The definition of these two words are almost identical and share many similarities.

Alone: Seperated from others. Isolated…

Solitude: The quality or state of being alone. A lonely place. Seclusion…

Personally, I feel the difference between these two similar words are “emotion” you can hate to be alone but enjoy spells of solitude. I have many interests, hobbies and activities within my home that I enjoy both my alone time and my solitude time.

You are possibly married so alone time for you is; spouse is gone for a few days and the house and your time is just that; yours to spend however you wish. Possibly solitude time is; a morning routine that enables you alone time to gently wake up; or a favorite spot, that’s just yours; where you can go to pray, read, set, be quiet and refuel.

For those who do not care for being alone, I have great news! You aren’t!!! The Lord God is with you wherever you are. He is always with you, all you have to do is talk. He desires a real relationship with you, a friendship; He cares about every aspect of your life and is always there to listen.

Joshua 1:5b NCV “I will not leave you or forget you.”

Mark 1:35 NIV “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

So possibly the next time you find yourself alone maybe change your thought pattern to that of solitude and enjoy the quietness that fills your spirit and the opportunity to have a conversation with our creator. Be Blessed and Thank you for joining me today. 🥰

Good morning, what are your expectations today?

Did your eyes open to a list and schedule a mile long? Dread has hit your mind before your feet have even hit the floor. Or, did you open you eyes to a list and schedule a mile long and think; I’m going to be busy today but the day will zoom by.

Both of these scenarios are the same but the expectations and energies are completely opposite. The first produces negative energy, slower start, possibly a frown covers the first cup of coffee and maybe into the rest of the day. The second thought produces a positive expectation; I’m going to be busy, better wear comfortable clothes and shoes and before I know it I will be headed back home.

Could be you are stuck somewhere or in something and you can’t seem to find the door. Discouragement sets in, possibly followed by a panic attack. Does the revolving door never seem to stop, the carnival ride is to fast and you want off. Slow down, set down, ask God to help you see things through his eyes, ask him to give you just a glimmer of hope to carry. When that brilliant spark appears, grab it, feed it, nurture it; so His positive thinking and outlook start to grow and mix with yours.

The power of our mind is one of your strongest strengths but as with any strength and power you need to learn how to use it and channel it correctly. The very thoughts, pictures, words, scenarios our mind creates produce electric impulses to the brain. “Thoughts are energy.”

Our thought are so powerful they can; help you manifest life into your dreams or let you become a companion to your greatest fears. Really think about that last line… “companion to your greatest fears” Why do we do that to ourselves?

Proverbs 10:28 ESV “The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.”

Psalms 62:5-8 NKJV “My soul, waits silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out you heart to Him; God is a refuge for us.”

So maybe the next time a list hits, despair sets in, you feel lost, hopeless or alone; remember you are not and in this state of mind you do not have to stay as with most things, the choice is yours. Choose to make it a sunshine day. Thank you for joining me. 🥰

Are you a talker or a listener? Do you like the sound of your own voice and use it often and for great lengths of time? Possibly, you are the quiet type, who sets and watches, taking in every little detail!

I am a talker and all who know me know this fact but as I grow and mature I have come to realize; there’s a time to talk, a time to listen, a time to reply and a time to wait. I have learned that timing is everything but that might be a different message for another day.

Today, I want to address the person in need. The one who is in need of an ear and someone who cares enough to listen. Listen, is the key word today. When you are in a position to be an ear, be just that; not a mouth, not an opinion, not a ‘Oh I know how you feel, because I’. You just stopped listening, and are about to change the pain of this someone to an account of your own. Take away here…you stopped listening.

Trust me, at that moment they don’t care about your past experience and you just made them feel like they don’t really matter. I grew up with a person who made everything about them, this person is so self absorbed that other people’s pain is a brief moment of thought and future gossip. So, when I start feeling myself starting to give an account of me in a painful conversation I immediately shut up. I am praying for and working hard everyday on being a listener, not an advice giver. When someone needs to talk, that’s all they need … that and maybe a hug!

I will leave you with this thought; the next time you open your mouth to speak words of wisdom to a heart in pain…shut it and re-open your ears. James 1:19a NCV “My dear brothers and sisters, always be willing to listen and slow to speak.”

Have a blessed day and thank you for joining me. 🥰

I’m not feeling well today, so I will leave a thought.

John 3:16 NCV “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.”

We as humans often balk when we have to do something for someone or a group of someone’s. It’s usually inconvenient and a bit of a chore and well frankly we can think of a million other things we need to be doing besides this added burden. Added thought, most often these favors or commitments are for people we love or at the very least care about.

Can you imagine? Giving not just one of your children but your only child … to be a death sacrifice for a world of people who: ridicule, hate and use your name as an ugly curse word? That’s Serious Love…

Something to think about…I apologize I just don’t have much in me this morning. Have a blessed day! Keep joining me. 🥰

Today would be my grandpa’s earthly birthday. I took him flowers and a birthday balloon yesterday. I go to the cemetery often, I find solace there. Two people I love more then I have words to describe lay at rest there and I know they meet me when I set by their side, to talk. I have their graves decorated with many summer flowers, and a NY Mets pennant adorns Papa’s side.

When life reaches up and takes my breath away, breaks my heart, or even just seriously hurts my feelings, where do I often run…to the cemetery. Weird? Maybe! I ask myself that often. Why is it, I run to the cemetery when my heart hurts? Why? because two people who showed me unconditional love are there and I can still feel that love as I remove scattered leaves, plant new flowers and blow kisses up to the clouds gracefully floating by.

I grew up knowing my grandma was a few years older then my grandpa and that she was uncomfortable with that, and as a pair declared grandma three years younger than my grandpa, if or when an age conversation ever came up. This was always a family secret, I don’t know why or the significance but this was a thing. I smile often when I look at their headstone. My papa carried their secret to his death because my grandma’s birth year is carved incorrectly…On Purpose!!! That’s the type of love my grandpa gave.

Happy Earthly Birthday My little Jewish Papa, I miss you so! Speaking of another Jewish Papa…God!!! He loves you more then I have words to describe. He loves you in a way neither you nor I can truly grasp. If you were blessed to have that unconditional love of a grandparent and you took that love and magnified 1500x you still couldn’t reach the depths of our Lords love for YOU!!! Yes, You!!!…All of You!!!

So, maybe it’s hard to believe why or how or even if…but give it a try! Find a place of solace, set down and look up and ask him to shine his love down on you and to fill your heart. Simply ask to understand his love as you do or did your grandpas. If you were blessed as I…that’s an easy love to understand and start with. I love you! God loves you! Be Blessed today and thank you for joining me. 🥰

I’ve been doing some thinking and I thought I should clear some air. I think maybe I come across as Pollyanna, living in a world of pink and ruffles.

I don’t, I live in this world just like you. I have a spouse, children, grandchildren. I have bills, woes, aches and pains just like everyone else. I lose people I love to death, I cry, I have emotions just like everyone else.

So why do I write these sometimes silly devotions about my stuffed animals that might talk, gnomes and fairies in my garden, leprechauns in the redwood forests who migrated from Ireland. Why, because life is hard enough and if I can take a different view, and turn clouds into cotton balls then why not. If I choose to look at the flowers instead of the weeds then why not.

Some may relate to my silliness some may not and for that I’m sorry. I also realize I am just a nobody who is trying to share our Lords love. I don’t have degrees on my walls, didn’t go to big fancy college and don’t sport any title. I instead went through Life University.

So, I do have plenty of skinned knees, broken hearts, smashed dreams, with lessons learned the hardest way. What my heart wishes to share is not book knowledge but the unconditional love of Our Lord.

God the Father loved us so much that even in our filth, he sent his one and only son…to walk with us, teach as many as he could and to set the example for generations to come. Jesus, God in human flesh loves us so much that he took a horrible beating, and mocking unto death, for those then and the future generations to come.

So, I come to you each morning, after prayer; in which I ask the Lord for his words and guidance and if that happens to bring a fresh outlook or a smile…that’s exactly what it was meant to do. I’m not trying to change you or your world just hoping to add to it. When the love and peace of our Lord reigns, life can be a bit more pink with ruffles. It’s Sunday, Be Blessed and Thank you for joining me.🥰

Do not ask me why I woke up with an old Sunday school song in my head. “This little light of mine I’m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

What does that mean actually? I believe it’s showing the Lord through our actions or reactions, our speech, our peace, our glow and lives. Being a follower of our Lord, getting to know him and his word, produces a difference in us that the world can actually notice.

As you grow in the Lord, he grows in you; the fruits of his spirit start to override the fruits of the world. Fruits of the spirit are found in Galatians 5:22 and they are: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Vs. Anger, Frustration, Selfishness, Greed, Carelessness, Hatefulness and Destruction…

What light shines out of you? Do you walk with a smile on your face and in your spirit or are you grouchy and wear a scowl most of the time? You can tell God’s kids…there is just a difference about them. They do often wear an aura of light. You might not understand just what it is about certain people, but you can just feel they are a bit different; nicer, happier, they look at things just a little differently…They are Gods.

Gods kids have just as many trials as anyone else in the world and possibly more as we fight Satans minions constantly. I believe it’s how we face those trials and the world that make that difference. We are all flesh; our walk with the Lord and the fruit it produces doesn’t happen over night but if you continue to pray for his strength and wisdom he will be there.

Then not only do other people start noticing the changes in you but you will too! I have to work everyday on my fruits, often my first initial reaction is that of the world…anger, frustration and then loss of peace. In my walk and growth I have found that if I take a deep breath, possibly walk away for a moment…stop and pray… that some of the fruits I long to produce start to seep in and take over. Thus equipping me with better tools to handle the situations life throws my way.

Life isn’t going to ever stop being hard but we can stop making it harder. Take one moment at a time, then the next step, then move from there. Try carrying a couple of the fruits in your lunchbox, try a new one each day until you have a orchard of your own. I know when I put my trust and each new day in the Lords hands that I am going to be ok, so then it’s up to me to decide how my day is going to be. I think I shall try: Joy, Peace and Kindness today…

Let your light shine. We are in a day and age of much darkness and the world can sure use the lights of Gods kids to shine a little brighter, be a little warmer. Go out and make someone’s day today by offering them a piece of your fruit. Be blessed and as always…Thank you for joining me. 🥰

I love nature and being outside, there’s something ethereal in the outdoors. You can feel it if you stop and just let your senses take it all in: the sounds, the smells, the feel, gathering the peaceful essence within and holding it close.

Genesis is the first book of the Bible, The beginning of all things; it tells of God creating the heavens and earth, along with getting to meet its first inhabitants; Adam and Eve.

Genesis 1:1 NCV “In the beginning God created the sky and earth.”

Genesis 1:3 NCV “Then God said, ‘Let there be light.’And there was light.”

Genesis 1:6 NCV “Then God said, ‘Let there be something to divide the water in two.”

Genesis 1:9 NCV “Then God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered together so the dry land will appear.’ And it happened.”

Genesis 1:11a NCV “Then God said, ‘Let the earth produce plants.”

Genesis 1:14 NCV “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the sky to separate day from night. These lights will be used for signs, seasons, days and years.”

Genesis 1:20 NCV “Then God said, ‘Let the water be filled with living things, and the birds fly in the air above the earth.”

Genesis 1:24 NCV “Then God said, ‘Let the earth be filled with animals, each producing more of its own kind.”

Genesis 1:26 NCV “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image and likeness. And let them rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the tame animals, over all the earth, and over all the small crawling animals on the earth.”

Genesis 1:27 NCV “So God created human beings in his image. In his image he created them. He created male and female.”

Makes sense now doesn’t it, that we feel this connection to Gods creation, because we too are Gods creation. So the next time you are out in nature; whether it be in your peaceful quiet backyard, standing on the edge of the oceans boundaries listening to its pounding roar, walking within the deep quiet cathedral of the forest, possibly running through a meadow of wildflowers or simply gazing at a field covered in a carpet of golden wheat. Stop!!! Take a moment to reflect on everything around you…in all of the ugliness today that seems to be winning, there is still more then enough beauty in our world; to call “Checkmate!”

Please, take the time to appreciate the fluffy cotton ball clouds floating peacefully in the sky, the flowers that look up and wave as you walk by, the cleansing raindrops falling gracefully from the sky, listen for the breeze that whispers your name or the giggling brook that is simply enjoying its bubbly trip somewhere, causing you, yourself to smile with it. These are all gifts from our creator, I hope you will go outside with maybe a different point of view today. Make it a sunshine day!!! I have rain today…Thank you Lord!!! As always, Thank you for joining me. 🥰

Good morning it’s a brand new day, a fresh start…

A fresh start to what? To You!!! Every day we are blessed with a new day, an opportunity for a new way. My grandson Jonathan turns six today…it’s a brand new year to learn how to be 6 and all the adventures that will come his way. Happy Birthday Jon!

Yesterday is over, take the lessons learned and store them for tomorrow because chances are you will need them. All the while, letting go of the mistakes or failures of the day. Once you’ve stored them for future knowledge, let them go!!! If you are anything like me you carry your failures, mistakes and poor judgements around like luggage. God says, let it GO!!!

Lamentations 3:22-24 NCV “The Lord’s love never ends; his mercies never stop. They are new every morning; Lord your loyalty is great. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is mine, so I hope in him.”

If the Lord God is merciful to us and our mistakes then maybe we should follow his example and be merciful to ourselves. Again, I am preaching to the choir here. I am my worst critic and if I have messed up, disappointed someone, used poor judgement, or just flat out have a rotten attitude about someone or something. I tend to beat myself up for days upon days. Who am I hurting? Myself, because I have possibly already hurt someone and apologized and or tried to fix the wrong, yet here I am still kicking myself over and over, when God says…

Isaiah 43:25 NCV “I, I am the One who erases all your sins, for my sake; I will not remember your sin.”

Hebrews 8:12 NCV “I will forgive them for the wicked things they did, and I will not remember their sins anymore.”

We are not defined by our mistakes or the mistakes of those around us. We are not: Mrs. Divorce, Mr. Had An Affair, Mr and Mrs. Drink to Much, The son of The Pill Poppers, The daughter of The Towns Loose Mom, The Barflies or The Meth Heads, The Losers, Miss Someone Love Me Please, Mr. Angry, Mrs. Mean…Sir Lost-A-Lot or Lady Lonely.

Here’s what God has to say about who you are;

1 Peter 2:9 NCV “But you are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 NCV “If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new.”

It’s a new day, a new start, a new clean piece of paper. Go out and write a wonderful story for yourself today. May God’s love, grace, favor and mercy shine down upon you like yellow rays of sunshine. I pray for you all a smile today. Be blessed and thank you always, for joining me. 🥰

Oh My Goodness the winds of change are once again blowing. Oregon, Washington state and California have fires ripping through their states: forests, towns, businesses and homes gone, leaving behind charred remains of what once was and grey ugly ash. Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are right in line for Hurricane Sally to make landfall if it hasn’t already, that hurricane will wreck havoc in its path. Lake Charles, LA is working hard on rebuilding from the wrath of Hurricane Laura and her recent destruction.

According to a report this morning by CNN, “There are currently 5 active tropical cyclones brewing in the Atlantic. There has only been one other time in history and that was in 1971, also in the Atlantic, that there were 5 storm’s churning at the same time. The 5 systems are: Hurricane Sally, Hurricane Paulette, Tropical Storm Teddy, Tropical Storm Vicky and Tropical Depression Rene.”

When storms hit how do you handle them? Are you a take action type of person and have everything prepared way before hand? Are you perhaps one who watches, evaluates all the while getting mentally prepared, so in an instant you can spring into action mode? Or, are you one, that when fear sets in you become paralyzed, your brain turns to mush and you wear yourself out running in circles? Believe it or not, all three of these personalities get done what they need to do, they just all go about it differently.

John 16:33 NLT “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart , because I have overcome the world”

Psalms 46:1-7 NLT “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! A river of joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High. God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it. The nations are in chaos, and their kingdoms crumble! God’s voice thunders, and the earth melts! The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Isreal is our fortress”

Knowing the Lord isn’t going to stop the world from storming or life’s trials from happening but I can assure you from experience knowing him will definitely make the storms and trials not so big, not so scary. Remember, Isaiah 40:12 NLT “Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who else has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?”

My hope and prayer is; whether you have storm winds blowing in your life, or you just survived a rain shower or you fear one is brewing. Whatever the storm; whether Mother Nature, your health, marriage, children, life in general, that you realize you don’t have to walk alone. You have a Father In Heaven who will gladly hold your hand through any trial. I pray you will tune into or seek his love and companionship because when the storm clouds hit remember, He is our refuge and safe haven.

I pray for you sunshine in your heart, hope in your spirit and a smile on your face. Go out and make it a blessed day! Thank you for joining me. 🥰