Everyday is a Gift

April Sunrise at Mc Ferrin Point

     It's January--a time I look back and reflect over 2010.  As a "baby boomer" the number 2010 still seems "futuristic".  Growing up in the 50's and 60's, I really didn't think much about the Twenty-First Century,  I was too busy living the life I had--marriage, baby, work! 
     But now--"Who'd 'a thought it!"  Semi-retired and  living in the Ozarks on top of a mountain!  I could go on and on about the many blessings that the Lord has provided in the last nine years while living on this mountain. 
     However, I think it is past time to slow down (maybe in my mind only) and enjoy what we have been given.  After all, to paraphrase--"today is a gift, that's why they call it the present".

In 2011 I will---



Bluebirds on the porch

BLOG more--I have enough ideas in my head for a blog each week.  And, nine years worth of pictures and the files are growing!







Eagle's Rest porch--great for settling in with a book (if you can keep your eyes on the page instead of the view!)

READ more---is there a "NOOK" in my future?  Maybe later, right now, I have this stack of books in the livingroom to read through.  My first ebook will be  THE CHIMNEY STILL STANDS by Tammy Snyder.  She's a new local author.  The fictionalized story deals with a time that is still painful for many native residents--the take over of land by the government as they established the Buffalo National River and Park. 



                                                                Boxley Baptist Church

    





STUDY--We have a wonderful Women's Bible Study group at Boxley.  I want to not only participate, but to find the quiet time each day do the "homework" as it is supposed to be done.  One of my goals in 2010 was to MEMORIZE Bible verses--not just a verse here and there, but passages.  I now have a number of Bible passages in my head that I can pull up when I need to feel a closeness to God.  I will  continue this into 2011.  The latest passage was easy--Luke 2:8-19!



Hideout Hollow Trail near Mountain Springs

HIKE--Jack and I have been faithfully walking a mile or so (well, winter and holidays have slowed us down) on a mountain road near here, but we need to get back to hiking some of the beautiful trails in the area just for the joy of getting out. 



Daisy and her namesake flower

     GARDEN --Jack thinks I do this almost too well (when it comes to needing help building new beds).  I resolve this year to NOT build more flower beds, but keep up the established ones!  That doesn't mean I will refrain from planting more plants !


A beautiful gift

My resolution list is long, so I'll make it brief--

    Continue to--wake up each morning to coffee in bed (in summer on the porch), enjoy the grandson (not a problem), feed the birds (usually Jack's job), make welcome each cabin guest, enjoy the view from the window, pamper Daisy and Molly, as well as Deedee, Dude, and Chipper (again usually Jack's job is the horses), and remember to 'smell the flowers' each day!

     Work on the following--calling my mother more often ( and making more visits to see her), exercising regularly and eating healthy (hey, I feel good about this!  I dropped one jean size last year and am on track to do the same again in 2011!)  We have a great group of women who have all done well in 2010!  We will do it again! 

     And, think of one new thing I am grateful for each day. 

There are more, but that's enough for now!

'Tis the gift to be simple,

'Tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down

Where we ought to be.

                              Shaker song