Saturday, January 19, 2013

Seeing with His Eyes

Well, good evening my friends. Hope you had a wonderful and restful Shabbat. I had to work at the office this Sabbath, but hope Papa will understand. And I did get to help several folks so that would make it a mitzvot perhaps. So, let's talk about the love letters He sent me this week.
I chose the above picture taken by an awesome person overseas because it is called a snowflake. We call them lily of the valley here, but if you look closely, there's a difference. The Lily of the Valley flower looks just like the one pictured above, but without the little dots on each petal. The ones with the dots, are called Snowflakes. And while I'm fairly certain they're in the same family, there are several less obvious differences. Snowflake flowers are common (bordering on wild) in most of Europe, are one of the first flowers of spring to bloom and will grow even in snow if the temps are above freezing. (They also are in my flower beds! Grin)  These lovely little harbingers of spring look so dainty and delicate, but are tough as nails! The Lily of the Valley that grows here in the south US, are also some of the first flowers to bloom and herald the coming spring. But are not nearly as hardy as their European cousins, although just as lovely.
So, you ask, what were the love letters??? And what does this have to do with flowers. Well, glad you asked. This week was a little difficult in that we had lots of changes in our programming (not all that worked, thank you so much!) several clients (which is when we found out our programming wasn't working right.....ARGGGH!) and an awful lots of interruptions of all kinds. So as I was taking a quick break one day, I walked outside for a few minutes away from phones, people and headaches. There, under the sign for the office, my sweet Little Critter had made a flower bed for me and then we planted some pansies. Those little dears were 'looking'' at me with their little heads raised towards the sun, their leaves spread in praise to Papa and looked incredibly beautiful. I think they may be related to Snowflakes......why, you ask? Well, they've had no real care other than being planted. It was freezing this morning (and the past several mornings!), we've had no rain in several weeks, and little sunshine for them. But there they were looking so incredibly beautiful and joyful! I quickly thanked Papa for the beauty of them and He prompted me to look for the Letter. I actually found two Love Letters when I thought about it. Little Critter had wanted to plant bushes under the sign for the office....but I told him how much I love pansies. So out of love for me, that's what he planted. So there was one Love Letter....my son loves me enough to plant flowers I like, to cheer me during drab, dreary days. The second Love Letter was that it didn't matter how stressful the past few weeks have been on them, they were so grateful to be in a bed, in the sun,protected (by the sign) from the wind blowing things on them and still alive....and here I was stressing about things that really didn't matter. If Papa cares so well for little flowers, won't He do the same and more for me?!?!

Another  Love Letter had to do with the way the Snowflake and Lily of the Valley look so much alike. We have all kinds of clients come in our office. Some are the most awe inspiring folks, and some, well, let's just say they aren't role models I'd want my child to emulate. We have young folks, middle age folks, and old folks, folks with pink hair, some with green hair, some with no hair and some with really long hair. So as we were explaining the new tax laws to folks, I realized that I found myself  using different language for the different ages/educational levels ect. When I asked Papa to help me see our clients with His eyes, I realized they are each like the Snowflake and Lily of the Valley flowers. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, things they understand easily and things they don't. I saw a husband lovingly help his wife with siging the paperwork when she couldn't figure it out even with my finger showing her where to sign. I saw a young single mom accept that the way she'd done things before would need to be changed to help her and her kids. I saw a criminal offender treat me with respect even when Dodi had to leave the office (and I was trembling inside in fear). I saw an unemployed biker/truck driver who's mom has Alzheier's  patiently  re explain to his slightly confused wife what I had just said to her. It was incredible. All these folks with troubles of their own, each thinking of someone else besides themselves, and not whining or complaining about their situations. Awesome! I saw the spark of Papa in each one of them! How cool is that?!?!?!
So as you go thru your week this next week, ask Papa to let you see each person you meet with His eyes. Look for those Love Letters He sends us and let me know what you find. May He bless your week with lots of joy, plenty of health and very few aggravations. Shalom.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Well, we've started a new year in this world....and as a treat to myself, I wanted to post some new thoughts. I don't know if anyone still follows this blog, but that's OK. This is mostly for me. It was a long and difficult year. So this is my treat to myself. Anyone that wants to is more than welcome to read my meanderings and comment if so desired. Just please be gentle with any critisims and feel free to be lavish with praise. Grin. So, let's start.......
Dec 2011, my parents were in a horrible car wreck. Mom, being blind so not seeing what was coming, sustained almost no injuries. But Daddy was rushed to hospital a bloody mess. It was quite scary to view it all. Once in hospital, they glued him back together, took tons of x-rays, CT scans and took even more of his blood for tests. The end result is we found out Daddy has 3 abdominal anyerisms. All are small and I found the love letter from Papa in the whole episode. We had no idea he had this problem! Now we know and he knows that he has to kinda mind his age....giggle. We took him to the doctor every three months for all of 2012 for checkups on the anyerisms and in Dec 2012, the dr said we could go 9 months before our next checkup. Whoo hooo!
Shortly after the accident (about 3 months later) Mom started complaining about one of her feet hurting. It took another 3 weeks for me to get her to let me look at it. And when I did, I almost spit! She had a sore on one toe that was black and I knew it was gangrene. Mom had Forneire's Gangrene about 9 yrs ago....so I recognized that awful smell. She refused to allow me to take her to a doctor, but once tax season was over (about 3 more weeks!) after I'd spent every night going to her house after work and washing her feet in a sonic bath with aloe vera and epson salts. I convinced her we HAD to go to the dr. We spent another month or so working on that foot, and got referred to a specialist when tests showed she had hardening of the arteries. (That kinda explained her contraryness about going to the dr) The specialist informed us she had more calcium in her veins than her bones and was shocked she hadn't had a stroke or heat attack. So after some new meds, and a home health aide to help me out a bit, and 6 months, we got the gangrene cleared up and she didn't loose any toes! (another love letter!)
Then during the summer, the owner of the building our office was in, sold the office and we were told we'd have to move by Feb of this year. This after we'd spent a little over $6000 to renovate the office. ARGGGH!!! By now I was beginning to seriously discuss our situation with Papa! So we started looking for a new office space. There were NONE to be found that we could afford the payments on and I was getting a little stressed. Then in Oct 2012, a storm came thru, tore up the awning in front of the building and the new owner had it taken down. OK. Kinda ugly, but OK. EXCEPT the man taking down the awning had a wind gust throw a metal bar thru the 8ft, 100yr old plate glass window directly in front of my desk...here's the next love letter! No one was at the office when this happened. The glass shattered the next day about 30 seconds after I LEFT my desk! I heard that glass cracking and ran....glass was everywhere!!! Folks came out of buildings two blocks away to find out what that loud crash was. The new owner refused to replace the glass since he planned to tear down the 100 year old building......can we say historical? But the next day, we found a new office space. (Another love letter!) We had 2 weeks to get out of the building, get into the new office, paint everything, redo the hardwood floors and get all the computers back up and running for the opening of our season. Whew! We did it. The next love letter was as our customers started coming in and told us how awesome the place looked. We now are in an old house...folks say it's more like visiting a friend than getting their taxes done. Pretty cool love letter eh?!
Then in the middle of all this, Daddy started seriously loosing weight and looking ill. Another trip to the doctor and another round of tests confirmed our worst fears. He had Prostate Cancer and it had metacisized to the bones. He is now on hormonal therapy which is kinda like chemo without the heavy duty drugs. It's more holistic and mostly hormones. This DOES mean he's having menapausal symptoms at times, but I told him if the hot flashes get bad just stick your head in the freezer a few mintues. It feels SO wonderful. Giggle. After a couple months of treatment, he seems to be adjusting pretty well and the weight lose is slowed way down. In fact, it appears he's beginning to gain a little! The only real problem he has now is the confusion that is really confounding. He gets easily confused and calls me at the office on how to operate the TV....but at least I can help him with that over the phone. And he's still with us....I realize each day is a blessing and a gift. And I choose to cherish each day I have with my Daddy and my Mom.
And possibly the best love letter of all from my loving Papa is that Daddy shared all of Hanukkah with us and even began going to shul with us! Mom still refuses to join in, but now doesn't make as many nasty comments about our faith. I count that another love letter. (Sometimes you have to look to see them! Grin) So all in all, 2012 was difficult, at times harrowing. But we were blessed. We survived it, grew and learned to look for His love letters more carefully. I think I have lots to be glad for and as we start the new year...I look forward to seeing what new Love Letters from Papa I will find! I hope you find them too. He sends them to all of us...we just have to look. Shalom, Spitfire