Birthday Near Halloween? Pretty Keen!

Today is my eldest son's birthday.

We always gave him Halloween birthday parties.

With costumes and everything.

Here he is now, pretending to be a cowboy.

But this is his favorite part to play.

Being a great dad.

=)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MATT.

LOVE YOU!

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Climbing My Family Tree

Climbing My Family Tree

©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson

When life is less than kind to me,

I climb right up my family tree.

Stout branches turn to arms of grace

and lift me to a lofty place.

As brightness shines through every leaf,

my sunlit soul finds sweet relief.

Their foliage enfolds my heart

and shelters every sacred part.

Embraced, protected, raised by love,

I like the view from up above.

And oh, how clearly I can see,

high in the nest of my family tree.

My greatest joy comes from my family.

Because of them, I plant my roots deep.

And that makes me strong.

The Story Seed

As Saturday Centus rolls around again, I am happy to report that Ms. Matlock has given us 106 words to turn her prompt into a story, and she was generous enough to include a picture as well. Now, what could be nicer than that? The prompt, as always, is in red.

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The Story Seed

©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson

I planted a little story seed,

just placed it deeply in the ground

and, fertilizing carefully,

spread all the dirt and mulch around.

My eager hands caressed the soil,

as earth returned my soft embrace.

A tender reed peeked through one morn.

I blessed the sun, knew water's grace.

Resolved to tend my seedling well,

I watched it with a loving eye.

The weeds I saw were quickly pulled;

my heart was happy to comply.

Fruition came in leaves and buds;

a flower raised her lovely head.

The story seed had done its work,

but it had grown a poem instead.

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Up and At 'Em

Next year I'll be sixty years old, and while I have no objection to the number per se, what I do object to are those mornings when I feel every bit of that age and more. I long to wake up and jump out of bed like I used to do, ache-free and ready to make the new day my own. Instead, I wake up, carefully maneuver myself to the edge of the mattress, use my right arm to push myself to a sitting position, and slowly raise the old creakers into an upright stance. Et voila! Bed exited. Mission accomplished.

Some days my aging chassis bothers me more than others, and this happens to be one of them. Happily, most mornings I simply take it as a matter of course, scarcely noticing the changes or at least having a sense of humor about them. Either way, once I get up and moving, the whole situation tends to improve dramatically. By nightfall, I am almost spry.

There's a lesson to be learned here, and I am determined to learn it. (What good is getting older if you can't get wiser, right?) And what good is allowing those circumstances in life that are beyond our control to call the shots when it comes to our happiness? At the end of the day, the outcome will be as good as any given person decides to make it...by putting one foot in front of the other and remembering what Abe Lincoln said, that "most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

A number of people might find such an attitude a bit cavalier or insensitive, too simplistic in its disregard for the very real sorrows and struggles people experience, but I don't think so. Mr. Lincoln suffered from severe depression himself, but he knew Seneca was right in saying that "a man is as miserable as he thinks he is." As Holbrook Jackson observed, "happiness is a form of courage," and pointing out the opportunity for choice does not invalidate a person's struggle, but ennobles and empowers it.

Perhaps Werner Erhard and Mary Engelbreit got it right: "Happiness is a function of accepting what is" (Ehrhard) and "changing the way you think about it" (Engelbreit), but I think the apostle Paul said it best of all: "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:12-13).

Enough said. I've talked myself around. Up and at 'em, Sue. And make it a good one!

=)

Riding the Wind

©1991 Susan Noyes Anderson

Sometimes on a windy day,

I close my eyes and fly away.

I float with leaves upon the breeze,

then skitter about the lofty trees.

I hop and skip from yard to yard

and frolic down the boulevard;

until, at last, my journey through,

I find my way back home to you.

click below for more fall colors

Hiking the Wind

(photo of my grandson taken by his mom's iPhone)

Hiking the Wind

©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson

The sky is in fluffy white pieces today...

a drift-covered mountain, aglow.

Watch me hike on the wind!

Let my swing fly away

till I bury both feet in cloud snow.

Honesty Makes Me Happy

Yesterday, my post was a poem about the humility and teachability of children. This picture of my grandson and his "I can be honest" hat (taken by his mother on her iPhone at church) brings that truth to mind. I wish every child were being taught the principle of honesty in such a direct way. It seems as if most schools (and even some families) have sort of abdicated any responsibility for imparting moral standards, and with religious influence on the wane, I don't see anyone or anything stepping in to pick up the slack. As a result, I fear that our society is changing for the worse.

My sister is an educator, and she is troubled by the way her student population has altered over the course of her long career. In fact, she and her peers speak of this frequently. A few years ago, discipline in and out of the classroom became such a problem that she took a sizable cut in pay and moved to a Catholic girl's school, where expectations of good behavior are firmly placed upon the children and enforced by parents and teachers alike. Cheating is not tolerated, and there is a concerted effort to teach every girl there the importance of holding herself to the highest ethical standard. In this environment, my sister is free to impart knowledge in a milieu of mutual respect and honor that used to be the norm and is now becoming the exception.

It's not too late to turn the "anything goes, if you don't get caught" tide that is swirling all around us. Of course, it begins in the home, but there's no reason why like-minded people can't spread the message through their communities. With some active consciousness-raising by parents, maybe those in charge of curriculum in our educational system could realize that there are still a few principles that can and should be deemed "politically correct"––basic tenets with which every individual ought to agree––universal codes of conduct that can and should be upheld and yes, even taught in the schools.

Teaching honesty, patience, respect, compassion, fairness, perseverance, forgiveness, generosity, helpfulness, gratitude, and honor does not violate our constitutional requirement that church and state be separated. Surely one should not have to be religious to stand behind and support these virtues.

Benjamin Franklin, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, said: "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."

From Benjamin Franklin's lips to our ears. I just hope we can hear him.

{virtue makes me happy}

And so does the birthday of a very dear and virtuous friend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINDA!

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Come As A Child

Come as a Child

©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson

O, that the meekness of a child might somehow be my own!

My heart would never turn from Thee to find my way alone.

If I could hear as children hear, believe as children do...

then I would always feel Thee near, reminding me what's true.

But I am often filled with pride, and though I may not boast,

sometimes I fail to look up, even when I need Thee most.

Perhaps I think that I am strong and capable and wise.

I hope that I am all of these, but not in my own eyes.

The world would have me credit every good I do to me,

yet every virtue I can claim is but a gift from Thee,

and every skill that I employ is given by Thy hand.

Why must a truth so simple be so hard to understand?

O, that the meekness of a child might somehow fill my soul,

then would I let Thy goodness enter in and make me whole.

"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,

the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:4).

(Artwork by Greg Olsen)

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