Spreading love, joy, peace, faith & unity

Archive for August, 2019

Don’t Be Discouraged

Don’t Be Discouraged

Ps. 16:11

“You have made known to me

The path of life;

You will fill me with

Joy in your presence,

With eternal pleasures…”


Do not allow discouragement

To settle into your bones;

Face it, conquer it, and

Replace it with Hope.

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Set your net to the other side of the boat.

Catch plentifully the colorful fish waiting there.

Discouragement is a powerful destructive force.

We have the power to choose a different response.

With the Father’s help,

We can get through seasons of discouragement,

in spite of living in a flawed world as flawed people.

Face it. Conquer it. Replace it with HOPE.

Turn to God who turns to you

And lifts your spirits, putting your life back on track.

He loves you. He cares. Believe. Trust.

Do not be discouraged. Pray – and know

I’m praying for you, too!

 

person throwing fish net while standing on boat

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

What have you caught with your positivity lately?

Thanks, dear WP friends, for visiting.
Have a productive day.

Topo Photography
This photo was supposed to be just above the phrase,
“Do not let discouragement settle into your bones.”
Instead, with this new block editor, it keeps showing up down here.
I can’t figure out how to get things to go where I want them
with this new block editor program.
But I will not let it master me.
I will not be discouraged!
Tenacity, Jan, Tenacity!!!

See ya later!

Dual Purpose

Dual Purpose
(Haiku x2)

Antelope family
Intent on finding water
Trek through our field

Sprinklers green the grass
Providing water and food
For neighborhood pets

See Ya Later

Voice – a Quadrille

A Quadrille is a poem of exactly 44 words, not including the title, using a specific, assigned word. Today’s challenge on d’Verse is Quadrille #85 – Raising our Poetic Voices – and VOICE is the word.

Here is my quadrille:

Voice

Every writer has a voice.
You may not hear its tone
or timbre on paper
but its Intent,
Heart,
Compassion,
and Grace
Speak loudly.
In only a page or less,
you know
if you like that voice
or not.
Does
your voice
speak love?

Jan Beekman
http://www.janbeek.blog

https://dversepoets.com/

Practice Tenacity

woman girl strength fitness

Photo by Scott Webb on Pexels.com

Tenacity is
Hanging on, not letting go.
It’s available.

Tenacity is
Essential for your success.
You can’t go buy it.

Tenacity is
Making it through the tough times.
How do you do it?

Try this:

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My List

I made it through:

  • failed interviews
  • job challenges
  • losing a prenatal baby
  • having my daughter move to Europe when she was one month pregnant with my first grandchild (that was hard!)
  • knee replacement surgery and the painful rehab
  • a burst appendix (that almost killed me!)

I could go on…. but you get the idea. What would your list look like?

Your List

Do you need to remind yourself that you’re tough? You’re a winner. You’re not a quitter. You’ve got broad shoulders and strong arms and can give great hugs. You believe in yourself. You’ve survived some rough times. Tenacity can be your middle name. Try it. What’s on your list?

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Show me your
“made it through”
list!

Hang On

Hang On

Hang On

When you’re defeated
Feeling life’s lost its purpose
Take root and hang on

God Bless You!
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See ya tomorrow.

Start Sunday Silently

Silent Sunday

Enjoy Today!

If you are not with “your children” today,
you can substitute  “your children” for “your spouse”
or “your neighbors” or “yourself.”
Change “they” to “you” or “s/he”…

Enjoy Today

Ponder these thoughts –
Go somewhere to worship God today –
Pray –
Enjoy your loved ones.

I’ll be singing in the choir this morning
and listening carefully to the
message presented by Rev. Hundley.

Come back in about 5 hours for my sermon notes.

Have a beautiful Sunday.
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See ya later.

 

Love our Ennis Arts Festival

Ennis Arts Festival

We had 55 artists exhibiting their creativity at this wonderful Ennis Arts Festival today.

Come and see a few of the booths, artists, and special visitors with me.

One of our artists, Ivette Kjelsrud, designs creative fine, wearable art.

The center of this bison by Ivette is melted wax, a technique called encaustic.

It was fun setting up tents on a beautiful Saturday morning…

One of my favorites: Scott Wheeler Photography Scottwheelergallery.com

This photo of Yellowstone’s Artist’s Point is a sample of Kim Tolotti’s wonderful photography. Kim died this year  –  a great loss to us, to art, and the world.

Kim’s Photography was/is gorgeous. We are establishing a scholarship in her honor to be awarded to an Ennis High graduating senior who will focus on art as a major

 

My 2 mo. old great-granddaughter was the only bored person in the crowd!

Bob & our great-Grandson, Xander, enjoyed the rock painting area.

We’re a dog friendly park. Isn’t this one a cutie?

The Tune Tanglers kept us entertained from 10: to 5: with their great music!

Aimee Heimberg shared a booth with Ruth Hauri.

I love Sunny Glass Mosaics by Sunny Jaye.

Tiki Contemporary & Western Art by Kathleen Van Diessche is amazing!

When time to take a break, the porta potties are right handy! Couldn’t help myself… just had to share this corner of the festival with you.

These boys were ready for a break, too.

Don’t miss Wildfire Photography – Images by Gary Slane – Spectacular!
John's Rustic Originals John’s Rustic Originals made with old kitchen silverware and utinsels were so clever! Pottery booth

There were several wonderful pottery booths with a myriad of pottery to choose from.

Barbed wire art The barbed wire artist was new to us this year. His creations were fascinating.

Members' - Carle+ One booth was for Ennis Arts Association members who wanted to display one to three items, but didn’t want to fill a booth space of their own. The three in the background are the work of Carle McCambridge.

Spoon Cross Carla Cavaiani used old spoons to create beautiful art pieces.

I love this bluebird photography by Scott Wheeler (see my reflection in the glass taking this photo with my cell phone?)…Makes an interesting study, doesn’t it? Blue bird photo

Come fly on over here next year – second Saturday in August – for another phenomenal festival.

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See ya tomorrow.

Visit Yellowstone National Park

Visit
Yellowstone National Park
with my cousin Sofia and Me

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Sofia at Firehole Falls

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Me at Firehole Falls

aqua steam pool

Aqua Steam pool
I love the turpuoise, green, and orange.

It was a day of mild temperatures, blue sky with beautiful puffy clouds.

Old Faithful blew about 15 minutes early.
We were glad to be there to see it.

There is no site in Yellowstone that I enjoy more than Artist’s Point.

Sofia was impressed with its beauty, too.

Jan & Sofia

Waterfall - Artist's Point

It’s called the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Pictures don’t do it justice!
You can see here the yellow stone that caused the park’s name.

yellow stone in Yellowstone

Then we headed for Lamar Valley where the buffalo roam.

1 bison

It was a pain to get in a half an hour of stop-and-go traffic where the bison were crossing the road in Lamar Valley, but when we had to stop for one to pass right smack in front of our car, that was quite an experience – quite worth the wait!

They are impressive animals.

On the way home, we stopped at Palisades for a rest stop…
and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery there.

 

It was a great day.
Thanks for traveling vicariously with us!
Do you think Sofia had a good time?

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Tomorrow is our Ennis Arts Festival.
Come visit the art and artists there with me.
I love entertaining visitors.
Be my virtual guest!

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See ya tomorrow!

Entertaining Guests

What do you do to entertain your guests?

We invited our neighbor, Logan, over to have lunch with Sofia yesterday. No entertainment better than chatting with someone your own age who also is headed off to college for the first time!

Logan & Sofia

Then, yesterday afternoon Bob took Sofia on an ATV ride to Virginia City for two big scoops of their famous ice cream.

Sofia & Bob on “Lucille”

Today we’re headed for Yellowstone.

Stay tuned! I’ll try to capture Sofia in front of Old Faithful!

Self Talk

Self-Talk

Do you talk to yourself?
Do you ask questions and converse?
Do you tell yourself you’re super
Or are you into something worse?

I tell myself I’m worthy.
I tell myself I’m smart.
I tell myself I’m loved
And I have a loving heart.

I know that I’m unique…
A brave and kindly soul,
And being all those things
Is my daily life-long goal.

Self-talk is an important skill.
It needs to be positive and sweet.
So tell yourself those “I AM” words…
And be them to all you meet!

Have a Wonderful Thursday

See ya tomorrow