APRIL THANK YOU NINE-BOOK GIVEAWAY: THE WINNERS ARE Joanne Kobussen, Janet Searl and Mary Lou Lowrance. Send me an email with your instructions for signing and mailing and I’ll get your books sent out. CONGRATULATIONS!
TODAY’S LAUGH: Spring in Wisconsin: unpredictable. Last week the temperature hit 70. Yesterday morning we got EIGHT inches of snow. (Hello? It’s the end of APRIL? That’s our bird feeder. Poor birdies.)
What’s a girl to do? The wardrobe demands – sweaters one day, tank tops the next – are ridiculous! And wearing a tank top before you’ve had time to lose your winter fat… ugh. (Which is why I haven’t worn a tank top in twenty years.*)
Yesterday as I fixed DaMama’s hair I said (okay, I whined), “Seventy degrees one day, thirty the next. Sunshine and gardening one week, shoveling and blizzards the next. How are we supposed to cope?”
“You just take it as it comes,” she said. Ah. DaMama’s wisdom, gained in 94 years of living.
TODAY’S ENCOURAGEMENT: “Just take it as it comes.” Sound familiar? “One day at a time” is the recovery mantra – a great approach to life, and age-old wisdom. “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own,” the Bible says.**
What trouble has you fretting about tomorrow? Job jitters, rocky relationships, financial fears, parenting problems, caregiving challenges? Any of those can twist us into knots with the “what if”s of worry.
Take DaMama’s advice: Just take it as it comes.
Just for today, breathe. Just for this moment, just for now – breathe in, breathe out. Repeat. Let tomorrow be tomorrow. You can do it, just for today.
Just take it as it comes. May you be blessed with sweet, sweet peace. (And pass it on!)
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*I wrote all about wardrobe woes in “Northern Girls” in the Mrs. Potato Head book.
**That’s Matthew 6:34 if you want to look it up for yourself.
You could always be like me: just ACT like it’s spring. My kids play dress-up all the time, so I’ve decided to join them. It does get complicated scraping frost off my car in capris and sandals though!
(Yikes! My toes is froze just imagining… MP)
I absolutely love the picture of DaMama. It appears that taking it one day at a time means you can live to be beautiful at 94!
MP)
(The pic is from her 94th birthday party.
This just in from grubenancy: “Take it as it comes was my mother’s mantra or ‘God does not give you more than you can handle.’ Well that has been a debatable comment between God and me often. When my mother had a stroke at the young age of 70 – day before her birthday – and was in the nursing home for 5 years. I thought it just was not fair because there was no better and giving person than my mother. But as my good friend pointed out ‘Colony Oaks needs your family to get some spirit there!’ That nursing home was rocking while my Mom (and later) and Dad were there. We organized groups to come in and my mom always pointed out someone who needed our conversation and good spirits more than she did (or maybe she just needed a break from us). Yes – it is true take it a day at a time and do not ever forget the gifts that God has given us. Have a great day – you always add a lift to my day. HUGS”
And this from Julie: “I LOVE the picture of your mom. How cute is she! I need to be reminded about not worrying about tomorrow. I can get myself in a knot with worry. I have to try and enjoy each day as it comes. I do try hard to do that. / I also love the comment about the tank top. I hate when it gets warm and I can’t wear my sweatshirts to cover up my fat belly rolls. I gave up tank tops a few years ago!”
And Brenda says: “Ah…Damama is SO wise! I started developing that concept about a year ago…and it HAS been a stress releaser:)”
And from Peg: “I really needed your message today to just take it as it comes. Last night I lost a lot of sleep because of a problem at work, this is unusual for me becuse I don’t worry much; I pray. Thanks for bringing me back!”
And Iris has this to add: “I so totally agree with what you have shared with us this week. Slowly, but surely, the Lord is teaching me that worries only give me gray hairs – and that if I stay close to Him, He will see me through when some comes my way that I have a hard time handling. Be blessed today and always!”
I like DaMama’s advice. It is something I have learned through life to take heed of otherwise I end up a basket case at the end of the day!! Although, Mother Nature needs to take snow break until next December she has graced us with enough snow already this year in the state of Wisconsin!
MP)
Yes, indeed – ENUF already!
My Grandma always said, “This too will pass”. She used it for everything:hardships, illnesses, phases the kids are going through, and yes – even the weather! This morning I thought I saw frost on the grass, but then thought I’d imagined it… until I got to the bakery and Doris told me it was 16 degrees this morning. I’m hoping the radishes I planted didn’t notice!!!
MP)
(And the daffodils too!
Your Mom is so cute! Love her wisdom, too!
When I was a young believer, I heard the saying, “Let go, and let God”, so I did. It was *so* nice to know I was not the one that had to be in control of things. Knowing He is over all makes it *so* much easier to take the good and the bad as they come–yes, one day at a time, or even moment by moment. It’s not always easy, especially when you’re caught in a stormy sea, but He’s still the One who can calm the waves with a word, and His presence is ever with us through those storms of disappointments, heartaches, illnesses, etc.
Oh, and the snow? We had a good 6-8″ of heavy wet snow on our chairs, grill, and railings, too, with maybe 2″on the grass. Driving into town, it was interesting to see grass sticking up through the snow, and even patches of green under several trees! People at the school had the same observations, especially those that lived out in the country, although others said they had more on their picnic tables and such, too.
It was really strange. In Spring Valley, about 45 minutes west of Eau Claire, there was no snow!!! As we were driving to Crystal Cave for the 4th grader’s field trip, there was less and less snow on the ground the farther we went down I-94. We all really felt bad for the 3rd graders and their chaperones who were on a field trip at Beaver Creek Reserve. They were doing outdoor water studies while we were nice and snug in the 50 degree (humid) climate of the cave!
MP)
(Hmm, maybe my next house will be a cave… Thanks for the “field” report!
I been repeating that over and over…”take it as it comes.” Don’t worry about tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder. What a sweet picture of your momma.
I was just in Baltimore and this Florida gal was COLD!! My sister in law was teasing me (because she did not want me to leave), she figured if she made it really cold and then turned the fireplace on I was stuck. Because when she turned the fireplace on I sat down right in front of it and she knew I would not move, hehee =)
Have a great day.
Mary ~ you have DaMama’s smile. It’s obvious she doesn’t have her “panties all in a bundle”….. it’s a comfort to know that God knows about our worrying, or he wouldn’t have given us Matthew 6:34. Bless you Mary, for helping me remember it.