So, will beautifying the outside make a difference with a wonky inside?

I am the weird, strange and odd kind of person that thinks deeply in situations that there is no obvious depth. A local grocery store that is one of the top in the nation decided to throw out all of their old front racks (for magazines, dvds and other wares) and use a deep and dark-colored wood to give the store an even more sophisticated look. And I suddenly thought, okay-the store looks better, but does this really improve the store? The store has more swanky touches, but how nice is the management? Does the company treat the employees the way that it once did when the owner of the store was alive?

See, a super mundane thing like shelf replacement makes me think about beauty on the inside versus the outside. I told you I’m weird. But really, are the ultra difficult workouts I am doing twice a day making me a better person? Stronger, maybe. More fit, I hope. A better shape to my body-here’s hoping.:) But if I did not work on myself spiritually, does any of that other stuff matter?

Well, in the world we live in today, it seems so. I don’t want to be one of those writing about the famous K family. But, if they didn’t have banging bodies and pretty faces, would people hate/love them in the way that they do? Though the question is purely rhetorical, I think you know the answer. NO! They look so awesome on the outside, but what goes on internally with some of them is really screwed up.

I can’t lie, I would love to have Kendall’s model figure and look great in everything. I would also like to not watch every bite that goes into my mouth and workout all of the time. But, genetics have a funny way of giving us the good, bad and the ugly stuff. I am attractive, but will never be modelesque. I am petite in height, and wear myself out measuring food and working out and drinking water to see minimal pounds lost.

The point is, I work so hard on the outside, but if I was a complete a-hole to people then I would not have people want to be around me. People wouldn’t want to celebrate my bday with me, or go see my daughter perform, or invite me to things. I am glad that I am good on the inside and that I do not act as though the world revolves around me. I pray and I am humble and I try to treat every one with kindness, until they piss me off.:)

So, as I sculpt my body with my 21 Day Fix deal and lift my weights and measure my portions, I will continue to ensure that what lies within rivals the beauty on the outside. For if the inside is ugly and tainted, then the outside, no matter how fit or gorgeous will just not be as beautiful.

I wish that more people could have this revelation or be convicted of this because looks do fade. It is a sad, sad circumstance for those that have lived their life letting their looks lead their way because once youth fades,the no one cares anymore. Then they are forced to have relationships based on their heart and mind.

Well, at least I have my heart and mind right. Just waiting for my body to be as fabulous! I will keep on trying one workout at a time. One pound at a time and one measurement at a time! Wish me luck!!

Simply~

Dee

So, have you ever heard the phrase: The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away?

I am a total sucker for the beauty of the Olde English language, but that statement is both powerful and reassuring and scary. When I was standing in front of the ocean yesterday, I started pondering life in a big way, as I often do when I go to the beach. The enormity and vastness of the sea always puts me in a spiritual and pensive mode. I wish I could be an air head just trying to catch some rays, but I always go deep-in thoughts, not the water.:)

Then for some reason I thought: The ocean restoreth and the ocean taketh away. It instantly reminded me of how powerful yet beautiful the ocean is and as much as I love it, I fear it. It is similar to the way I feel about God. I worship and uplift Him, but I fear Him all the same. It’s amazing that something so mesmerizing and calming could also sweep someone away to never be seen again. It made me realize how small I am in the vastness of the world. My little life and even smaller problems are like one grain of sand on one beach and there are thousands of beaches and infinite grains of sand.

I really as of late have thought about what I do have that I value and my life is small in comparison to what I view on other people’s “social media” lives or to their circle of acquaintances. But as much as I love my life and long for a “larger” life, I really like the uniqueness and “weeness” of my life experience. I enjoy the adventures with my daughter and seeing my mom 4 or 5 times a year for a week at a time. I enjoy talking to my mom daily on the phone and not to many other people. Though when it comes down to my birthday or holidays, I see and talk to quite a lot of people, my daily life as with many people has come to communicating pretty much through technology. No wonder so many people are so lonely. They have thousands of friends on social media and maybe 3 people they could actually call on.

Not tooting my own horn, but on my FB and IG, I have around 100 on each and I like it because I feel that the people there are people that care. Or I have a real connection with them and I could probably call on 25 or 30 of them in a time of need because they are more than just a number. Many are family and church members and childhood friends. Some are local people that I have known for a decade or a half a decade and I get together with them a few times a year.

My whole point in all of this is to say that having relationships that are meaningful really makes a difference. I do not win an award for the most followers on any of my networks, nor do I have a gaggle of cards in the mail for my birthday. But I do have a good number of people that think of me and celebrate me and love me and that is all I can ask for. Some of these people may not be what I would consider friends that I would want to be with all of the time because I do tend to attract a quirky bunch. But I am honestly glad that I have them and that they put up with me. Over the years people have been removed from life, I feel by God because I have prayed for people to leave my life that are a strain on me. But along the same vein, some of the people that I lost touch with have become some of my greatest friends/allies/family and I am so grateful to have those relationships are restored.

Things are taken and things are given and I think that if we respect the process and understand that some events happen for reasons that we will never understand that we can live our lives in peace. This is why I pray for peace and pray for goodness and pray for safety because just as there are angels watching over us ready to protect and save, there are other forces just as eager to have a hand in our undoing.

Man oh man I have become quite the serious one in my “not so old age”, but don’t worry, I am celebrating life enough over the next week that fun will balance all of this density out.:) Have a great rest of the weekend and a beautiful upcoming week. No matter if it is a day that you are celebrating or a milestone, or even a heartbreak, there is a lesson to be learned and the fact that you are here and alive and able to experience it is a miracle in itself. And if you have someone you love whom you have not reached out to lately, do it today. A few words or a kind gesture will mean more than you can imagine.

Simply~

Dee

Poetry can be found everywhere and in many things, even in blogging…

I was watching one of my new favorite spy shows today on my Amazon-The Americans, and I realized that the Russian language can be very beautiful and even poetic sounding. I was in the shower and listening to it and I think if I had been watching the people and listening, I would not have picked up on the beauty.

I always thought that Russian and German and many of the Eastern European languages sounded a bit harsh, with no melody. And, I am not against those people or anything, I am of German heritage. I just never thought that they held the romance that French or Italian does. Then, I heard someone speaking Russian at Barnes and Noble one day and I thought that it was French. I guess maybe different regions speak it in different ways with different accents. Very similar to the way that the U.S. is with Northern accents, Southern accents and Midwestern accents.

So between that day and this television show, I realized that if we listen close enough or even look close enough that poetry and beauty is all around us in so many situations. That person that angrily beeped when you didn’t go through the light fast enough could be coming from the house of her sister who has dementia and maybe she in a hurry to get to her job to help pay the bills for them both. Or, that annoying person that answers for an insurance company when calling about claims that has a thick accent and can’t seem to understand anything, she/he is working for nickels and learning English in the process and for them it is a great feat.

I am sometimes the person honking the horn, and I am sometimes the one who gets annoyed. In the midst of my annoyance, I truly do try to think of people and though they may seem selfish or dense, who knows what is going on in their life. There are tons of things that happen where ugly and evil are written all over these particular incidents. But somehow, in the midst of a storm in life, you will hear something beautiful. Like the mom who forgave the person who killed her son. Or the person that risked their life to get one more person out of the burning building. I do not know how I spun hearing the Russian language spoken on a show into all of this. Nevertheless, beauty and poetry are everywhere, and our creator is the author and artist of it all.

Simply~

Dee