Loving One Another

Archive for the ‘writing’ Category

Punch the Damn Keys


Photo by Andri on Pexels.com

Cristan Mihai is a blogging guru who started his blog within a month of when I did in 2012. His posts on “The Art of Blogging” have taught me so much about how to create and continue to improve my JanBeek, Loving One Another website. A constant piece of advice that Cristian repeats at least weekly is: “Punch Those Damn Keys.”

https://artofblogging.net/

Ironically, today Cristian posted,

The Road to Order #1000 Continues

Posted on by Cristian Mihai

In his “About” introduction to himself on his website, Cristian wrote:

“Cristian Mihai (born 25 December 1990)
grew up in Constanta, Romania.
And he’s still growing up, or at least trying to.
Sometimes he writes.
Sometimes he gets lucky and writes something good. 
He can’t, however, draw a straight line.
No matter how much he tries.
Not even with a ruler.
And, please, don’t ever ask him to sing.”

You can tell by that introduction that he has a wonderful sense of humor. You know he is an English-as-a-second-language blogger.
You would never know that by visiting his website. His English is perfect! And his tips, ideas, lessons about how to improve are priceless.
He offers his services in a number of ways –
and he is sponsored by several companies on his website.
He’s a full-time blogger.
He tells us that TENACITY is one of the most effective qualities
if you want to grow your blog.

What’s ironic about his “The Road to 1,000th Order” blog?

He posted today “The Road to 1,000 …”
the same day I received this notification of
congratulations from WordPress:

Posting for Readers

I am not selling anything on my blog, so I won’t get 1,000 orders…
But I would love to get 1,000 followers! And I am pleased to know I have posted that record 1,000 number of times – pleased because I know my posts and my readers have grown and improved through the years.

I post for my readers… and to my readers. I post to encourage, inspire, educate, and occasionally just to share my love, to share my joy or to entertain.

I post to show you the scenery, people, activities, and animals in whatever corner of the world I am today, knowing it may be very different from your surroundings. I enjoy seeing where you are and what you are doing.

Each day one or two new folks join us. Each day between 70 and 120+ folks from around the world visit JanBeek. Of those an average of 15 to 20 click “like” to let me know they have been there. If I am lucky, 8 or 10 will leave a message (usually it is only 2 or 3 comments, however). Usually I have no idea who more than 75% of my visitors are (except that WordPress tells me where they are from).

Encouraged or Discouraged?

Are those numbers typical? Are they encouraging or discouraging?

They are neither. They just are what they are. The “Discover” site on WordPress has 42,500,197 followers!! What would I do with that? I’d have to hire several private secretaries to keep up!!

It is not the numbers that keep me posting. One thousand posts since 2012… of those, the last 148 have been consecutive. It is not the numbers… it is the contacts, the friendships, the connections with people I have come to love here – or conversations with those I love in other walks of my life, as well. I hope to meet face-to-face someday the new friends like Derrick and Richard who are so kind with their messages of affirmation.

It was 148 days ago when I decided to make blogging a priority after my devotional time each morning.

Photo by nappy on Pexels.com
My sanctuary where I meditate, read, pray, and write each morning
(when I am home in Montana)

Get Serious

It was 148 days ago when I committed to taking that part of Cristian Mihai’s advice, that “Get serious about it,” very seriously.

Just “Punch those damn keys!” Say what you mean – and mean what you say. Get passionate! Share what you care about. Be the change you want to see in the world … one word, one post, one action, at a time.

Cristian Mihai – The Art of Blogging

Cristian has 131,548 followers and often offers them perks… like today, “A random person will be selected among those who order until we reach #1000 will receive six months of reblogging, one sponsored post per month for a duration of six months, and a one-on-one Skype chat with me.”

I am one of Cristian’s 1,000. I ordered his on-line book, “The Art of Blogging,” and I subscribed to some one-on-one tutoring from him. He gave me some great advice about formatting, headlines, content, and networking. I recommend you take him up on his offered perk today. Who knows, maybe you will be the 1,000th person! He’s offering a great reward!

Thanks for visiting.
See ya tomorrow.

Category:

blogging, friendship, learning, Life's Challenges, Love, Serving One Another, Sharing, teaching, writing

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Be Uplifted


Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com

Yesterday I posted a picture of friends who came to share this beautiful place in Rancho Mirage, CA with Bob and me.

This morning I logged in to WordPress and found the most delightful responses to that post, as well as the Sunday post about baptism. My blogging friends’ responses were so upifting!

Thank you, dear readers, for taking the time to read and respond. You warm my heart! I blog to share my joy, my love, my blessings … because they are overflowing. I can’t contain them! God gives me more than I can keep to myself!

Proverbs 3:10

“Then your barns
will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over
with new wine.”

Yesterday’s post from Derrick was a barn at sunrise that filled my heart to overflowing. I love his photography and blog. Do you know it?

And to have vats that overflow with new wine, I must remember to stay connected to the Vine!

Photo by Luiz M. Santos on Pexels.com

Sharing the joy of God’s beauty with friends present and far away is prompted by my relationship to the Vine… Dear God who is the source of all joy. Indeed He fills my cup with love…

Photo by Chevanon Photography on Pexels.com

I pray that you feel the joy of God’s grace today, too.
I pray that your cup is overflowing with love.
I am so grateful for your visit to JanBeek
and the sharing your uplifting comments.
Thank you!

Have a terrific Tuesday.
See ya later!

Category:

Bible Lessons, blogging, contentment, Faith, friendship, Giving, God, Gratitude, happiness, Jesus, Living in Christ's Family, Living in Harmony, Love, Serving One Another, Sharing, writing

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Choose Joy Today


I love playing around with various poetry forms. I love learning about new forms. Yesterday I encountered a “Dalit” for the first time. Do you know it? It is 4 lines of 8 syllables each. I thought that would be fun to try. Here we go…


The choice is yours – choose joy today.
We are blessed to be in sunshine.
I select happiness today,
And it splashes over to you!

Yes, even if you are in rain or snow,
you can have sunshine in your heart.
My heart prays for peace in war-torn places.
My heart prays for safety for those in Harm’s Way.
My heart prays for rain in Australia
and stability in all places of turmoil.
My heart prays for joy in your heart.
Choose joy!

Try a Dalit poem. Share it!
And Have a Marvelous Monday!
See ya later.

Category:

blessings, friendship, Giving, happiness, Living in Harmony, Love, mental health, Poetry, prayer, writing

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Walk Away


Reblogged with permission from Audrey Kletscher Helbling

“Sometimes you just have to walk away… January 9, 2020

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 12:56 PM
Tags: compassion, empathy, listening, thoughts, understanding

An especially bright spot in the heart of downtown Faribault is the Second Street Garden, a pocket garden with positive messages like this one. Minnesota Prairie Roots edited file photo August 2019.

BY NATURE, I AM a quiet observer. Not introverted. But a watcher, a listener, the person who mostly sits back, especially in a room filled with strong personalities.

But that doesn’t mean I embrace overpowering people, especially those who talk over and at others. That type of self-centered behavior bothers me, bothers being a tempered word choice. Lack of empathy, understanding and compassion hurt personal relationships, communities, countries. I see too many people driven by their goals, their agendas, their misinformed/uninformed assessments of others and of situations. Their “I’m right” and “I don’t care if I’m hurting you” perspectives.

How do you fix that on a personal level? The answer: We usually can’t. I’ve learned that unless someone is willing to engage in civil dialogue, it’s probably a waste of time to even have a discussion. I can only control how I react. And sometimes the best way to react is simply to walk away, to let it go, to extract myself from those who are toxic, who lack empathy and the ability to think beyond themselves.

The Minnesota Nice part of me screams, “That’s not very nice!” But the reality is that we all deserve respect. To be heard and understood and loved. Every. Single. One. Of. Us.

THOUGHTS?“

© Copyright 2020 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

My thought on this blog is that Audrey is so right! As a culture, we seem (in the USA) to be losing sight of common courtesy. We seem to be forgetting the power of mutual respect. We seem to be going down a rat hole… and it’s not pretty!

So, Audrey’s blog spoke to me. We DO have a choice. We do not have to travel down that ugly hole. We can walk away “from those who are toxic, who lack empathy and the ability to think beyond themselves.”

I posted “Walk with Me” a couple of days ago. It was a physical walk around our beautiful neighborhood here in Rancho Mirage, CA. Yesterday Bob & I walked around the beautiful polo grounds in the La Quinta/Indio area.

El Dorado Polo field
The geese at El Dorado Polo field lake
Geese and ducks are plentiful there.
Last time we were here (a year ago), they were planting a lot more palm trees here.
The trees are beautiful, aren’t they?
The geese walked away when they saw us coming!
But they just sat at the water’s edge. So beautiful!
It was a beautiful day for walking. Temperatures in the low 70’s.
As we headed back to Rancho Mirage, we drove into the gathering clouds,but they didn’t bring rain… just a little wind.

Today, I am walking again… but this time, it is around a desert path in Thousand Palms. I send funny little kisses to you… from Snapchat … with a tooth in the way. Oh my!

Thank you, Audrey, for your thoughtful blog. I am taking it to heart. If there are toxic people out there, intent on spreading hate, I am walking again…

… Not around the neighborhood or the lake or the desert, but walking way from hate and disrespect.

You with me?

See ya later!

Category:

blogging, contentment, friendship, happiness, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, mental health, respect, Travel, writing

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Welcome to My World


Here I am – comfortably settled in this beautiful condo in Rancho Mirage, California. Southern CA is so beautiful! The temperature outside is a wonderful, windless 73 degrees and warming. Join me!

Share some poetry with me. I love poetry. Lately I have been engaging in a series of Haiku using the three lines of 5-7-5 syllables to pour my heart out. But, is that the intent of Haiku? Does each form of poetry have a built-in intent?

Free form seems to be in vogue these days. I have enjoyed exploring it.

Rueben Quesada, poet who featured

3 Contemporary Poets on Suffering, Sorrow, and Truth

__ wrote:

“The most important thing I have learned
about being a poet is that writing poetry
is more about attending than intending,
more about silence than sound.”

Photo by jonas mohamadi on Pexels.com

But is listening something we do with headsets when we are out in nature? What about the rustle of the leaves and the sound of the birds? What about listening to the silence?

Welcome to My World

As I sit in the quiet of my patio
In the sunshine of southern California,
A golf cart buzzes by,
A club whacks a ball,
A ball flows silently toward its target,
A hummingbird hovers near the feeder,
Unsure of my presence, it lands
And sucks silently from the red nectar.

As I sit in the comfort of our living room,
In the ambience of southern California living,
A symphony plays Boyce Concerto Grosso in B Minor,
The dishwasher runs quietly behind me,
My fingernails tap those damn keys,
And Cristian is proud of my persistence –
It’s the key to successful blogging, he says.
I am attending – and so are you.

Welcome to my world.

Come sit a spell with us.

Thanks for visiting.
See ya later!

Category:

blessings, blogging, contentment, Gratitude, Living in Harmony, Love, music, peace, Poetry, Travel, writing

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If I Could Fly


Do you ever wish you could fly? Just float above the challenges, view life from a higher perspective, and come in for a landing better equipped to deal with life’s complexities?

Quoting Carl Sandburg’s lovely aphorism:

“Poetry is a diary kept by a sea creature
who lives on land
and wishes he could fly,”

brings me back to my angel post from yesterday.

One of my readers commented that angel wings would come in mighty handy on crowded “free”ways. The traffic jams make them anything but free, and so those wings might allow him to fly above the fray.

Fly me to the moon!

I’m a sea creature who lives on land

And wishes I could fly.

I’m a fish out of water

And let me tell you why.

My mind thinks in poetry;

My ears hear in rhyme.

My soul seeks to soar

To heights all the time.

I’m a shrimp in a crowd

Of fish-loving folks

Who tower above me

Telling fly-fishing jokes.

I prefer sitting quietly

At the edge of the sea

And finding a star fish

Who’ll fly “heaven-word” with me.

Want to fly along?

It’s another beautiful day in southern California. We are leaving our friends in Redlands and headed for a place in Rancho Mirage for a couple of weeks. Stay tuned. I’ll share my adventures with you.

Where are you headed today?
Wish you could fly?
I do!

See ya later.

Category:

friendship, happiness, Life's Challenges, Love, Poetry, Travel, writing

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Be Kind – Be Right


Happy Sunday to you, my friends.
What are your plans for today?
Whatever you do,
wherever you go
(even if you stay home),
you will have an opportunity
to be kind
(even if only to yourself).

Choose kindness.
Be right!

Multi-Language Service

If you have followed my blog for a week or more, you know I attend church on Sundays and as I hear the message, I take notes – usually in poetry.

Today we attended the First Presbyterian Church in Redlands, CA. It is a beautiful church in the heart of the city with a mission statement: “Living in the Heart and Mind of Christ at the Heart of the City.” The service was conducted with five languages spoken alternately while the English translations were printed in the bulletin.

It was WONDERFUL to hear the melodic and unusual tongues of Urdu, Indonesian, Banyan, and Chichewa spoken – as well as the familiarity of English.

The pastor, Cheryl Raine, spoke on the topic, “The Mind of Christ.” The scripture on which the sermon was based, Philippians 2:5-8 was read orally in a language I had never heard of before. English-only folks like me read it in English in the bulletin while we listened with fascination to Wilson Kayange whose native language is Chichewa.

Sermon Notes

Morning has broken… like the first day –
Blackbird has spoken … here’s what he’ll say:
Look for the sunrise… it’s the new year –
Praise for the morning… filled with good cheer.

We are God’s people … we live in His love.
We are Christ’s people… we need a good shove!
We try not to stagnate … living in our own will.
We empty ourselves … and try to let Jesus refill.

Leaning on our own mindfulness… we stumble and fall.
We’re two days out from Epiphany … listen for His call.
He asks for patience and grace … decisions slow made.
He tells us to avoid selfishness… my renewal was paid.

Paid by our Lord … with His blood on the cross.
We’re asked to set aside self-interest … at Jesus’ cost.
Self-empty to love and serve others … As an offering, place
our lives before God… Pray daily for His extravagant grace.

Transform my mind … make it more like Christ’s mind.
Give me obedience … and cause me to be kind.
Give me extraordinary focus … on the way I can link
my mind to others’ needs … Let Your love escape with every blink!

The essence of His love… is lodged in me and grows
with each day I live and breathe … and God knows
I am choosing self-emptying … instead of selfishness.
God help me to live in Your will each day … in selflessness.

Amen

Following the sermon, there were more prayers and affirmations in the various languages before we sang one of the closing hymns… a favorite of mine: “Take Thou Our Minds, Dear Lord.”

Our unison prayer,
following the offering of our gifts,
affirmed the sermon message
and the inspiration of the hymn’s words:

“Holy God, thank you for reminding us
that we are to have the same mind as Christ Jesus,
for Christ willingly emptied himself for the sake of others.
In humility, we gathered these first gifts
of the new year for your ministries
through this beloved faith community.
Help us to be ever faithful
to your word and your ways
as we seek to glorify you with our very lives.
Amen.”

As I left the service and digested the messages of kindness, self-emptying, love, and selflessness … the importance of adopting “The Mind of Christ,” I found this meme. The “listening and loving” and the “be at peace with herself” resonated with me. The “healthy boundaries” are important as we seek to live with “the mind of Christ” in a spirit of joy – the spirit Christ personified.

Happiness in Kindness

As I sang,
“Teach us to know the Truth that sets us free”
and “Use us to make the earth like Heaven above,”
and “… yield ourselves to Thee, time, talents, all,”
I realized that when I yield to God’s will,
spread love and peace
using my time and talents,
and wear laughter and curiosity,
spreading kindness,
I am not only making myself happier,
but I am spreading happiness to those around me.

Photo by Jill Wellington on Pexels.com

Choose kindness.
Be right!

What will you do today to
spread happiness to those around you?

See ya tomorrow

Category:

Belief, Bible Lessons, Faith, Family, God, Jesus, Living in Christ's Family, Living in Harmony, Love, music, Poetry, prayer, writing

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