Once upon a time, in a very large forest surrounded by blue lakes, rich soil and skies that spread out wide in all directions, stood a very large tree with a great root system. Around it stood many more trees, some big and some small but the very large tree gave them all support from above and below.

Birds lodged in it’s massive branches, squirrels leaped from one bough to the next.  Down below, a quick red fox scurried on it’s way! A sleepy turtle crawled into it’s shell to take an afternoon nap.

Forest life was predictable, yet ever changing.  Rabbits burrowed into the mossy green forest carpet, chipmunks gathered berries to fill their hungry tummies and a lazy brown bear ambled by, smacking his lips, in search of honey.   Far above them all sat a mother eagle on her nest …. protecting her young. Her eye was sharp.

It was not always a busy place. In winter it was cold and blustery, driving the bears into hibernation. Chipmunks and squirrels gathered food ahead of time so they would not have to come out when the snow was deep. Many birds flew south for warmer climates. Even the fox preferred staying in his den during this time of year when everything was cold and white. It was easy to tell who was coming and going, by the paw prints in the snow.

The great tree stood fast though, sustaining winter months as all others. Droughts came and went. Hail shattered it’s top leaves. A fire even tried to destroy the forest around it. Deep inside it’s sheltering boughs, all were safe. 

One day, grateful forest animals decided to throw a party celebrating their Friend, The Tree. Birds and chipmunks gathered berries for the feast. Squirrels provided nuts and acorns from their stash. Bears brought honey. Rabbits brought a fresh green salad and the foxes brought apples to share. Little turtle brought mushrooms and the mother eagle brought a snake but it was not a willing participant! 

As the animals gathered, they suddenly realized, there was a serious problem. Foxes not only like berries, but they have a hankering for little mice and rabbits too. Bears can do just fine on acorns, berries and leaves but they get hungry for smaller animals sometimes. The snake was not an “invited” dinner guest. He was dinner! 

Just to be safe, the birds congregated up high in the tree. The squirrels sat out on a sunny limb munching on their nuts. The turtle took his food inside, as he didn’t trust the bald eagle and little rabbits and chipmunks dined under a rock. The bears ate only what was on the menu; foxes did the same. In the spirit of celebration, little snake was turned loose and slithered on home. Bald eaglets peered over the nest at the party down below, munching on leftovers from the day before. 

  

Yes, this was a wild bunch and they were not at all tame. Their natural instincts were strong and urged them to compete. But the great and Good Old Tree brought them together in a way none other could.

Maybe we could learn a thing or two from the animals. They are predictable, but ever changing. They respect what they cannot control, have forgiveness for the inevitable and live one day at a time. Wouldn’t we all be a little better off if we did the same?

Copyright, Sharon Jones, May 31, 2017

Happy Wednesday Everyone! The word today is "Encourage". I have a friend who, each spring while preparing and planting her flower garden, begins with, "little encouragers".

What are little encouragers? They are little silk flowers that look real, but they are not. As the real flowers grow up and surround the encouragers, you really can't tell which is which. But she always has a beautiful, early garden that way.

I think that God puts us sometimes in strategic places to be "Encouragers". In a place where the winter season has been long and spring has been a long time coming .... an encourager is needed. He doesn't put us there to attract attention to ourselves, rather to bring hope to others. An encourager bestows value on others while they are still growing to reach their full potential.

Unlike the little silk flowers, God's encouragers are very real. They feel the heat and wither mostly on the inside where others don't suspect. But they do their job, with grace. God's grace. And He restores them day after day, year after year.

Are you an encourager? Don't seek to outshine those around you. Pride comes before a fall. Seek to bring out the best in others. Even if they don't notice, God will. Seek His favor first. His favor is what really matters. (O:

My Political Thoughts .....

Let's just hire special investigators for them all while we're at it. That way, The ones who are sitting back, holding secrets and yucking it up simply because they haven't yet been caught can drop their arrogant, judgmental fronts. Better yet, let them investigate and prosecute each other. No better way to drain the swamp. It takes one to know one, or two, or three ....

I'm just tired of the selection process. The politics. If the same rules applied to some, worked for all .... either everyone would get off free or feel the sting of shame. Come to think of it, they would probably all be a more humble, honest group. The swamp would be drained and then we could just deal with the problem of homeless frogs...which is much easier. LOL

Winter Watch

A sturdy white wall of clouds
  just passed by my window
like a train on its way to,
  who knows where?
I sat watching and thinking ....

 Where are they going?

Now and then a patch
 of sunny, blue sky appeared.
It was there alright,
  sure enough,
watching the show, same as me....

And the clouds just kept on rolling by.

Snowy branches swayed and waved.
  Wind beneath my eaves,
howled and whistled.
  Who knows how many others
were watching this parade?

And then, it was all over!

The sunny blue sky stayed.
  I am sorry to say though,
The ornery north wind blew mercilessly,
  Causing my snow covered eaves to weep.
I saw it all .....

From my comfy seat beside the kitchen window.

So, leaks supposedly hampered Hillary's chances for becoming our next President. Leaks at that time were BAD. Now, leaks are immobilizing the Trump Administration from moving forward. These leaks are GOOD.

Are leaks, themselves .... GOOD or BAD? Leaks are like fire and water. They are neither good or bad, but possibly both! They only reveal things about a person's character that are already there.  If a person has outstanding character and nothing to hide than a leak would rather be called confirmation or support.  If not, watch out, but don't blame the leak!

Now there's a third aspect here that needs to be acknowledged. The character and motives of each person or persons, behind the leaks.  The "Leakers" need another set of "Leakers" to keep them honest!

Tell me, is this how we drain the Washington Swamp?

Fear. Fear masquerades itself in many ways.

Fear is a coward itself. It hides behind anger. It hides behind False Confidence. It hides behind hypocrisy. It doesn't want to be exposed.

The anger, false confidence and hypocrisy we see. The fear we don't.   But, it's there for all who will admit it!

We all see things very differently. I don't know why that is. What is completely clear to one is like mud to another . Both sides fight for what they believe.   And both sides are guilty of fighting poorly.

  We fear different things. We both have very legitimate reasons for being afraid. I think our greatest weakness is in so easily dismissing the other side. We have to find problem solving skills that will acknowledge everybody's fears. This is our greatest challenge. Acknowledging another person's fears and respecting that person's conviction is not the easiest thing to do.   If it was, we would all be doing it.  Right?

We have come a long way from when the Baby Boomers first made their appearance.  At that time, parents knew that hard work was the only way to achieve wealth and set out to work incredibly long hours so that their kids could go to college and hopefully .... have it easier.

  Most of these parents did not have a chance to go to college but they had an incredible work ethic.  That work ethic made up for their lack of academic training.  Their parenting skills may have been a little flawed, but their hearts were in the right place.

Most early boomers worked hard and lived modest lives.   They wanted more than the generation before them and passed this discontentment on to their own children.  Less and less emphasis was being placed on work ethic, yet more and more emphasis on entitlement.  The American Dream was translated into materialism.  Materialism has taken over and today, many act as though they do not know the difference between a want and a need. Many don't care where things come from as long as they get them.

Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.  If we sought after God the way we seek after other things, we would be a mighty nation, now.  No one could stand before us.  But, read the book!  From the beginning of time, whenever a nation entered into a time of peace and rest from outside forces, the fighting began within and against themselves.  Nothing like some pressure from the outside threatening our national security to pull us back together again.

Except, even that isn't working now days.  God says that without a vision the people perish.  He also says that His people are destroyed by a lack of knowledge.  A long time ago, the people demanded a king, over God.  They felt they could get more out of a King then they could from God.  In a way they were right.  It's just that, again, as in the Garden of Eden, what they wanted and what they needed were two different things.  God doesn't withhold things to be mean.  He gives us what we need.  His love for us is preventative.  If only we could accept that.

 An old commercial once said:  "You've come a long ways Baby ...." 

The commercial shows a beautiful woman puffing away on a long, slender cigarette called Virginia Slims.  If we women are going to get lung cancer, we might as well get it from a womanly approved source.  Right?

Someone has to ask themselves though, considering the cost, has it all been worth it?  To gain the whole world and forfeit our souls?   At what point do we accept the fact that as we continue to reject God's Influence over our nation, He will remove His Presence.  Our enemies will still be there, they will just have a much stronger hold.  Then, who will we pray to and where will we go in our time of need?  Our idols .... er, material junk will not do us a bit of good at that point.   

Life on the streets is not safe whether you are a gang member or a police officer.

Rioting and defacing monuments to those who have gone before us, especially those sacrificing their lives in the line of service while trying to keep us safe .... that's sick. It's like standing back and watching someone deface your Grandma's memorial because someone else's grandma was abusive. Tell me how that would work?

Talking with a friend from Colorado the other day.  She relayed the story of rioters who were allowed to pour red paint all over a monument erected to honor fallen officers.  The police were told to stand back and let it happen. 

First, define violence and the actual perpetrators. Pin the responsibility squarely where it belongs, don't enable it. If charging into an angry mob with riot gear presents a risk, I have a creative alternative. Pull the fire hoses out and administer some safely monitored water pressure to those who think it is ok to disrespect our fallen officers. Clean up the mess, put out the fires ... before they get started! Arrest them, putting them all in a holding cell.   Give them paint brushes and paint. Let them paint the walls and each other. Call it the graffiti project.

I don't know .... just understand that there are more good officers out there than bad and discouraging them is not the answer. I still wonder what a couple of weeks without police officers would be like. If our officers took a two week moratorium, I think they would have much greater respect when they came back to work.  If they still wanted to, I mean. 

Yes, there are some wearing the badge that are no better than the common criminal on the street. The majority though are good, brave and decent people who have a lot in common with the people protesting them. A small minority are giving the others a bad name. A lot are paying for the sins of a few .... both sides considered. We need new solutions.