Foul Weather Friends

I received this as an email from Dayspring.com this morning. It spoke to me in that it's much easier for me to walk through the rain with other people than it is for me to allow other people to walk with me ...

What about you ...

I wish I had a big red umbrella that would keep all the rain out of your life. I would hold it over your head and the drops would splash, splash and you would never even feel them. But I don't have a big red umbrella...so I'll walk through the rain with you.

God doesn't intend for us to go through our storms alone. We all need our "foul weather friends" who will venture out into the weather with us.

There are two questions we must answer to not only survive but thrive through life's storms;

Who will walk through the rain with us? And will we let them?

Friends love through all kinds of weather. Proverbs 17:17 MSG

(Devotional quote from the 365 Day Inspirational Calendar, Rain on Me based on the book, by Holley Gerth.)

(Image is a picture of Rolf Harris' The Red Umbrella.)

Beauty - Often Noticed, Often Felt

I see it ~ and it moves me ...

It's not always the "pretty" things. An old photograph. The shadow of a parent walking with his child. The view from above after climbing a steep hill below. A lone, unoccupied bench in a garden of greenery and blossoms. The quiet companionship of an elderly couple sitting in a corner at a coffee shop. It's not always the "pretty" things.

When something external invokes something internal and makes us take notice ... We see it ~ and it moves us ... that's beauty.

But, as Sarah Markely notes, "We seem to be able to find beauty in the world day after day but we struggle to find it in ourselves."

"I Can See Clearly Now"

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,

I can see all obstacles in my way

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)

Sun-Shiny day.

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone

All of the bad feelings have disappeared

Here is the rainbow I've been prayin for

It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)

Sun-Shiny day.

Look all around, there's nothin but blue skies

Look straight ahead, nothin but blue skies

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,

I can see all obstacles in my way

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)

Sun-Shiny day.

~ Johnny Nash

Guess Who Is Forty-Two!

Yes, that would be me ... I celebrated a birthday this past Wednesday.

Forty-two hasn't really phased me. "Age is just a number," I heard someone say.

What really caught me off guard, however, was hearing that my baby brother will be turning 37 in a few weeks! MY BABY BROTHER! That's just wrong.

OH - and the fact that I received notice of my 20-year college reunion.

That's even wrong-er ...