My schedule for the last few weeks has kept me from jumping into, THE SHARE YOUR WORLD CHALLENGE. Our lead pastor at Cornerstone Church (my boss) left four weeks ago ,and for the last month I have been working through the decision and process of transitioning into his role. This week the deacon board voted to advance my name to the congregation and so the last step of the process has begun! There are a few more steps to take, but before I go back to addressing them, I wanted to take a few moments to answer the questions this weekly challenge brings.
My answers are below. When you have finished reading here, please click the underlined link above and travel to Melanie’s site to see how her other contributors have answered her questions.
QUESTIONS:
If not now, then when?
Made me think of this song….
Can you describe your life in a six-word sentence?
ONE THREAD IN THE GRAND TAPESTRY.
Do you remember that thing people used to say, about how you swallow eight spiders a year while you sleep? It’s not true, but do you think you’ve ever swallowed any? What bug do you think you’ve eaten the most of by accident?
I am pretty sure I have never swallowed a spider but I have swallowed mosquitoes.
What’s the best approach to resolving conflict?
Speak the truth in love. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but this is a start.
Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration in the sitting and waiting spaces of life. Here are a few places I enjoy sitting and waiting.
I am a day late and a dollar short her, but it is my time to SHARE MY WORLD! This is the weekly challenge where Melanie asks us all several questions and in answering them we share our worlds. To be honest I think we all need to share our worlds a little more amicably now than ever before. So this is a very important challenge to take. When you have finished reading my answers below, please swing over to Melanie’s blog and read the other responses to it. Maybe you could even take a few minutes and answer some of the questions for yourself.
Is it necessary to trust someone you like? (friends, acquaintances or co-workers with whom you have no familial ties)
Well I think it always helpful if you can trust the people you like, but I have to admit there are several people I really like, because they are fun to be around, but I do not trust them as far as I can throw them
Do you hold grudges? What do you do when someone really irritates you?
No I try not to hold grudges. They are super unhealthy in every way. I try to forgive and forget-ish ( I am not sure humans can really accomplish that last part but we can put the subject that makes us grudgy far from our minds by filling our minds with other things)
When people irritate me (which happens with relative frequency) I generally pray and then eat something yummy and find a good story to get lost in.
What’s the most sensible thing you’ve heard someone say?
People say sensible things to me all the time….when they are not spouting nonsense of course….recently though I would have to say the most sensible thing I have heard is “Let’s just move on.”
Is crying a sign of weakness or strength in adults?
I think it can be both. Some people would be a whole lot stronger if they would just give their emotions an outlet…. God didn’t make us to be emotional eunuchs.
Then there are others …..I just want to shake and say….”Get over it!” …..”It’s time to quit crying and move on!”…..”You are going to die in this valley of tears if you don’t put your big girl/boy pants on and deal with life!”
What small things were you grateful for this week?
I am grateful for all the people who have helped us during our quarantine. So thankful for the family that has been shopping for us, and the lady who has been bringing my mother papers everyday. I am thankful for the people who have made and bought us meals. I am thankful for the lady who brought my sister flowers. I am thankful for the Facebook check-ins and all the prayers!!!!
It is time once again for SHARE YOUR WORLD. This is the weekly challenge where Melanie, from Sparks From A Combustible Mind , asks us several questions and in answering them we all share our worlds. You can read other contributors and or join the challenge by clicking the underlined link above….and now on to the questions!
QUESTIONS:
What should you get rid off, that would make your new year better, and why? (Don’t say Covid-19, we all want to get rid of the dang virus) I snagged this question from another blogger, but failed to note who thought it up. My apologies! I KNOW better than to trust my memory any more. If it’s your question and you’d like credit, please let me know! Great question too, in my opinion!
I am getting rid of some flubber around my midsection. That will help me have a more energetic year for sure!!!!
Tell everyone something that you found personally lifted your spirits!
Aside from the most obvious answers for me which are prayer, worship and reading the Bible, I have found that eating cookies while doing any of these activities personally lifts my spirits….of course it does nothing whatsoever for my flubbery midsection.
Well it is Christmas and almost all the presents are wrapped. I have some extra blogging time tonight so I thought I would SHARE MY WORLD WITH YOU ALL. This is the weekly challenge where Melanie, our hostess, asks several questions and in answering them we all share our worlds! When you have finished reading my answers check the link above and see what Melanie’s other guests have said.
HERE WE GO:
QUESTIONS
What is your favorite type of cookie (they’re called biscuits in Europe I believe)? My grandmother used to make these cookies at Christmas time from figs and coconut. She called them Mission Balls. So good.
If you could choose one age and remain that forever, what would it be and why? I would be twenty-five. Young enough to still try anything and old enough to know better.
Do you have a traditional drink during the holiday season? This year we are making homemade Wassail. I think it will be our new tradition.
Are you able to still believe in holiday magic as you did when you were a child? I think I believe in it more now than I did then. The magic is different but it is definitely real.
GRATITUDE SECTION:
My daughter and son-in-law are self isolating this week, as Melanie is heading into hospital next week for the birth of her second child. We will miss them at Christmas but so look forward to meeting little Abigail Yvaine!
It is time for me to SHARE MY WORLD ONCE MORE. This is the weekly challenge where our hostess Melanie asks a few questions and in answering them we all share our worlds.
Here are the questions and my answers. When you have finished here hop on over to Melanie’s place and see how her other contributors have answered.
The first question is courtesy of the magnificent blogger, Rory (aka A Guy Called Bloke”). He asked this one last Saturday on a random question post he wrote and I thought it was nifty AND sort of Halloween-y, so I thought I’d include it. “How many people in real life or on social media (including WordPress, which has become a rather social media site) do you consider good enough friends to help you ‘hide the dead body?” This is purely a silly and fun exercise, so don’t worry that there are bodies in need of burying. At least I don’t have any…. if you do, I hope you have some good friends who will lend a hand in getting rid of the evidence AND never tell a living soul….
I am not asking anyone to help me hide the body. I am turning myself in. I have watched enough murder mysteries to know murder bites back….so you might as well get it over with up front.
Are You Ready To Order? What Are You Having (craving) right now?
Olive Garden…
How’s the weather in YOUR neck of the woods?
It has been rainy and chilly here the last few days. But the rain makes the leaves really pretty.
Lastly, one deep question, because some folks enjoy those. Prepare yourself. Or pass. It’s all good!
There has always been something. Before there was something, there was only nothing. Which do you think is more likely?
The something was something injected into nothing before it came from somewhere else.
Well I am getting an early jump once again on THE SHARE YOUR WORLD CHALLENGE. This is the challenge where our hostess Melanie asks a few questions, and in answering them, we all share our worlds. Check it out by clicking the uinderlined link.
Here are the questions and my answers:
When was the last time you tried something new? How did that go for you?
I feel like the whole world is new and is requiring “new things” of us. I guess the newest thing I am doing is attempting to be an on-lne pastor. That means when I “go” to church, while the rest of the congregation is in the sanctuary listening to our lead preacher preach, I am out in the lobby managing the on-line presence. I am actually having a really good time with it.
What’s the most sensible thing you’ve ever heard someone say?
Follow Jesus. You will never be sorry.
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
Much older. Most days I feel like I am ready for my retirement cabin…then I look at my retirement account and say to myself, “Back to work Lillie or all you have is a retirement sleeping bag.”
Lastly, I’ll be doing one “Halloween” themed question per week during October. Those who don’t observe the holiday are welcome to answer or to ignore it as they wish.
Fun CREEPY Halloween Question:
Have you ever seen a ‘fresh’ corpse (aka dead body)?
Yes. Our neighbor died raking his lawn. My oldest daughter saw him fall and called to us. He was gone in a moment of time.
Do you enjoy any seasonal traditions around this time of year?
In an ordinary year I would be enjoying some our region’s many Fall festivals. I love Apple Fests and Pumpkin Fests.
Some of our local apple orchards are still having such things (I really don’t know how but…), but I don’t feel safe going; So this year I am just making lots of baked apple dishes. I have even been considering making a batch of cider myself.
It is time to SHARE MY WORLD WITH YOU ALL AGAIN. This is the challenge where Melanie asks four or five questions and in answering them we all get to know each other a little better.
Over the last several weeks we have been sharing our world Harry Potter Style with our hosts Melanie and Roger, but this week we are back to a Share Your World Original led by Melanie. Thank you Roger for giving us some different avenues to consider for the last several weeks. Thank you Melanie for keeping this challenge fresh and fun every week for those of us who contribute.
Here are this week’s questions and my answers:
Where do you feel most at home? Please be more specific than “at home, doh” please. It could be a room in your home, a person, a location…
I think I feel most at home in what I call “The Sage’s Cave”.
It’s not a place really…more a state of mind. I guess most people would call it meditative prayer. I get really quiet. Sometimes soft instrumental music is playing in the background. I start by listening to or reading Scriptures as I “center down” as the Quakers call the practice. I listen for the still small voice of God and then I follow it where it leads. This place feels like home and is always an adventure.
Would you rather ride a bike, ride a horse, or drive a car?
This is the challenge where Melanie and Roger have joined forces to ask us question that help us to share our worlds with all of our readers. Here we go!
Have you ever driven the wrong way on a one-way street? How did this come about? I got lost on the one way streets in Worcester (pronounced Wistah) MA when I was young driver. I think I had jury duty or something. I thought I was going to die and my panic just kept growing. Finally I got turned round right and headed for home, so I am thinking I had finished my day and was on my way home. It was a long time before I went back
As a kid, did you ever decide to run away? Did you have a plan? Take a pet? Sandwiches? No. Running away was my sister’s job.
You suddenly found you have a hidden talent for playing a musical instrument. What musical instrument do you hope that accompanies your talent? Any particular song? I have always wanted to play the accordion or the guitar. If I were to play the accordion I would want to be good enough to play some of the really fast polkas. Guitar would have to be some classical latin guitar.
Do you accessorize with jewelry? There was an opal necklace (cursed) and Slytherin’s locket (also cursed) in the Potter story. Have you had any heirloom jewelry passed down through the generations? Is it more ‘keepsake’ or do you wear it on occasion? (Hopefully, yours was not cursed?) I do not generally wear jewelry.
Melanie’s Ordinary Muggle Questions:
What ingredients go into YOUR favorite salad? I like to make tossed salads with lettuce, nasturtium, tomato, cucumber, celery, mushrooms and grapes. I also like cheese and croutons but I don’t often put them in.
If you care to, share something that really irritates you.
poison ivy.
What are your favorite ‘lounging around the house’ items of clothing? Now that a lot of people ‘lounge around the house’ waiting for the all clear in respect to Covid being shown the door, have those lounging items changed?
I like to wear my plaid pajama pants and a tee shirt. As the nights get colder I will add a sweater or my big maroon bathrobe.
GRATITUDE (as always this is optional)
Please feel free to share something about Autumn (or Spring if you’re gearing up for that) that you especially enjoy!
My sister has been working at an apple orchard for the last few weeks helping some folks from church bring in the harvest. She brings home a bag of apples everyday. I have gotten to bake a lot!
This is the challenge where Roger and Melanie asks several questions for Potterites and Muggles alike, and in answering them we all share our worlds.
Here are the questions and my answers.
You have just been gifted a magic wand that specializes in completing household chores. You can request the completion of only two household chores. Which chores would you assign your wand to complete?
I need a wand for the dusting and the vacuuming. These are chores I never seem to get too. Though, if the truth be told I am not good at keeping up with housework period.
At the local Wizards-R-Us store there was a sale on handshake shockers, instant darkness pellets, and levitation pills. Which of these ‘party thrillers’ are you more likely to purchase?
Instant darkness pellets sound way more fun than the others. Now, if they were instant flying pills I might reconsider.
In the alley behind Wizards-R-Us, there was a tradesman selling a Love Potion. The sales pitch was too much for you and you yielded and purchased one vial. What do you do with it?
I store it away for someone who needs it…somewhere where I will be absolutely safe from it.
You are the Great Clearinghouse Winner of a new ‘good luck’ potion – Felix Felicis. It has to be used within the next thirty days or its potency becomes diminished. Do you use it? Do you give it to a friend in need?
I am pretty sure good luck is not a thing. The pathway is the pathway, and it is what we need it to be. Trying to change the pathway with luck is not only useless but if we manage it, it can be dangerous. So I would dump it out. No one needs it.
Melanie’s Mundane Muggle Questions:
If everyone spoke their mind, would this world be a better or worse place? Why?
We are not called to speak our minds. We are called to speak the truth in love. Those things are usually very different. My mind often wants to say things that are neither loving or things that are only as truthful as the spin of my opinion. Mostly I don’t trust myself to speak my mind. Why would I trust it in others? Can achieving nothing make a person happy?
Sometimes I think achievement is overrated. Especially in this culture where achievements are made out of cookie cutters. Everyone thinks a person’s achievements should look exactly like their next door neighbors achievements. That is pretty far from the truth. I think the first question is what were we made to achieve? Shooting for that personal goal is a good thing as long as it is not being done to out achieve someone else. How do you know if you love someone enough to marry them?
Good golly! Do you have a hundred years to listen to my rant on this? I guess if you can honestly speak the covenant oath then you love them enough. Here’s the thing. What if they get sick? What if they get poor? What if they get rich and the dazzle of riches makes them unfaithful to you? What if you get sick? What if you lose everything because of them? What if you get everything you want but keeping all the stuff means second -classing your relationship so you need to give it up? If you can make the oath to stick with them through all of this and not go seeking another then maybe you love them enough. GRATITUDE SECTION (as always this is optional)
Please feel free to write about or share an image of something you’re grateful for!
Dani my granddaughter is coming to sleep over Oz’ (that’s me) house this weekend! It’s a first for us and her!
Lillie-Put 