Rest is refreshing

by Sharon O | Oct 4, 2011 | Uncategorized

A time to rest.
The last four days I have been down resting.
A bug or a virus or an allergy or a seasonal illness brought me down again.
My body was tired.
My brain fogged over.
My energy slow moving.
Sleep was good.
Sleep became a healing place.

Warm blankets and soft pillows.
Comforting pajama’s and soft robe wrapped their arms around me.
Comfort is good.
It is like a hot cup of tea steaming in your hands.

Breathe in the smell of spices and leaves.
Breathe in the smell and listen to the quiet sound.
Silence is not comfortable.
Silence teaches us what haunts our hearts.
I wait and listen.
The word I receive is rest.
When the new year started the blog world was naming
their word for the year. I couldn’t think of a word.
Last year’s word was grief for we had many levels of that going on.
I prayed and the word came to me…
Rest… to rest and restore my soul.
Did you know that every night when one goes to sleep
they restore themselves at the cellular level.
Rest: the refreshing quiet or repose of sleep:
a good nights sleep ~ mental or spiritual calm; tranquility ~
relief or freedom, especially from anything that wearies, troubles, or disturbs.
to be quiet or still. to bring to rest; halt; stop.
Rest is refreshing.
Rest is healing.
Do you need to slow down and rest today ~ 
is your body and mind telling you that refreshment is needed?

For a season or a life time

by Sharon O | Sep 30, 2011 | Uncategorized

Friendships.
The blog world is writing about friendships this week.
It has made me step back and think of all the wonderful friends who have been in my life.
Some were for a season.
Like those who I see in my high school year book.
Don’t even remember half of them. They wrote wonderful things but my memory is dim and I cannot remember how they fit into my ‘life as a teen.’
Some were for a special event. My daughter does relay for life and through that she has made friends.
Some friendships are in your work place so long as you work there and then when you leave they leave too.
Some friendships are long term and like as in a marriage vow the unspoken words till death parts us is a way of saying,
“we will be friends always.”
One friend of mine I have known since junior high school.
I was in her wedding and she helped in mine.
Our children are grown with children of their own. At one point in time we even drove to Colorado from Oregon with a little baby in our car just so we could see them again.
It was a ‘real’ friendship from our heart to theirs. No distance could keep us apart.

A day at the fair. New hair cut and glasses don’t make the best picture of me but she is always beautiful.

My best friend is someone who lives down the street from me.
We see each other about once every few months now.
But it wasn’t always that way. About 9 years ago her husband died and being a widow and alone she missed having someone to talk to.
I cannot count how many Friday nights I spent at her house talking and sharing and eating a meal together. My husband knew if I was with her it might be a long night. I tried to go anytime she called me for I knew her heart was hurting and she needed a friend to listen.
Her story has a wonderful ending. She met an awesome man on a dating site and I even helped.
I am rightfully called ‘the matchmaker.’
They have been married for about two years and I am so happy that she found a new love and new family although it isn’t as easy to see her now. Sharing my time with him is the right thing to do as they need to build their love and life together. God blessed her for waiting and waiting for the right man to come into her life.
Sometimes good friends can even be family although that can have some challenging moments.
Husbands can be a best friend depending on how strong the marriage is. I still think we should have girlfriends in our lives for it is a different relationship than one with a husband.
Sisters can be wonderful friends depending on the family.
Friendships are gifts we can give ourselves.
In order to have a good friend we have to spend time strengthening that bond.
Just as in a marriage one cannot be strong if they are distant or distracted.
It takes time and effort to create a good friendship.
It takes a commitment and a willingness to give and give even more.
I hope we all can find a good friend in our life.
It is something very good for us.
I believe we were never meant to live this life alone.
To care for someone and think outside of ourselves is the best ‘gift’ we can give.
It is a treasure for a life time.

Reflections

by Sharon O | Sep 28, 2011 | Uncategorized

This last week the blog world lost a good friend.
She was beautiful and kind and even though I never met her
they say she was someone who you would want to spend a long time with sharing and praying
and just enjoying each others company.
She had a rare disease that kept her in her apartment for the last three years of her life.
The way she saw people or stayed in contact with them was through her computer. 
They say she always thought of others and reached out to them
even when her own difficult journey continued to be a burden for her health.
When I heard about her she reminded me of a friend of mine
who I had in high school and throughout our early married years.
Her name was Claudia.
She was a kind sweet spirit and always thought of others before herself.
She had cystic fibrosis a horrible lung disease that did eventually take her life.
Claudia loved people.
When I would call her the conversation left her and moved to how I was doing before I even realized what was going on.
She loved deeply and knew the illness she suffered from was serious.
She was beautiful and radiated the love of God and his faithfulness in everything she did.
When she passed away I was given a Bible with her picture inside
it is something I will always treasure.
When we lose someone
we think of them in a new and different way.
We remember conversations.
We remember moments shared.
We remember what they looked like and how much we cared about them.
But I often wonder
does it also make us think of what others would say about us
should it be our time to leave?
Would would they be able to share about us?
What would our epitaph say or describe?
Epitaph means: a commemorative inscription on a tomb
or mortuary monument about the person buried at the site.
A brief poem or other writing in praise of a deceased person.
I often have told my husband if I leave before he does I want my stone to say:
“I told you I was sick.”
But really a stone does not represent me or who I was as a person.
It would be nicer to have a small maple tree planted.
Where one could observe the changing of seasons as the leaf colors reflect the passing of time.

Our lives do have seasons.
We have good ones and some that are not so good.
Colors are vibrant when we are younger and then as we age and enter into the autumn season of our lives the colors deepen and grow darker as we reflect the beauty of growing old. 
When it is my time to leave my hope is to leave such a ‘meaningful’ reflection that others will say,
“She loved the Lord and she cared for others too.”
When the end is near I pray our lives will have meaning and purpose
so that others will know
who we were and who we loved
when it is our time to say our final goodbye.