Understanding

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:5-6

Tea Set

When we were small my mother would make tea using a tea pot.  She would rinse the tea pot using boiling hot water before she added the tea bag and more water (one tea bag for 2 people), and then place the tea cosy on top to keep it warm while the tea brewed.  This I was told was how you made a good cup of tea!  I continued the tradition when I left home for a few years until the one-cup bags became the fashion.

This tea set belonged to my mother-in-law, and it got me thinking about the many other traditions that we had as children that for one reason or the other have now become a distant memory.  Every other week and for all of our birthdays mum would make cakes, pies and buns.  Her fruit cakes were mouth watering and we would wait to lick out left over mixture from the bowl (before the salmonella scare!).  Any ingredient that she put her hand to would turn out delicious - sweet or savoury.  I don't have time to bake cakes except when the mood takes me but my son has learnt to make a mean Arroz Doce (Portuguese Traditional Rice Pudding).

Another tradition is the glass cabinet...Mum still has a glass cabinet that shows off all the 'best' glasses and plates that were only used on a special occasions - at Christmas or when you had guests.  I have a version of the cabinet but the special occasions are more freqent and we don't need to have guests to use them. There are many other traditions.. but that's for another post.

Times change and our kids are growing up so fast, you almost want to cling on to those special memories.  I wanted to remember all of the traditions, and make new ones for my son as he too one day will be saying to his children 'when I was younger my mother used to....... '

Smiles

Smiles can say so much and bring warmth to peoples heart.

 Think about how many times you will look someone in the eye today and smile, and see how different your day will turn out, say 'hello, have a good/blessed day'.

The gift of a smile can mean so much to someone else’s life,

and make you feel good about yours in the process.

You might want to go further and say ‘how are you doing....and wait for a reply...

Running on Empty

We've all heard the term, and there are quite a few others that have similar meanings, 'burning the candle at both ends, writers/artist block, and many more.  These states of being can be a result of not making the right decisions to ensure we are looking after our health be it food and exercise but also spending quality time with friends and family - making time to renew our creative spark.  Some of us take heed or more often than not we ignore it, waiting instead for the consequences that will either lead to blocks, burn out or illness and exhaustion. 

For those that own a car, each year we take it for its Service and MOT to make sure its road worthy, it won't pass unless everything is in good condition and we regularly put petrol in our car and top up oil and water.  If we are going to do that for a piece of metal that gets us from A-Z why not our own bodies.  Have you been running on empty for a while?

We often committe ourselves and time to doing projects that if we had thought clearly about we would never have agreed.  Perhaps its time to take stock. Take a look at the wheel above draw a line where you think you are at that point, it covers all aspects of life, finance, family, health etc.  You get a chart looking something like the small one below. It will help you recognise those areas in your life that need some extra attention and tlc, the next step is doing something about it....