None of us on earth lives alone. Each of us is kin the the other. We need one another – You are my sister, my brother.
I will defend your right To live in peace and justice. I will work to be an example Of the love we need, so you can trust us!
Trust us to work together To make this earth a place of care, Care for all God’s creation – A place we equally share.
No man is an island No man stands alone. Each man’s joy is joy to me; Each man’s grief is my own.
We need one another, So I will defend Each man as my brother, Each man as my friend.
We need one another So I will defend Each woman as my sister, Each woman as my friend.
Recently I posted this picture on my blog along with a series of photos that exemplified random acts of kindness. This woman could easily be me. The man she is standing beside is a friend from across the world whom she met playing Words with Friends.
I play Words with Friends with a myriad of people from all over the world. Some of them are busy chatting with me between plays, asking questions, helping us get to know one another.
I’d like to picture one of them wearing a “Love Felt” heartfelt t-shirt like that fellow … and then coming to visit me. I have WordPress friends that I invite to come to Montana and visit me, too.
Might you do that someday?
Each one of you is my brother/sister … each one of you is my friend. We need one another. What would it be like to be writing a blog everyday and have no one out there to read it and respond? Pretty sad!
TOMORROW One of the greatest labor-saving devices of today.
YAWN An honest opinion openly expressed.
WRINKLES Something other people have … similar to my character lines.
Hah!!
OLD I very quietly confided to my friend that I was having an affair. She turned to me and asked, “Are you having it catered?” … and that, my friend, is the definition of ‘OLD’!
And just in case you wondered, NO, by the way, I am not OLD! 80 is the new 40… Didn’t anybody tell you??
John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His Glory… full of grace and truth.”
Meaningful Relationships
Meaningful Conversations help lead to Meaningful Relationships.
The grace and truth of “The Word” are two of the most essential elements of meaningful conversations.
“The Word” is Christ – His Love – and His Example to us.
The “thinking, talking, and acting” in faith are essential elements of meaningful relationships.
The Beekman “Chat Area.”
Conversation area in Ty & Monika’s house
Importance of Intimate Words
Meaningful conversation is not small talk. It is heart-felt, genuine sharing from your soul. It’s transparent. It doesn’t have to be long. It has to be deep and authentic. It has to be free of intimidation, and opening intimate… knowing it is spoken in TRUST.
Our son, Ty, is exemplary of this: Smile and Trust – He shares openly – We’re so grateful!
From “This Day’s Thought,” an anonymous quote reminds us:
“The love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay, love isn’t love till it’s given away.”
Those moments of honest, intimate sharing are the most precious memories of the season.
Stay Connected
Yesterday we went with Ty, Monika and Sam (our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson) to Amador County, California. Kevin (the one in the black jacket) was a high schooler – and friends with Ty in their teens. Distance cannot keep us from remaining friends with Kevin, his wife, Karen, and their beautiful daughter, Morgan.
Just as we stay connected with them through annual Christmas cards and occasional phone calls, and face-to-face visits whenever we can, we also stay connected with Kevin’s parents. Our honest, open, intimate sharing of life’s joys and struggles keeps our friendship alive and meaningful. It’s a blessing!
Bob with our son, Ty
Family Dynamics
Just as “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we [see] … His Glory… full of grace and truth,” so it is that this son of our flesh, a gift from God himself, dwells among us full of grace and truth. We are so grateful for the way in which he and Monika open their hearts and home to the greater family … and allow us to converge on them en mass!!
I showed you this picture earlier this week. Isn’t it amazing?
We are a diverse group of people, connected by the Love of Christ, the Blessings of the Spirit, and the determination to remain open and honest with one another. It ain’t always easy. It ain’t always purrrdy! But, it is always worth it… and it is what God calls us to do.
Love One Another
I Corinthians … “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always TRUSTS, always HOPES, always preserves.”
May the love in your heart reach out in honest, intimate, trust-worthy conversation. May it protect and preserve your relationships. May it be
transparent.
deep
authentic
innocent
free of intimidation
openly intimate, and
shared in TRUST.
God Bless You!
Tell me about a relationship you are keeping alive with intimate words of love and caring.
Are they lily pure? Is every word uplifting? You can’t take them back!
Words spoken with love Can be the perfume of life Hurtful words just stink!
Ever smelled a “Stink bug”?
We have declared November to be the month of kindness and gratitude. Not just kindness to those who are kind to us, but kindness to to everyone and everything. Kindness to ourselves, our neighbors, our pets, the neighbor’s pets, our plants and trees… even kindness to those who hurt us!
Let our words be like the fertilizer that helps others to change and grow.
One kind word can change someone’s entire day. One kind word might even change a life.
What’s a word you might say today from your sincere heart that will brighten someone’s day? It doesn’t have to be eloquent. It isn’t flattery. It’s just simple and honest.
I love that you are here on JanBeek today. You make my day brighter with your “like” and your comment.
But, you really lift my spirit when you are inspired to take the message to heart – and go out and LIVE a LIFE of LOVE.
Sing along with this beautiful song that reminds us to speak and sing and think and live in the perfume of “Wonderful Words of Life.”
Feed your mind loving words… “Wonderful words, beautiful words, wonderful words of life” and then go out and feed others!
Be all that God made you to be.
Ask Him to help you meet
the people He wants you to meet.
Ask Him to help you know what
He wants you to say.
Ask Him to help you do
what He would like you to do.
.
Take responsibility
for
yourself.
If you are blessed with good health
You have more riches than all earth’s wealth
You have life and opportunities untold
You have a better chance of growing old
But health is more than what you eat
It is more than the quality of people you meet
It is what you think and what you say
It is what you choose to do every single day
Begin your day with prayer and gratitude
Remember health has a lot to do with attitude
Decide to be helpful; decide to walk in His will
Decide to take time occasionally to just be still
Whether you are under a cloud suffering pain
Or you are standing out in a pouring rain
You have control over your ability to smile
You can choose to exude God’s grace with style
Your mental health affects your physical being
You can choose happiness and be agreeing
Disagreeable people find their own misery
Be the kind of person who is cheerful company
To stay healthy, we must never stop looking up
We must never be stingy with our overflowing cup
Count your blessings; look at others with sympathy
Good health is contagious; Spread it gleefully!
Every first and third Friday our Madison County Writers’ Group meets in Ennis, Montana. We may have just two participants, or we could have eight or ten. Last February during our third Friday meeting, there were just two of us. I recently came across my notes from that meeting.
We begin our meeting each time with a prompt we draw from a bag. Anyone can add prompts to the bag at any time. On this particular Friday, Steve drew the prompt, “Writer’s Block.” We had ten or fifteen minutes to write on that prompt and then share with one another what we had written.
I decided to write a Haiku. It ended up as a 5 stanza poem… each stanza a syllabic count of 5-7-5 syllables. What would you have written with the prompt “Writer’s Block”?
Let me share mine with you.
Writer’s Block can trap You and me in wordless haze Floating in nothing
Nothingness can hold You and me in dilemma Pen in hand stands still
Stillness can reveal Treasures in the quietness You just can’t force it
Forcefulness is great If you adamantly feel Thoughts begin to swirl
Swirling thoughts spin out With contemplation and ease The Block disappears
We had so much fun sharing our ideas on Writer’s Block that we decided to draw another prompt. This one was “Words.” We gave ourselves another ten minutes.
This time since I was on a roll with the Haiku rhythm, I wrote a 3 stanza poem. Sharing it later with my husband, Bob, he asked, “What determines if your Haiku is going to be one stanza or 3 or 5?”
“You write what you have to say,” I told him. “When you have said it, you stop. The thoughts dictate the length.”
Here’s what I wrote to the prompt, WORDS:
When words just fail me, I sit back and dream awhile. Dreams don’t have to speak.
When dreams are wordless, My imagination spins – Motivating scenes.
Let pictures emerge. Print them on your mind and soul. Eventually: WORDS!
These kinds of dreams come to us as writers, but they come to painters and potters and musicians as well. It’s a capacity of the human brain that needs to be cultivated.
A productive life is one that can get beyond writers block, can use words to express inner feelings, and can listen with heart to the unspoken words of those around them.
I hope you are a proponent of the kind of arts education that promotes such critical thinking. Let your curious mind fly free.
Be a wise consumer of words and thoughts and dreams! Do you have a Writers’ Group? If so, tell me about it. If not, think about forming one. It’s such fun to share your creative thoughts with others face to face, not just on WordPress.