The Light of Love surrounds me The Light of Love enfolds me The Light of Love strengthens me Wherever I am, the Light of Love is.
LoveLight is powered by the Source. The Source is God, my Creator. The love of God enfolds me. The power of God protects me. The presence of God watches over me. Wherever I am, God is!
If I walk in awareness of LoveLight, It is easier to shine in the darkness. It is easier to let God’s Light shine through me. It is easier to find the path He intends for me. It is easier to respond to others with compassion. It is easier to find JOY at every turn.
Embrace the LoveLight in you! Recognize its Source. Praise God for each blessing. Recognize their Source. Pray for God’s patience and kindness to be manifested in you this day. Shine!
God bless you!
Each morning as I sit in my 100+ year old rocker that was made by Bob’s great grandfather, and I count my blessings, thank God for them, and plan my day ahead, I thank God for you! You, my WP readers, are a source of Light for my writing. You light up my life! Your responses are a source of encouragement. My goal is to spread the LOVE, JOY, PEACE, FAITH and sense of UNITY that are mine. I hope you feel those blessings in your life, too. Let that LOVELIGHT shine through you today.
1 John 2:9-10 “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.”
“Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love [God], for I have put my trust in You.”
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
(See the bottom of the post for numbers 2-9 explaining the rest of the photos. Try to guess what you think I may say about each before you peek down there!)
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2. Neighbor/friend, “Whooter” (Greg Winden, came at 8:30 am to help Bob prepare the smoker and to help me put the finishing touches on the turkey. I am so grateful for such caring, generous folks. We are blessed to live in this “hood!”
3. Thanksgiving is a day to be shared. I am thankful for those who joined us to make the day festive.
4 – 5. There’s Whooter helping Bob get the bird in the smoker. And there’s the turkey ready to be carved. I am grateful for Whooter’s tip: stuff the turkey with chunks of apple and orange! It kept the meat so moist! Have you ever done that with your turkey or baked chicken??
7. Meantime, in Switzerland our daughter, DeAna was having her own reasons to give thanks. Duchess (Pipo’s queen cow) gave birth to a healthy calf (a future queen for sure) and we gave thanks for his gift of naming her after our De! The calf ids (Diana – pronounced Deanna in French)! It’s quite an honor!!
8. That’s SureShot Lake … frozen over and dehydrated. We gave thanks for the fun of driving up there yesterday, but we’re disappointed to see how low it is. Those dirt mounds out there generally are under water!
9. Most mornings I start my day with a very special “Good morning” and a picture of the sunrise with prayers from my friend, Lisa, in S. Carolina.
Do you have a special friend who prays for you daily and greets you with his/her sunrise? If so, you are blessed indeed! I know for sure that I am!
What else contributed to your day of turkey and trimmings? I’m still celebrating… just finished a bowl of turkey soup made from the leftovers. Yum!
Enjoy your Saturday night, my friends. See ya Sunday. When I count my blessings, you’re right up there with the turkey!! Yup, part of the trimmings!
Bob & me on our 59th anniversary- It’ll be 60 in February!!
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving week, too. Can’t let this weekend pass without telling you how much I appreciate your visits here. Posting on WordPress is one of my favorite hobbies – and it wouldn’t be worth a darn if it weren’t for you. God bless you! Thanks for commenting and telling me a little about those things that count on your list of blessings.
Bee well! See ya tomorrow (God willing)… Love, JanBeek
MMMmmm, it was good! We loved sharing – comparing Naming – Enjoying!
Illuminate Home Get ready to share your meal Thank God for your friends
I thank God for you I pray for health and safety For each one of you.
Tell me about your Thanksgiving. I hope your day is filled with good food, Good friends, and lots of great conversation.
I am sorry that some were unable to come Because not all are vaccinated and some Feel vulnerable with this darn COVID-19 Still threatening to infect even those with Boosters.
I pray for an end to this pandemic And for all who can do so to go and get the vaccine. Embrace illumination – shine your light on healthy choices! But, it is not for me to judge… if you choose not to, You have your reasons – and I love you anyway.
Just BEEEEE SAFE! And Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Missing my sis…
Keeping you in my prayers. Thanks for visiting today. See ya tomorrow (God willing)… Love, JanBeek
Today we went to Yellowstone National Park with our grandson, Nick, and his sweetheart, Celine.
The only entrances into the park that were open were the north gate by Gardner and the north-east gate by Cooke City. We were able to enjoy the Mammoth Hot Springs and the road to the Tower. Only on that last road were we able to spot a few bison. Not being able to go through West Yellowstone to Old Faithful was a disappointment, but Nick will just have to return with Celine some summer when the whole park is available. Highlights today were:
TazE enjoying the Bighorn sheep that were right by the road (we did, too)
2. Enjoying a day in Yellowstone at Mammoth Hot Springs with Nick & Celine
3. Being healthy & vigorous enough to enjoy walking the Mammoth Hot Springs trail, too!
4. Stopping in Gardner for refreshments on our way home
5. And enjoying the changing colors of the night sky on our way home
Hopefully next trip we’ll be able to go through West Yellowstone and see Old Faithful in her glory. But meantime, we had a great day with bighorn sheep, bison (at a distance), antelope, mule tail deer, and a bald eagle delighting our visitors.
Nick took lots better pictures than I did… and his Instagram posts will delight his followers, I am sure.
Hopefully you can come some day, too… and enjoy this beautiful park with us.
Meantime, thanks for visiting with us today. See ya tomorrow (God willing) Love, JanBeek
To see more of Yellowstone Park, click on that August 9, 2019 post. Our cousin, Sofia, visited the Park with us on that occasion. Old Faithful and the hot springs were in full array.
Your imperfections Are not the Creator’s fault. Know, no one’s perfect!
We all have our faults. And as we age, wrinkles show. Otherwise you’re numb.
It’s our emotions That birth our imperfections. So, just embrace them!
In today’s Daily Guideposts, Bill Giovannetti ended his devotional with this prayer: “Lord, You alone are perfect. Help me be good with that. Amen.”
Bill shared that perfectionism lurks in the corners of his heart, always ready to pounce.
Do you have that problem? Do you expect yourself to write the perfect article, paint the perfect picture, bake the perfect cake, or create the perfect garden? Does the fear of making mistakes nag at you? Do your imperfections make you question your worth? Do you ever feel like covering your troubling issues by hiding in a box?
Here are seven verses to help you lay down the idol of perfectionism and embrace your own weaknesses.
Romans 5:7-8. …
2 Corinthians 12:9. …
James 3:2. …
Matthew 19:21. …
Galatians 1:10. …
1 Thessalonians 2:4. …
Romans 8:15.
What does God say about perfectionism?
Romans 15:7 “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
God/Jesus doesn’t require your perfection, because He is the only one who is perfect. His acceptance of you can help you accept others with their flaws as well.
In this season of Thanksgiving, I invite you to sit quietly with yourself. Thank God for the way you are “wonderfully made,” And give yourself a break.
As you listen to these relaxing hymns of Thanksgiving and worship, count your many blessings. Embrace your imperfections, and know they simply prove you are human!
Are you familiar with “Kintsugi” or “Kintsukuroi”? This is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. The method is similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
Like repaired pottery, Kintsugi style, our imperfections are those cracks that allow room for the power and grace of God to fill us with the gold of humility, repentance, and dependence on Him.
Bill Giovannetti wrote, “… my worth before both God and those I love doesn’t depend on me being perfect. It just depends on me being me.”
Me being me!
“Help me be who You made me to be. Help me accept myself with all my imperfections. Help me, Lord, to relax in Your promise of acceptance. Help me love unconditionally, refraining from judging others, just as You love and accept me – just as I am. In Jesus name, Amen.”
Thanks for visiting today. I pray you see yourself as God’s beloved creation – imperfections and all! See ya tomorrow (God willing). Love, JanBeek
What delights you? When you think of that word, what comes to mind? Here are a few things that delight me:
Unlike that chuckler, I actually delight in shopping in the mall with my husband.
I delight in a glass of wine with my dinner each evening. Just one…
It is delightful to return home – especially after being gone awhile.
No, I don’t delight in the prospect of being “old,” but I delight in friends who have a great sense of humor. I embrace the delight of laughter!
I delight in flowers… Every time of the year. Fresh flowers cheer me. I love having them near me.
I delight in prayer. I delight in the Lord. I delight in Susan Boyle singing this prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. I delight in music.
I delight in family. Time together is so precious. That’s “Mi Familia” on our son’s side up there. Below is our daughter with her hubby & mother-in-law. We delighted in our recent trip to Switzerland to be with them.
What delights you, my friend? Here’s that music I mentioned.
Some things that delight me … but not in order of importance are:
Do you save some of the cards people send you? Are you inspired by the things your friends and family say to and about you? I have a bulletin board on the back of the door that leads to my laundry room. Each year I save the birthday cards I receive and post them there. If ever I feel myself moving into a funk, and I need a spirit lift, just reading a few of those cards definitely raises me up!
In my sanctuary, I have a bookshelf with my collection of Bibles and various devotionals. On it, I have a card that my friend, Terry, sent to me several years ago. I see it every morning and it is a marvelous source of encouragement and inspiration. Living up to the sentiment it expresses, being the person this friend sees in me, are daily challenges – daily goals. You can see why I have saved and I embrace this card:
Last year when my dear friend, Phyllis, died, I inherited a bagful of cards she had kept during her last year of life. Living in the nursing home during COVID-19 when visitors were not allowed in, the cards were a lifeline to the outside world. Never underestimate the value of the card you take the time to select and send to a friend. They are more precious than gold!
I am going to select some of the most meaningful of these cards and send them to Phyllis’ daughter(s) … knowing their messages will live on in the hearts of my friends’ family members, just as they live on in my heart.
With Thanksgiving coming, that USA holiday dedicated to an attitude of gratitude for our many blessings, I went to the Family Dollar Store yesterday. For $1.00 apiece, I picked up a dozen beautiful cards with lovely sentiments. With precious family and friends in mind, I selected carefully. Today I wrote a personal note of appreciation on each, addressed, and stamped them. Bob took them to the post office. They are on their way to special people who make my life better – just because they are a part of my world.
Letter writing and card sending does not need to be a lost art. Cards can be expensive (those same ones would be between $2.50 and $4.95 at a stationery store). But, check out your local dollar store! Don’t let the expense deter you! Get a few cards today. Find some time to write a personal note to the people who make your life better. Send them off to brighten someone’s day. Let your light shine through your words and thoughtfulness! You never know, your cards may be keepers, too!
Embrace Cards. Embrace the Expressions of Appreciation you receive from others.
Send yours out tomorrow… Be the friend everyone wishes they had!
Let your light shine all the way to where your loved ones are…
There’s still time for your cards to be received by Thanksgiving!
Good friends- Terry & Elaine – So blessed to have these as “Keepers!” Their light shines in my heart everyday!
Thanks for visiting. Tell me – are you a card saver, too?
See ya tomorrow (God willing) Love ya, JanBeek
I dare you to listen to this song without smiling!!
If my mom were alive today, she’d be celebrating her 106th birthday. Born 11-15-1915, she was an Scorpio, through and through.
Do you put any stock in the Zodiac signs? Here’s what the internet reveals about people born October 23 to Nov. 21:
Scorpio
Scorpio is one of the most misunderstood signs of the zodiac. Because of its incredible passion and power, Scorpio is often mistaken for a fire sign. In fact, Scorpio is a water sign that derives its strength from the psychic, emotional realm. Like fellow water signs, Cancer and Pisces, Scorpio is extremely clairvoyant and intuitive.
What makes this water sign unique is its distinctive venomous sting. Like their celestial spirit animal, the scorpion, Scorpios lie in wait and strike when least expected. Life is a game of chess for these calculating water signs, who are constantly plotting several steps ahead in order to orchestrate an eventual checkmate. This doesn’t mean their intentions are necessarily nefarious. Scorpios simply know what they want and aren’t afraid to work hard and play the long game to get it.
This is one of my favorite pictures of mom and me. She knit my sweater and sewed the skirt that went with it. She fixed my hair so meticulously! Look at the little watch on my wrist. Don’t I look loved and cared for?
My Scorpio mom was not afraid to work hard – for what she wanted and for what she wanted my sister and me to have. As I mentioned in a recent post about self-confidence, she planted in me the firm belief that I could do and be anything I set my mind to.
November 1937
That’s my mom (Elizabeth) with my dad (Salvadore) at their wedding. They met on a double date set up by mom’s younger sister, Emogene. Later known to me as “Aunt Jean,” Emogene was Sal’s date and Elizabeth was matched with Sal’s best buddy, Joe Cabral. By the end of the evening the couples had switched partners. Two months later Sal & Elizabeth (soon to be known as Betty) were married. Yes, as early as 1937, Mom was a Scorpio who knew what she wanted and managed to get it (him)!!
Long before the word “Selfie” was established, Mom knew how to take one! Here she is in front of the bathroom mirror, capturing a shot of her new hairdo. Quite striking still even well into her 80s, don’t you think? She had flawless skin… very few wrinkles! But she didn’t spend a lot of time out in the sun either – and she creamed her face with the best of products morning and night.
To demonstrate how Mom was a Scorpio who embraced “Life [as] a game of chess … constantly plotting several steps ahead in order to orchestrate an eventual checkmate,” let me tell you a story.
It was a hot California Valley summer. The temperature in the kitchen was a few degrees warmer than the triple digit figures outside. The house had no air conditioning. Betty (my mom) was in the kitchen, roasting to death as she roasted a prime rib for a special birthday dinner for her daughter (me) who was home from college to celebrate with her parents. Betty needed a cross breeze to cool off the kitchen. She had asked Sal (my dad) many times to replace the stationary window above the kitchen sink with one that would side open. He had not done so. Frustrated with his lack of follow through, she decided to force the issue. She took a hammer from the kitchen tools drawer, stood back half way across the room, and threw the hammer through the window. How she avoided getting shattered glass in the food or on her or me was a God thing! But, needless to say, she had a cross breeze – and soon after she got the window replacement she needed.
How my dad stayed married to this crazy Scorpio is beyond me! He had the patience of Job! He obviously loved her spunk and her “incredible passion.” He recognized that she was “extremely clairvoyant and intuitive” – and he gave her a lot of wriggle room! Mom was a poetry lover, a whiz at mathematics (she was Dad’s company’s bookkeeper), and she was a winner at Bridge (I never learned to play it).
She was stylish and impeccably dressed and groomed – until her last days. It was then that I knew she was not long for this world… when I picked her up at her Senior Care Nursing Home to take her one afternoon to a doctor’s appointment and noticed she had her blouse on inside-out. I called it to her attention and suggested we go back up to her room for her to fix it. Her response was, “Oh, who gives a shit?!”
Now, that was not my real mom! Dementia had stolen her from me! The scorpion lost her usual sting and Alzheimer’s replaced he “calculating water sign” with something else… something nefarious. Instead of “[using] emotional energy as fuel, cultivating powerful wisdom through both the physical and unseen realms,” she became careless and caustic. It was not a transition I was prepared for. Dementia can do that, you know.
Here is Mom with me and my sis, Sally (who also had dementia before she died last year), and my daughter DeDe… during the a celebration of my brother-in-law’s birthday. (That’s his picture posted behind us.)
Mom’s flowered, Hawaiian shirt speaks of happy times when life was full of the days when she knew how to “work hard and play the long game to get [what she wanted].”
Happy 106th Birthday, Mom!
What’s your Zodiac sign? Does its description fit who you are (most of the time? some of the time? not at all?) … Tell me about it!
I am a Leo. Born July 24th, parts of this description that fit … but I hope I have matured in my Christian life enough to let the Holy Spirit round out some of the self-centered tendencies and make me more compassionate than this would suggest: “Roll out the red carpet because Leo has arrived. Passionate, loyal, and infamously dramatic, Leo is represented by the lion and these spirited fire signs are the kings and queens of the celestial jungle. They’re delighted to embrace their royal status: Vivacious, theatrical, and fiery, Leos love to bask in the spotlight and celebrate… well, themselves.“
I was named Janet – after Janet Gaynor, the first female Academy Award winner. That’s where I get my ham! But, I am more than happy to share the spotlight… and celebrate YOU! Tell me about your sign!
Thanks for visiting. See ya tomorrow (God willing) Love ya, JanBeek
Written
on November 27, 2021