Grace is when God gives us that which we don’t deserve, mercy is when He spares us the consequences we surely do, and a blessing is when He is generous on both fronts.
doing the right thing
There are probably just as many stories about someone doing the right thing and winning as there are about someone doing the right thing yet losing. Both stories are inspiring not for their outcomes but for their decisions to deliberately do what is right, regardless the outcome. When we do the right things the outcomes cease being the climax, focus, meaning or purpose of the story but the doing of the right thing is itself the sole author of the inspiration. Outcomes are too often overrated, mostly by those who don’t live by faith and in so doing, learning nothing about having joy in endings unknown.
My not so favorite things
Spiders, clown faces,
And bridges collapsing.
Burglars who break in on you
While you’re napping.
Slivers and big dogs who
Foam at the mouth,
These fears turn all my anxieties south.
Zombies and barfing
Free falls from high places,
Tornadoes, lightning and
Tightly closed spaces,
Birds that attack and
All things that sting,
These are a few of my scariest things.
When there’s alley fights,
Entries with no lights,
When I’m home alone,
These are a few of the horrible things,
That make up my great un-known.
IRS letters and CPS knocking
Nightmares of falling
And empty chairs rocking,
Faces in windows when I’m in the shower
I can think up most anything scary at this hour.
(reprise Chorus)
the ice Maker
3am, longing out the window at the quiet darkness, a cloudy sky and 35 degrees, I said “It’s just you and me, God. Everyone’s asleep. Nobody else needs to see if you just let a few wintry snowflakes drop down right here, right now, just for me.” And at that very moment, I looked up to hear the ice maker drop its load in the freezer, and that was a good enough answer to prayer for a Vegas boy.
Faith of a snowflake
3am, longing out the window at the quiet darkness, a cloudy sky and 33 degrees, I said “It’s just you and me, God. Everyone’s asleep. Nobody else needs to see if you just let a few wintry snowflakes drop down right here, right now, just for me.” And at that very moment, I looked up to hear the ice maker drop its load in the freezer, and that was a good enough answer to prayer for a Vegas boy.
January 1, just another day.
It’s just another day but I have my suspicions.
A fresh beginning to a new year, a clean page on life’s calendar, a symbolic start to better intentions, clarity in focus, or maybe a simple sentimental morning to contemplate the parade of your life. A day off work, extra time to wipe slates and imagine how the new year might unfold. Some will wake desperate for aspirin and coffee, football distractions or to clean up wild night messes before sleeping away the day’s remains from which they only recently arrived home. But I suspect more than a sober few will be thinking deeper thoughts from time to time today. Plans for self-restraint, to be a little nicer, quit a bad habit or start one better. For today’s curious and contemplative minds the options are limitless. So, applause to those making use of this new day as a personal prompt for positive change, at least in thought, if not in deed. It’s a good day for it. Some require an external catalyst like a nodal event or an arbitrary date of a year to be propelled into deeper thoughts and richer inner lives. Shocking or startling, they shake us to our cores begging for change, forcing us once again into the awful truth: We waited for something to force our hand, but also the glorious redemption that the only difference between last year’s regrets and this year’s successes is just another day, and how we use it.
#LifeMeansSoMuch #LMSM
a grand entrance
Our new home is spotless
The clutter is gone
All papers are filed
The laundry is done.
Monies in order
Budget prepared
Bills are all current
With a little to spare.
Goals are in sight
With changes to make
More this, less that
More give and less take.
Now just hours to spare
Before the big hap
We enter prepared
Cuz this year’s a wrap!
Don and Butch have left the building.
A New Year’s Wish
I’d wish you the best
Though it may not come true.
Health, good fortune, success,
All good things you pursue.
Mostly I wish you a kind year
With all the mysteries it holds
And effervescence of life
As each month unfolds.
Raise your vision and standards
Raise your hopes for this earth
Among these are the wishes
That will raise your net worth.
Turn the page for another
Meet their need, gift a smile
Let this New Year reflect
A good life lived worthwhile.
And then maybe next year
On this day one year later
Keeping true to your wishes
This world will be greater.
Happy New Year to all.
Don & Butch
Thanks!
I’ve made a thousand jokes this year,
Wrote dozens of stories you needed to hear.
I hope you laughed, I know some cried,
But I hope they made you warm inside.
Now as the year comes to a close
I pause to reflect on the words I chose
To make friends smile, to keep in touch
But mostly to say, Life Means So Much.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
Adriana’s wish
Though I retired from my seasonal work as a professional Santa for a couple years now since losing my extra 45 pounds at the demand of my doctor, I accepted the plea for one last gig at a Christmas party before hanging up the suit for good. Adriana was all of seven years old with the soul of a young lady four times her age. On my lap, she looked me in the eye. No video games, no doll or ball, no wish for a surprise to unwrap Christmas morning. She was teary-eyed as she struggled to whisper her wish to this old man in a fake red suit and beard who thought he’d heard it all before. “Santa, I believe in you and I know you can do miracles. Will you please give homes to all the homeless people for Christmas?”
It was no coincidence that this was the very last wish I was to be asked as a Santa and truly, the only one I could grant with confidence, assurance and happy tears. I gave her my word and hugged her before she returned to her parents. She had no idea that after the suit is packed away, that’s precisely what this Santa does the other eleven months a year. I wish I’d had opportunity to meet her parents who’d taught her so well what Christmas is really all about.
