Feeling rather blessed today

Hearts along the edge sewn last night, including different colours of the same print, lol.

Some people have trouble with the word blessed. It conjures a false sense of living, it conjures the hypocrisy of America's current government, it conjures anguish for pain suffered at the hands of those espousing religious sentiment or judgement. I understand it's a difficult word for some people in this moment of history.

However, I'd be remiss not to use it for how it applies to my manner of living in Christ's expansive and inclusive love. If that offends, I apologize, but I also ask you to hear me out.

And if you can't or don't wish to hear me out, I sincerely wish you a peaceful day.

Okay, so I was going to make sausage/carrot chili this afternoon, but my goodness last night's Warm Hearted Quilt stitching did a real number on my relatively feeling good right shoulder. Sigh. I recently had a biopsy on a very small red spot on my arm, and the wound care requires Vaseline or Aquaphor applied liberally. Which is easy except when hand-quilting because my affected arm goes under the blanket for stitching and that's a big NO-NO when one has greasy stuff on one's arm.

However, I'd been saving one end of the quilt that I didn't secure with safety pins, and had been putting off quilting that row mostly because there weren't any safety pins to remove and, um, well, you see I LOVE taking out the safety pins after quilting those sections, and that entire row didn't have any safety pins and I didn't want to sew it without the glee of liberating that row from safety pins.

Yes, I'm a little weird that way.

Anyways, I didn't know I was going to get a biopsy done, but I did and as I sat down last night to sew hearts, immediately I realized there was NO WAY I was going to sew anything other than edges because to do so with Aquaphor on my arm would have left big greasy marks on the back of the quilt! Instead I stitched those safety pin-less hearts, feeling really great about finally getting that done, and a few partial hearts along both edges. I did hold the quilt in an awkward manner in doing so, and this morning I woke to a sore shoulder, ba-dump-bump.

We've enjoyed some spectacular summer weather on the North Coast; loads of sunshine, two sunrises in a row, and even a little marine layer mid-morning today, pleasing my husband thoroughly. After lunch today, I asked him, "So, what about going to get an ice cream?"

He smiled, was game. Off we went, getting some delicious cones, chatting with others our age, enjoying the sunshine. We stopped at a store on the way home because we needed bananas, and ripe bananas were waiting! After we reached home, I let out the chickens, happy hens freed from the coop. The last couple of evenings they have hung out with the Mama doe and her two lively fawns, now old enough to sprint around while their mother and the hens forage within feet of each other. Sometimes when a fawn races past a chicken, that hen gazes up, observes for a few seconds, then returns to pecking the ground.

What can I say, other than it's a pretty blessed life. Now, let me also say I fully grasp what is happening around this planet. So much Corruption. War. Climatic Crises. Strife. Need. Hurt. Death. It's overwhelming how awful we humans are to our fellow humans, as well as the world we all share. Yet (YET!) I balance that with what Christ did on a cross over two thousand years ago. Dying to save. Dying for love. Dying to right all the wrongs past, present, and future. Asking me, because I profess faith in Christ, to love others. To let go and let God. To witness to Christ's death and resurrection in whatever manner He calls me to at any particular moment. Which at this moment is to write this slightly lengthy post about being blessed. Not merely in getting ice cream or reveling in the sunny day or enjoying the lively fauna and domestic creatures nearby, but in accepting that if the biopsy results come back with unpleasant news, all will be well. If America's chaotic and despotic government continues, to trust one day things will change. If one of my beloveds suffers deeply, to proffer love and prayers and encouragement accordingly. To step beyond my wants and assumed needs and seek the betterment of those around me.

If you know the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr, do you also know it has an additional part after having the wisdom to know the difference. I learned this in the last week, and have been including it when I remember to do so. It goes like this:

Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make things right, if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Amen.

As I type this my shoulder still aches. I require more Aquaphor on my wound. Some water would be nice. And if I'm not making chili, perhaps I'll do the dishes. But I needed to write this post, even if some read only the beginning and blow off the rest. Because I am blessed, I am loved. I am not perfect, yet that's okay. If I keep plugging along with hope in my heart, God will take care not only of the rest, but certainly of me. And dare I say, of you too.

Have a beautiful weekend!