Today I am having a hernia removed. The doctor will use a robot to do the work. The wonders of today’s science in medicine never cease to amaze me.
I would probably freak out if I could see what the robot is doing. But I am grateful there is this in-and-out procedure available.
While I am out of commission for my blog, today, let me share with you a You.Tube that was sent to me by a friend. Lee said, “Everyone should see this.” I agree!
Take about a few minutes and do yourself a favor. Click on this video and enjoy – be amazed – be in awe… and take a minute to pray for my safe and “easy” surgery and speedy recovery, too, will you?
Oh, and before you go, take a minute to pray for my older sister, Sally, too, will you? She is in PA in a nursing home. She has Alzheimers.
No one deserves to be in her shoes with this pandemic preventing all visitors. I am so saddened by her situation, but grateful for all those who care for her.
Yup, I am the little sister… Definitely not well behaved!! Thanks for stopping by JanBeek
“Ambitions don’t flow from the quantity of our ideas or our uninterrupted drive; they gush out from our kindness and willingness to take a genuine interest in others.” Bob Goff
Taking a “genuine interest in others” is what Love Does!
Sometimes we wonder what we can do to make the world a better place. We want to help, but we don’t know how. Let me share an idea that works for me:
Bob Goff’s “Love Does” is an organization devoted to making the world a better place through education of people in places where schools did not exist before they came. Bob Goff wrote a “runaway New York Time’s best seller” book titled, Love Does. In it he spelled out his philosophy of DOING LOVE. Since its publication in 2012, I don’t know how many thousands of copies have been sold … but it is a whole lot!! And Bob’s LOVE DOES organization has raised millions to help thousands of children and adults in Uganda, India, Iraq, Iran, and Somalia have a better life.
In his quote this week on his FaceBook page, Bob talks about the courage to step out in faith:
May 7 at 9:35 AM ·
"Sometimes God asks us to step out (or through).
We don’t know what we’ll see
until we go through the deluge.
It’s scary to step into the unknown,
but it’s also where we find Jesus;
and wherever we find Jesus,
we find life.
Fear calls out our doubts;
God calls out our names."
Bob Goff
Helping to educate people from birth on … helping parents learn better parenting skills… helping to provide nourishment for the soul, the body, the spirit… that’s what Love Does! They built “Restore Leadership Academy” and sponsor the education of future leaders in Uganda.
May 10, 2018 · On average in the states, it costs about $20,000 a year for college tuition. In Uganda through Restore Leadership Academy, it costs $700. Our college-aged interns here at Love Does have created a campaign to help fund our Launch students!! Visit lovedoes.org/launch to sponsor a student! Sponsor a student today or make a one-time donation and receive a bag of wildflower seeds and a cool sticker in the mail to help “Plant the Seeds of Education!” #LaunchUganda#LoveDoes#HappyG… See More— in Uganda.
Through Love Does, help moms be better moms – and help children not only survive, but thrive.
There are many ways in your own neighborhood as well as around the world to show your love and compassion and to make the world a better place. We don’t need to sit at home and feel helpless in this COVID-19 world. We can reach out and let our love “gush out from our kindness and willingness to take a genuine interest in others.”
I donate a small amount monthly to this organization. It comes directly out of my retirement check. Not enough that I even notice it! But, if each person who heard about Love Does did the same thing, together our offerings can change lives! Lives of all ages… lives in many parts of the world. Here are a couple of darling children in Somalia who are being helped through Love Does donations.
How adorable are these two little friends in the baby home? We love watching these kiddos grow up here! To learn more about what we’re doing in Somalia, visit lovedoes.org/Somalia
I pray you and I will visibly gush with kindness and willingness to take a genuine interest in others.
BOTTOM LINE: LOVE DOES! Try it!
See ya tomorrow. Have a Beautiful Sunday. {{{Hugs}}} from JanBeek
In today’s COVID-19 world, a lot of parents world-wide have become their child’s primary teacher. Even though many of the students have access to on-line classes, still parents discover they must oversee the learning process. Most parents are not prepared for this role. Are you one of them who sometimes feels overwhelmed by it??
You’re not alone! Many parents who are on this “Stay at Home” routine find themselves thrust into a much more intense teacher role than they ever bargained for. Your time spent with your child/student during this time is precious. You’re making life-long memories. Make them happy ones!
I am a retired educator. I spent more than two decades as an elementary teacher and administrator. During that time, I had the opportunity to experience first-hand how the expectations of others affects our self-evaluations. Our expectation for ourselves affects our self-esteem, too. Just know you are doing your best! Hang in there!
Do Your Best
How do you know when you have done your best? Who helps you determine what your best is?
I learned from a wise educator (Madeline Hunter) in an in-service once upon a time eons ago that the question is not, “Are you smart?” The question is, “How are you smart?” What a difference that makes!
As teachers, coaches, mentors, parents, friends, our task is to look for the natural strengths in others (as well as in ourselves). We all have them. Dig! Find the positives. Build on successes. Learn from, but do not emphasize, failures. Reward achievement.
Did you read my blog a couple days ago when I told you about our adventures on “Lucille” our Polaris Razor? She is a red-head who is a “Ball” – but she required a whole new level of “Do Your Best” when Bob took her into snow that was too deep for her body. Lucille high-centered and Bob was stuck. His best efforts at digging I her out were not good enough. She was not budging!
Nope, Lucille wasn’t going anywhere. She was stuck!
What does this have to do with “Build On Strengths?” Well thank God, we had friends with us – and one of them, Rex, has a wonderful Boy Scout skill: “Be prepared.” He had the necessary equipment to hook up a rope to his ATV and latch the other end of it to Lucille. He pulled our ATV out of that snow… and “saved our bacon!”
Bob & I can learn from Rex’s strengths. Be prepared! Carry a rope and the necessary winch in case of emergency in the future. And when the rope came loose at the end of the reel, Rex taught Bob how to secure it with a set pin so that it would not come loose again. God bless Rex! And as for us… we’re never too old to learn!
Focus on the Positive
My favorite expression when I was counseling teachers was one with poor grammar, but with great truth: “What you pay attention to is what you get more of.”
Want success? Find the best effort and praise it! Find what the student does best and teach through that strength. Sometimes our teaching is by example – people just watch what we do. Certainly our kids are perfect examples of that! It doesn’t work to tell them “Do as I say, not as I do!” They WATCH!!
Teaching is a JOY!
After I retired, I had the fun of teaching adults who had not learned yet how to read. I joined the volunteers in the “Stanislaus Literacy Program” in Modesto, California.
When I met her, Grace was an illiterate adult. She was nearly 40 and she had spent the last 30 years avoiding the world of print. Her “best” was sorting clothes from the dressing rooms at JC Penney and putting them back on the proper racks. No words needed for that task. But she hated being unable to read. She hid it well, but it made her feel “less than.” You can imagine!
Grace enrolled in the adult literacy program and I had the privilege of working with her to unlock the world of print. Sorting letters was a lot like sorting clothes. Matching capital to small case letters, sounds to letters, classifying vowels and consonants. One step at a time, backing up to the beginning, building on her strengths, we did it. The joy in Grace’s life when she discovered she could read menus, street signs, and billboards was palpable! Next step: books. A whole new world opened up to her.
Have you ever watched the light glow in a learner’s eyes when the key to a previously locked skill is found and the door opens? “I did my best” took on a whole new meaning for me!
You can watch that key unlock new learning, new ideas, new attitudes for your child. These days offer parents great opportunities.
When anyone is asked to perform at a level above their capabilities, frustration abounds. I’ve had that happen to me. I was put in a place where I was supposed to lead a ZOOM group. Be the host. What? At that time, I didn’t even know what ZOOM was!
But, I WOULD have been capable of that performance, if somebody took the time to show me how.
You have a chance to be that somebody for your child… or for a neighbor or friend. With love and patience, and confidence in his/her ability to catch on, be the somebody who breaks it down. Step by step, lead him/her through the process of knowing how, trusting that s/he CAN.
People need to know that we believe in them. Believe in yourself as a teacher. Do your best! Watch the light dawn. It’s a thrill!
Learn Something New
Everyday is a new opportunity to DO MY BEST. My mother-in-law always said, “No day is complete until you have learned something new.”
There is no better way to encourage a student to continue learning than to be the example who is a life-long learner.
Photo by Yaroslav Danylchenko on Pexels.com And these priceless treasures should not be tampered with! (Well, I guess a chuckle is needed in these trying times!)
There are some aged ones who are wise beyond imagination. They deserve to be heard! (Well, this grandma isn’t really aged… is she?)
Wizened aged ones deserve to be preserved and appreciated . However, I learned that my grandmother’s old Victrola was worth much more in its original state – before I had it restored!! Preservation and restoration are not always one in the same.
But, I believe every soul is in need of constant restoration. Just as we need to remove the rust from the old cars to restore and preserve them, we need to remove those rusty spots from our hearts. You know what they are:
greed
anxiety
lust
jealousy
hatred
grudges
God can help us replace the rusty spots with:
generosity
peace
Agape love
compassion
joy
forgiveness
Ask the Lord to help you. Train your mind – Restore your soul.
I’m like Vintage wine. I think I improve with age. God grants me wisdom.
“But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
Yes, the Bible is old … a Vintage Book … and the language of the King James version really is old.
Gratefully, the old scripture, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and ancient copies of the Torah or the Tanakh were not discarded. And as scholars are busy writing new, modern translations of the Bible, we still have the old language. It sings to me and rings true, and teaches me to study and keep learning. When I come to an archaic word that escapes me, I use http://www.dictionary.com and I increase my vocabulary. I may be vintage, but I am a life-long learner… constantly renewing my mind and seeking to learn.
Upbraideth: root word: upbraid to find fault with or reproach severely; censure
Like this wise, old owl, let’s keep our eyes open to new opportunities. Let’s keep our minds open to new learning. Let’s keep our spirits open to renewal. Let’s keep our hearts open to restoration.
I may be vintage, but I’m not old in my eyes. My mind and spirit and heart are ready for daily restoration. How about yours?
Today’s message included a You Tube video that caught my eye. It is worth watching. You can see her total post – and learn why this video spoke so loudly and meaningfully to her by clicking on the link above. And you can see the video posted below on this blog.
Learning from Bees & Flies
I was attracted to this video because (as many of you know) my husband is a retired beekeeper. Honeybees have been an important part of our livelihood – and Bob’s family’s income – for three generations. What can we learn about the importance of positive mindsets from honeybees and flies? Here’s the video:
The Choice is Ours
I think all of us would rather gather nectar and pollen to produce sweetness rather than choose to focus on the negative, gathering/spreading garbage and filth. The choice is ours!
Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com Live with positive purpose – Gather nectar while you may!
Sweet thoughts Sweet actions, Sweet focus, Good for your soul! Good for others, too.
Photo by Leonidas Takao Ishikawa on Pexels.com Garbage in – Garbage out!
Photo by Nixon Johnson on Pexels.com Pest, nuisance, scavenger … Not for me!!
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.
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.”
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.
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!
Thank you, Kim Taylor Henry, for permission to quote your writing. Thank you, Guideposts, for your wonderful DailyGuideposts 2020spirit-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.
The basic structure of a tanka poem is 5 – 7 – 5 – 7 – 7. In other words, there are 5 syllables in line 1, 7 syllables in line 2, 5 syllables in line 3, and 7 syllables in lines 4 and 5.
The Tanka poem is very similar to haiku but Tanka poems have more syllables and it uses simile, metaphor and personification.
Ah, so it’s not just the syllable count that matters. The subject matter has to involve simile, metaphor and personification. Raise the stakes!!
What are Simile, Metaphor and Personification?
Simile = Both similes and metaphors are forms of comparison that compare words in a sentence. They can be used to make your sentences more interesting. How are similes and metaphors different? A simile is a word that compares words in a sentence. You can usually tell if a simile is present in a sentence when you see the words as or like. Don ate his salad like a vacuum cleaner. His arms were weak and felt like noodles. The thunder was as loud as fireworks.
Metaphor = Like a simile, a metaphor compares words in a sentence; however, instead of saying that one thing is like something else, a metaphor actually makes one thing become something very different by renaming it. A metaphor can sometimes use words like is, are, or was (and other words) to signal that a metaphor is present. However, a metaphor never uses the words like or as to compare. The smoke was cotton balls billowing from the chimney. You are my hero. The sun was a furnace.
Personification = Personification is the act of giving non-living things human characteristics. Here is a sample of a short paragraph that uses personification to describe a house:
Our house is an old friend of ours. Although he creeks and groans with every gust of wind, he never fails to protect us from the elements. He wraps his arms of weathered wood around us and keeps us safe. He’s always been a good friend to us and we would never leave him.
The Art of Blogging
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One of the bloggers I have followed from Day 1 on Word Press is Cristian Mihai who writes on The Art of Blogging. His tips always are right on! His coaching is helpful for those of us who are trying to improve our blogging skills. Isn’t that all of us?
This week he reminded us that blogging is not about numbers. It’s not about how many followers or how many “likes” or how many comments we get. It’s about the people. “Build relationships,” he told us.
Cristian continued by reminding us that it’s about passion. Write about things you really care about, he instructed.
You can’t improve your blog if you don’t know WHY you are blogging, he said. Cristian Mihai always reminds me that I need to be clear about my purpose. What do I hope to accomplish?
People, Passion, Purpose, Precision, and Pleasure
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I wrote to Cristian thanking him for the 3 P’s of successful bloggers, but then suggested we need to add two more P’s: precision and pleasure.
I need to be precise about what I write. Make sure the words are spelled correctly, the grammar is correct, and the format is pleasing. Add sub-titles. Add pictures. Edit out superfluous words. Read it aloud to myself or my dog. Make sure it sounds real.
No one will return to a blog that is sloppy or one that uses objectionable language. Or at least not many people will. We all know that. Those kinds of words and messes turn me off!
And the 5th “P” of successful blogging is pleasure.
I take pleasure in writing
about the things I am passionate about.
I get enormous pleasure out of
communicating with the people who leave comments.
I love getting to know people from India,
Sri Lanka, Canada, Venezuela, Germany, Finland, etc…
it’s FUN!!
I really enjoy looking at where y’all are from.
Have FUN!
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As long as you’re having fun, taking pleasure in the writing process, and enjoying the connections that your blog makes possible, I think you’re on the right track. As long as you write about your passions (one of mine is this “Loving One Another” subject), and as long as you stay true to your purpose and do it with the greatest precision you can muster, then I think you are a blogging “artist.”
I’m glad you are here at JanBeek.
I hope we can get to know one another,
encourage one another,
and give each other feedback as often as possible.
