Remembering a Favorite Scripture

I was reading Jeremiah 32 tonight and I came across one of my favorite scriptures:

Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?

That verse brought back so many memories of times when The Word seemed so alive and powerful in my life. I remember finding that verse during a particularly difficult time. And I recall grabbing on to it and holding tight until I made it through to the other side.

It was a reminder to me that no matter what you are struggling with or how difficult the days are, there is nothing too hard for God. He can turn any situation around and give us victory. He can make what was once old, new again. And He can raise us up when we are feeling down.

Standing on the promises,
Walden Fan

If money wasn't an issue...

...I would:
live in Paris.
pay off all my kids debts.
give my daughter the most extravagant wedding ever.
buy two miniature dachshunds.
self publish both of my books.
walk away from this house that is falling apart around me.
visit my friend in Australia.
have someone do my accounting and taxes.

If money wasn't an issue...money is ALWAYS an issue.
Walden Fan

Mortality

I just received the news today that my last living aunt passed away. It hit me hard because of two things: she was the last living relative on my mother's side of the family other than my generation, and it made me aware of my own mortality.

I guess I've been aware of it for quite a long time. I was fairly young when my mother passed away and that began the realization that we are all here on this earth for a short time. When my great aunt passed away a few years ago at 96, we all stood at her graveside and recalled all the great memories we had of our lives with her. She was the matriarch of our family. The solid rock that kept all of us together and afloat. Her passing was a tremendous loss in the family. And today my aunt's passing is as well.

Thoreau says, "most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them". The lesson in death, is to live. Live your life to the fullest so that when your day comes, you have "lived deliberately". Live your life so that those you leave behind are left with your legacy and the memories that help them through the grief.

I wrote about my aunt months ago in a book I am writing. Here's the excerpt:

One particular day we had all gone to the beach, as was our usual practice in the summers. I had just been given one of the newest types of Polaroid black and white cameras: you could develop the picture immediately after it was taken. I was making my way around the beach, taking photos of all my aunts, uncles and cousins. One of my aunts was particularly camera shy. She kept running from me, avoiding the inevitable. I was a persistent little kid. I was determined to get a photo of my aunt with my new camera. After thinking I had given up, she walked away from me, confident that she had won the battle. I quickly snapped my camera, getting a lovely picture of her backside. Once the picture was developed, we all laughed and laughed about the “family photo” of my aunt’s posterior. I know she laughed so hard she peed in her pants that day. I still have that photo and smile every time I remember her laughing as I developed it.

I have wonderful memories of my aunt as a child. And I will keep those memories with me forever. Her legacy? She always made me laugh. What a GREAT legacy!

Rest in Peace Jodee...I will miss you,
Suzanne

How much is too much?

My best friend asked me this question tonight, "How much can one person take?" It's a question we have all asked at one time or another. It's a question that doesn't really have an answer. I wish it did, but unfortunately, I don't think any of us know how much we can take until we are faced with those trials and tragedies. That's when we find out what we are made of.

Surprisingly, most of us are able to handle whatever life gives us. We may struggle. We may cry. We may even give up for a time, but we usually find the strength to keep going. That fighting spirit is built into each one of us. It surfaces when we want to give up. It gives us that extra push to keep going and it gives us hope that tomorrow can be better than today.

We've all been there and felt like we can't go on. That if one more bomb falls on us we won't be able to get up. We crawl under the covers and hide, hoping it will all go away. But in the morning, things don't seem so bad as they did the night before. And we find the strength to try for one more day.

We can all be overcomers. All it takes is making that choice and refusing to give up the fight. The key is taking one day at a time. Sounds simple right? It's not. It's hard and it requires every ounce of courage we have to make it through those days. My mother used to tell me, "this too shall pass". I have to admit, I hated those words, BUT...she was right. It passes and on the other side sometimes, if you're lucky, you've learned something or gotten stronger because of it.

Living to fight another day,
Walden Fan

On Walden Pond

One of my favorite authors is Henry David Thoreau. On one of my many trips to Boston I was able to visit the site of his cabin on Walden Pond. There is nothing quite like standing on the place where he lived and was inspired so many hundreds of years ago.

Walden Pond is one of those magical locations that inspires me to write. Walking along the pond and seeing the trees glisten in the water, while listening to the deafening silence, puts you in touch with your thoughts. It's so quiet there you can hear the leaves fall and the wind in the trees. The water is so still and calm that skipping rocks almost seems criminal. And although I am a city girl at heart, being there makes me appreciate the beauty in nature and the quiet peace that can come when you separate yourself from the world and everything that crowds out your passion.

Thoreau went to the pond because he wanted to write. But even more importantly, he wanted to get the most from his life by determining what was really important, and he did that by removing himself somewhat from his normal life. He did this by living a simple life in the woods. He also took the time to seek spiritual renewal--much like a spiritual retreat. He expressed his purpose quite simply:

"I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived"

Living deliberately can be hard. The day to day dramas and the responsibilities of life sometime crowd out our discoveries. And these days, I'm all about those discoveries.

This blog will chronicle my pursuit and hopefully remind me to "suck out all the marrow of life"

Living Deliberately,
Walden Fan