Good Morning World!

I hope when your feet hit the ground this morning you were able to take in a long deep breath and say that! Like in: "ready or not, here I come!"

I never really know what I'm going to write when I sit down here. AND...my computer is dead! ... or in the process of dying. I will be right smack in the middle of something and it will just go down! Sometimes it will come back, like this morning, but I never know for how long it's going to stay, or even if it will allow me to finish a short post. Most days it's hit and miss, but I keep turning it on and trying. I have to.
It's just what I do.

Now, back to the kind of day you're having.
We all can get in a "rut". And we can all seem to live the days by Rote. Automatically going through the motions just because it's our routine, our MO. But in speaking with my dear friend Shirley yesterday, it made me stop to consider those mundane and regular days of mine.
You see, she is in Hospice care.
We met years ago, online. I have never met her face to face. But Shirley has become as close as a sister to me through these years. And I've seen this vibrant, living life to the fullest, effervescent woman slide slowly into the end stages of life which threaten daily.
And through it all, she has maintained her sense of humor, and retained her joy for the moment, each moment of life she's given. Regardless of the acute pain and discomforts she suffers daily. She's struggling to live...and yet she finds small things to be positive about each moment.

She has her moments. And every one of us would, who faces our eternity...one that we're certain and just uncertain enough about to be a teeny bit aprehensive. Clinging to her strong beliefs has gotten her this far, but I'm sure there are days that just overwhelm. I can hardly imagine it. She is only sixty years old. She just turned the zero on her birth date this last month.

One of the most striking things she said yesterday, that may seem so small to anyone else, was that she missed being able to cook the foods she liked to eat. She missed her cooking and wished she could be up doing that! That stuck with me. Such a small routine thing that so many of us do, that so many of us take for granted, that would make her so happy if only she could just be able to get up to do it!

My prayer is that God has an industrial sized oven waiting for Shirley when she arrives in heaven. Where she will be cooking up her infamous dishes for all who will sit down at the Lord's banquet table.

My heart hurts for Shirley... for me. For the thought of losing this wonderful woman who knows the importance of the simple things, who was made joyful in the mundane tasks before her, who spread that joy to everyone around her an hundred fold.

It made me get out of bed this morning thankful. That I'll have meals to cook, dishes to do, a house to clean up...you know, those unimportant things that make us really want to get up each day. Only now, I really am ready to be grateful as I face the chores before me.

I am ready to greet not just today, but every day confidently and thankful and ready to shout out "Good Morning World"...whatever comes!

And you?
Can you look at the day in a new light? Can you be ready for whatever comes in your routine that maybe has stalled you in the past? Well, it's a lot easier to hit the ground running with attitude than slowly roll out with a "thud" struggling for incentives and motivation to get going. So, try greeting the day with spunk! See if it won't help keep your motor going for the day. Chances are, your drudgery will go faster and you'll finish quicker than you've ever thought possible! There might even be time left over in the day for you to tuck the sun in for the night.

Take a deep breath and open your eyes and "go for it!"

Life is a gift that most of us seem unwrap to say, "oh that's nice"... and then, not quite knowing what to do with it, or how to use it, set aside while stuff just happens to us as we go along.
Pick up your new day and take on a new attitude of gratitude and appreciation for what you hold in your hands as minutes to spend. Either carelessly, routinely, going through the motions, or thoughtfully, purposefully, appreciatively living each second as if you meant it...as if it meant something, because it does.

Good Morning Friend! Welcome to your new day...