I went to a school this week to read one of my books, I AM With You All Ways, to the children in the third grade. The principal was wonderful, the teachers were wonderful and the children were so attentive and responsive.
We talked about the writing process and how you get ideas and how to keep a journal and think about illustrations. I shared several photographs I had taken and how they became illustrations in my books.
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I like to walk in the morning before the hustle and bustle of the day gets into full swing… as I work to keep the list of the day’s projects from flooding my mind… I take in my surroundings and listen to my environment as I enjoy a few moments of solitude and communing with nature. Recently, as I walked with a friend, I was struck by the beauty of the springtime… the trees looked extra green against the blue sky and there were no clouds in the sky……
On my morning walk… I heard a cardinal calling… I don’t know many bird songs, but I know the cardinal. I started looking for the bird…. There he was atop a tall tree along the road that I was walking on…
His red feathers were iridescent in the morning sunlight and his feathers shown so brightly atop that tree. I listened as he called out several times.
For me, the cardinal always signifies a message from God… you are important to God… and I pay attention as I need his loving guidance.
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I have a favorite passage that seems to circle around at critical times. I love the messages. It is entitled: Hopi Wisdom. It clearly speaks of feeling the flow of life when we feel stuck or we are holding on to ‘something’ too tightly.
We are called to allow for ‘the flow’… the flow of life… and the flow of the universe that is in everything and connects us to everything and each other. It is like the river current that takes us down life’s many paths and beckons us on… and on…
Many live life working against the current… feeling that there is a best way and holding on to the shoreline in a sense that allows for our need to control… control the path… control the outcome…
When we let go of the shore and allow ourselves to ride the flow of the current… it takes us where we need to go and places us where we need to be…
There is no prescription or rule book,
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I was in a bookstore the other day. It is a big book store with two floors to peruse. We were there to pick up a book we had ordered and then we went downstairs to the Bible section … I was looking at different versions and suddenly a woman reached in front of me and held a Bible up to a satchel she was holding in her hand… she remarked… “It doesn’t fit”…
I said something about what a good idea it was to bring the satchel so that she could check on whether the Bible would fit into her satchel…
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