“Mama said there’d be days like this.” So goes a pop song from 1961. But I do not believe my mother actually gave me any warning about the day I had recently. The details must remain private for the sake of others involved. But trust me when I say that it was one of the worst days of my life, came at an already very stressful time and it shook me to my core. At the time, it seemed too much to bear.

While I do not celebrate the New Year, I typically use this as time to start a new daily devotional book and a new prayer journal. And, for the last couple of years, I have selected one particular thing to work on for the coming year. 

This past year, it was my mouth (recall my blog about this time last year, titled “The Year of the Rooster.”). The year before it was pride. I asked God to guide and grow me in these areas and He did. It was both tough and personally revealing to focus on a characteristic or behavior that I wanted to improve upon. I would not say I am done working on either one. However, it is time to pick the 2018 focus.

Matthew 17:20 [NIV] He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Are there any others out there besides me who wonder if they could ever have THAT much faith? I don’t know about you, but the idea of moving even pebbles by faith seems beyond my means!

About a year ago, my husband, Wes, had cataracts removed from both eyes. He had the cataracts removed and the new lens implants done on each eye about a week apart, because he pushed the doctor to do it as quickly as possible. I’ve never seen anyone so excited to get surgery. He was excited because he knew what that would mean – no more glasses for driving or watching TV or doing chores around the house. He does need readers, but mostly he is eyeglass free.

God has a few things to say about how well we humans see things. And, while He isn’t above imposing literal blindness to make a point, as He did with Saul (Acts 9:3-9), He very much expects His children to strive to see with increasing clarity as we grow in understanding. 

There are wildfires in California again. The Santa Ana winds are helping to intensify and spread these raging wildfires. At the time I began writing this blog, according to an article at CNN.com, the fires had collectively scorched nearly 200,000 acres over a one-week period and destroyed 792 structures. That is a consuming fire!

What consumes you? If you have a new baby, based on my experience with three children, that new baby consumes your time and energy. He/she must be feed, changed and cared for in so may ways throughout every day.

If you are not a fan of Star Trek Voyager, let me apologize in advance for being such a space geek and ask that you hang in there, past a little gushing about Captain Janeway (played by Kate Mulgrew), to the lesson for Christian women in one of my favorite episodes. 

Today, I read a fascinating article in the LA Times about the Great Pyramid of Giza. (I’ve pasted a link to the article at the bottom of this blog). Quoting from the article: An international team of scientists has discovered a large hidden cavity within Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza, and they did it by looking for muons — particles sent to Earth by cosmic rays from space. The mysterious cavity, described Thursday (Nov. 1, 2017) in the journal Nature, is at least 30 meters long. And though the researchers aren’t sure whether it’s straight or inclined, whether it’s one large space or a series of smaller ones, the discovery has already triggered interest among archaeologists as to the purpose of the void.

The pyramids of Giza are thousands of years old. Scientists have be trying to learn more about them for centuries, with mixed success. Quoting the LA Times article again: Other research teams have searched for hidden “chambers” by measuring tiny variations in the pyramid’s gravity or by using ground-penetrating radar. The results of those efforts have been inconclusive.

In Joshua 14:10 [KJV], quoting Joshua, we find this: And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while [the children of] Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I [am] this day fourscore and five years old.

Ever see one of those Family Circle cartoons in the Sunday newspaper, where Billy wanders the neighborhood - a dashed line showing a crazy, disorganized path? Or perhaps you’ve seen this cartoon:

“A stick and a sting” – that is what the doctors and nurses at my dermatologist’s office say before giving me a shot of numbing agent. I’ve been through it many times. They are very apologetic, but there is no need. Yes, it hurts a little and very briefly to get that shot. However, a “stick and a sting” is a small price to pay to be pain free through the rest of what the doctor needs to do – cutting out the basal cell cancer, cauterizing the wound and stitching me back up.  I do not want to feel that. So, the brief stick and sting is welcomed

I’m listening to a self-help book about creativity on tape titled Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert (who also wrote Eat, Pray, Love). In it, Gilbert discusses a book that she failed to write, the concept for which began when she learned about an incident that occurred in the 60’s or 70’s in Brazil. 

Gilbert recounted how, the Brazilian government decided to build a road through the rainforest. The project was mismanaged in many ways, but did finally get under way – at least until the rainy season hit. Work on the highway had to be abandoned until the rainy season ended, at which time the workers returned to find that the entire highway and all their equipment (some so big that the tires were more than six feet tall) were swallowed up by the jungle and the mud. 

Debt is in the news. Here in the USA, Congress is once again facing the need to raise the national debt ceiling. Like my parents before me, I wonder what my children and grandchildren will get saddled with trying to live their lives under that type of ever-increasing debt. And then there is the oppressive college debt most graduates labor under. Post high school education is practically a requirement to survive in the work-a-day world these days, yet, I know so many young people who could end up not paying off college debt until they are nearing retirement. These things are enough to give this mother of three a panic attack.

Have you ever tried Snapchat filters? I’m not on Snapchat, but I have a similar app that my son put on my phone when I last visited him in China. It is called Faceu. Through this app, as with Snapchat filters, I can give myself a pig face or bunny ears or a crown of flowers. I can add a photo frame or change the color tone to “sunshine” or “berry” or make it black and white. It’s a fun way to create silly pictures.

Wisdom supposedly comes with age and experience. I have plenty of both, but I recently came across a Scripture that made me wonder if I might be doing this wisdom thing all wrong. Yes, it sounds odd to me, even as I type it out. How can you get wisdom wrong? Please, hear me out and see if you don’t think there may be more to this wisdom thing that just what old age and experience can bring you. 

The definition of wisdom that I found on the Web is “the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise or the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment.” This seems to support the theory that age and experience, coupled with good judgment is enough to be considered wise.

I don’t play chess. I’ve started to learn it a time or two and dropped it for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that it takes too much strategic, advanced planning for me to consider it to be any kind of fun. Yes, I confess that I prefer my fun to require less of my mind. I feel like my job, our Friday night live program, my blog, hosting a women’s study and maintaining strong, godly relationships – not to mention leading the planning for an annual women’s conference – requires plenty of mental and spiritual focus, as well as advanced planning and preparation for success. So, I say “no thank you” to chess. And don’t even get me started on the 3D chess made popular by Star Trek! To me, that seems like the opportunity for a triple headache. I don’t need that kind of pressure in my “fun” time activities.