Spreading love, joy, peace, faith & unity

Posts tagged ‘relationships’

Embrace Your Uniqueness

What makes you unique?
Your fingerprint and your eyes,
Your hair and your smile.

Your conversation,
And your own brand of whimsy.
Do you embrace these?

Bob Goff wrote today,
“God made you this way
On purpose, freckles and all.”

He had lots of spots –
As a kid, lots of freckles.
He was teased a lot.

His grandma told him
“Those spots are angel kisses.”
So be proud of them!

“Don’t tell anyone,”
She cautioned him not to share –
“Friends would be jealous!”

That very mean boy
Who teased Bob, calling him Spot,
Wilted his soft heart.

With grandma’s advice
His insecurities left,
Finding acceptance.

Accept uniqueness!
Embrace how you’re different.
Congratulations!

Love,
JanBeek

P.S. Bob Goff puts this message at the end of each of his books:

CONNECT WITH BOB
“Bob’s passion is people.
He’d love to hear from you
if you want to email him at info@bobgoff.com.
You can also follow him on Instagram and X: @bobgoff.
Here’s his cell phone number if you want to give him a call:
(619)985-4747.”

Now how unique is that??

Category:

blessings, blogging, Haiku, life, Love, mental health, Poetry, self-esteem, Sharing, writing

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Grateful Heart

If you start each day
With a heart of gratitude
You will smile more

If you end each day
With a heart of gratitude
You will sleep better

If you live each day
With a heart of gratitude
You’ll see more blessings

From early sunrise
To the setting of the sun
Have a grateful heart

Swiftly flow the days
So, live each one gratefully
Giving God the praise

Love,
JanBeek

I am grateful for you,
my blogging friends
who read and comment.
Thank you!

Category:

blessings, contentment, Gratitude, Haiku, Living in Harmony, Love, mental health, music, Poetry

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Have You Ever Crossed Your Parents?

The “Six Sentence Story Blog Hop” from GirlieOnTheEdge1.wordpress.com for this week is CROSS.

As a child I obeyed without question whatever my mom or dad told me to do.

Likewise, I did not do what they told me I was not supposed to do.

I was a very obedient child.

But as a teenager who began to exert my independence, I had ideas of my own, and they didn’t always coincide with those of my parents.

Oh boy, do I vividly remember those first verbal clashes when I wanted to go my own way – and we crossed paths and mine wasn’t the direction my parents thought was okay!

I asserted my will and to my increasingly cross parents, I shouted, “It’s not up to you!”

“Don’t be so bold, you sassy thing!”
Love,
JanBeek

PS – Have you ever crossed your parents?

Category:

blogging, children, Love, relationships, respect

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Ain’t Love Grand?

My youngest grandson has had a long-distance relationship
with a girl from Colombia for more than 4 years.
With the help of FaceTime
and occasional visits to/from Switzerland,
they have kept love alive.

Now she’s visiting him in the flesh. Ain’t love grand? God bless ‘em!

When Bob & I were dating
and when we were engaged
(back in the early 1960’s),
he was in the army,
stationed in Germany.
We went two weeks between communication
– one letter at a time.

Ain’t technology grand?
Now we have instant communication!

What was your dating experience
with your loved one?
Was it also way back when?
I’d love to hear about
your “Grand Love”
experience!

Hugs,
JanBeek

1959
1960
(his sister’s wedding)

1962
Ain’t love grand?

63 years later…
Yes,
Love is Grand!!

Category:

Family, happiness, Living in Harmony, Love, Memories, relationships

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Turn Back with Gratitude

My sermon notes try to capture the essence of what I hear each Sunday. Our pastor, Brian Conklin, delivered this inspiring message last Sunday:

Issues of faith, leprosy, and other skin troubles
Are the topics we are looking at today.
God is whispering to us to pay attention,
Live with humility, and show our gratitude.

Naaman, the man in 2Kings 5, was a man of great wealth
Whose skin disease stripped away his power.
A small, captured servant girl told Naaman
There was a man in Israel, Elisha, who could heal him.

Naaman went to Elisha’s house and was greeted
By a servant who told him to go to the Jordan river
And dip himself seven time for healing,
He does go, after anger and reluctance, and was healed.

It was his listening and obeying God in humility
That was his true source of healing.
Then, (in Luke 17) there were ten lepers who were healed
And only one turned back in gratitude, and was made whole.

Ten were healed, but only one was transformed.
Faith is about trusting in the next step,
Even in transition, fatigue, illness, and reluctance.
Healing is about the restoration of relationship.

God meets us in our obedience, humility, and gratitude.
Trust enough to step forward – then healing begins.
When you are blessed, do you turn back?
Do you stop, remember, and reflect in an
Attitude of Gratitude?

Give thanks always, knowing our faithful God
Will make you whole in your transformation.
Sometimes the solution seems too simple –
But if it takes seven dips in the river, do it!

And then, don’t forget to turn back to God
And express your heartfelt gratitude
For the ways He is faithful and always
Answers your prayers with His mercy and compassion.

Amen?
Amen!

What answered prayer are you especially grateful for today?

Love ya,
JanBeek

Category:

Belief, Bible Lessons, blessings, Faith, God, Gratitude, Life's Challenges, sermon notes, writing

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I Can Pick a Fight

I can pick a fight

No, it won’t be that kind of fight!

I’m picking to fight for more
love
unity
and respect
in this world!

With gentleness and respect
I choose to fight for
a better world

Fight to
replace controversies
and arguments
with more
love and joy.

Love,
JanBeek

ben Alexander (David)
from the Skeptic’s Kaddish blog
https://skepticskaddish.com/
invited us to write a poem or prose
with exactly 49 words today.
So, the blog above does that.
Thank you, David, for the challenge.

Category:

blogging, kindness, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, optimism, peace, writing

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I Can Become

In the devotional, In Touch, by Charles Stanley this week, he wrote, “… Authentic Christianity is about becoming rather than doing.”

I was struck by that idea because, as he also wrote, “Probably the greatest obstacle to understanding God’s purpose for brokenness is this: Many think of Christianity as a series of activities. We pray. We read the Bible. We go to church. We worship. We tithe. We do and do and do…”

The devotional went on to say, “The life of faith that God designed involves receiving Jesus into our heart and allowing Him to change us so we become increasingly more like Him.”

1 John 2:6
“Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.”

“This realization will change our perspective on the heartaches we must endure… When we recognize that the Christian life is about Jesus’ persistent work of “re-creation” in us, then the role of brokenness makes more sense. It’s the process the Lord uses to strip away obstacles to our spiritual growth.

God doesn’t want to be Lord of most of our life, He wants to be Lord of all of our life. He wants us to become more like Him each day: loving, giving, serving, forgiving, teaching others about Christ by our life of love. So, we must BECOME more Christ-like by opening our hearts to Him and asking God to reveal to us anything that hampers that growth.

We can be so busy listening to all the instructions to be cool, aim high, and see the world that we forget to just BE… Just appreciate every moment as a precious gift from God, a chance to reflect, an opportunity to let God know how grateful we are for each day we are given.

Yes, I CAN become… I can become more like Christ… I’m just sitting here thinking about HOW He would like me to BE. What can I do to become more like Him? If it’s about BECOMING instead of DOING, how can I become without doing? Hmmm…

Think about that!

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Aging Gracefully, Bible Lessons, Faith, God, Jesus, Life's Challenges

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I Can Stay in Touch

I can stay in touch
Though miles separate us
Thanks to internet

I love the selection of memes available

I can stay in touch
Thanks to the power of prayer
I feel close to you

I can stay in touch
Using WhatsApp on my phone
It is a great tool

Photo by Matheus Bertelli on Pexels.com

When I stay in touch
With the help of my iPhone
Distance disappears

I can stay in touch
Across wide, long, deep spaces
Nothing can stop me

You can stay in touch
Through the power of WordPress
Come on, write to me!

I’ll write back to you
You are not too far away
We can stay in touch!

img_2095

Cheers, my friends!

Hugs,
JanBeek

Category:

blogging, Family, friendship, Haiku, Living in Harmony, Love, Poetry, relationships, Sharing, writing

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I CAN Say Goodbye

I can say goodbye

I can hug and squeeze them tight

Send them on their way

Farewells at the airport
Good morning Sunshine!
I Can Say
Goodbye to September…

… and Hello to Autumn!
October is here.

Hello to blended mango margaritas and…
… hello to more trips to Bozeman
and to enjoying the fall colors while we go
I can say reluctantly goodbye to green grass and bright flowers
… and say hello to orange sunrises
and sunsets and pumpkins

Yes, I can say
Hello to cooler days
and colder evenings
(but we’re not ready for the snow yet!)


Seasons come and seasons go.
Company comes and company goes.
But family (ah yes, family) stays in our hearts forever
regardless of how many times we have to say goodbye!

To what are you ready to say goodbye?
And hello to what?
Tell me!!

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Family, food, friendship, Life's Challenges, Love, Montana, nature

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I Can Enjoy Family Times

I CAN enjoy Fun Times with family …
and I DID!!
It’s been quite a week
Here I am with our “bonus daughter,” Laina, who lives in Maryland,
our grandson, Nick, and his mom, our daughter, DeDe,
both of whom flew here from Switzerland.

Our smiles tell you what fun we were having!
DeDe & Laina have been best buddies since their freshman year in high school. Do you have people with whom you have remained friends for 40 years or more?
Laina, my hubby Bob, & Nick enjoyed time together
at Wasabi’s in Bozeman, Montana this weekend.
Yes, DeDe and I were there, too.
It’s a fun place!
Nick entered a “run” on Saturday in Bozeman.
Can you believe he ran (or walked when necessary)
for a total of 17 miles? Amazing!
No, he didn’t finish in the #1 spot,
but what fun he had eating the chocolate
from the 1st place medallion
that Elaina bought for him!!
Gotta keep movin’ to stay fit!
Fun times indeed!!

What do you do to stay fit?
When not busy running or dining out,
“the kids” found other happy things to do –
like a day in Virginia City
and a trip to Yellowstone.
Every day we were on the go!
Here is Nick at our favorite brunch spot
in Bozeman:
Jam!
If you’re ever in our area,
you gotta be sure
to make this one of your stops!
We knew how to wait happily for our brunch table!
Back home, you can see that our family time
was enhanced by “the pup!”
Kenny has loved all the company … extra playmates!

They leave to return to their homes tomorrow.
We are certainly going to miss them!

Who have you hosted in your home this summer/fall?
I hope you had as much fun with family as we did!

Off to bed now.
See ya tomorrow –
We’re going to the airport bright and early.
Good night!


Love,
JanBeek

Category:

children, Family, friendship, Living in Harmony, Love, Montana, pets, relationships

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