Again... and again. And on... and on.

After returning from Fort Lauderdale and driving just east of Parkland to Boca Raton on Valentine's Day, Ash Wednesday, the day that 17 more families were shattered due to a person opening fire on his peers, having been so close, I am even more pained and angered and saddened... how much more will I/we accept and just carry on?

For those of us that are outside of the perimeter of these communities/schools/events when they happen, it seems we don't even discuss it, grieve, act, help anymore-- put ourselves in each others' shoes.  These insane human killings are frequenting our lives and barely shock our nation and culture anymore.  It's being normalized.  Each consecutive shooting, we must consider that it can, and could, and eventually will happen to each of us if we continue to push it down, let it go, accept it, avoid changing, brace for the next, only 'think and pray' about it.

My sister Robin died in a car accident in 1999.  Our Lord and our friends and family came to our rescue and to walk along the road of grief and healing with us.  Devastation.  It should be an exclusive club:  Losing a child.  It's not anymore.  It's becoming terribly common.  Twenty  kindergarteners at Sandy Hook El.  Murdered by a person wielding an assault rifle.  Twenty-five families, fifty parents lost their five and six year old babies to bullets in their own classrooms.  Their friends and extended families completely devastated.  So seventeen MORE families are walking -- crawling along this indescribably painful road now.  Not to mention the ripple effect of those murdered kids' friends, teachers and extended families.

Mental illness and guns.  The cause of these killings.  The New York Times just cited that since the Sandy Hook murders of kindergarteners and teachers in 2012, there have been 400 shootings in 200 schools; 138 people have been murdered.  What on God's green earth.  And NOTHING has been done to change the laws and attempt to prevent it. 

Of course -- we know that people that mass murder are mentally ill.  Mental illness can run long and deep -- and secretive, thanks unfortunately to its stigma and the mystery and extent of our brains.  We need to work towards lifting the surrounding negative stigmas and as adults, be present and communicative and teach our kids to be respectful and kind to others.  Promoting and providing communication and counseling and human, caring connection.

But guns?  Relatively instantly, we can pass laws that attempt to physically remove guns from these travesties and what's left?  This week, seventeen families would not be in devastation from their son or daughter being shot to death at their school.  We need to remove guns from our everyday lives; limit them as much as humanly possible.  They literally need to be put on a pedestal and revered and reserved and respected.  The right to bear arms?  It's not working in this twenty-first century.  Tell me how many lives have been saved by bearing arms.

I think we'll all be OK -- including gun rights proponents and second amendment activists -- if we give gun control a try.  My Lord, it's worth a try.  We have to set aside our passion for guns, gun rights and gun profits and at least try to slow, decrease and stop the loss of human life.

We won't be, and we aren't OK bearing arms and leaving gun violence un-researched and untempered; we Americans, our sons and daughters are being killed in staggering numbers by hundreds of bullets from assault rifles.  Why do we need these?  Because some people think they're cool and/or profitable?  Let's for a moment put our brothers' and sisters' human lives ahead of gun profits and our right to have guns around. 

To issue a sympathy statement and ignore the opportunity to prevent the deadly and devastating aftermath of gun violence is pathetic.  We're continuing to the put the cart before the horse by turning a blind eye to the changes that need to be made to save our and our neighbors' lives.  We need a license to drive.  We need a permit to put to redo a kitchen.  We need to register and pay annually for our cars.  We need a license to fish.  In my town, you need a license to have a dog.  A license to have a gun can be a simple start.  What about a gun tax?  We tax our houses and they're not even a detriment to our society.  Assault rifles and certain ammunition need to be banned or at least highly, highly regulated.  Moves such as these will not cause death.  This will not devastate and bring families to their knees in grief and pain. 

We need to profile the murderers.  Study their lives and their habits and share the information with our country and in turn, we as parents, co-workers, teachers, coaches, neighbors, friends, acquaintances need to learn and change and act and constantly communicate with and love our kids. 

Honestly, my opinion; less hours on social media and screens and video games (especially violent ones) and more hours outside and being together; showing care and kindness and sharing laughs and activity, would cure a whole lot.  No more hiding behind screens -- time to step up, step out to real life and friendship and kindness.  Living our lives together in person, in reality.  Not through a screen, alone with our apps.  Kids can't handle it and we adults aren't the greatest at it either.  The frequency that we're all staring at a screen is not humane, it's not healthy, it's not real life.  It robs us and our loved ones - anyone around us - of being present, attentive and it prevents us from listening to each other and being a positive presence in all of our little worlds and the world as a whole.

The sadness and helplessness is my 11-year old son's voice, while we were in Fort Lauderdale, asking how close we were to the school where yet another mass shooting occurred in yet another school was heart wrenching.  Not one of us, especially our kids, should be having to repeatedly deal with the death and destruction -- of God forbid (and be with) those that are near -- nor from afar. 

Lord have mercy on us.  Guide us.  Help us.  Move us to action and peace and loving and connecting with and caring for each other better.

Streams in the Desert...

May 25...

...You may be experiencing little sunshine, but the long periods of gloomy darkness have been wisely designed for you, for perhaps a lengthy stretch of summer weather would have made you like parched land or a barren wilderness.  Your Lord knows best, and the clouds and the sun wait for His command.

When told, "It's a gray day," and old Scottish cobbler once replied, "Yes, but didn't ya see the patch of blue?"

Winding Down 2016!

It's the Winter Solstice today!  With all of the buzz and razzle-dazzle this time of year, I probably 'shouldn't' be posting here but dang! -- slowing down and connecting and smiling and stepping outside of the razz is liberating and calming... and a must to keep some sanity.

My original holiday card writing (which doing ours and receiving others' is one of my greatest joys) was axed as 'too political' which I was balked at but finally conceded and resigned to just post it here:

Oh gosh, 2016, wow-wee.  Well, first… no, I don’t know what’s first.  Many things have been confusing, heartbreaking, eye-opening – personally, nationally and worldly.  Most all of it is based in fear.  What’s the opposite of fear?  Love.

So we’re sending love to you, our most loved in the world.  We pray that you and every person in this world – including our personal and public oppressors – speak and act with love – with mindfulness, selflessness and compassionate kindness.  And that every person in this world feels love in their life.  Let us be generous with each other and be able to imagine standing in each others’ shoes.

A prayer that I try to pray which I heard from a woman who spoke at President Obama’s inauguration is ‘Lord, Let Me Be A Blessing’.  When we are seeking to understand each other, serve each other, listen to each other, accept each other:  we bless each other.  And those blessings make precious ticks towards peace, towards harmony, towards balance.

We are each only one person.   We make so many mistakes and we need each other – each other’s support and forgiveness.  We need to stay hopeful.  We need to stay faithful.  We need to hurdle fear and count our blessings… for which you are one of our dearest.

Peace, Love and Open-mindedness happened in 2016 too – and we wish you these this holiday season and all through 2017.

Warm wishes and many blessings to you and your loved ones!

Aaaaah, it feels good to let it out.  Thank you internet and this blog's following of three (;

Also wanted to post the entry from today's God Calling:

Children, take every moment as of My Planning and ordering.  Remember your Master is the Lord of the day's little happenings.  In all the small things yield to My gentle pressure on your arm.  Stay or go, as that pressure, Love's pressure, indicates.

The Lord of the moments, Creator of the snowdrop and the mighty oak.  More tender with the snowdrop than the oak.

And when things do not fall out according to your plan, then smile at Me indulgently, a smile of Love, and say, as you would to a human loved one "Have your way then" -- knowing that My loving response will be to make that way as easy for your feet as it can be.

A Little Help From Friends

For me, for you, for my friend Mary who just lost a dear furry friend...

From Streams in the Desert
May 18

We were under great pressure,... so that we despaired even of life... But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Pressed beyond measure; yes, pressed to great length;
Pressed so intensely, beyond my own strength;
Pressed in my body and pressed in my soul,
Pressed in my mind till the dark surges roll.
Pressure from foes, and pressure from dear friends.
Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends.

Pressed into knowing no helper but God;
Pressed into loving His staff and His rod.
Pressed into liberty where nothing clings;
Pressed into faith for impossible things.
Pressed into living my life for the Lord,
Pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured.

The pressure of difficult times makes us value life.  Every time our life is spared and given back to us after a trial, it is like a new beginning.  We better understand its value and thereby apply ourselves more effectively for God and for humankind.  And the pressure we endure helps us to understand the trials of others, equipping us to help them and to sympathize with them.

Some people have a shallowness about them.  With their superficial nature, they lightly take hold of a theory or a promise and then carelessly tell of their distrust of those who retreat from every trial.  Yet a man or woman who has experienced great suffering will never do this.  They are very tender and gentle, and understand what suffering really means.  This is what Paul meant when he said, "Death is at work in us" 2 Cor. 4:12.

Trials and difficult times are needed to press us forward.  They work in a the way the fire in the hold of a mighty steamship provides the energy that moves the pistons, turns the engine, and propels the great vessel across the sea, even when facing the wind and the waves.  A.B. Simpson

"Everyone's on their own path" -- my Dad

this one looks nice (:

Direction

Look for beauty and joy in the world around.  Look at a flower until its beauty becomes part of your very soul.  It will be given back to the world again by you in the form of a smile or a loving word or a kind thought or a prayer.

Listen to a bird.  Take the song as a message from God.  Let it sink into your soul.  That too will be given back to the world in ways I have said.  Laugh more, laugh often.  Love more.  I am with you.  

God Calling

March 11

Happy Birthday tomorrow to Graham Robert!

He's a dapper, fun, feisty, independent, and totally terrific 10!

It's almost been a Year...

"Sing on, dear child.  I hear you and I am coming to deliver you.  I will carry that load for you.  So just lean hard on Me, and the road will get smoother by and by."

Streams in the Desert -- Dec. 28