Just Gave Birth--Long Labor/Not Much Pain

Reminder:  If you've been keeping a Gratitude Journal now is a good time to update it.  Who blessed your life this week?  What events lifted your heart?  What did you see, hear or read that inspired you?  There are so many reasons to be grateful!   

Today  I give birth to a new blog:  Essential Oil Savvy. 
It's taken me a lot of years of study.  However, getting the information together to share has been a joy.  No pain at all, other than the details of setting up a blog.
So, if you use essential oils and would like to know more about them, this could be a great site for you.  If you really don't know much about essential oils, even better.  Personally, I think they are wonderful and have so many uses.  To learn more, please visit my new blog,  Essential Oil Savvy, at http://essentialoilsavvy.blogspot.com

I will still be maintaining my gratitude blog.  The essential oils are an addition to help further enhance your quality of life.  You will notice 4 pages listed on the right sidebar.  These are:   an introduction to my experience with essential oils

                  a welcome to the site 

                  some cautions you'll want to know about when using oils          

 and            a little primer on the most common methods of extracting oils from 

                  plants

                                                               

You will also see the main post for the day, and an archive for past postings.  A search bar will make it convenient for you to find material you've read and want to reread.  

Because I have found that various companies make excellent oils, some for one purpose and some for another, my site does not endorse any particular brand of essential oil.  It is merely for your information so that you can make informed choices as you use these wonderful gifts of nature.

I am really grateful for a chance to share this information, and hope you will use it often as a reference site when you are looking for the right oil to meet your needs.

TODAY'S INSPIRED QUOTATION:  The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem for that sweet odour which doth in it live. - William Shakespeare - Sonnet 54

                                                          

Music, Beautiful Music

     If you've been reading this blog for the past week you know I've written a few posts about adversity, and thanking God for the challenges in our lives.  There are also some other really practical ways of getting though our more difficult passages.  Today I will write about one of my favorites: the gift of music.

     Maybe it's in my blood...probably is...but I love music.  One of my Italian uncles was a voice teacher, another could play just about any instrument and had his own studio, teaching many kids and adults in the community where I grew up. I also have a cousin, Sugar Ray Norcia, who has been a grammy award nominee on a few occasions for his blues music.   I also love to sing, though I can't claim any special musical talent.

     There are so many kinds of music and I love a bunch of them: Doo Wop from the 50's; Motown and rock from the 60's; some classical--Pachelbel's Canon in D is a big favorite; soft sounds like Secret Garden; inspiring and calming stuff like the work of Phil Coulter from Ireland and Sissel Kyrkjebø from Norway; and then, one of my all time "happy sound" favorites, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po8rG4nXpUs

His music just makes me feel like dancing, so I do!  Happily then, not only do I get to hear great sounds, I also get a little exercise and a good laugh (all you need to do is watch me dance to know exactly why I'm laughing).

     So, my simple message to you today is, enjoy some of your favorite music.  What a great gift to lift our spirits and snatch us out of the doldrums.  So refreshing!  Not to mention giving us a wonderful reason to be grateful.  I so appreciate that God gave some of His children the gift of beautiful voices, some the ability to play instruments, and some the creativity to compose.  All to bless the rest of us.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for music, beautiful music!

Today's Awesome Blessing:   Music, so many kinds, so many reasons to feel uplifted and blessed!

   

A Living Example of Gratitude

     From time to time, if we are very fortunate, we are blessed to know someone who is a brilliant example of "grace under pressure,"  "gratitude in the midst of adversity."  This is my friend, Rosie.  Rosie recently completed chemo therapy treatment following cancer.  She also suffers from multiple sclerosis.  She has weathered numerous difficulties in her life, yet Rosie usually seems so, well, rosy.  She has a determined spirit, and one of her greatest determinations is to be grateful and cheerful, no matter what may be going on.  She tells me that two of her favorite phrases from the scriptures are, "be of good cheer"  and  "it came to pass."  "Not," she emphasizes, "it came to stay."

     I was chatting on the phone with her the other day, and when I expressed my admiration for her positive outlook, she was quick to say, "Oh, that's not really me speaking.  That's God.  He gives me the strength to face each day and be happy.  It does take effort, but He makes it possible.  I figure,"  she goes on, "if I wake up in the morning and read the newspaper and my name isn't in the obituaries or the police log life is good."

     Rosie certainly has a great attitude!  I am especially impressed that she takes none of the credit for her optimistic approach to life, though she could--for, as she says, "it does take effort."  But, for Rosie, first and foremost, the honor goes to God.  He is helping her though every trial and supporting and lifting her up to rise above her difficulties. 
     I have known this good woman for many years, and though I've seen her at some of her most discouraging moments, she has always chosen to leave pessimism behind, to refocus and adopt a hopeful outlook.  In other words, yes, I have seen her discouraged and confused, but it has always been within the context of looking for the best way to approach her concerns and solve them.  Self-pity is short lived; anger is absent; she is just seeking after the right way.  Is this ability to readjust and adopt a positive perspective a gift, or a well-honed skill she has acquired as she has valiantly faced and wrestled down the challenges life has sent her way?  Probably some of both, for life has sent her what I consider a disproportionately large share of woe.  

     When I think of her many trials and how she handles them, I think of the account in the New Testament when the disciples asked the Lord, concerning the blind man,  "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?   Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him"  (John 9:2-3).  

     I often wonder if Rosie's remarkable way of deflecting life's slings and arrows is so that others around her can see God working through her, and hear her say,   "That's not really me speaking.  That's God.  He gives me the strength to face each day and be happy.  It does take effort, but He makes it possible."   

     In my opinion, His works and His love are manifest through this good woman.  Her attitude of gratitude, and her positive outlook are a testimony that His spirit abides in her, because she invites it and then acknowledges its presence.  It is also a testimony to His involvement and concern for her--and for each of us.  I will always count Rosie's friendship among the sweetest gifts I have received to help me travel through life with greater optimism and success.


TODAY'S  GENTLE  ENCOURAGEMENT:  Check today's paper.  Is your name in the obituary column?  Cheer up, you still have lots to live for!