My Thoughts

I am truly enjoying reading the novels of Willa Cather recently.  Set in the Plains states during the late 1800s, I am getting an opportunity to experience what would've been the life of my Swedish ancestors.  Many of Cather's main characters are of Swedish descent, and the reasons for their migration across the Great Plains was often financial opportunity and the promise of carving out a life.  Although fictional, much of Cather's life is recorded in these stories.  I did not select the Cather novels because of these factors.  In fact, I had no idea what she wrote.  I just knew her name. Imagine my great surprise when the topics of her novels allowed me to connect with my Swedish ancestry.  To date, I have completed "My Antonia" and "O Pioneers".  I have started "Song of the Lark"; I am not sure what to think about it yet. My other trip through history comes with "Downton Abbey".  It only offers a glimpse of history related to th...

I truly believe that where there's a will, there's a way , but as I stand on this precipice of my life looking across the vast chasm in front of me, I am beginning to wonder if perhaps my dream just is not the right one or is at the right time. Either finding a way down or making a big loop around to find a suitable crossing, both options torment me. So much precious time to be wasted, and I can see the prize just barely on the other side.When I relinquished my dream of becoming an attorney, I formulated a new dream, and very few people know what it is. Is that my chasm, that I have scarce shared? For a few years, I was lost without my old dream, blaming myself, hating myself. Through God's amazing grace, I eventually understood that not all dreams are meant to come true.............eventually I understood that His power and desires for me where so much better than what I thought I wanted for myself. So, trying to make the most of the situation ((place and time)).....

We are each responsible for our own happiness. Not only is it a complete lack of maturity to blame others when you are not happy, but is also the denial of the essence of humanity. How easy it is to look at another person and feel happiness is found anywhere but where you currently are. I can say all this because I have been that immature and not so great human who raged at the world and blamed others for my own unhappiness. Stress of course is the biggest culprit. So, too, are unreal expectations of life. The exceptional lesson from It's a Wonderful Life is that in the simplest of things lies the key to inner happiness. As George struggles to make do on a meager income while his friend Sam Wainright travels Europe in luxury, we see that being one small ripple is the greatest gift you can give. As Harry Bailey raises a toast to George at the end and says "to my brother George, the richest man in town", we know that wealth is seen in the impact of o...