Spreading love, joy, peace, faith & unity

Posts tagged ‘corona virus’

Yesterday

Yesterday

Yesterday – all my troubles seemed so far away …

We went to Bozeman; it’s an hour’s drive through the beautiful Madison River canyon.

Yesterday was a lovely 60 degree, blue sky day. Looking closely, we could see the grass is beginning to turn green. That silo house is about our halfway point.

Getting closer to Bozeman, the Bridger Mountains loomed majestically ahead of us. What a backdrop for a town, huh?

Shopping

Keeping the recommended six feet distance from everyone, we picked up a few groceries, some flowers and Easter cards, and then went to the pharmacy to pick up our prescriptions before heading back home.

There’s the silo house tucked down in a little valley, seen from the opposite direction with the Tobacco Root Mountains across the horizon. What a beautiful view!

Celebrating

While Bob drove us back toward our Madison Valley home, I wrote on the Easter cards and divvied up the roses to deliver to friends. It was Maundy Thursday… a day to commemorate Christ’s Last Supper, trial, and death. A somber time. Yellow roses help me remember the glorious sunrise that’s coming!

Yes, Easter’s on its way. We’re all on a “Stay at Home” routine (except for essential travel). Getting groceries and medications are considered essential. So are flowers and Easter cards!

First stop was at the home of two of our Sunday School children. We had not seen them since this Coronavirus lockdown began.

A few roses, a card to cheer them, a six-feet-distance hug, blow ’em a kiss … and we were on our way back home.

But First…

Some more deliveries… roses and cards to our neighbors… drop ’em off at their doorsteps… let ’em know we’re thinking of them. One neighbor put the roses in a vase, snapped a picture, and sent us a cheery message.

See how they brightened up their living room?

Yesterday

… all my troubles seemed so far away.

God’s rainbow… God’s promise

Yes,
our troubles seem to fade
as we reflect
on the reflections
of yesterday…

  • a day to take a little outing, pick up a few necessary items, and spread a little cheer
  • a day to look for the rainbow that promises a better tomorrow
  • a day to remember the Lord’s Last Supper and His death on the cross, BUT
  • a day to look forward to three days later… the Resurrection, and the Promise fulfilled.

Yesterday’s gone. Today is a day to spread the Good News.

What can you do to cheer up a neighbor’s day?

Easter is Coming! Take comfort! Claim peace! Spread LOVE! Take joy!

I wish you were near, my WordPress friends.
It’s “Good Friday!”
I’d deliver a few roses to you, too.

NoRmAl?

Who wants to be
NoRmAl??
Not me!!

I want to walk down
A new and different path –
A better way –
A more compassionate road –
An avenue that’s better for our planet
and for us.

Kevin League Photography

I want the whole world
to enjoy what I do:
the blue skies
and the clean water,
the promises of
a brighter tomorrow,
and a sure hope for
the future of our planet.

Kate Cottingham Photography

Let’s let the sun set
On this troublesome time,
And let’s help our world
Usher in a wiser, more loving,
Beautiful, sustainable tomorrow.

There never has been a time
when more possibilities,
when more opportunities
were so obviously apparent.
We don’t want to go back to what was.
We WANT a “new normal.”
Let’s take advantage of this time …

Pray for solutions.
Be positive.
Let’s all do our part.

What’s your plan
for what to do differently
once we are able
to emerge
from this
COVID-19 challenge?


Let’s share our ideas!

See ya later!

Beautiful Montana Photos

Montana is home
It’s a most beautiful state
Photographer’s Dream!

Larry Stolte
Mike Flaherty
Urs Keller
Tom Hartley
Tom Hartley
Shelia Shaw
Jesse Vargas
Curtis Wallace
Ed Coyle
Danette Woods

Montana’s my home
Coming here was our best move
Come and visit us!

The snow is meltng.
I know spring is on its way.
Yes, green is coming!
When COVID-19
Allows us to travel again
Come to Montana!

Thanks for taking a virtual visit with me today
via all these wonderful photographers’ lenses.
I pray for you and your health and safety.
Bee well, my friends, and have a Wonderful Weekend.


Love ya,
JanBeek

Faith is What it Takes

April snow falls so gently
On our Madison Valley town.
Trees and bushes are covered
With God’s pure and flaky gown.

Pintail Ridge is quiet –
Even robins hunker in
Partly finished nests of
Grasses and twigs so thin.

The air is misty stillness;
No folks are out about.
Spring snow falls so softly
I want to go out and shout:

“COVID-19 LEAVE US!
We don’t need your deadly germ!”
The virus didn’t hear me…
But the robin caught a worm!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com


Our birds will not go hungry –
And neither, friends, will we.
As God is in His heavens,
He’s also here to comfort me.

He sends the gentle snowflakes
To spread quiet, lovely peace.
He sends birds to remind us –
Here come the Canadian geese!

Photo by Brandon Montrone on Pexels.com

Our feathered friends are signs
Real spring is on its way.
Soon we’ll see the flowers
With colors to brighten our day.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

But for now, be still and listen.
God whispers through the flakes,
“The birds will not go hungry –
Trust, be calm; faith is what it takes.”

April snow falls so gently
On my neighborhood today.
But there will be a sunny morrow…
And we’ll all go out and play.

Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com


Children will be back in school.
Yay! We’ll all go out to play.
Fishermen fish, golfers golf, workers work –
We have faith – we’ll see that day!

Faith is what it takes.
Let’s remain positive together, okay?
God bless you!

Happy April 1st to you.
What’re you going to do to make today memorable?
I’ll see yo tomorrow.

Fast Away

Fast Away

Fast away this old month passes –
New one enters, cold and blue.
Never have I felt such distance
Separating me from lovely you.

My arms long to hold your heartstrings;
My soul aches to feel your touch.
Never did I think I’d feel so lonely-
Never have I missed you so much.

I miss my church friends in the pew;
I miss singing our hymns with you.
I long to gather at your table
And sip a glass of wine or two.

I miss the chance of volunteering
Where I can go and serve with glee.
I miss the sound of great crowd cheering.
I pray you’ll soon be here with me.

Fast away this old month passes –
No one knows where the end will be
Of this dark and deadly outbreak.
Won’t you pray for a cure with me?

Looking on the Brighter Side

Fast away this old month passes
I’m reminded of how much I love
Being safe and feeling healthy,
Hearing coos from nesting doves.

I have much for which to thank God –
And as April nudges through my door,
May my heart be ever grateful
For my safety and for so much more.

May I thank God daily for his watch
Over friends and family – oh so dear.
May I remember to show gratitude
For all the blessings I have here.

Keep my eyes on all the wonders
God has strewn across my path.
Food to eat, a loving family, and
Friends with texts that make me laugh.

Fast away this old month passes.
I won’t let the new be blue.
I’ll keep looking for God’s miracles
And send His love daily to you.

My Thanks and Condolences

Thank you, dear blogging friends, for visiting JanBeek.
You represent about 80 countries,
my WordPress stats have told me.
Some of you have lost loved ones
during this pandemic…
or you know people who have.
11,600 deaths in Italy alone??
It is unfathomable!!
The USA’s latest toll is 2,900,
according to today’s news…
with no end in sight.
No place, no person on our planet
is immune!

My Heart Breaks


My heart breaks for all who suffer,
who have lost loved ones,
whose family and friends have tested positive,
who are feeling the loneliness
and the vulnerability I wrote about
in the beginning of this blog.
It is not a situation we should make light of!
It is deadly and it is on the rise.
Bee Well, my friends.
Bee safe!

I love you!

Let’s pray together:
Dear Lord,
please
make this COVID-19
go
FAST AWAY!!

Amen.

When This Ends

You bet!
But in the meantime,

  • enjoy games at home
  • order take-out or learn to cook some fantastic stuff yourself!
  • make home-school an adventure for you and your kid(s); if your kids are grown, send ideas to friends, neighbors, grandkids about things they can do (like log into http://www.janbrett.com and listen to her read her newest book, COZY).
  • take time to appreciate the ones who are still at work – on the job – making it possible for us to have groceries, get gas, know our loved ones in hospitals and nursing homes are being cared for, and fill our prescriptions when we call them in. God Bless ’em!
  • don’t let the stock market numbers consume you or freak you out
  • stop hoarding toilet paper, and
  • look for virtual ways to be together while we’re apart.

My friend, Elaine Hundley, wrote this poem, “Together from a Distance.”
I posted it already on my blog a week or so ago. It’s time to post it again. Take her words to heart!

Together from a Distance
Elaine Hundley

“Shelter in place”, they say,
 “Socially distance yourself
From others, and
Save yourself
In these uncertain days.”

Accepting the mandates
Emanating from multiple sources
Muddles mind and soul,
Reducing faith to realms
Not resonating with reality.

So, feed the children,
Hold the children,
Cherish the children
As they carry
Fears of family insecurity.

 Show young adults affectionate attention,
Remembering to renew
The frail with hope,
Casting aside
Despair and defeat.

Connect with the community
As faces flood your consciousness,
Allowing fingers to fondle keys
of phone and keyboard
To share love, kindness and contentment.

Share smiles all around, sending self-confidence
On its way to unsuspecting faces, places, situations. 
Simply become beacons of tranquil assurance
 And you, too, may discover realms of restful renewal
In these uncertain days.

This pandemic will not last forever.
Make it a positive, meaningful time in your life.
With prayer and faith and compassion, it will be.
When it ends, if you have remained positive
and you have spread hope to those around you,
it will be “A Pretty Good Day”
INDEED!

Count on it!

Here’s a gift for you!

Have a good week!
Thanks for visiting JanBeek.
What’s on your agenda?


Feel the Hug?

Is there such a thing
As a socially-distanced
Heart-felt real hug?

Photo by Kamille Sampaio on Pexels.com

Can you feel the hug?
Can you feel the arms and kiss?
It’s the hugs I miss!

If you’re a grama
With your grandchildren with you
You count your blessings

If your sweet loved ones
Are far away in their homes
You long to touch them.

Photo by Valentin Antonucci on Pexels.com

You may video
Seeing them on computer
But you can’t hold them

You may see them change
From the baby you once held
To a one-toothed child

Thanks for the pictures
Thanks for the videos, too
But it’s not the same!

I long to hold them
I wanna play with their toys
Just touch their fingers

A long-distance hug
Yes, it’s nice to think about
And glad to receive

Liam (my great-nephew) with my sis, Sally

Grandsons cannot hug
Their gramas in nursing homes
Patients sit alone

Loved ones with virus
Dying in the hospitals
Can’t have family there

This is the cruelest
Part of Coronavirus
My heart is breaking

Photo by icon0.com on Pexels.com

They need the touches
They need our love and real hugs
Not through window touch

Photo by Mugurel Photo on Pexels.com

But this is what is
This is reality now
We will keep distance

We will i s o l a t e
To keep the virus at bay
Stop it from spreading

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

We will do our best
To stay connected right here
Feel my heart-felt hug!

Do you have one to send back?
I need it!
Have a blessed Sunday.
I have you in my prayers.
I’m sending angel hugs your way.

Photo by Sebastian Voortman on Pexels.com

See ya tomorrow.

Stop, Look, Listen!

In this crucial time
We need to stop, look, listen
Stop now and bow down!

In kindergarten, we were taught to stop, look and listen. We made traffic lights as an art project. As a kindergarten teacher in the 70’s, I taught the children to recognize their colors, write their numbers, sing their ABC’s and listen for the sounds the letters made. I taught them safety features. Looking out for themselves and for one another. Yes, we had partners who took care of each other when we went out on field trips.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It’s time once again
For us to stop, look, listen
Practice safety rules

It’s time once again
To look out for each other
Hold hearts across miles

Just STOP, everyone!
Stay sequestered and stop now
Look for ways to help

Listen for the cries
Of people less fortunate
Look for solutions

Kim Taylor Henry is one of the contributing writers for Daily Guideposts 2020. This week, she has taken us through her devotionals on a journey to the Holy Land. We stopped with her in Jerusalem and bemoaned the way “the city bustled on.”

Kim thought of the words of Jesus:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem…
how often I have longed
to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her chicks
under her wings,
and you were not willing.”


She wrote that
when she traveled to Jerusalem, she
“had expected to feel
connected to God
through tranquility.”

Instead, as she stood on a hill
looking down at the expanse of the city,
she wanted to cry out,
“Stop everyone! This is holy ground!
Bow down. Worship. Praise.”

Photo by Cameron Casey on Pexels.com

We were just like that –
Chaotic, bustling, busy –
Moving way too fast

Then this virus hit
We came to a screeching halt
Stop, look and listen!

Now we have the time
We are forced to be at home
How will this change us?

Photo by Alexas Fotos on Pexels.com

Will we use this time
To reclaim our best values
To reach out in love?

Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

The city is still
The children are in their homes
It seems the world stopped

Take time to bow down
Reconnect with your Maker
Let His Will guide you

When Kim Taylor Henry left Jerusalem
and traveled on to Gethsemane,
she expected to find “a hushed highlight” for her trip.
She wrote that she thought she would find
“a spot where I would reflect on our Savior’s suffering,
a place of pain, yet serenity.”


“Instead ,” she wrote,
“I saw a fenced-off grouping of knobbly olive trees…
It didn’t feel peaceful.”

Opportunity or Tragedy

We have the opportunity
during this COVID-19 pandemic
to create in our homes
a place of peace,
a spot where you sense
a “hushed highlight”
in the opportunity to just BE…
just BE together with family
or alone in your space…

OR

We can create a tragedy
where we feel “fenced off”
and we can be resentful,
and we can worry
and let our fear
blind us to the opportunities
that are before us.

Photo by namo deet on Pexels.com

Indifference or Awareness?

Traveling on the Via Dolorosa, the road to Calvary, the place outside the city of Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified, Kim Taylor Henry wrote in her Guideposts devotional,

“I felt irritated by what I viewed as near oblivion to the sanctity of the path. Crass crowds and the array of souvenir shops disturbed me.”

But she went on to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Golgotha, the hillside where Jesus and the two thieves’ crosses remained, and she felt a sense of hush and respect.

Kim asked herself, “Why is the Via Dolorosa bustling with indifference and commercialism while the sites of death and resurrection are worshipful?” And she postulated, “Perhaps it’s a reminder that I, like so many wrapped up in the world… realize my errors too late, and bow down after the fact – when crisis has already struck.”

Is it Too Late?

Help us not to wait
Until the crisis has struck
Devastating us

Help us to heed NOW
The directions we’re given
And let us bow down

Stop, look and listen
Like kindergarteners did
No, it’s not too late!

Photo by Gustavo Fring on Pexels.com

Thank you, Kim Taylor Henry, for permission to quote your writing. Thank you, Guideposts, for your wonderful Daily Guideposts 2020 spirit-lifting devotionals. I appreciate this resource that helps me each day stay focused on the positive ways we can remain in His Word and “Walk the Talk” as we learn to better love and care for one another.

See ya tomorrow.

Laughter is Good Medicine

We all need to laugh
Laughter is good medicine
Brings good endorphins

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Laughter reduces pain, increases job performance, connects people emotionally, and improves the flow of oxygen to the heart and brain. Laughter, it’s said, is the best medicine.

Let Laughter Reign

I hope you laughed out loud at some of these. I did!
Did any of them shock you?
Did that make you laugh louder?

The Major Function of Laughter

Some researchers believe that the major function of laughter is to bring people together. While we are socially distancing (afterall, you may be thousands of miles from me), we CAN laugh together!

You may have been surprised that this usually prudent 80 year old blogger would post more than one meme with the word “asshole” in it. Right?

But did you laugh, or did you just breathe deeply and say, “Oh my!”?? Deep breaths are good for you, too, you know!!

Did you know that laughter reduces blood sugar levels? It is believed that laughter increasing glucose tolerance in diabetics and non-diabetics alike. It’s worth a little shock effect of naughty words, don’t you agree?

All the health benefits of laughter may simply result from the social support that laughter stimulates. Just loosen up and laugh, my friends. It’s good for you! It keeps us connected, even though we may be far away.

Photo by Godisable Jacob on Pexels.com

Have a happy day… laugh a lot … and spread your joy
Especially during these extraordinary times.

What meme or comment
have you seen or heard
that made you laugh out loud?

See ya tomorrow.

Let Beauty Fill You!

Let beauty fill you
Only lovely quietude
Calm reassurance

Take a walk outside
Look up into the big sky
Marvel at beauty

Appreciate home
Let its peacefulness fill you
Find a quiet space

You can find a spot
You may not have a big porch
But it’s a big world

This was CostCo Connection’s cover picture in today’s magazine.

I see God at work
Holding our world in His Hand
Helping us save it

Hold the whole world close
We have a global challenge
But God is in charge

Out of this chaos
A healthier planet grows
Creating beauty

Photo by Alexas Fotos on Pexels.com

You can find beauty
Right in the space of your home
Look in your kitchen

This is our daughter, DeAna’s, latest bread-making attempt.
Looks pretty good, doesn’t it?

She sent a video of this loaf. In the video, she was cutting a slice and then tapping the crust for us to hear how crunchy it is. We had fun using “What’s App” to exchange some beautiful silliness. Then I wrote this Haiku:

Listen to the crust
Crunchy and appetizing
Crackle’s Symphony

Beauty in the kitchen …
Beauty in the dining room …
Beauty is where you make it …
Beauty is where you find it.

Let beauty fill you!

Have fun with beauty on your blog! Have you tried the new “Block Editor” here on WordPress? They have greatly improved it – and made options (like colored text) so much easier to access. Thank you, WordPress!!

Bob brought me flowers yesterday.
I hope you have someone who loves you enough to bring you flowers.
I love you, dear WordPress friends.
Here are some flowers to add beauty to your day:

Make it a beautiful day!
Thanks for stopping by JanBeek.

Leave me a message
telling me about something
beautiful
in your world right now.

See ya tomorrow.

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