only kind words and conversations.
    the list goes on~~~

The weather has cooled down since the plague of tornadoes last week.  It's been windy the last few days, but the sun still shines and the flowers are blooming:  forsythia, jonquils, camelias, flowering almond trees and the azaleas are budding.  Don't ya just love spring??

Have YOU been planted?

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.  Thos who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.  They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.     Ps. 92:12-14