Lord, open my ears and my heart to hear you speak. Ain’t God the funny one. I asked and I received time to listen for and to God without the distraction of any music.

As I worked my way through the parking lot, I remembered the watermelon man coming to our neighborhood when I was a child. Waaaaaatermelon!” the watermelon man would sing while riding up and down the street in his tattered pickup truck, waking up the neighborhood.

We all need encouragement to push through a block or phase to move us to put action behind our words.

Our words can encourage a friend or family member pursuing a goal or recovering from a health event like a stroke or cancer treatment. Call or send them a text to say, “You can do it,” “Thinking about you,” “I’m proud of you,” or “Praying for you.”

I began honoring Advent by rising early in the mornings and sitting alone, quietly in front of our decorated Christmas tree with only the lights from the tree luminating the room. There is no better time spent for my mind, body and soul.

During Advent this year, my life has been chaotic. For three weeks I have been focused on completing work projects, doing last minute packing, updating necessary paperwork, and saying goodbye to friends. This has made me anxious, excited, sad, happy and every emotion in between

I grew up watching my mother’s housekeeping habits; how she cared for a home with six children and a husband. When we were old enough, we were given cleaning responsibilities; dusting and polishing furniture, vacuuming the carpet, “turning” dirty clothes to be laundered in addition to yard work; we did it all.

This month I celebrate one year of my blog, “Lessons and Revelations”.

When I began, the blog was a way to share some of my challenging life experiences for readers to know they are not alone. Often, life experiences grab a hold of us and keep us stuck. As much as we want to move on, we can’t. Our emotional responses in these times may be contrary to what the world tells us we should feel. These are the reasons I write.