The Gift of Life

This is the Rheinfall in Switzerland. It is an area along the Rhine River that has a huge rock in the middle. It makes a breathtaking waterfall. You can ride a very bumpy boat to the middle and climb to the top of the rock...

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Life

In the picture above, this brooding beautiful waterfall that is created on the Rhine river is kind of like life. When you visit you can take a very bumpy boat ride to the middle and climb the rock to the top. At the top you can see the view, the Alps in the background. The river that runs smoothly and the mist that flows from the falls. Amazingly there is always a rainbow generated on sunny days from the force of the water. In my mind that represents the beautiful, the awful (through the sheer force of the water) and the mundane.

“Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing in between the amazing and the awful it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living a heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful.” L.R. Knost

One day everything is coming up roses.

One day you can barely take a step.

One day you feel like crying. 

One day you emerge from the depths. 

One day you get so many things done.

Another day you can barely carry on.

Progress looks different, each and every day.

Some days you climb that mountain and take in the view each and every way.

Other days you cry, you grieve, you feel your worst. 

Remember dear readers, don’t stay there. 

Dig your self out of the mire, into a place of joy and mirth.

Breathe when it’s mundane. Pause, take that huge breath.

Celebrate when life is amazing. 

Log those times into your mind.

When the awful times come, you can search your mind for those times.

Search your mind for the moments when you were joyful and at your best.

Also remember those times you barely made it, remember your strength that you had through the test. 

Life truly is a glorious and messy dance. 

Find your steps, fill your mind, do your very best. 

Remember if you never experience the valley, when you do reach that glorious mountain top.

You will not have a place of appreciation on which to draw. 

All of life is messy, on that you can depend. 

But that messy is part of the beautiful, the brave, the scared.

The gamut of emotions dwells there for sure. 

But one thing we humans can do is endure. 

Confession. Life should be tea parties, your person telling you that you are beautiful. Calories should be null and void. Money should be endless. There should be no conflict whatsoever in the world or in personal life, and the house should always be clean. Also, for me… it would be a crisp fall day for about half the year. Everyone has their perfect, or their wish for perfect. For some it could be just a warm meal or a pleasant place to lay their head. Today I spoke with a woman who was married to her husband for 18 years. She said, "He promised me twenty, I had hoped he would have given me twenty. But his health would not allow him to do so. When I spoke at his memorial I said to his ashes, 'I want my twenty years, you only gave me eighteen you cheeky devil.'" She said this with a smile on her face. After her moment of mirth she then looked at me and said, "I do miss him so, I would love to have just a few minutes with him. But I am truly thankful for the eighteen I got." I could only stand in awe. Others choice would be to have good health. For some it would be to speak with their child. I am a member of a military mom group. This group is a place of encouragement for those who have loved ones that serve. Some of those women just want to have a simple phone call from their baby to know that they are okay. When I pause and think about what a “tea party” is to some people it is incredibly humbling. The old adage that we have heard concerning not judging someone harshly. We simply do not know what they are going through in life. That rings very true. Do I wish for a tea party all the time? Not really. But as the quote states. Life just isn’t that way. Recently things have been interesting, mundane, hard, and some days just confusing. The advice given above is so very true. Rather than getting bored of the mundane, take a moment to breathe. During the awful, hold on. Pray. Draw from your spiritual well of strength. You have made it before, you can make it again. Finally, pass that strength on to others. They may need to see your example to make it through. After all, “Life is simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” Confucius 

My books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

The Case of the Missing Moo-Cow Bell

The Case of the Missing Wellies

The Case of the Missing Bumbly Wumbly Bee

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments

Clean it Up! Wash it Up!

Coming Soon: Appalachian Allegory: A Southern Novel

Buy me a coffee… pretty please… actually it would be a proper cuppa in my case. Thank you for reading! 

Patreon:

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Paypal:  familyking8@gmail.com

The Gift of What is Stored Inside You

I took this during a mountain walk..

This is "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel. I really enjoy singing this song. It is very true.

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of What is Stored Inside of You

“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”

Howard Ruff

A desolate desert, sometimes that is life. 

You walk through the day, your spirit is filled with strife. 

You search for that ever important drop of water to quench your thirst.

You search for that small morsel of spiritual food to give you the strength. 

What is stored inside you, to get you through these times?

When a good word is hard to find.

What have you cultivated in your inner being that will help you see through hard deeds?

Did you have a little water stuck back in your spiritual backpack?

Some food, some prayers, to fill your spiritual tank.

It all depends on what you are made of in your innermost being. 

Choose to store up goodness to see you through hard undertakings. 

When the slim times come and supplies are tight. 

You have a little in reserve to keep you going when times are tight. 

I dedicate this little musing to those who have lost a loved one. My heart cries for you. As I was praying this morning this little poem I wrote came to mind:

When you reach for that hand to gave you much needed calm.

When you listened for that voice that acted like a soothing balm.

When that hug that made you feel like everything will be okay is not there..

You feel the weight of the person that once was there.

Their spirit lingers in everything you touch.

Their joy, their grace, their strength when life was too much.

Remember dear one, they are in the presence of God.

They are dancing on the streets of gold, staring at the very face of God.

They would want you to hold on to the scripture in which they hid in their heart.

They would want you to pray and share the love of God.

Show others God's strength through daunting and soul wrenching times.

It's okay to cry, it's okay to rest, it's okay to wish you could be with the person you loved best.

Remember dear reader when the days seem too hard to bear.

God is there waiting for you to cast to Him all of your cares.

Weird aside. I love cured meats. I do. I really developed a love of these things when I would make my little daily trip to the market in Switzerland. They had a variety of cured sausages, my favorite was würstli. I would walk outside our little apartment that was ancient, down the gasse (street) to a little market that was probably 50 steps from our apartment. They had a variety of little sausages to pick from. It was wonderful. After that, I would go and get some fresh bread. I will write about that lovely memory in another musing. To get back to my love of cured meats; I became so fond of the würstli that I tried to bring some home to the states. They would not let me keep them in customs, sigh. Since being back I have not been able to find anything quite like the würstli since then. I have tried to recreate that fond little memory to no avail.  Today I was having some pepperoni, another cured meat that I love. As I was enjoying my little snack, I got to thinking about what it takes to cure meat. How it stores well and lasts a long time. Cured meats can be traced back to about 3000 bc. The process naturally involves salt and removing harmful bacteria from the meat so that it can be dried and stored. Once this is done, the meat can last for months. Why did early cultures cure meat? Well, for journeys, for soldiers who had to walk long lengths to battle, for the times when meat was hard to come by. They had a little in reserve so that they could have nutrition. After pondering this little fact, I thought about what we have stored inside of us when the hard and slim times come. This past year in our family has been very challenging. That is putting it mildly. I have to admit, there were days that I cried crocodile tears and questioned a lot of things in my life. After calming down, a realization dawned on me.  There were some scriptures, prayers and other musings in my spirit for times such as these.  There was also a realization that I had been filling my mind with endless worry. The Well of spiritual water had not been accessed and the rations for when nothing around was working laid in its bag waiting to be used. The gist of this musing? Prepare for the slim times. Prepare even if everything around you is “coming up roses” at the moment. Cure some meat of prayer, meditation and scripture to have in the back of your mind when nothing seems right. Fill up your water well so that it will not dry. In the words of Thomas Fuller: “We never know the worth of water until the well is dry.” 

Source: Carnivoreclub

My books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

The Case of the Missing Moo-Cow Bell

The Case of the Missing Wellies

The Case of the Missing Bumbly Wumbly Bee

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments

Clean it Up! Wash it Up!

Coming soon:

Appalachian Allegory: A Southern Novel

Buy me a coffee… pretty please… actually it would be a proper cuppa in my case. Thank you for reading! 

Patreon:

Positive Pensées

Paypal:  familyking8@gmail.com

The Gift of It Goes On

Photo Credit: My husband

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of It Goes On

“In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.”

Robert Frost

Has life ever really stopped?

Has everything come to a halt?

I would wager to say, not at all.

The world keeps on spinning and night turns into day.

The clouds move, the weather changes each and every day.

If life keeps moving at a steady pace. 

What must we do in this wondrous place?

Yes, life has bouts of mundane. 

But at other times you can experience and do things that are quite great.

What can you do?

How can you pray?

What bits of goodness to your soul can you add each day?

Can you take a moment and have some thankfulness?

Consistency, discipline, do your very best. 

If you get stuck in the mire and soil your spiritual boots.

Pick those feet up, wipe off the dirt and keep taking steps.

Travel that road that is less taken as the poet conveys.

Because dear reader, life does keep going at its destined pace. 

Robert Frost wrote many beautiful poems in his time. One of which became quite famous. It is called: “The Road Not Taken.” He talks about two roads converging on a hill. He wished he could have taken both but he decided to take the road less taken. The one that was less traveled by. In the end the poem points out that he is glad he did such an act. Why? Well, of course there are many scholars who have different takes on this poem. I would wager that the road less taken means that in those moments when no one is looking, we still take the narrow path or road. If you think about it, people see our big decisions. They are: who we marry, where we live, what we choose to do for our vocation. These days, sadly… what political direction you choose to take. As an aside, does anyone remember when politics and religion were discussed but… it was rare and it was respectful? Good times. Back to the subject at hand. The path or road less traveled is that of what small decisions are you making each day that are less traveled. Would you rather take the easy way or the way that may require lots of discipline? I have a confession. There are times that I loathe discipline. Loathe. There have been times when I have gone out of my way to do as little as possible. I see discipline in my sons. They are all soldiers. They have to get up at weird hours, hurry up and wait, run, lift things, do physical labor, etc.. There are times they do all of this before the sun comes up. Well, that did start to creep into my conscience.  After much thought and the example of loved ones around me I decided to take a different approach; I needed discipline. When my kids were at home there was plenty to fill my time. Now that our house is empty… well… I need to really focus my time and efforts on the path that is narrow and less traveled. Which in a nutshell is discipline. Those little choices, the little paths. They determine the quality of our attitude and our life. I was aware of this narrow path for many years. In many ways I took the road less traveled. But on this journey of  Pensées what can be done that is better? There are times when life tempts us to stay in the muck. Sometimes staying in the muck is required to get to the dry and clean space. If you find yourself in the muck, keep picking up those feet, keep trudging through. After you have dusted and cleaned off your boots take a moment and reflect. When that road presents itself to you again. Take that path that is less traveled. Sometimes the terrain may be hilly, sometimes you might trip over the roots and rocks. You might even fall and have to dust off your knees. In the end, you will have learned, grown, healed, developed some much needed strength to travel your next path. I leave you with the ending of the Poem: “I took the one less traveled by, and that made all the difference.” Robert Frost

My books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

The Case of the Missing Moo-Cow Bell

The Case of the Missing Bumbly Wumbly Bee

The Case of the Missing Wellies

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments

Clean it Up! Wash it Up!

Coming Soon:

Appalachian Allegory: A Southern Novel

The Gift of Your Six

I took this picture in a beautiful church in Austria. 

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Your Six

“It takes 6-8 pallbearers to lift you up when you’re deceased. Imagine what you can accomplish if you had 6-8 people lifting you up while you are living.”

Unknown

To go through life, blissfully unaware. 

To go through life, without a single care. 

No bills to pay, no problems of which to toil.

Would that not be absolutely wonderful?

To not have a care in the world. 

Unfortunately, this grand journey of life is filled with much.

Much good, much toil, and at times dismay.

There are times when smiles abound. 

There are even times when we can clown around. 

As the quote above states, do you have a six or eight?

People you can tell, “You are in my prayers.”

People you can say, “I hope you have a wonderful day.”

Is there anything that I can do, just for you?

Can I listen if you need to get things off your chest?
Can I make you a meal to ease your stress?

When we are gone, we will only need those six or eight for a few fleeting moments, to take us to our graves. 

In life find those people with kindred souls and spirits. 

Help them, pray for them, pass on the goodness of the human spirit. 

Let this create a domino effect. 

Tell someone about the six or eight. 

Make it a habit, love, create. 

Create a new mindset of helping others. 

Take the focus outward. 

Bless each other. 

I have been going through and reading past posts. I had to stay home from our usual church trip today. I had an ear infection and a sinus infection. When my husband came home from church he said that many people asked where I was. That was comforting indeed. A church is a wonderful place to find your six.. 

It’s the day after Thanksgiving. Our family does not partake in the shopping frenzy that ensues. We have decided to focus less on physical possessions and more on doing something nice for someone else. I did have an occasion to go out for a few minutes this morning to grab a few things at the store. The mall parking lots were full, the stereo was saying that most places were at capacity. While I am not opposed to gift giving, I thought about the crowds that used to trample over each other to get a simple toy with no thought of those they were hurting in front of them. In the journey of Pensées (thoughts), I have really pondered the influence of social media. It really is “self” focused in many ways. When you go to share a story on certain platforms it immediately goes to “selfie” mode. Most folks are not opposed to selfies, I am not so much. My point is, how can we find our six or eight and get out of selfie mode? Being in a military family our boys say, “I got your six” or “Watch your six.” What does that mean? During World War I the phrase was coined by pilots. It meant that the pilot was watching the back of the other plane so that the enemy would not come behind them and shoot them down. I have heard, “check your six.” There are variations of the term. Basically, just as a soldier helps watch those around him from harm, we too can do just that. Find folks that are in need of lifting up. It does not have to be anything grand. Sometimes a kind word is all it takes. A prayer, a meal, a sweet, a coffee, even a smile. As we come into the holiday season do you have a six or eight? Just think of the possibilities. If you show them the blessing of being a blessing.. What could happen? Perhaps they may do so as well. I was watching a political show with my husband recently. The host was talking about how divided this nation is at the moment. He said that some want to establish two different countries. Others want a civil war! Can you believe that? The host said, “We cannot do that, we have got to walk across the playground and focus on what we do have in common and it has to start with us normal folks.” He is not wrong. Find your six or eight and be a blessing that this world so dearly needs. Tell them, “I got your six.” 

Source:operationmilitarykids.org

My Books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

The Case of the Missing Moo-Cow Bell

The Case of the Missing Bumbly Wumbly Bee

The Case of the Missing Wellies

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments

Clean it Up! Wash it Up!

Coming Soon!

Appalachian Allegory: A Southern Novel

Buy me a coffee… pretty please… actually it would be a proper cuppa in my case. Thank you for reading! 

Patreon:

Positive Pensées

Paypal:  familyking8@gmail.com

Empty Chairs

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

“Always remember that you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” 

Winnie the Pooh

There is an empty chair at the table this year. 

In some cases more than one. 

As we sit and reminisce of times gone by. 

You can’t help but look at that empty spot. 

You miss them, their voice, their general presence every day. 

You think, “What are they doing? Are they okay?”

You pray, you call, you message and you wait. 

You want to see their precious face. 

Why is that chair empty you may ask?

Well that chair is empty because someone is doing freedom’s task.

They are serving, working, and giving of their time. 

So that we can enjoy a fine meal in times that are quite sublime.

Sublime you say? I don’t know about that. 

But if you take a minute and really think of those who are supporting freedom’s task.

They are giving of their time, their talents of free will.

Could you do it if you were called?

I am sure only a few will.

Remember those families with the empty chair. 

Remember that this is a chair of someone of whom they have great care. 

They have little to recourse but to pray.

Their prayers ring out each and every day. 

That empty chair sits at the table as a reminder to you and me.

That there are those who think outside of themselves for the cause of liberty.

Whether that time be on a massive boat, the sandbox, or the trees. 

Remember those who are without family.

Thanksgiving in itself is a time to pause and reflect. 

Reflect on those things of which we are blessed. 

So please in all of your turkey, dressing, and various sundry things. 

Think of that empty chair that sits at the table. 

Bring others to mind. 

This will elevate your will to be kind. 

To be thankful. 

To be full of gratitude. 

That is what the empty chair would want. 

Remember the empty chair that can’t enjoy the day. 

Remember the family, they too have a hollow place. 

They know in their hearts that their loved one is doing the right thing. 

It’s hard. It is a weighty feeling, there are at times no words to convey. 

Just what that empty chair means. 

Today after going to the store for what seemed like the four millionth time… I checked my attitude. Rather than complain I prayed. I felt an overwhelming urge to write this. We are missing some loved ones terribly this year. This is for you brave ones who sacrifice. To all of those mamas who are having their first holiday without their babies. My prayers are with you. The very first time our son was in the sandbox I missed him terribly. I knew what he was doing, I knew the cause, I knew that he would go without reserve. My husband and I were well aware that this comes with the territory of deployments. It doesn’t make it any less hard. Prayer is a must. Absolute must. There is nothing worse than being a mama bear who cannot do anything but pray for your baby that is seven thousand miles away. You don’t know exactly where they are located or what they are doing. But if you could… you would be there at a moment’s notice. To those who have lost their loved one. I cannot imagine your pain. I pray that you will be comforted on this day and every day. This year we find ourselves with another kid that is across the pond. We will miss our loved ones terribly. Very terribly. But we know that this again would be a possibility. We pray. We Wait. We anticipate. We stay still. We listen. We ask for God’s grace. We sing. We cry. We know that in time. They will be home again and that chair will be back to where it should reside. God Bless those who serve. God Bless those who sacrifice. 

My books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

The Case of the Missing Moo-Cow Bell

The Case of the Missing Bumbly Wumbly Bee

The Case of the Missing Wellies

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments

Clean it Up! Wash it Up!

Coming soon!  

Appalachian Allegory: A Southern Novel