Category: One Little Word

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Monthly Goal Update

At the end of each month, (or beginning), I review my yearly goals and spend some time reflecting on how I’m doing in living the life I want to live ~ a way of becoming my own accountability partner and having frequent check-ins to evaluate my progress. I’m still in the process of revising some of my goals as I encounter successes…..and setbacks. New goals have asterisks for the month of September, when I will report on them in a few weeks. For the month of August here’s my goal reflection:

CategoryGoalsMy Progress
LiteratureRead for Sarah Donovan’s Book Group





Send out Postcards




Blog Daily

Write at least 2 chapters for
writing group’s book		I participated in the August book discussion with Sarah’s reading group and am almost finished with the September book – Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. I’ll participate in this book discussion on September 17th.

I haven’t sent out any postcards this month, but I visited in person to meet my newest granddaughter.

I continue to blog daily, and the daily writing and reflecting is a wonderful habit for me. I don’t feel complete without some form of daily writing, and the blog is a way of continuing the habit.

My writing group is writing a series of new books, and I will spend time editing the chapters we have written. I will continue to add chapters as we receive feedback from our proposals. This is a work in progress, but I have only edited this month and not written any new chapters. I edited based on feedback from Anna Roseboro, a well-published member of our group.
Creativity

*Make a rag quilt for a new grandbaby

*Create Shutterfly Route 66

I have a new granddaughter, and I’ve finished the rag quilt with the Nana tag on it. I’ll include a photo at the bottom of this post.

I created a video, but I didn’t accomplish this goal, so I’ll continue this one: I’ll create a canvas or two, along with a photo book using our Route 66 photos! Update: I still haven’t accomplished this goal. I need to get busy in Shutterfly.
SpiritualityTune in to church



Pray!



Keep OLW priority		We have been tuning in to church. With Dad preaching every Sunday in October and a few Sundays ahead of that, it makes the church home hunt take a back seat until my childhood church gets a new preacher, since I have the opportunity to hear Dad.

My car is still my prayer chamber for daily prayer, and there’s so much to give thanks for. I continue my conversations with the good Lord each morning and afternoon.

I’m still keeping my OLW my priority: pray!
ReflectionWrite family stories

Spend time tracking goals each month		I have shared family stories through my blog this month and will continue this month to do the same.

I’m tracking goals, revising, and considering some new categories as I look at my goal table.
Self-Improvement*Reach top of weight rangeThis is a setback for me this month. I’ve hit major stress and gained weight, despite joining WW. I need to set a firm date and get the mental mindset that it takes to stay on track. I have work to do.
GratitudeDevote blog days to counting blessingsGratitude needs more time in September. I need to devote time to Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Gratitude Journal readings. I get busy and forget to truly commit time to thanking the Good Lord for all the blessings, even though I am grateful. Remembering to thank Him, while I do this in prayer, needs more emphasis in the moments of walking on the farm or driving through the beautiful countryside at sunset.
ExperienceEmbrace Slow Travel

Focus on the Outdoors		I’ve taken a trip in August to see the baby and now am finishing the month in Athens on a business trip. Both fast. Not slow and lingering as I would like. September will take us camping and possibly to visit a daughter, and I hope that we can slow down on those trips.

I’m still focusing on the outdoors with birdwatching adventures and camping. It’s the best time of the day to sit outside on the porch (in the shade) and just listen and watch what is going on around us. We have seen the owl several times this month.
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Answers From the Universe

Any answers I will ever find from the universe won’t be written in the sky in trailing airplane smoke.

They’ll come from one of two places.

The most likely place will be in the lines of verse, whether Biblical or modern poetic. Those golden lines, illuminated not in their own context, but in the context of circumstance, hold ancient wisdom and divine truth.

The second most likely place is outside my bathroom window in the voices of birdsong as I’m getting ready for the day. I often crack the window open just a tad when I’m showering and putting on my makeup – just to hear the lilting melodies of my feathered friends. Sometimes it’s almost as if I can understand what they’re feeling, despite the lack of words. Just this morning, a Northern Cardinal called, “cheer-cheer-cheer, purdy, purdy, purdy,” like she was cheering my cosmetics to do their prettying.

The more I observe birds and use my Merlin app to help me identify the different species by their calls, the more I find myself focused on their messages.

Somewhere in between what sounds like I should make a call to report a Tufted Titmouse domestic fight and the cooing of pure love doves outside my windows, I listen. Quietly. The words and feelings I need to hear are no farther away than my own back yard…..

…..and resting on my bookshelves.

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July Open Write – Day 2 with Mo Daley

Our host for the second day of the July Open Write today is Mo Daley of Illinois, who inspires us to write Fibonacci Sequence Poems. You can read Mo’s prompt and the poems of others here. A Fib is written in six lines:

1 syllable

1 syllable

2 syllables

3 syllables

5 syllables

8 syllables

I love the short forms! I was out way past my bedtime cheering on my favorite baseball team at Truist Park in Atlanta, and then sitting in the horn-blowing traffic where people were actually playing recognizable songs on their car horns when no one was able to even creep out of the parking deck for a lonnnnnggg time. I say all of this to say that this true fib is especially dedicated to my Illinois writing buddy, Mo Daley. Cheers!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

balls

strikes

homeruns

major leagues~

our Atlanta Braves

……..lost to the Chicago White Sox!

Even though the Braves didn’t win, there was one particular winning moment for me.

It wasn’t the hot dog, even though a hot dog at a ballpark is a grand-slam homerun all by itself, with a cold beer and a bag of Cracker Jack.

It wasn’t walking around the park looking at all the great things to see, either, from the jerseys for sale overhead moving along on a clothes belt similar to a dry cleaner’s, or the Braves Hall of Fame or the tribute to Hank Aaron with the waterfall.

Sometimes, it’s the fans who hit the home runs………
Once in a Blue Moon Cheers!
Braves Hall of Fame Tribute Wall

All of that was amazing, too, along with the friend who gave us the free tickets to enjoy a night of major league baseball. We saw a few home runs, but none greater than the one hit by a fan – not a player.

What grabbed my heart was the boy with the white jersey in the picture below. He was, perhaps, about 14 years old. At the inning changes, he grabbed the hand of the little fellow in front of him with the blue baseball cap on (a younger brother or cousin, maybe?) who were sitting behind us, and they ran down to try to catch a ball; the players throw a few up into the stands to all the open gloves waiting to catch a real game ball for a minute or so as one team takes the field and the other retreats to their dugout. The older one tried and tried and tried to catch a ball for the younger one. By the seventh inning with no ball, I’d already been praying for three or four of those inning changes – Lord, please let this boy catch a baseball for this little guy.

They returned empty-handed every. single. time, including the time the ball glanced the glove of the young teenager and landed in the hands of someone else.

That was YOUR BALL, one lady encouraged the teenager, when he came back up and sat down after losing one that had been so close.

This became my ballgame. Not the game on the field between the Braves and the White Sox. Here with these two young boys and the quest for a treasured baseball was the game to be won.

And then, as I was watching the game during an inning, my husband nudged me.

Look to your left, he urged.

I turned and watched. A young fan seated in the front rows and his mother brought a game ball up to the top of the section. They passed it right down the row to the young boy who had been so hoping to get a game ball. Then, as they headed back down to their seats, they turned around halfway down the section and waved up, smiling.

In the eyes of one who doesn’t cry often (and almost can’t, officially, with a recent diagnosis of dry eye and a practically unaffordable prescription to go along with it), I felt the welcome tears of gratitude welling as I witnessed this exchange.

That, readers, is American baseball.

Whether your team wins or loses the game, the spirit of winning is most alive and well in the goodness of those who will sacrifice a game ball to sear into the heart of a youngster an unforgettable moment he will carry with him for the rest of his life.

Grand Slam, lady and son! I don’t know who you are, but you won the game for everyone who, like us, had been watching and hoping and praying, cheering for this sideline ballgame.

Atlanta Braves: 5

Chicago White Sox: 6

Baseball fans in Section 116: Faith in Humanity Restored

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Goal Update for June

At the end of each month, (or beginning), I review my yearly goals and spend some time reflecting on how I’m doing in living the life I want to live ~ a way of becoming my own accountability partner and having frequent check-ins to evaluate my progress. I’m still in the process of revising some of my goals as I encounter successes…..and setbacks. I’ve worked on learning new photography techniques, and that knowledge is being put to great use for my nephew’s new dog business website (success!), but it’s hard to travel Route 66 with all its burgers and fries, coneydogs and shakes….and great desserts….without gaining weight (setback!). So new goals have asterisks for the month of July, when I will report on them in a few weeks. For the month of June, here’s my goal reflection:

CategoryGoalsMy Progress
Literature*Read for Sarah Donovan’s Book Group

Send out Postcards

Blog Daily

* Write at least 2 chapters for
writing group’s book		Ethicalela.com has a new
book group! First Book: Healer
of the Water Monster by Brian Young (https://shorturl.at/coAHN

I continue to send out postcards – I would estimate about 30 this month alone, with travel along Route 66!

I continue to blog daily, and the daily writing and reflecting is a wonderful habit for me. I don’t feel complete without some form of daily writing,

My writing group is writing a series of new books, and I will spend time writing chapters for these in July.

CreativityImprove blog photos

*Make a rag quilt for a new grandbaby

*Create Shutterfly Route 66		My nephew asked me to make photos for his new business website, so maybe the new techniques I’m learning mean that I’m improving in photography!

I am having a new grandbaby this month, so a new quilt will be on the month’s menu!

I’ll create a canvas or two, along with a photo book using our Route 66 photos! (Oh, and I got creative with spray paint, too – graffiti is fun!).
SpiritualityTune in to church

Pray!

Keep OLW priority		We will tune in to church by radio or YouTube and catch up with services missed while on the road traveling.

My car is still my prayer chamber for daily prayer, but I’m shifting it to the shower for summer, since sometimes I my habits change when I’m off contract at work for the summer. I’m still keeping my OLW my priority: pray!
ReflectionWrite family stories

Spend time tracking goals each month		I’ll be sharing more family stories through small moment experiences along Route 66 in the coming days.

I’m tracking goals, revising, and considering some new categories as I look at my goal table.
Self-Improvement*Reach top of weight range

This is a setback for me this month. Part of May and all of June was not a good one for weight. I’ve gained back about a third of the weight I had lost, and I need to transition to Weight Watchers point counting, which has been the plan since starting Optavia. I need to make the shift for July – and stay out of the retro diners with burgers, fries, and shakes.
GratitudeDevote blog days to counting blessingsThe gratitude category was strong for the month of June. At every turn of the corner along Route 66, I realized the beauty and wonder of our great nation and its history. I shared the amazing experience of travel with Briar’s brother and his wife this month. I also visited one of my children last month in Kentucky and will visit another one this month in South Carolina. Life is good!
ExperienceEmbrace Slow Travel

Focus on the Outdoors		While I covered a lot of distance in the month of June with road trips through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico (NINE states in ONE month!), the pacing was relaxed. I didn’t try to do too much in one place – – I enjoyed the moments! I visited Dunbar Cave State Park in Tennessee, Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas, and Sandia Peak in New Mexico to enjoy the outdoors and the grand views of nature and experience time in the great outdoors. I’ve been way far up and way far down on landforms and in goals, but it just goes to show that the peaks and the valleys can both be beautiful places that give us unique views!



Palo Duro Canyon State Park
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My May Goal Update

Any good goal system has to be periodically updated, which is why I revisit my goals at the end of each month. Sometimes I feel myself slipping, and sometimes I reach goals and then move away from them and have to re-establish them and strive to reach them again. Keeping them in my sight throughout the year is a dance – – whether two steps forward and one step back or one step forward and two steps back, I keep the momentum when I devote some time each month to thinking about making things happen. Because a goal without a plan, as they say, is just a dream.

Here’s what is happening this month:

CategoryGoalsMy Progress
LiteratureShift from Read Around the USA to reading with Sarah Donovan’s Ethicalela book group, which begins in August – My goal is to co-host April with Fran Haley and host next July alone, unless someone wants to join in and be a partner.

Continue to Blog Daily – I’m considering moving to a weekly blog, but I’m undecided as yet. 		Signed up to host the book groups – Ada Limon’s The Hurting Kind poetry for April 2024and The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart for July 2024.

Ordered the first two books in the yearly reading series.

I have blogged daily this month.
CreativityImprove blog photos

Indulge in photo excursions		I’ve been reading tips on improving photography from websites like Audubon, and using the tips to apply to my photos.

I’ve been taking my camera on my outings, and I always keep it handy on the way up or down the driveway, since so much wildlife lives right there.
SpiritualityTune in to church
Pray!
Keep OLW priority		We have tuned in to the First Baptist Church of YouTube through the month and listened to Dad as he has preached in different locations as pulpit supply.

I’ve prayed my way to work most days, and I’m keeping prayer as my priority – we have so many blessings that can never be thanked for enough.
ReflectionWrite family stories
Spend time tracking goals each month		I haven’t been writing as many family stories as I should be writing.
I have been tracking my goals, though.
Self-ImprovementReach top of weight range

Maintain Weight
I reached the top of my goal weight range and tried maintaining, but I failed to maintain. Now I’m back to needing to lose 10 pounds, and I’m going to try it with Weight Watchers instead of Optavia this time, since I find it more sustainable. Plus, I need a banana every day of my life for potassium – – not allowed on Optavia. Thankfully, a lot of weight has not been gained. I just need to reel it in.
Maintenance is the harder goal of losing and keeping it off.
GratitudeDevote blog days to counting blessingsI still devote blog days to counting my blessings. It helps to look ahead on the calendar and anticipate days like birthdays and other celebrations, like Marshall and Selena’s anniversary at the end of May and Beckham’s birthday at the beginning.
ExperienceEmbrace Slow Travel

Focus on the Outdoors

Add birding in at least three new counties for June – I currently have official counts for four Georgia counties.		We are indeed embracing slow travel as we take more camper trips. Instead of planning a cruise or a trip overseas this summer, we are opting to drive Route 66 (half of it) at an enjoyable pace, stopping to see the sights. We leave at the end of June for this with Briar’s brother and his wife, so we can share the driving and go at our own pace.

We’ve been spending more time outdoors at home and away – spiffing up the yard, savoring campsites. Spring is the ultimate time to get outdoors! I’m even trying a few new plants to see if I can keep them alive.

I have officially posted birding counts for Pike, Harris, Washington, and Cherokee counties in Georgia. My goal is to stop along the way home when we are at campsites and get at least three new counties by the end of June.



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May 19 – No Prayer too Big or too Small

I thought I’d share a few photos of wildlife on the Funny Farm I’ve seen throughout the week. This week has been stressful, finishing testing and analyzing data, along with the other general parts of wrapping up a school year. It’s nice to come home and walk the dogs and breathe fresh air and forget about the demands and deadlines, if only for a few minutes.

Carolina Wren on the front porch, gathering nesting materials

Carolina Wren, singing, singing, singing

Mourning Dove

Funny Farm Bunny – there is a colony of them that lives down at the end of the driveway.

Funny Farm Finch

Carolina Wren singing a morning song

Deer (picture taken through a screen)

Northern Cardinal

May 18 – Hawk in a tree, Johnson Funny Farm

Hawk in a tree (just left of center) – funniest thing: I said a quick prayer, “Lord, I would love to see a hawk today.” I always feel my mother’s presence when I see one. I did what I always do: I pulled into the driveway, turned off the air, put the windows down so I could drive slowly, hearing the gritty crunch of gravel under my tires, and began inching up the driveway. I first saw a tufted titmouse, then a robin. As I approached the top of the hill, I caught a glimpse of a large upward wingspan swooping up off to the left. I grabbed my camera, and for one moment the hawk took it all in and the next swooped off back into the deeper woods. I caught one photo, here, and one of just his tail as he flew away. What a beautiful moment – a prayer for a hawk sighting, a hawk, and the feeling of the presence of my mother. No prayer is ever too big – or ever too small!

TGIF! Cheers to weekend fun and relaxation!

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Open Write with Stacey Joy

Stacey Joy is back as our host at ethicalela.com today. She is inspiring us to write Golden Shovels, which you can read about here.

I took a line from one of my favorite Mary Oliver poems – The Storm. 

Vertigo?

I’m not sure what’s happening with
all of this wild
dizziness ~ {stay under me, feet}.

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One Little Word Reminders

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

It may seem strange to have so many One Little Word reminders in my life. Remembering to pray should come naturally and not require all the visual nudges I have placed strategically in my sights. I find, though, that my word permeates my life more when I am constantly face to face with it. Pray. An action verb that bears repeating. Again and again.

To some, I may look like a Holy Roller. Anyone who knows me well will assure folks I’m not.

I wear a bracelet with a prayer verse on my arm, place a small prayer card over my visor, have a painted rock on display at my work computer and a sticker on my laptop, have a black wooden word cutout in my kitchen windowsill, and a painted tile in my bathroom window. Despite the high visibility of my word, there are days I need it to flash like Swarovski-studded Christmas tree lights to remind me to engage in conversation with God – to listen, to ask, to seek direction, to ask forgiveness, to beg for an attitude adjustment or for Him to help me hold my tongue in this phase of 56-year-old-female life when what comes up comes out in hormonal hot flash bolts of venomous scorpion-stinging lightning.

Still, there are days I need a bigger bracelet.

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Four Books On Prayer, by Rev. Dr. Felix Haynes, Jr.

Today’s guest blogger is my father, Rev. Dr. Wilson Felix Haynes, Jr. Pray is my One Little Word for 2023, so I asked him to share several of his favorite volumes on prayer.


The oldest biblical book in our canon contains key questions about life. From Job, we hear this question: “What profit shall we have if we pray unto him?” (Job 21:15). The topic of prayer has been explored by almost every great saint, theologian, and author of the great Christian books. I have procured many of these books, read, and reflected on them. They have left a deep imprint upon my life and thinking. Four of these volumes are particularly noteworthy.


First, I think the single best is The Meaning of Prayer (Association Press, 1916) by Harry Emerson Fosdick, the well-known “liberal” preacher whose pulpit was the Riverside Church of New York City (built by John D. Rockefeller). I read this volume during my Seminary years after the reading of his autobiography The Living of These Days. The book followed a period of depression in Fosdick’s life. Beyond those days, the impact of his life was incredible. This well-arranged book is the best purchase anyone can make to enhance biblical knowledge and provide the very best instruction about prayer. Harry Emerson Fosdick, I am proud am proud to say, has been a vital mentor in my life of continuing education.


The second is The Prayers and Meditations of Samuel Johnson. The first edition was in 1785, and it has been published subsequently in many other editions. The striking thing about this volume is that this testy old doctor was so honest and self-revealing in his “diary” parts of the book. These written prayers may become guiding forces for us in our own journeys. Incidentally, Fosdick quotes Samuel Johnson in the first sentence of his book on the meaning of prayer.


The third volume is The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence (Nicholas Hermon). Brother Lawrence was born in poverty, served as a soldier, and thereafter joined a community of Carmelites in Paris in 1666. He died at age 80, and his letters were published in 1692. The primary essence of Lawrence’s thinking was continued awareness of God. I offer a couple of quotes to whet the appetite to read his letters: 

“The most Holy and impactful practice in the spiritual life is the presence of God-that is, every moment to take pleasure that God is with you.” 

And this: 

“I have abandoned all particular forms of devotion, all prayer techniques. My only prayer practice is attention. I carry on a habitual, silent and secret conversation with God that fills me with overwhelming joy."


Lawrence’s main job in the monastery was in the kitchen, where the lyrical sounds of pots and pans only elevated his communion with God. He said. “I turn my omelet in the pan for the love of God.” Whenever I’m in the kitchen, I try to model what Brother Lawrence did.


A forth book is Thomas a Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ. Matthew Arnold said, “Next to
the Bible, this is the most eloquent expression of the Christian life ever written.” A classic. Mark Twain once said, “A classic is a book everybody talks about, but nobody reads.” Change your mind on this thought. You can find an audio version of The Imitation of Christ, which greatly enhances the reading process. This is not a book to read from cover to cover, but more of a daily vitamin. Read a portion, percolate on the thoughts, and perhaps journal your impressions. The Imitation of Christ is a compelling meditations journey which prompts prayer – a searching call to imitate the way of Christ, to learn to embrace His virtues, and to stir reflection.


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One Little Word: Pray

“Prayer is hunger and thirst. Prayer is our demand on life, elevated, purified, and aware of a Divine Alliance.”
― Harry Emerson Fosdick, The Meaning of Prayer

On this day set aside to remember the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I reflect on his prayers for a better world.

May the prayers of Dr. King also be our prayers for our world and all its people. To be used for God’s purposes – purposes greater than ourselves -is the greatest hope of all.

On this day, we are all among King’s children, and we are all children of The King.