Your Dying Spouse 475 - Vincero

A night of screams, last night, and the long dark tunnel, and the bright light at its end, growing brighter and warmer.

And I turned away from the light, and embraced the knife-thrust of each breath with all my strength, to return to the desolate pain of pain in the dark before the dawn.

And I'm still here, with the closing lines of Nessun Dorma in my head.

It ill be time to go, quite soon. Three near-death events in three weeks isn't subtle.

But not today.

Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle! Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò! Vincerò! Vincerò!

Vanish, o night!

Fade, you stars!

Fade, you stars!

At dawn, I will win!

I will win! I will win!

Please pardon my slow response to comments. I do my best, and your comments are really precious to me. Barb is answering many of them now. I'm running on fumes, if you don't mind a macho metaphor.

I'm grateful for the energy to have written this. I'm so glad Barbara's stepped in for many of my posts. I'm really not doing well at all.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley update... been moved to a sanctuary, and Bay County will revise their 'dangerous dog' codes.

WE MADE A DIFFERENCE!

And Marley has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

If you can, please do leave a comment. I am trying to answer all, and I am failing, but please know this - I read and treasure each one.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 474 - The Secret Of Everything

Do you wanna know?

Lean in.

Closer.

CLOSER.

The secret is...wait for it...

It's not about you.

Life isn't about rights; it's about responsibilities.

And when you realize that, you can face your on death, the hardest thing you will ever do, with an easy heart, because it's not unfair.

It's just life, and while you are circling the drain, the responsibilities remain.

And you will, trust me, thank God for them.

So, when you...wait, what?

"What about ME??"

What about you? Your heart is in someone else's care. You have to let it go, and give God the space to work. Kind of like steeling yourself not to watch the plumber as he's fixing your disposal and teaching His apprentice at the same time.

You are responsible for the care of others, and they are responsible for your care.

So let it go, and live.

Music from Linkin Park, ith the lovely Iridescent.

Please pardon my slow response to comments. I do my best, and your comments are really precious to me. Barb is answering many of them now. I'm running on fumes, if you don't mind a macho metaphor.

I'm grateful for the energy to have written this. I'm so glad Barbara's stepped in for many of my posts. I'm really not doing well at all.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley update... been moved to a sanctuary, and Bay County will revise their 'dangerous dog' codes.

WE MADE A DIFFERENCE!

And marley has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

If you can, please do leave a comment. I am trying to answer all, and I am failing, but please know this - I read and treasure each one.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 473 - Efficient Service, Excellent Character....for Christ {FMF}

Efficiency of service &  Excellence of character

Many of us are witnessing the next adult steps of the younger generation, and walk a little prouder due to their achievements.

Our nephew graduated from Virginia Military Institute (VMI), donned his Marine uniform for the first official time,  was pinned by his mother & sister,  saluted by his father, and if that wasn't enough he crowned it with the Society of Cincinnati Medal (the faculty award for efficiency of service &  excellence of character).

As a non-parent the view of such a milestone is very different.   I provided no influence for this young man's achievements,  and was only a distant family member.  Yet,  there is honor in that very distance, causing me to pause and consider...there are graduates in whom their families believe and have in them witnessed the very same strong attributes.

What does it mean to be an Efficient Servant?  What are the characteristics of Excellence?   Many first thoughts are those of achievements.   The Bible gives us the guidelines for both and reminds us that in our striving for both pitfalls will occur.  In the guidelines, the Bible also reminds us of how we respond to the pitfalls an Efficient Servant & an Excellent character manifest

Congratulations to the graduates of educational levels and vocation.  May you continue to strive for growth in life,  may you find your grounding and footing when challenged,  may you look inwardly for knowledge & act with grace in Wisdom, and may you daily walk humbly with your Savior.

One personal note : I, Barbara, have had many growth influences in my nearly 55 years.   Mom always placed spiritual ones in my path, luckily for us the Jesus movement was strong in those days. There were many musical influences; John Michael Talbot was one.   I was given a great gift by Andrew to see John preform in a 300 year old church in Albuquerque last week.   The video below isn't from that church but is still the essence of the spiritual evening I experienced.

If you're interested, you can find Andrew Budek-Schmeisser's books on Amazon.

Your Dying Spouse 472 - Look Around!

This originally appeared as a comment on the Books and Such Literary Management blog, on the May 15 post entitled Writers On The Way To Something Else.

"Being on the way to somewhere I don’t wanna go, I gotta make sure I go by way of where I wanna be.

Heaven may be cool, but my personal Via Dolorosa sucks, so I’m urgently enjoined to look carefully for the flowers bravely lifting their heads from the cracks in the paving-stones.

And in their bright-nodding courage, I find the strength to go on."

Music from David Gray, with Babylon.

Please pardon my slow response to comments. I do my best, and your comments are really precious to me. Barb is answering many of them now. I'm running on fumes, if you don't mind a macho metaphor.

I'm grateful for the energy to have written this. I'm so glad Barbara's stepped in for many of my posts. I'm really not doing well at all.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley update... been moved to a sanctuary, and Bay County will revise their 'dangerous dog' codes.

WE MADE A DIFFERENCE!

And marley has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

If you can, please do leave a comment. I am trying to answer all, and I am failing, but please know this - I read and treasure each one.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 471 - Keep It Real

It's easy to imbue death, especially one's own, with an aura of nobility.

A false aura of nobility.

Don't.

It's just a part of life, a goodbye that's temporary, a going 'round the bed in the road, beyond sight for a little while.

But only for a little while.

And I will be waiting for you, kicked back and listening to some cool music.

Like It's Raining Again, by Supertramp.

Please pardon my slow response to comments. I do my best, and your comments are really precious to me. Barb is answering many of them now. I'm running on fumes, if you don't mind a macho metaphor.

I'm grateful for the energy to have written this. I'm so glad Barbara's stepped in for many of my posts. I'm really not doing well at all.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley update... been moved to a sanctuary, and Bay County will revise their 'dangerous dog' codes.

WE MADE A DIFFERENCE!

And marley has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

If you can, please do leave a comment. I am trying to answer all, and I am failing, but please know this - I read and treasure each one.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.