Betty Whitaker Jackson

When you’re as old as I am, you put things into some sort of perspective. I was born in 1940. I walked to school, there was no such thing as cafeterias or school lunch programs. Thankfully I learned to read before I went to school, played piano at age 3 to strengthen my eyesight, and was bored to tears with Dick and Jane books’ repetitious nonsense. They advanced me out of kindergarten to first grade, but then reversed the decision…..

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Here’s a place to find poems for the new year. https://www.poetseers.org/poem-of-the-day-archive/poems-new-year/

I was reminded of the first one yesterday in a post. I remember singing it as a hauntingly beautiful anthem at Hope College while I was in the Chapel Choir.

Poets have always been seers, looking at life from unique perspectives. Their purpose is to encapsulate feelings and images into words, usually as few as possible.

My goal for 2022 is to spread peace. “Let’s Do It in Twenty-Twenty-Two……

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We embark on a new year, a new adventure. Let’s put 2021 behind us, shall we? Although COVID variety XYZ is spreading under the guise of Omicron, this time, and the federal government promised to conquer it, now shows its inability to plan and produce and guide and acknowledge its ineptitude, we won’t be able to bury this part of the overhang into 2022. But we can, if we try, set some goals, personal ones, and try to adapt to…..

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Yes, it’s almost upon us–a new year to try again, to start over, to redeem the past and to challenge the future.

I love the piece Susie Larson wrote for today’s date in her  Blessings for Every Day” in her Dayspring desk calendar. Get one for yourself and those you love.  “May you have the hold inspiration to live up to what you already know! As you wait on God for your marching orders, may you fully believe that He’ll…..

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I love Susie Larson’s daytime desk calendar called “Blessings for Every Day.” It is a flip page booklet published by Dayspring. Here is today’s message. May it encourage you to buy a calendar for yourself. Her advice based on scripture is right on, and it’s amazing how it suits just what I need on a given morning.

“May you have time today to pause, be still, and to dream with God. What does He have for you in the days…..

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Every Christmas Eve brings me new reasons to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. Last night was no exception. Allie and Brian Lum Shue Chan’s story from the perspective of Hark, the angel, was a new iteration of the old story. I wrote a similar one several years ago called “And God Chose Joseph.” Then, this Grandma’s heart was overwhelmed by the beautiful voice of my granddaughter, Emily and her Covenant Church friends in their beautiful song to Jesus. It…..

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Note: Because I cannot obtain copyright permission to use these lyrics, I could not publish this, I think my best short story. It is a tribute to Steven Sondheim and Paul Simon.

MIND MISCHIEF

Lifeless life at Ringling Bros Rest Home.

Too little mayonnaise, never a lick of Sriracha. Boring as lumpy, gooey oatmeal.

Beige walls. Beige blanket, Beige life. Even the bed curtains, one around me and one circling Henry—mind-numbing beige.

I whisper. There ought to be clowns. (Steven…..

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Day 8

I confess I am closer to God’s guidance sometimes rather than others. One of my sinful nature traits is to try to handle things on my own. I tell myself, mistakenly, that I can face life’s challenges on my own. After all, I learned it early. Isn’t every parent’s task to raise independent, self-sufficient children, capable and equipped to accomplish great things? From applause for first steps to brag centers at graduation parties, we rightly or wrongly preach…..

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As you prepare to worship this weekend, either livestream or in person, approach God with an air of expectancy.

Whatever the D’s today: despair, detachment, death, disappointment, dread, depression, or dependency, God can break through those barriers to bring joy, peace, freedom, excitement, and expectancy that He can handle any problem, correct any wrong, deliver us from grudges and self-centered hurts, and provide hope.

Psalm 84: 10-12 says: “A single day in Your courts i better than a thousand anywhere…..

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Sorry I haven’t posted lately. Too much going on right now, but I must comment on yesterday’s election. While we don’t know New Jersey’s final outcome, Virginia’s is clearly a win for common sense and a rejection of WOKE and CRT and hopefully the huge inflationary expense of Biden’s social infrastructuing of our country. Yes, we’ll build roads, but we will NOT allow cradle to grave federal government takeover of everyone’s lives. At least, that’s what I think these elections…..

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