Saturday August 15 2015  “DO IT! LET’S GET OFF OUR BUTS”

 

And no!  I did not misspell BUTS!  My above heading is the actual title of a book by John-Roger and Peter McWilliams.  The rest of the cover reads: “IMPORTANT MESSAGE—A Guide to Living Your Dreams”,  Published in 1991 with a no threat copyright.  The text of the book is amazing on its own and is peppered with quotes on all the pages between chapters, most from famous people which you have probably read many times throughout your life time.  The topics covered are simple, basic, life enhancing topics which challenge you to be the best you can be by asking many thought provoking questions.  It is a book of wisdom presented in a way to be easy reading, easy to understand, and which instigates end results of great value.

One of my favorite things to do is learn.  I learn by reading.  It seems when I am browsing for books in my favorite stores, (you know, like St. Vincent’s and Goodwill) that God just places the very best books on the shelves for me to buy.  They are always just what I need at the time.  I picked this book up at St. Vincent’s for $1.99 a couple of years ago.  I read part of it before my trip in March.  It was one of the books that inspired me to actually take my trip instead of just dreaming about it.  Sometimes we all need a kick in the pants to see what we really need to see.  I have a stack of books I am reading and read bits and pieces of some each day.  Well when I came back across this one I decided to start from the beginning again because I wanted to refresh myself of the wisdom filling the pages.  Something I read today that I don’t remember seeing before was a footnote on one of the pages of text.  This was what the footnote read:  “Those who study the Bible and would like to know the Scriptural reference for much of this book, please read Matthew, chapter 7.”  The book itself is not presented as a “religious” or spiritual book.  I think it is written more for the secular world with the undercurrent of Biblical values.

So I go to Matthew Chapter 7 and read it through.  I wonder if any who have never had a relationship with God have looked up chapter 7.  If so, they have all they need in that one chapter to be introduced to the most spectacular person who ever walked this earth and to see the benefits of walking in the way of the Lord.  If you have never read that chapter you might want to do so now.  It is an awesome chapter.  The last couple of days I have been refreshing myself with I John.  That too is an awesome book!

My dream Saturday.  It didn’t happen today.  But I enjoyed it immensely. Worked most of the day on working up the photo work for the last baby I photographed at the hospital this week.  It is satisfying to finish a job knowing that it will be ready in time for the baby’s funeral.  Other than that I went to the library to pick out some DVD’s for my two grandsons who will be deposited here tomorrow evening for two full days.  And the rest of the time was just taken up in life.  Life takes a lot of time to live if you make your own food.

We had some much needed rain today.  We had a torrential downpour for about 20 to 25 minutes.  We desperately needed rain to keep the farmer’s crops healthy in the fields.  These last few weeks are crucial to the harvest.  I wish you could see Wisconsin now.  It is so beautiful.  Fields and fields of tall corn, tasseled, just waiting for time to pass to be harvested.  I’ve never seen soy beans as tall as they are this year.  It is amazing.  Dave said there was a lot of rain in the spring and early summer before I arrived home and everything grew speedily.  Fields of hay have been harvested several times already and will probably grow for another harvest later this fall.  It is all just so beautiful.  This is what I drive through each day when I go exercise or go into town.  Very little traffic on the country roads.  It makes living here worth the winters.  My soul feeds on the beauty of what my eyes see.

I think that last sentence was the beginning of a poem.  Let me see if I can write one on that premise.

 

MY SOUL FEEDS

By Kathleen Martens

August 15 2015

 

My soul feeds on the beauty

Of what my eyes see.

Nature is gracious

To serve what I need.

 

Fields of flowers

Bowing to the wind,

Their wafting fragrance

To me they lend.

 

The corn so regal

Straight and tall,

Makes each road

Have its own wall.

 

Tossing their heads

As if in dance

The grains bow low

At their chance.

 

And the soy beans whisper

Their secrets soft

Like the sound of rustling

In a hay loft.

 

And the trees are laden

In red and green

As the apples grow

Easier they are seen.

 

Melons and cucumbers

In abundant supply,

Offer bounty of nourishment

On which we rely.

 

And the gardens grow

As with their last breath

Producing so freely

Before winter’s death.

 

And my soul keeps feeding

On the beauty that surrounds

For wherever I go,

It seems to abound.

 

But one must pause

To see all that graces

That which is around us,

Right in our faces.

 

Stop and look,

Take time to live.

And remember, be thankful

For what the creator gives.

 

The wisdom for today is from the book, “DO IT!  Let’s get off our Buts” page 2:

A quote from EZRA POUND:  “Properly, we should read for power.  Man reading should be man intensely alive.  The book should be a ball of light in one’s hand.”

 

I just love and agree with Ezra Pound’s quote.  That is how books are to me.  I can never get enough reading in.

Good night.  Enjoy your Sunday Sabbath.  Remember, I have my 3 & 7 year old boys with me tomorrow night.  Let’s see if I get a blog written too.