Bulbs, Prayers and Faith

          While planting bulbs, I was considering how praying and faith is just like fall planting.

            Planting bulbs is like the seasons of your life. First you get the bulbs. And life is good. The weather is still relatively warm and the sun is shining most of the time. There is just a bit of chill in the air, warning you that some hardship is coming your way.

            And bulbs are plain and unfortunate. They look nothing like the finished product. Seeing the plain bulbs in the store. Marveling how such a dreary little thing could become a beautiful flower.


            Then Winter and hardship come. And you may feel beat down. Winter both the physical season and the season in my life have a way of making me feel defeated. This part of your life can make you feel like you are drowning. And you look at where you planted your prayers and it looks like soil or mulch. It is even more unfortunate than the bulbs that you planted a couple months ago.  I always remind myself the harder the winter the more beautiful the spring flowers. And the same is true in life.

 

             Even though you cannot see it. Something wonderful is going on beneath the surface.

             And then as your prayers begin to be answered. And you see the answers springing forth. As the weather gets warmer and things get a little better. And the seeds begin to spring forth. One of my favorite videos on You Tube, showing the process of seeds growing.

            

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d26AhcKeEbE

       
           


              I wish that all prayers were answered in a couple weeks or months.  Some take a year or years and even decades. I know that I have been praying for certain things for many years. And obviously the prayers haven't been answered. I don't give up hope. When the prayers are answered it will all make sense. That is where faith comes in. And keeping the faith, throughout all seasons of life is fabulous.



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Using Our Words for the Postive the Social Media Edition

      
      Something that has been weighing heavily lately. Is how our words are used. We can be a force for the positive and lift people up. Or we can be a force for the negative and tear people down. This is really hard for me. I used to be really proud of my sarcasm and wit. Seriously not realizing that on the other end of my witty snark, was another person. Maybe I knew them in real life. Maybe this person who was on the receiving end of my snark was a celebrity. Or a reality show celebrity. Not realizing that even though they put their life out there. For all of us to read about. They are still a human being with feelings.

 

           Having this sort of epiphany. When I was the victim of someone else's alleged snark. And not having done anything to deserve such treatment. I was really upset. And then I realized the error of my ways. Even though I had been having this come to Jesus moment for many months. This one incident was my moment of clarity. Everything came into focus, so to speak. 

 

           It happened when I posted a picture of my dog, Olivia. I posted it on some unknown Facebook page. With a caption saying that she was the cutest dog. And some faceless internet person said, no actually she is not cute, she is an ugly little dog. Considering neither Olivia, nor I had ever even met this person.  And considering all Olivia has gone through. In her short life. All of her health problems. She was really scrawny and sickly before I took this picture. This comment from an unknown internet person. This comment really hurt my feelings.

 

 

 

           I think that social media and the internet have emboldened people sitting behind their computer, smart phone, or tablet (myself included) And we say a lot of things that we would never dare to say to someone's face (myself included)

 

           I have to nervously admit that social media like Facebook and Twitter are my guilty pleasure. Along with message boards for my favorite TV shows and singers, etc. And I used to go to the Twitter page of people I didn't like and comment on their status updates. What benefit was there for me? Truth is there was none. Doing this in no way shape or form helps me. It actually makes me a worse person.

           Even if I find the behavior of the one I commented on to be repugnant. Will that help anyone? Especially the one that I am making a commenting about? I have already found out that it just drags me down. It doesn't do me any good. By commenting on a celebrities awful behavior. Will it somehow help the celebrity? I doubt it. I bet it would have the opposite effect. Think about it? Would you change for some random person leaving you a negative comment on social media? Or would that make you feel defensive? I mean, this person doesn't know you.
 

          I do believe that celebrities and reality TV show celebrities really do read their twitter and Facebook. Along with the message boards. And even those that are regular every day people read write posts on message boards and read the comments. They are all human and have feelings, too. We should be kind to people. Those we know in real life and those we only know from TV and  message boards. We don't know what their daily struggles are. We don't know what their emotions are. I don't want to be the person that posts a negative comment and sends someone over the edge. We may never know if someone is so emotionally fragile that a negative comment will do serious harm. Everyone is fighting a battle. So we should be kind.

          I have started asking myself if what I write is necessary? Does it need to be said? Does it need to be said, by me? Does it need to be said, right now? And even then I still fail. I still post things I shouldn't. What can I say? I am a work in progress.
 

          Join me as I become a force to use my internet words for the positive. I think the prettiest, strongest and most fabulous are those that build each other up instead of tearing down. Being a positive person is fabulous.



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