Betty Whitaker Jackson

I suspect that if we consciously try to find the good in every day, God will reveal it to us. It’s an attitude of gratitude sort of thing. Yesterday our family went to the Wildlife Preserve in Titusville. We try to do this each year while migrating birds visit here for warmth. That, to them, must be a blessing of grace.

Although we didn’t see as many spoonbills and other beautiful birds, we were blessed by a day of totally…..

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Psalm 15 gives us advice as we ‘Just Do It! in Twenty-two.” My goal for the year is to increase grace and peace to a hurting world. Psalm 15 prescribes this: “Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on Your holy hill?”

God’s answer: He whose walk is blameless, and who doe what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts…..

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Susie Larson in “Blessings for Every Day” reminds me today that although things may not be “going my way” and I am facing challenges, putting my trust in God who made me and loves me and redeemed me is a great deterrent to self-pity and depressing. If I choose to dwell on the negatives, I will give in to worry and concern. Those are negatives. She writes: “May you make up your mind to persevere and not quit. May you…..

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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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