at the end of this life...we take our last breath...

"...blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted..." (mt. 5:4)

...when we are born into this life; we come to realize that we are only blessed with so many moments...moments that define us, moments that take our breath away...moments that are indescribable...

...we also realize that there is no guarantee to how much actual time we get to spend with one person...that even if we look at the very moment we are in, right now, it just doesn't seem like enough time...

so as humans we look to make the most if it..try to live as if this was our last...take all that is and all who are around us and just hold on, take it all in so that those around us realize how important, how awesome they made our lives, how special we felt because they were in our life...how the simplest things from a smile to a conversation or the very fact; that their presence touched our hearts makes us a better version of us...

...so when we come to that point where we must say good-bye for a little while, where are heart feels as  if it will never be whole again, where life feels as if it may never return to our 'normal'...

...where that person, our heart, takes their last breath, we stop, life takes a moment, & we look to the sky & say thank you...thank you for being a blessing in our life & for the gift of God that is you...

...uncle dave -- you are one in a million...may your memory be eternal...

one drink for you & one for us, cheers to the sky!

...the shop local initiative...we should at least try...

don't you think??

...i sometimes get an itch or rather a thought or belief that becomes part of a passion for me...some say i become too passionate about certain things; often to the point of me being stubborn & not wanting to listen to the other side of the argument (what can i say, i'm a leo or something like that)...i digress...

...this however is becoming more the forefront of my new passion...local, small business whatever that encompasses for you or how you define it...i have tried to support the small guy, my brothers are the little guy, not corporate owned & i want people to support them; so in turn i like to support others in the same boat...

...recently i have felt a bigger push to buy more local, more small business...why?  why do this, well to be perfectly honest i feel as if small business is a major backbone to society...they create & provide jobs, they support our local economies, & they put money back where it needs to be...there is also something about buying/supporting your own backyard...am i on my soap box, am i putting too much into it??

...maybe, or just maybe i challenge myself to buy more local, to shop where i live, when it comes to the buying produce i go to the farmer's market, or when i want a cup of coffee i try the local shop around the corner & the list goes on...& this goes for not just shopping & buying in only my city, my state, but to support all the local efforts out there...i can do this & there will be times i step into the big corporate store but if i just try to be a little more proactive, then maybe i can change the way i think or the way the big guy does business...here goes nothin, here goes to buying & going local!!!

one day at a time...

"...for I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future...." (jer. 29:11)

...as we journey through life we discover how often are minds want to jump ahead to the next week, the next 5 months and even the next several years...we want to figure out how the decision we decide today will determine what tomorrow will look like...how if we choose one path instead of another what hand life will deal us next...

instead (& I'm a serious offender) of living for the future...take a deep breath & live for this day...live for this moment & just hope for the next...realize that if this all you got than you can't worry about what will come next...take life as you should one day at a time, one moment that is created just for you...to live, to love, to smile, to breathe, to work, to play, to pray, to learn, to listen, to forgive, to just be...

cause if this is it, that one day might as well be the best f*&^#* day of your life...


"therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself...each day has enough trouble of its own..." Mt. 6:34)

at certain points in life, we search...

“I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there.” 
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie


we grow up, attend school & then we make a decision about what we want to be when we grow up...back & forth, what is the right path for us; what is our purpose among all the masses??...now most of us think we nailed it, we want to be a CEO, a lawyer, a teacher, a politician, a actor, a designer, the list goes on...we land our job & off we go; then all of sudden we wake up & we are scared to death that what we envisioned is not what we want but rather what we thought we wanted, & then we spiral down into questioning every decision we have ever made...we no longer think or trust what we have thought for so long...& we are stuck with the next question, what next??...for fear of making the same mistake or never finding what we will becomes daunting...& all of sudden we feel lost...

...& then we feel as if nothing else can become more unreliable, a moment of peace sets in...a moment of trust; almost as if God says do not worry, trust in me i will make your path straight...& for that moment no matter how long it may last we know that we will figure it out & that is long as put faith in that trust, we might find our purpose, or we might figure out just what we want to be when we grow up...that moment may not happen within the next minute, hour days, or months...but if we stop long enough it is there...

...so as you, as we are all trying to figure this thing called life out, & we are hurrying along in it; remember to stop...b/c you never know when your moment might fall in your lap...

"Accumulation of wealth is a popular defense against fear. Since we fear losing our jobs, health care, or retirement benefits, we amass possessions, thinking the more we have, the safer we are…

We engineer stock and investment levies, take cover behind the hedge of hedge funds. We trust annuities and pensions to the point that balance statements determine our mood levels. But then come the Katrina-level recessions and downturns, and the confusion begins all over again…

If there were no God, stuff-trusting would be the only appropriate response to an uncertain future. But there is a God. And this God does not want his children to trust money…

Scrooge didn’t create the world; God did.

Psalm 104 celebrates this lavish creation with twenty-three verses of itemized blessings: the heavens and the earth, the waters and streams and trees and birds and goats and wine and oil and bread and people and lions. God is the source of “innumerable teeming things, living things both small and great… These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season” (vv. 25, 27).

—Fearless

And he does. God is the great giver. The great provider. The fount of every blessing. Absolutely generous and utterly dependable. The resounding and recurring message of Scripture is clear: God owns it all. God shares it all. Trust him, not stuff!"

*a little something extra that may explain what my meaning*

*& for all of you that have missed me, hopefully this is my strong return*

gray skies are going to clear up...

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, 
Whispering 'it will be happier'...” 
― Alfred Tennyson

...you know those days where it is dark and gloomy and it feels like the sun is never going to shine (if you live in Michigan you know what I'm talking about, especially this winter ;)...every time you wake up the sun is not there to greet you but rather a gray sky...

...& many times in our life it feels as if the sun might never shine...that each day we will be greeted by another dark sky...& I don't know about you, but it feels like life is sticking it to you, all you want is for a moment for the sun to hit you in the face and give you light...to lift the load a little...& most days the gray skies linger or life keeps kicking you in the face but there are those days when God opens up the gray sky & lets the sun shine down...& says I have not forgotten about you and the gray skies are going to clear up...

...so the next time you are wondering when you will get a moment of reprieve, a moment of peace, a moment of happiness, a moment of sun...look up God just might be smiling down on you in the midst of all of it...

to be a part of the big picture & make a difference...

“the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” 
(Mark Twain)

...last year i wrote about something that was seriously funny a.k.a. laughfest which gilda's club hosts to allow us to be reminded that those that are suffering from cancer need to not only treat the physical being but also the mental/emotional being...so as this event kicks off they come up with a record to try & break, rubber chicken throwing, most people doing the chicken dance & this year, the most people gathered together wearing a fake mustache...

...so am i writing to tell you that they broke this record & it was the most amazing thing ever??...nah, but they did break the record by quite a few hundred...but as i stood in the crowd watching all these people of all ages come together for this purpose of breaking a world record, i thought why show up, why come out in the cold & stand in line to put on a fake mustache...i know people stand behind the cause but it is also a feeling inside (most humans) where we want to be a part of the bigger picture...we want to leave our mark; so that we can say i was a part of that movement, that cause, that record...no matter how big or small, we all want to be remembered in some way shape or form...

...and for many that means helping the unfortunate, savings lives and becoming a doctor, entertaining people either through the stage, the big screen or a novel...& for some it is raising kids to make society a better place; or maybe you write a blog in hopes that someone will read it and for that moment you make your mark...however what we all must remember that no matter the record, the event, the movement, or the path our mark is left it is just left in way we sometimes don't see but it's there...

...so be a part of the record, be a part of the event, save a life, write a book, raise some kids...pick your path & make your mark...


as ghandi once put it, "be the change you wish to see in the world..." or rather leave the mark you want to leave...

your heart...

“There's nothing more inspiring than the complexity and beauty of the human heart.”  
(Cynthia Hand, Hallowed)

...according to webMD & sciencekids...your heart beats about 100,000 times everyday; that laughter is the best medicine for your heart because it causes it to pump more blood throughout your body...it is one of the most important organs in your body & it has  4 parts to it...and when you place your hand over your heart or your fingers to your neck or wrist you hear a beat...that is your heart letting you know you are alive but more importantly that...

...your heart is so much more it is the way we see things & hold on to what is important & just when we think our hearts cannot hold any more love; someone new comes into our life and our heart grows...it is the place where we hold memories...it is the being that writhes in pain when we or the ones we love hurt...it is forever a reminder of how amazing life is...it allows us to believe in the miracles, & know that by this organ, this thing in our body, our life would not exist; nor those that  surround us...our heart holds so much that once you open it up it can tell its own story...it bleeds with joy, with happiness, with sadness, with pain, with life, with sorrow, with any & all emotions...it is us...& to know our heart is to know us...

...so be thankful, feel blessed that you have a heart...be glad that when you feel it beat; you know its beating for a reason...