Think Good Things....Get Good Things

For sometime now things at my job have not been well. I do my job and it seems that I can't please everyone all the time. I have people talk about me behind my back. I am tattletaled on constantly. I have to watch my back and I am to the point that I feel that if I don't do what my supervisor says that I will get fired. 

I have found that through all of this I am stressed out, tired, and ready to give up. This week I was on a break from work. During that time I have been doing some thinking and found out a few things. One of those things is that when I am not at work I am less tired. Mostly because this entire week I did not think about work or let any of the pettiness get to me. I shook it off. 

This week I was able to sleep well and relax. That is something when I am at work can't be done. I had more energy this week than normal. Work seems to zap the life out of me. When you have to be at work at 7am (or 5 minutes before) and don't get to leave work till almost 4pm you can be a little worn.

During the work week I wake up as tired as I come home. I don't sleep well cause I have a million and one things running through my head about work. I pray about it all the time and because I am not seeing results of my prayers I tend to loose faith that God is in control.

I have come to realize this week that I let things get to me too much. I need to get up each morning praising God and let him be in control. I need not let the little things of life get me down. That is something I do often. 

I heard a sermon on the radio from Billy Graham (on his channel) in which Rev. Graham said that if you want good things to happen you need to think good thoughts. That means that instead of wishing that my co-worker would not show up most days I should instead wish my co-worker would get a new job that they were better qualified for. 

That person at church that always gets to me I should wish that God would help them with whatever they are going through. I should wish good things on those people in my life that cause me bad and in the end I will see good things happen to me. 

I need to pray good things over those that hurt me constantly. A friend told me that he prays bible verses over people that hurt him and he sees results happen. I need to do that so that I too can see results and have a better life. 

God is in control. I just need to be more positive about things. It is hard when you work with or are around people that steal your joy. With God by your side it can happen. You have to have faith, patience, pray, and be positive.

The Empty Chair

It does not matter how long it has been since a loved one or someone that we were close to passed away the holidays are still hard. Mom has been gone 2 years and I still cry. It happens to the best of us. We get emotional about it and for good reason. Life is not the same. 

People tell me all the time that I should move on, I have memories, and that tears should be over. No it is not that easy. My Aunt Joem said she refuses to celebrate the holidays since Uncle Pat died cause it is just not the same. Yes life does go on, but there is still the empty chair. 

The empty chair is something that will never go away. It will serve as a reminder that our loved ones are gone to a far better place and that one day we will see them again. The empty chair serves to remind us of the good times we shared. 

As I drove to and from dinner this evening. I got to thinking about some of those memories of holidays past. One of my favorite holiday traditions was to gather together with family and share stories. We did that tonight. 

Family Traditions make memories that will last a life time. I am so thankful that I am able to make new memories and traditions with people who have come into my life when an empty chair came to my table. 

I was thinking today about the empty chair. My friend Jackie will experience a new empty chair this year and I know it will be hard to deal with. The empty chair should also serve to as a reminder that Jesus Christ came down to Earth as a baby, died on the cross, was buried, ascended to Heaven, and will come back again some day. That empty chair is our seat at the table ready and waiting for the Lord's return. 

We should not see this empty chair as a loss, but rather as a reminder that we will see our loved ones again when the Lord comes to call us home. I hope that the Lord will return to fill my empty chair as my special guest very soon.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of those this year who have an empty chair. Let it remind you too of the Lord's return. 

What Are You Thankful For?

Today is Thanksgiving. That gives me pause to think of all the things that I have been thankful for. During the month of November people post what they are thankful for each day with the hashtag #Thanks. I have been doing this, but I decided that today I would compile a list of 30 things that I am thankful for.

Here is my list of things that I am thankful for in 2017.

1. My family
2. My faith
3. My car
4. My friends
5. My health
6. My job
7. My home
8. Food and clothes
9. Good weather
10. Days off work
11. Memories
12. Sleep
13. Love
14. My ex-boyfriend
15. That Jesus died on the cross for me
16. Music
17. Grace
18. Prayer
19. Early Mornings and Late Evenings
20. Pain
21. Warmth
22. Life
23. Children
24. Aunt Joem's baking
25. Chocolate
26. 2 hour delays
27. Weekends
28. Fridays
29. Chicken Salad from Costco
30. Time with my Sister

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Jeremiah

May 22, 2011 the most amazing man came into my life. Over the 6 years that we were together he became a man that I could see spending the rest of my life with. A man that near the end I fell deeply in love with and didn't want to loose. 

Jeremiah was such a sweet, kind, caring, compassionate man. He loved me for who I was and ever wanted to change me. He made me feel special. He made me forget when things were going bad. I could get lost in thoughts of him and forget that my life was far from perfect. 

Jeremiah was far from perfect. I accepted that fact. It took me a long time to see how much I loved him. The night that I finally fell in love with him it took my breath away. It was a feeling that I never had felt before and I didn't want to loose. 

It was after that that I began to read Song of Solomon. That whole book of the Bible is a romance novel. As I read it I imagined Jeremiah and I being who Solomon was writing about. I imagined our love so perfect. 

I believed that God had brought us together. I had faith that whatever trial of life that would come our way that we would still be in love with each other. I could not and would not imagine my life without him in it. 

Then it happened. Forces beyond our control caused us to split. It has been painful to see him move on. I am still deeply in love with him. I am holding out hope that he will one day come back to me. That we will rekindle our love once more. 

I am thankful for the time that I did have Jeremiah in my life. He taught me about true and real love. He showed me that no one is perfect. He showed me that sometimes no matter how much you love someone you have to let them go so that that when they figure it out they will come back to you.

I pray each day for Jeremiah. I care about him too much to see him hurt. I want him to be happy. I ask God to keep him safe. 

I still wear the bracelet that he gave me. It reminds me of what was and what could be again one day. It reminds me that I need to have faith and be patient. 

I am thankful that I have loved Jeremiah, that I still love Jeremiah, and the there is hope that one day Jeremiah will come back to me.

First Love

The other day as I was driving home from work I was listening to the radio as I always do. I was flipping through the stations when I heard Kenny Chesney's Me and You. That song got me to thinking about my first love.

You know your first real love will never leave you. It is something special that you just have to hold on to. It changes you. I know that mine did. However hard I try to get rid of it I am not able to. I will never get over it.

When you find that first love you know it. I know that I did. Sure I had dated before, but with Jeremiah things were different. The first night I met him I knew that he was the one. He was my forever. To this day I still believe that he is my forever.

You can never escape your first love. Once that someone that you have fallen in love with stops feeling the same way about you it is hard to forget how they made you feel. Sure you can try to move forward, but they will always be a big part of your life.

I know for me that Jeremiah will always be a big part of my life. I love him more today than I did the day I first fell in love with him. These are feelings that are hard to let go of. Every love after your first love will be compared to it. Nothing will be as good as your first love.

So when you find your first love make sure that the person that you fall in love with is the one. Do everything that you can to keep them in your life. Never let go of them. You will regret it big time. I know that I have everyday since I let Jeremiah go.

I should have never listened to my sister. I should have never gotten rid of him. I love him and wish that he was still mine. I know that he has moved on and claims to be happy. However, I believe that he is not happy at all. I believe that he is going through the motions of happiness just to try to get over me.

If Jeremiah would come and ask me to take him back I sure would in a heartbeat. I would show him how much I loved him. I would make him see that he was the one for me.

So if you fall in love make it a good one that last. If not you may end up like me regretting loosing something that was so perfect and special.

Tattletale

Have you ever worked with someone that never talks to you, always talks about you to others, and when you do something they feel is wrong goes to tell the boss about it instead of talking to you? I am sure we all have that one co-worker that is a tattletale. They are always in the wrong. So to cover up their tracks they go to the boss and tell tails on you. Then you wind up in the bosses office explaining the situation. Before you know it everyone in the building knows what happened.

We all have that one dreaded co-worker that we try to avoid. That one person that if you even breath wrong they blow it up and go tell the boss some wild story about you. That one person that makes you feel like you would rather be dead than have to work with.

You know who I mean. More often than not we are stuck with this person. We can't avoid them no matter what. We can't escape their tattling on us. I am sure you are like me and pray that this person or persons are absent. You pray that they get the plague or close two it so that they are out for a few days in a row.

We have all been there and done that. I have to look at the bigger picture. When children tattletale there is something that they are in need of. It is the same with adults. You have to think about the person that is tattling on you. Is there something deep down that they are in need of? Find out what that is and surprise by meeting that need. That is if you can.

My biggest defense is to pray for them. Talk to God about them everyday. Pray for the situation that they put you in. Give that person a smile each day. Be kinder than normal to them. You never know. You just might make their day and change their life.

In the end the tattling will stop. Other co-workers will learn to not like this person. They will see them as nothing more than self centered and hateful. Other co-workers will want nothing to do with the tattletale. The boss will get the picture too. The boss will realize how much time is being wasted by the tattletale.

In the end the tattletale will end up hurting themselves and not others. They will end up loosing big time. Pray now and you will see results. Let God be in control of the situation.