So Simple, But Makes My Day

Briskly walking through my neighborhood, I pause at the edge of the sidewalk to allow the car to pass.  Oblivious to my surroundings in deep thought, I lift my head to see through the smoke-tinted front windshield of the passing car, fingers released from the steering wheel, the occasional wave offered my way.  So simple and yet it put a bounce in my remaining walk.

Picking up my phone from the text message alarm, I glanced down to read an unprompted message from one of my adult children - Love You, Mom or Thank-you.  These come so rarely that it just turns my day into sunshine and releases that heavy weight of parenting that can rest its head on my shoulder at times.

She greets my husband with a smile, she knows my tea combination, she is working two jobs, and yet she stops to inquire about our family.  On our 30th wedding anniversary, she signs my cup of tea...Congratulations!   Her usual  smiley-face written message brings cheer into my day. 


So Simple and yet each Makes My Day.  If my walk on earth can be lightened by these easy gestures then how can I make some one else's day?


At the local store I ask how the clerk's day is, instead of just replying to her trained inquiry of "how are you?"  Shocked that I was interested, she starts to pour out with a smile the details of her day...I received the blessings also.


Stopping to hear my unknown neighbor tell me about how the armadillos ate up her flower bed,  I pause and listen, then encourage and say, "have a wonderful day....your flower bed is beautiful."


I nod with gratitude while smiling and say, "Thank You!" to the yard men who stop their work in order to allow me to pass uninjured.  


I desire to say through my actions... 
"you are special, you are worthy, you are loved."  I reply to text messages and emails, because I am not too important to ignore them, and the receiver is important.  I pray that my simple smile, word, wave or text of encouragement makes someone else's day lighter....they cost me nothing, and yet I too am blessed.


Thank you for stopping by, for your comments, your encouragement, your blog posts that are so inspiring ... you have made my day!

Spontaneous

RAIN, RAIN AND MORE RAIN

INSIDE

DAD OUT OF TOWN FOR DAYS

SUNSHINE!!!!

SPONTANEITY

GRAB TOWELS, BATHING SUIT, ICE CHEST, IN CAR IN 30 MINUTES

ADVENTURE

UNKNOWN CITY

DRIVE 45 MINUTES AWAY

UNSCHEDULED

UNPLANNED

DISCOVERY

ABANDONMENT TO FUN

GIGGLES

REFRESHING

CHILD-LIKE HEART

SPONTANEITY THE SPICE OF LIFE

THERE ARE JUST TIMES FOR SPONTANEITY...SUMMER IS A GOOD TIME TO GIVE IT A TRY

What have you done lately that was totally spontaneous?  Be ready for unusual things to happen.  Most spontaneous adventures will be very budget friendly and  as much joy or more than a well-planned out activities.  Try this spice of life and see what wonderful flavor you enjoy!

When the Dog Bites!

"When the dog bites

When the bee stings,

When I'm feeling sad

I simple remember my Favorite Things

Then I don't Feel so Bad"

I have been hearing this song in my head recently so

I am listing some of my Favorite Things

Fabrics, All Kinds of Fabrics - Fabric Store

Home Decor - Decorating

Chia Tea 

Beach
Books, Books, Children's Books - Bookstore

Camping - Enjoying the Outdoors

Dr Pepper

Cheesecake

Dinner out with my Husband - white tablecloths

My Large Family

What are some of your favorite things?  Isn't it just fun to stop and list some of the wonderful things we get to enjoy?  I think the song is right...."when I remember a few of my favorite things, then I don't feel so sad."

Even a long day can look better after thinking about your favorite things.

Thanks for joining me on my blogging journey....I am learning and enjoying!

Do You See It?

Do you see it?  Can you find the treasure in this little patch of earth, off the side walk, we discovered on our hike today?

The white flowers will be blackberries in the summer, but among them was this beautiful little flower.....

Would you have missed it?  Do you slow down enough to see the hidden treasures in your day or do you walk or run past them with the pace of an Olympic runner?  Do you need a zoom lens to keep you from seeing too broad a picture?

My blog's title is Janette's Sage...not because I have achieved the status of a sage, but because as my hair continues to add gray I have learned something along this journey of life that can only have been learned through the passing of time.

Daily reminding myself to stop and smell the roses along the way, to learn to ignore the thorns, and inhale the fragrance of life has become a battle cry of my heart.

Stopping to listen when my four-year-old announced on our hike, "I have lost my energy!", instead of pulling him along to get back to the house for another task to be checked off my never-ending "to do" list.  I took it in laughingly, thinking maybe that was an added, though unexpected, benefit to our nature walk.  (It wasn't gone for long... he raced me home.)

Many times we focus on goals and achievements that can be measured by the evidences around us...a clean house, gourmet meals, our looks, our decor, our kid's test scores, and yet the times we will look back and smile on will not be those achievements, although worthy.  We will look back, as our family does every spring, and recall our annual trip to the creek to find tadpoles.

We will not recount how good  we were at filling out our nature books, but we will recall how, every year, no matter how much I worked to prevent it, my only girl would fall into the creek.  We will all laugh about how I could take three boys on a hike and only Nicole would come back wet....every year she would somehow fall in the creek.  Yes, my objective was to fill our nature book for science. What was accomplished was my stopping long enough to enjoy the less obvious adventure of my daughter being pulled out of the creek.

As age 50 beckons me even closer, I continue to reflect on the past half-century, weighing how I want to spend the days God will grant me.  Yes, I would love to be back to my post-pregnancy weight I had after four children in my early thirties, that somehow disappeared with my pregnancies at age 35 and 45, but dreaming for a size 8 body might only cause me to focus on the weeds that gathered along the trail on our hike today, while missing the beautiful little treasures hidden under their leaves.

Today's hike was just a reminder to me to remember the important things as I lay down tonight and my brain rehearses the day with it's never-ending list of things not accomplished...but we did see the flower that most people just walk past and I did celebrate my son's 24th birthday.

It is All in Your Perspective!!!

It is all in your perspective.


Isn't that statement so true?  Just look at the picture to the side, we have all done this one before.  Is it a picture of a beautiful young girl or an old hag?


The older I become, the more I see this statement  as true.  Our own perspective can change everything.


We can remember our childhood with loving memories or choose to focus on the trials our family went through, as if other families didn't have their own trials.


Our financial attitude  can also be altered by our perspective for good or lead us down the road to poverty, either physical or mental poverty. 


Our family has suffered through some hard financial struggles, but compared to what?   Our definition of what is a "need" in comparison to a "want" can alter our perspective. Some will say they are poor because they don't want to touch their 401K,  savings, or that account for their next vacation.   Others will say they are in hardship and it means the water is being turned off, they are losing their possessions or worse .  


Our perspective becomes our truth.


It becomes a choice to see the young woman or the hag.  We can change our perspective, even when it isn't changed in the natural.  This change of perspective can give a marriage a new start, a teenager the belief he will make it, a mother a breath of fresh air and a family stress relief from a difficult situation.


Recently, as I came through a battle and started to breath again, I heard a friend say, "Doesn't the change in perspective really help?"  Yes, it does.  My situation may not have changed, but it has brought forth a change in  my perspective.


 Proverbs 23: 7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is."