Touch of Love

Almost a year ago, I was feeling kind of down, ok really down. I was having a hard time feeling my Father-in-heaven’s love. I was having a hard time with me. You know all those answers we usually tell others to help them get through a hard time? Well I kept telling myself all those things and yet, I didn’t feel it and it really didn’t help me much. One morning I got up and felt even more down then I had been. In my morning prayer, I prayed that somehow I could know and feel Gods love today. Then got up and went through my busy day trying to check off those things on my “to do” list. I ran into town, helped out at the school, and some other activities. Finally, I got home and was pulling into my garage when something caught my eye on the porch. I stopped, ran over and found a pot of beautiful red tulips. There was no note, nothing to let me know who had left them. But I did get an overwhelming feeling, a feeling of pure love. My prayer was answered in a big way and has warmed my heart many times thinking about it. Almost a week later, I found out my visiting teacher had just out of the blue stopped by. You know, if she had felt a prompting to stop by at that moment and then not found me home, she probably felt like she must have been wrong on the prompting, but oh how real that prompting would have been. God works in mysterious ways. I have since planted those tulips in my flower bed and look forward to having them bloom again this year, or at least I hope they will.

Now for a more funny twist. In December, this same visiting teacher dropped by another pot of flowers. They didn’t look like any I knew or recognized, but she told me they were called “Paper Whites”. At the time, there were no flowers on the plant, just little buds coming out of these “huge blades of grass” (at least that is what it looked like to me.) I love flowers, especially potted ones that will live for a long time. I gratefully took it in and placed it in the center of my counter. Several days went by and the buds got bigger. Soon they bloomed into beautiful white flowers. I noticed an odd smell , but figured something must be rotting . . . or growing . . . or something. So I did all my dishes, washed out my sinks, got rid of all rags and cleaned out where the garbage is. When my husband came home, he immediately noticed the smell and asked me what it was. I had no idea. He went through the house and narrowed it down to the flowers. Flowers are supposed to smell good, right? Oh these ones did NOT. In fact they smelled awful. After one smell, I did not want to smell it again. Understandably, he wanted them out of the house. But it was winter and I couldn’t just let them out in the cold to DIE. They were still beautiful despite the smell. So I placed them up in the bay window, behind the curtain where he wouldn’t see them. But the next day, he could still smell them. After several days of hide and seek, I finally decided to put them out in the garage. Surely these flowers do not smell as bad as the garage and that is where they have remained for the last several months. The only problem with them being in the garage is, the sun only reaches that spot once a day for maybe a ½ hour or so, it gets to near freezing temperatures in there, and I don’t remember to water them very often. Despite all that, they have flourished, (even on one to two waterings a month.) The other day, I was out in the garage getting dog food when I realized I hadn’t watered them for a LONG time. As I watered them, (trying not to get too close to actually smell them,) I noticed just how BIG it has gotten. I am amazed. No other potted flower plant has ever done so good in my care. (Maybe no attention is better than too much attention, go figure.) I can’t wait for it to warm up enough to be able to plant it out in my flower bed. I want the beauty to shine, (but still not have to smell them.)

Exercise Blunder

Yesterday I turned on the news a few minutes early (because if I don’t I forget to even turn it on, which happens way more often then not) and there was this show on with some new exercise moves. They claimed that 15 minutes a day would get you a full days work out and get you back in shape. My exercise routine is at least 30 minutes, so if I could cut off 15 minutes and still get a full work out, hey I’m in. (Who knows, it could give me a moment to write a blog.) They showed the exercises and I tried them. . . then fell dead after just 5 minutes. My little elliptical just doesn’t do that kind of a work out for me. My legs felt like Jello and I honestly could NOT do any more no matter how hard I pushed myself.

Today, my legs are on strike. My kids keep asking me why I am walking that way. I tell them I’m lucky to even be walking, cause my legs don’t even want to do that. I am wobbling around like a little duckling saying, “ouch, ouch, ouch.” (I had no idea I was so out of shape, especially since I do exercise at least 3 times a week!!!) So much for wanting to save 15 minutes a day. Maybe someday, I can work up to that whole whoppin' 15 minutes.