by Sharon O | Jan 27, 2016 | Uncategorized
It’s hard to imagine us being retired. Soon my husband will be home, every day.
What will be our new normal? I don’t think too much will change for us. He will still get up early and I will sleep in.
He will still find time for some yard work till we find a home with no yard in a few years.
Our hope is to move to a new ‘place’ with less grass and maintenance.
We haven’t found that place yet but we are actively looking and being very selective where and when.
We want to find a ‘motor home’ for traveling in, so we can ‘decide in the morning’…let’s go to the beach.
It will be a new direction and freedom for us.
It will be good after all these years of working and getting mentally tired of the demands placed on him.
I have been home ‘retired’ for over six years and it has been a good place to be.
No the chore list has not been finished, yes it is easy to get distracted, no I have not gotten my purging and cleaning done.
In time it will be finished and then the new freedom of less will be our ‘breathing room’.
I am by nature a keeper and saver, he is a thrower so we will see what takes place in the months to come for us.
It will be a good nice challenge, I think.
I am sure there will be moments when we will be frustrated with each other.
Retirement will be a new direction for us and it will be good and positive.
It is time. We both feel it is very important to spend time together and enjoying the life we have while we have it.
There have been friends who worked long many years, then retire and in six months they pass away.
What a sad thing to experience. We are hoping that this ‘new’ era of our life will be rich and rewarding for us.
Many changes will take place, and many details must be taken care of and once that is all done.
We can relax as we explore new beaches and new scenes all around the area where we live, it will be good.
by Sharon O | Jan 22, 2016 | Uncategorized
Today is my husbands birthday. He is 62 and ready to retire.
The word prompt today was for: Present
Isn’t that fitting since it is his birthday and usually you get a present for that special day?
Now that we are at a point of getting what we want anytime we need something, we stopped buying presents for each other years ago.
Everyone likes to get presents, but to think of it differently, I think this word could also mean, ‘be present’ right where you are.
Be alert and be fully alive. Breathe in and enjoy the air in your lungs and the life that God has given to you.
God has given all of us, one life to live and what we do with it is our gift back to him.
A present and a moment of time and for the rest of the days a head of us, as long as HE allows us to live.
I have known my husband close to 45 years. We have grown up together.
I want us to be present with each other, to be fully in the relationship and fully knowing we are so blessed.
Tomorrow we will go to the beach, which is our favorite thing to do.
We will walk on the oceans edge and listen to the waves roar around us.
Perhaps the haunting call of the seagull will be over us as we walk and talk.
Life is a gift, a present to unwrap and enjoy. Each day is a new day and each experience a new one.
“Life is a great and wondrous mystery, and the only thing we know that we have for sure is what is right here right now. Don’t miss it.”
— Leo Buscaglia —
Today is a new day. Breathe, be thankful, be aware, be present and enjoy another day of living.
by Sharon O | Jan 17, 2016 | Uncategorized
The word prompt for the day is TIME.
As I have gotten older it is becoming more clear that time is flashing before my eyes.
The grand children are getting older, friends are aging, even I am aging.
Turning sixty was not a ‘hard’ moment for me, but I feel like I am rounding out the ‘last part’ of life in much different way, I wish to be more intentional.
A year or so ago we were sitting in a room with a dying man. It was quiet. We were all in our thoughts.
It is a sacred kind of place to be in when life is leaving just as it is when life ‘comes’ when we are anticipating and waiting for a new birth.
The moment a baby is born and it takes it’s first breath, the doctor or nurse looks at the clock and it is recorded when time of life began.
Now we all know life begins way before birth, but the moment that baby breathes air, opens the lungs and cries. It is birth.
The same way as the ending of life, and the passing away.
He was in his chair, wrapped in a blanket, and breathing shallow, as we kept each other company with small talk and nervous reactions.
It is a very strange and surreal kind of time to reflect and remember and understand, life will end soon.
The tv was on in a muted quiet tone as the screen flashed a basketball game, and we were in a waiting room.
Just as in an anticipated birth, it happens in death too.
At one point in time I remember one of the ladies in the room suggested we turn the tv off and remain very quiet.
The stimulation of noise interferes with the passing where the spirit struggles to leave the body.
Noise can be a distraction. Just as in a birth, the process of dying takes much concentration and effort.
We were all in the room focusing on one goal, being with him as he passed away.
About an hour after the quiet began we noticed how his breathing changed, life was leaving him and we were there to witness it.
He exhaled and silence came and it was over. His life was ended.
In the moment of time, the paramedics looked at the clock and recorded his time of death.
Just as they do in the moment of birth.
In life and in death we look at the time.
Time… Every hour has the same amount of minutes, every day has the same amount of hours.
What we do with it becomes our legacy, our story and our life message.
At the end of our life, it matters MOST about what we did with those moments and who we cared for.
I will end with a quote from Maya Angelou:
[I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.]
In the end, when the moment in time comes, when they record our time of death.
What others remember about us will be more important than what job we had, what house we lived in or what car we drove.
Time is a gift for us, what we choose to do with that is a choice. I hope we all make a good one.
by Sharon O | Jan 14, 2016 | Uncategorized
I think it is good for us to look back sometimes and see how far we have come.
Sometimes we feel we are getting no where, heading in the same place for a long time almost as if we are stagnant and without a goal.
After I wrote the last ‘writing’, I realized how much God is with us always, and even though we sometimes are discouraged or tired or can’t seem to feel Him near us.
He is our HOPE and He is our Healer. Without that knowing we can just float in life and not seem to hang onto anything.
I know for a fact that God was with us through our journey as a couple.
When we held that first baby in our arms and couldn’t believe the miracle of life and love.
When we held the second baby in our arms and our love doubled and multiplied.
When we bought our first house and realized we were no longer renters, but home owners it was a good feeling for us and also scary to be the adult who is responsible.
We have had definite times of intense healing as we journeyed through our ‘better and worse’, we have also had times of blessing when we wondered, what we would have in our bank account or on the table for our children.
God has been with us just as he has been with you, those who choose to walk along with us in our journey called living together.
We have to look back and see and remember, what God has done.
Deuteronomy 4:29-31
[But even there, if you seek God, your God, you’ll be able to find him if you’re serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul.
When troubles come and all these awful things happen to you, in future days you will come back to God, your God, and listen obediently to what he says. God, your God, is above all a compassionate God.
In the end he will not abandon you, he won’t bring you to ruin, he won’t forget…]
Job 11:13-20
[“Still, if you set your heart on God and reach out to him, If you scrub your hands of sin and refuse to entertain evil in your home, You’ll be able to face the world unashamed and keep a firm grip on life, guiltless and fearless. You’ll forget your troubles; they’ll be like old, faded photographs. Your world will be washed in sunshine, every shadow dispersed by dayspring. Full of hope, you’ll relax, confident again; you’ll look around, sit back, and take it easy.]
Psalm 139:1-6
[God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful— I can’t take it all in!]
It is wonderful to know, we are not alone and we have someone who listens and guides us.
I don’t know about you but I find that both refreshing and encouraging to know, that we do not have to do this journey or walk alone.
by Sharon O | Jan 11, 2016 | Uncategorized
The other day we were talking and sharing about our ‘beginning’ years as a young married couple and I remain amazed that we made it.
Coming from two different backgrounds where my husbands parents were like the Walton’s with Ma and Pa and six kids and a dog and family laughter and fun.
They had a small home and it wasn’t fancy but it was home, and ma baked and cooked and cleaned and stitched, and it was home for the eight of them and anyone else who wanted to visit.
My home was different, having a single mom raise myself and my sister’s.
We had grandma’s who loved us but we were not cozy in a home like his, there was a lot more turmoil and chaos where we lived and we moved many times.
When we started to date I struggled with some of it, as I had pain in my background and a wounded heart, and he didn’t fully understand where I was coming from.
It was hard, really hard, but we made it through the dating years, even when I hurt my knee on a motor cycle accident, we could have gone over a mountain side, but I believe angels protected us and God was with us.
Our wedding was nice and we had family and friends, and it was like a dream and a surreal moment and God was with us when we said our vows.
Life began as husband and wife and we played house and made plans that two teens could never fully understand, and God was with us.
We were expecting our first baby and I was very sick, and we struggled with changes and moves and settling into a tiny house while waiting for the baby to join us, and God was with us.
I remained very sick but so enjoyed the expectancy of life within, and we would be mom and dad, and we hoped for many things, and God was with us.
After four hours of labor our son was born and life as we knew it as ‘husband and wife’ changed us, from two to three and God was with us.
The adjustment of new parent days, was a learning process for both of us, it was not easy as we moved through our new and different life but we knew God was with us.
Then a few years later, we learned of baby two with great excitement and that pregnancy made me even more tired, and as we changed from three to four God was with us.
Our babies grew and I was more sick, meningitis came and you stayed with our children, while I was in the hospital and God was with us.
Years of health struggles, years of counseling, and we learned to manage and grow as our children did, and God was with us.
Marriage is for better and worse and sometimes our worst was pretty hard, but God was with us.
We moved from rentals to owned homes, had a few dogs and cats and a fish or two and even a rabbit, and God was with us.
Your brother passed away and it was so hard and so painful to say good bye and we knew, God was with us in our sadness.
The children grew from grade school, to middle, then high school and college and in each season of time, God was with us.
Marriage came for them and our family grew, our son had a wife, and they were now ‘the young married couple’ and God was with us
The first grand baby came and it was scary and she was early, and it was critical for both mom and baby, yet at two pounds she was healthy and God was with us.
Years went on and another marriage came and also other babies, and each time we knew we did not stand alone as God was with us.
When my sister was on hospice and our house became a ‘care home’, and we didn’t know what we were doing, God was with us.
When we both had surgeries and ailments, and struggles and hard times, even during a scare of my mumps, we knew that God was with us.
Other years moved on and our parents passed away and we felt stretched and broken as we moved through our grief and yet God was with us.
Hard times have carved their way through the passing of time, as our history has been molded by how God was with us, during each and every moment.
We remained strong as I retired and then you had more surgeries and it was not easy, but we always knew God was with us.
We have six miracles who we call grand children now. We are the older ones as we watch another generation grow and mature.
We have made it forty one years, together, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer and through good and hard times. God has been with us.
As we hold coffee mugs and smell the freshly made brew we realize with a deep richness, that God was with us all the time.
by Sharon O | Jan 7, 2016 | Uncategorized
So far the year has been interesting and quiet.
I love quiet and have learned to love my alone times as well as times with others.
My natural preference is to have down time by myself to think, or ponder.
(Our Pastor told us that to ponder is to have conversations with yourself like Mary did in the Christmas story when she pondered all that was said about her baby.)
This is not the same as ‘talking to yourself’ as in a psycho state of mind, it is just conversations to sort things out.
As a writer I think it makes perfect sense to write, read aloud what was written, ask questions of ‘what’ is the main point, then finish it.
My husband was off the two weeks around Christmas. It was very nice to have him home but in saying all that it also ‘changes’ my days.
When I am home alone I am in quiet. There is most of the time no noise other than my cats meowing at the den door because it is shut.
When he is home he enjoys football or old ‘John Wayne movies. He will also watch a NCIS marathon.
I can watch that a little because who doesn’t like to look at Mark Harmon? but the violence gets tiring.
Soon we will be together all the time. It will be good and also a bit challenging. I like to set aside Tuesday and Thursday for writing.
If we are retired together that might not happen as often as I would like.
I must learn to be flexible. I must also be able to say, today I need to write.
But also I must learn to do what he enjoys and wants to do. (except camping in a tent)
My word of the year is reveal. What a fitting word to show us and reveal to us, our new way of living.
Looking forward to the lessons to be learned and the time spent together as we explore our new life of retirement.
by Sharon O | Jan 2, 2016 | Uncategorized
Every year I try to choose a new word of the year.
It must have purpose and meaning and it is often God given or inspired.
A week or so ago as I laid in bed sleeping in the quiet of the night, I woke up to hear the word.
It felt like it was from God as I was in a deep sleep then I woke up.
After listening and studying it I am realizing so much how it will fit into this ‘new’ years plans.
In Deuteronomy a book of the Old Testament, there is a verse in chapter five, number twenty four.
[Our God has revealed to us his glory and greatness.]
In the entire bible the word is used sixty times.
In the book of Psalms one nineteen between verses forty one and forty eight we find this.
[Oh I’ll guard with my life what you have revealed to me.]
I woke up out of a deep sleep with the word reveal in my mind. It was very clear and it was very firm.
Reveal means: to make known, disclose, divulge, (as in reveal a secret), to lay open to view as in display or exhibit.
It also means to uncover as in (the fog lifted and revealed the harbor or beauty). To disclose the plans.
After thinking about this word and wondering what significance it would have for the year it made complete sense. We are planning our ‘retirement’.
My husband is ending his job and retiring. It is a mystery to us how this is all going to work.
We are trusting in the process and those who know how to handle our funds and insurances and bills.
I clearly heard, if we can say we hear from God. “I will reveal to you what you do not yet know.”
“I will make your path clear and I will help you see, that your fears and concerns are not reasonable.”
There are many things we do not know about retirement and there are many things about it that is scary.
It is also very exciting but to know how it is all going to play out and become real is a mystery.
But I believe with all my heart that when we look back at the year we will be sure in our hearts, He did reveal to us the plans.
It is a strong word full of mystery and anticipation.
Just as the fog covers the scene so one cannot see the whole picture.
God has said ‘He will reveal to us’ what we will need for this next phase of life.
The word for 2016 is Reveal .
As we go into the path that is unknown HE will make known to us what lies ahead. We will trust and we wait.
by Sharon O | Dec 31, 2015 | Uncategorized
I have been waiting and praying for a new ‘word of the year’.
Each year words have been given to me, and each year I have waited with anticipation, of how they will play out in the days and months ahead.
It feels like the new word for this year has come to me.
I am not yet ready to share it, but soon I will share the ‘meaning and the story’.
For now I wait and listen and wonder and pray.
This last year my word was Hope.
I needed that word for many reasons and I do believe it was the right one given to me.
Within the year we saw my husband have and recover from a full knee replacement.
That was very major and hard for both of us.
Within the year my best friend moved hours away from me, but she is happy and healing in a beautiful marriage designed by God.
Within the year I was able to rekindle a relationship that was broken and needed healing.
Within the year I was able to find out some health issues that have bothered me and how to deal with them.
Within the year I was able to heal another relationship that had been hurtful and we are now talking again.
Within the year I was able to restore my thoughts about childhood hurts and wounds that had ‘molded’ who I was as an adult.
Within the year we had to say good bye to my husband’s good friend’s as they were killed in an accident together.
Because we have always known but feel deeply, that life is short and anything can change in a day we made another decision.
That my husband is going to retire and end his life long career as a design engineer so we can travel and have time together.
Each of these circumstances and issues needed hope to restore and replace the hurt or the misunderstanding.
Each of these decisions needed hope to rekindle a new awareness of life and living each day to the fullest.
Each of these choices we have learned to make or not make, have been for our good and the good of others.
Our God said, “Hope deferred, makes a heart faint.” I say, “Hope given, makes a heart healed.”
Soon I will share how my new word came to me.
It is a good word full of anticipation and shall I say, Hope?
by Sharon O | Dec 27, 2015 | Uncategorized
I have taken a few days to think about and enjoy the Christmas season.
Christmas Eve was spent at church for a service and it was wonderful to sing and rest in the words of our Pastor.
Christmas day we had family over and of course the children enjoyed their gifts and brunch was good.
Clean up is always not too fun as it requires hand washing of china and special glasses.
But I did it and it was all not too bad.
The few days between Christmas and New Years is always a quiet time, taking decorations down and putting them away.
Getting the house back in order. I am praying about my new ‘word for the year’ and many other things.
The story of Christmas is not quite done as our Pastor said today, the story continues.
He shared today on Anna and Simeon. Can you imagine just living in the ‘temple’ day in and day out?
They waited with expectancy for the Messiah.
THE Messiah, the one who, they would understand and know without any question, that this is the one.
Some thought the Messiah would save them from the rulers of the land and set up a new kingdom.
God had other things in mind.
He not only wanted His Son to come down to save us, he also wanted His character and the kingdom to pursue us in a deep and abiding love.
He wanted to love us so deeply and to give us a way of ‘redemption’ through the Story of Christmas.
Everyone loves a story. Everyone loves a ‘beautiful story.’
The Story of Jesus, the Spirit of Christmas is all about the story of God’s perfect plan.
A foretelling of His desire to come alongside us and not leave us alone without Hope.
God waited for the right time. The right place in time for Jesus to come to us.
There was an expectant HUSH throughout the galaxies. A baby was born.
I read a note on face book that spoke of the expectant hush, when all of creation stopped, for an instant.
And it said the stars, and the angels and everyone held their breath and beauty.
Till the baby was born. Waiting for the expectancy of a Savior. The fulfillment of a promise.
Who would save us from not only ourselves, but from times of being alone for eternity.
God loved us SO much, that He gave, His only son so that we could believe in him and find hope.
God had other things in mind. He had love from the depth his heart to us.
by Sharon O | Dec 19, 2015 | Uncategorized
There is so much to share and study about the Christmas story.
I pray that as you have read these little devotionals, you have been challenged to think of the Season in a much different way.
The Spirit of Christmas was everywhere. Holy Spirit orchestrated in each and every person and activity.
The players all played an important part in telling the story. It was simple yet very profound.
It had to be that way, the miracle of a baby.
The miracles taking place over and over meeting each one on a very personal level.
How did God plan this very perfect birth? We will never know fully.
We just know it was Holy, it was ordained and a son was born.
We often sing songs like “Oh little town of Bethlehem, or “away in a manger,” Or even the more meaningful ones like “Oh Holy Night.”
We hold our candles in the Christmas eve services and we know and understand that without a little baby, born in a manger, we would not have salvation and hope.
Hope is so necessary for life to continue for us. It allows us to trust more and love deeper .
The song says, “Fall on your knees” and we breathe deep as we listen to the powerful words of the singers.
When Silent Night comes on we slow down, we listen and we remember.
It is good to remember the reason is not just Santa and Rudolph and candy canes.
It is about a Savior who changed lives. Mary’s and Joseph’s and the Shepherd’s and the wise men.
We cannot forget Zechariah and Elizabeth, or Anna or Simeon.
We cannot forget how the Angel Gabriel shared the good news in a powerful and moving way.
I think he tells us, “do not be afraid” too.
God brought us a redeeming love so we can sing, “Oh Holy Night” and mean it perhaps for the first time.
The Spirit of Christmas is right where we find it…in our hearts if we truly receive.
