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Category Archives: Love

Discovering Your Joy Within!

12 Tuesday Dec 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Blessings, Celebration, Choices, Christmas, Contentment, Empathy, Encouragement, Giving, Goodness, Hope, Inspiration, Jesus' Birth, Joy, Love, Peace, Positivity, Seasons, Strength

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Christmas, Contentment, Inspiration, Joy, Peace

I mostly wrote this five years ago this very day, but it seems to ring even more true for the world we are living in this day! The greatest challenge and endeavor in life is to learn the vital lesson of discovering your joy within! With that comes the importance of holding onto that joy peacefully and consistently, no matter the circumstances you are currently experiencing, all while reflecting that contentment as a light back into the world. None of us is immune to hardships, traumas, and problems in life or the catastrophic events beyond our control, but we have shared enough similar woes and life experiences to know that our inner joy is truly not a reflection of what has or will happen to us as much as it is a reflection of our choice as to how and what we feel, think, and believe about these matters! We choose how to summarily view our lives based on how we feel about what has happened to us. If we always cede our joy to feelings of despair, worry, anxiety, sadness, constantly mourning what we’ve lost over time, we erode the sense of joy we are meant to experience just by living! It’s as if we forget that our lives were filled with both happy and sad, ups and downs, laughter and tears. Anchoring our joy within ensures us that we won’t look back upon our lives in misery and despair!

We’re so well-equipped to love, to empathize, to be the face of compassionate caring for others once we have assured all of that for and within ourselves, by recognizing our own ability to keep our peace, joy, and contentment alive within our own soul and spirit! It’s so easy to harden from within with each trauma and every downturn. Soon enough, we have lost our ability to enjoy our own life or to help others enjoy theirs! By instilling in ourselves an indefatigable and rebounding joy within, we make ourselves almost immune to that habit of dwelling in perpetual despair! We may for a time mourn, ache, or hurt, but it need not take our life’s joy for all time! Perhaps we need only shift our focus more to the bright moments, the great times, and the things which we consider blessings, rather than focusing more often on what has grieved us or made us sad. And in just a time, that becomes the new habit!  

Find and hold onto your joy from within by habitually deciding to do just that! And then be a purposeful light for others, assuring them as to what joy, peace, and contentment can be for many who possibly need your leadership in that regard! It takes faith to live as a light, but the Lord sets a great example for us as to why we should! Shine your light for all the world to see, especially during this season of Christmas! You never know who might be inspired and led by your example in turn. There is enough darkness and despair in this world, enough sadness and suffering, reflect for others the way which leads them to their joy and light! And have a joyous season celebrating Christmas!   

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Speak the Truth…

09 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Character, Choices, Courage, Empathy, Encouragement, Ethics, Faith, Freedom, Inspiration, Kindness, Life, Love, Maturity, Strength, Trials, Truth

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Decision-making, Honesty, Knowledge, Lying, Reality, Truth

Sometimes we sugar coat things, thinking we’re sparing others upsets or upheavals. But, if we choose to deny anyone the truth by withholding from them the reality of a situation, we don’t really do them any service at all! Speak the truth, give the facts as you see them, relay honest appraisals whenever possible. Trust and deliver the difficult truths with kindness, compassion, and an earnest heart determined to help others.

Our challenge shouldn’t be how we can hide facts and the truth, for now, to protect someone we love from possibly being hurt, but rather our consideration should be how we can best deliver or present to others what they may need to know to make the most optimal choices for them, to face their dilemmas head-on as they are presented in life, while standing up to what they must! Some of the purposeful omitting or concealing we do may seem to soften a blow to others, but truthfully, it might also be that we don’t want to be responsible for having to give bad news or to burden another when they’re under significant duress! It might also be that in white-lying, omitting, or actually distorting reality, we are making assumptions about others which suggest that we believe them weak or incapable of facing reality. And that projection upon them might be a serious disservice to them!

The truth is truly what each of us deserves to know, process, and ruminate, even when that truth seems like a bitter pill to swallow or a hard left to our already-battered head! Some of the storms we face in this life actually provide great lessons and the impetus for significant and positive change, but if we’re always hiding in a shelter of our own making or in one provided too readily by others, we run the risk of missing those important life lessons! Not all storms can and should be evaded. They serve as necessary opportunities for individual growth and personal development! We have to give that chance to ourselves by facing each obstacle and trial in life head-on, but also others deserve that same opportunity! Honesty, reality, and truth are the power of knowing what to do, where to go, and how to proceed. The light of truth reflected in life is always preferable to the darkness of uncertainty and ill-preparedness. 

Love Flows First . .

18 Thursday May 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Blessings, Family, God, Gratitude, Joy, Love, Maturity, Wisdom

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creation, God, Unconditional Love

I told my mom on Mother’s Day that she was truly a gift of unimaginable blessing to me because she had always loved me unconditionally, and for that, I am so very grateful! Even though I had siblings, have made many mistakes while living my life, and have been seemingly unlovable at times during my life, her love has never diminished or faltered. I’ve never sensed her having any preference between my siblings and me, nor have I experienced a prioritization of her love when I’ve accomplished more or less. Her love has been the same at all stages of my life, she has never loved me more or less! And she is not the only one who has loved me like that, I have been blessed by my father’s unconditional love (although he passed away years ago), as well as four grandparents (who’ve also passed on), and two siblings who seemingly love me that way. And more importantly, God loves me unconditionally! So, when other acquaintances, friends and family seem to pick and choose their preferred moments in my life in which to love me, I can rest assured that I am loved as God loves – in spite of my imperfections and beyond my merit!   

It’s perhaps rarer in our personal microcosm than we imagine, this ability and impetus to love unconditionally! I’m not sure I’ve always loved family members, friends and strangers in kind. I’ve surely tried, but until we each can realize and accept God’s depth, breadth and scope of love as Creator of all life, we haven’t really got it to give to others. It takes wisdom and spiritual maturity to comprehend the amazing, infinite, and forgiving definition and scope of love to truly be able to receive it within and then to share it with others! Such genuine and unconditional love must flow first from within to then encompass others with whom we interact. Love is the gift of ourselves, which is shared in an endeavor to improve, heighten and joyfully enhance the lives of those with whom we intermingle and enmesh. Love is our acceptance, approval, and awareness of others in spite of their human flaws and behavioral imperfections. And as the Bible instructs us, we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, meaning we are to love all those people around us in kind, without condition! But first, we must receive God’s love within to be able to then share it with the world around us.

Is it always easy or natural to love strangers, or even family and friends unconditionally, at all times? No. Not when we love through our human perspective and with our human limitations. But when we learn to love ourselves and others as God loves us, then it becomes easier and more natural! And that is why spiritually mature people have a more heightened, easier time loving in this way! Judgment, conditions and imperfections matter less, or not at all, to those who’ve realized how great the love that God has for them! And in turn, they are then compelled to follow God’s Word, loving others as God has loved them and as they love themselves! Love is only unconditional at that level – when it is fully accepting, forgiving, and beyond the limited scope of human understanding!

  

Parents, like my mom and dad, often have an edge in loving their children in this unconditional way, as they experience the deepest intimacy and acceptance of their yet unknown children as gifts from God while awaiting their birth with loving expectancy! Unimaginable love can develop in the time it takes to see those children conceived, born, growing and developing into future adults. Sadly, it’s not always this way, many people never really perceive and receive the unconditional love which comes first from God, so what they have to give is less than unconditional and based on a human understanding of what love really is! That truth is evident and observable in every relationship and situation in which love is key! To know what love is, one must know from where it comes and from Whom it comes! Love flows first from the source of all love, it must be received and given, shared from one human being, to another to be truly appreciated and evidenced as unconditional.  

Home On Sunday . .

02 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Blessings, Celebration, Christianity, Commitment, Family, Friendliness, God, Joy, Love

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Church, Home, Love, Spirit-Led

Being missed is a truly special sensation to experience! Last week, I was traveling out-of-state so I missed going to church. I go to the same service at the church of which I am a member every week here in my city unless I am ill or traveling. Otherwise, I am there, in my normal pew every week a few minutes before the service begins. I sit in front of a lovely couple, and behind a row of senior citizens who all live in the same adult community. All around me are familiar and friendly faces, also in their usual seats. It’s a community, our church. We know one another, even if not readily by name so far; we greet one another and keep track of one another. We smile, we hug, we wave, we check in, we weep, we comfort, we console, we encourage, we pray, and we take notice of absences and new attendees. So when entering church today, there were avid greetings and “glad to see you”s. It felt good to be missed last week, to have people who not only noticed my absence but also who welcomed me back!   

A few years ago I was prompted to find a church home. I had wandered about looking for a place in which I could feel welcomed and where I could grow spiritually and deepen my relationship with the Lord. So I decided one Sunday to attend this church as a visitor but never looked elsewhere after that first time! From that first day, I was warmly greeted and people took a genuine interest in me. And so it has been ever since! Every week I am there provides me with what I would appraise as the best moments of my week! I walk through the doors and my spirit is elevated with joy! The Holy Spirit dwells in that building, in all the souls which frequent that church and in the ministry staff which leads us all. It’s an amazing place!

I cannot say if that is the same experience everyone who is a member or visitor has. It is mine, perhaps mine alone, although I sincerely doubt it! I am sure many others must have felt that amazing connection and bonds which develop within the walls of our sanctuary and on the premises.  And those same connecting bonds are also found in other locations where members unite in ministry or just for fun. It’s not just the building, it’s something which lives there within the buildings! It’s a spirit, an in-dwelling, a community with a calling from the Lord. It’s God’s love pouring out in worship, prayer, song, gatherings of all sorts, and through relationships forged often over the entire lifespan of the church!  

All my life I’ve either gone to churches of the same denomination or of other Christian denominations, looking for what I discovered on that fateful Sunday. In all those years prior, I never felt the same sense of what I’ve discovered at this church! I never knew that I had been missing the depth of experience which I’ve found there! I discovered Spirit-led people involved in something meaningful, with purpose and with love. There is love, there is compassion, there are relationships built on God’s love and committed to sharing it with others! When anyone is hurting, there are others who enfold them with love and take a share of the burden. When someone needs counsel, there are people trained to help advise and guide. When prayer is needed, there are hundreds of prayer warriors who lift those souls and prayers to the Lord. When the community needs support, there are plentiful hands to help, to give, to provide and to offer. The Spirit leads and by Christ’s example, it is done. This church is so special I decided to become a member within the first year, taking classes and making the commitment before the congregation later that year!  

Finding such a great home on Sunday has also encouraged me to stretch beyond what I absorb only on Sundays! I attend Bible study and seek out other events whenever possible during the week. It’s a great place to connect, and those connections benefit not only church members but all those in the neighboring community and in distant locations partaking of our ministry outreach! And so this morning, I received such warmth and love, especially after having been gone just one week. It’s wonderful to be missed, to be meaningful in the lives of others and to meld into a large community which truly feels like an extended family! I encourage everyone who frequents church to seek a church home which is so welcoming and actually befits the embodiment of that word “home”! Home is a special place. It is where a heart finds solace, comfort, acceptance and companionship. Home is where love flows. My church home draws me each week because I look forward to worshipping the Lord and being with my loved ones! Each week, I am welcomed home!   

 

Oh, the Joy! My Soul Is Restored . .

29 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Happiness, Joy, Love, Nature, Passion

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Beauty, Botanical Gardens, Joy, Nature, Passion, Plants

Oh, the joy! For a gardener who is also a plant specimen collector like me, there is nothing like the joy of a plant sale at a botanical garden. And just coincidentally, there was one at a favorite botanical garden on a visit I recently made to Los Angeles, California. To my delight, I approached the ticket window to find parking signs for plant sale purchase loading. I could scarcely wait to enter not only the garden, as it is truly one of my favorite destinations while visiting my sister in Los Angeles, but now I was so eager to first shop the plants! And shop the plants first I did!  

Now those who accompany me to any public or private garden collection like this one or the Huntington in San Marino, which we had just done two days prior this visit, are themselves eager to stroll garden pathways and to experience the ever-changing seasonal nature of the various planting collections. There is always something in bloom, always something exotic or unique to see in the way of plant specimens. At the Huntington Library and Botanical Garden, there is even a Carrion Flower,(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrion_flower), the plant which smells like a rotting carcass upon blooming. I believe it bloomed a few years ago, a rare experience which draws numerous visitors just for the sake of seeing it. Although I missed that, I have visited the Huntington and other botanical gardens I favor in Los Angeles and elsewhere as often as I can each year! Usually, those family and friends who accompany me to botanical gardens know my passion for plants, so they accept any foray to such places, as well as the coincidentally timed plant sales we precipitously discover!   

At this particular garden and plant sale, I decided to browse the sale prior to walking through the garden. The plants are limited in quantity which encourages me to shop early to have a better selection. And conveniently, the staff at the sale were able to accommodate browsers by holding plants in a secure room for a later time that same day. So we walked around the room with all the plants, large and small, and I found four plants in rather quick fashion which I believed would do well here in the desert! I study plants, having read a lot of books on them, and know botanical names. I am well-prepared because of my passion for plants, reading and learning about plants, as well as collecting unique specimens which I cannot find at my local nurseries or garden centers. I shopped rather quickly, and then we walked the garden pathways for several hours in the lovely Spring weather that particular day!

Because I live in a desert, most plants I am able to purchase locally are drought-tolerant and specifically known to grow here with our extreme conditions. That makes sense! But I want to discover plants from other origins which I might be able to grow here too! And so I collect plants specimens, I take chances and I push the parameters of what will grow in my desert garden. I do so without a built-in watering system, and with the limitations of weather and sun exposure found in a desert location. But I have gotten many plants I purchased in other states to work here where they aren’t found naturally in our desert or readily available for purchase! Botanical garden plant sales are a fabulous opportunity to discover yet unknown or hard to find plants. They often have plants which haven’t made it to the commercial nurseries because they aren’t yet as requested by customers. And for a visitor from another state, they offer a chance to try something completely new!  

Shopping for plants at the Southcoast Botanical Garden just a few miles from the Pacific is in itself a risk because it is in such a mild climate compared to mine, but I found four lovely one-gallon specimens to buy. I am taking a chance, but the unique nature of the plants, some familiar, some not, are the biggest thrill for someone who collects! Two of the four are known to me, I have their plant relatives in my garden. They are cultivars with distinction and unique features, though. Of the remaining two, one is an unknown entity, and I will plant it in a protected location for now. I bought it based on its description and appearance, only to discover it will have beautiful scented blue flowers one day! The other is a member of the bulb family, so I know from experience that it can be divided and regrown year after year. It will make a great potted plant because it flowers intensely for a brief period. 

For a plant nerd, aka collector, like me, a botanical garden is a place of great beauty and wonderful discovery! It can also be a place of wondrous reward when offering up a bounty of beauty to members and guests through annual or bi-annual plant sales. If you enjoy plants as much as I do, I encourage you to frequent your local botanical gardens and to visit those in other areas to which you travel. Because I am often in Los Angeles to see family and friends, I frequently visit several lovely gardens there. The experiences for me have been rich and rewarding, varying by the season and the nature of plant growth during seasonal influences. I get lost in those gardens, I am inspired by those gardens and my soul is restored in those gardens! And I love a good sale, especially when it comes to plants!   

 

Don’t Take It Personally!

28 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Choices, Contentment, Freedom, God, Humility, Joy, Love, Maturity

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Contentment, Forgiveness, Freedom, God, Joy, Peace

So many people take things personally, they feel unforgiving and unrelenting about hanging onto that which they presume hurts them. But in the end, is that an easier choice than just giving others the benefit of the doubt or forgiving them for their lapses? The older I get, the more I learn to let things roll off my back like water on glass. I don’t let things absorb into me as easily or as readily as I once did. I’m still reactive to things in part; but I am trying harder, and with more purpose, to think before I react to what I perceive as hurtful.

Love-is-patient

It’s not my doing, but this sense of letting go and forgiving more readily comes from growing closer in relationship with the Lord. The more I stem my own self in surrender to Him as the center of my own life, the more I understand the necessity for this. If I’m not the focal point of my own life, then I needn’t take things so personally or seek my own vindication! And if not every thing is about me anyway, then it’s easier to presume others aren’t focusing on me deliberately. Hurts, wounds, and supposed injuries aren’t as common an infliction for me as they once were; simply because I don’t put myself in the center of my universe, my needs aren’t paramount and my feelings aren’t as important or even sure! Maybe forgiveness comes easier to us when we’re not placing ourselves so high up on the scale of importance? We’re able to let others slip up, make their mistakes and live their imperfect lives. And perhaps we don’t assume the worst about others when we’ve learned to relegate our own special interests to a lower rung? It’s not as if others are always aware of us or our expectations, much less so willing to put our needs ahead of their own. If we’re all measured equally in God’s eyes, then why should what I feel or think or do or say be of any more or less importance or value than what others do or say? It shouldn’t!  releaseenergy

 

There is freedom in living without such random triggers of insecurities, doubt, fear and worry; sans my own need for vindication or my measure of joy being contingent upon the words or actions of others! It’s not, my value and my worth comes from God; my peace of mind and joyful spirit are a result of living with trust in Him. I’m not any more or less important in His eyes, so what happens to me is not as important as I may assume. Wanting to move closer towards Him, makes it easier to focus on the many ways I need to mature within! I’ve learned that being wounded, hurt, easily offended or so quick to be angry because of others is not useful to me. I can control my own emotions and relegate them accordingly, because not everything is about my sense of pride. Forgiveness is key, but so is not seeking to find wrongs in everyone else around me! Loving other people means I learn to accept them with more humility; thinking less often of myself and more often of them. Placing myself in the outer ring along with everyone else, while placing God in the center, makes this all so much easier to practice!   Signature02

My Favorite “Gift” . .

05 Tuesday Jan 2016

Posted by Cheryl Ries in aging, Attitude, Celebration, Choices, Christmas, Contentment, Family, Happiness, Joy, Love

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Christmas, Family, Gratitude

My favorite “gift”, over the recent holiday week between Christmas until just after New Year’s, was hearing from my family/friends that they appreciated the homemade treats I prepared for them and the home-cooked meals we shared together during that week. It’s nice to know that just the act of preparing a meal, sitting down together at home and appreciating the tastes  tailor-made for them was so welcome and worthwhile!   4a16ea037f3b62fc0dde89e57bdb6d5b

 

We set times for those meals and sat down at those times; then we prayed and took our leisure . . sans gizmos, outside influences and disruptions . .  to dine in peace, together. It was lovely! I think it helped to take the rush out of our days; and it gave us invaluable time being together eating and conversing! It really was a reminder of a different period of life, years ago, when our family and loved ones dining together throughout the day was a regular part of our lives. Now, we’re older, busier and strewn across the nation working on our careers; and some of our family and friends have passed on. It is not possible to share in those same precious moments of bonding and reunion each day. So it truly meant something to have the chance to recreate the experience during such a momentous and special time as Christmas with those who still could be together. We also did the same type of thing at Thanksgiving, but not to the same extent we did it at Christmas. With ten days off together between Christmas Eve and the weekend after New Year’s Day, we didn’t eat out once or skip one meal being together. We planned times and made that effort to share our meals, regardless the schedules we had to keep or the errands we had to run. 

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Some people might balk at such an effort these days! After all, don’t we all enjoy time away from one another? And surely, when we have our divided, blended, absentee, broken and any other manner of family, it would seem corny or almost impossible to do such a thing as bring family together at meals! Well, with time’s passage, I care more about what matters to my family and loved ones. And we valued this time, these efforts to connect and be with one another; and we also know that nothing, including time, is promised or guaranteed for any of us in the years ahead! We wouldn’t have traded that time and the simplicity of meals at home for any other manner of sharing this recent special week together! I’m so thankful for one more year having had that opportunity with dears, cooking and taking care of them in ways they don’t get to appreciate often, if at all, during the rest of their year. It meant something, it invoked sweet memories of loved ones who’ve passed; and it will serve to connect us with new and treasured memories of this year’s holiday! Family and friends are truly the best part of the holidays; and “gifts” such as knowing their appreciation and gratitude for that time spent together is truly priceless!  Signature02

The Soul’s Learning and Purpose . .

26 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Choices, God, Growing, Humility, Love

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Caring, Compassion, Love

Want to make a real difference in this life, in the world? Want to know a purpose and a reason for your being? It’s so simple, it’s extraordinarily so! The ultimate way to make a difference and to change the world is to live in it as a force of love, compassion and as a blessing to others. Do good. Let your heart overflow even in spite of personal pain, loss, sorrow, longing, want and need. Take whatever has happened to you and turn it into a means by which you are able to not only recognize the pain and suffering in others; but to minister to them because of it! If you have been a victim, don’t relish that role to the point that it solely about you; but take it as a way of helping others through their similar fates. If you have suffered loss and grieved internally, endeavor to find those who are similarly conflicted!  Heart

Our real purpose here isn’t probably going to be some big deal we’ve managed to artfully negotiate at our jobs or a status to which we successfully ascend. Our purpose is to use who we are in total, what we have endured and whatever it is we’ve learned to help heal, to care and attend to others in need, with love. The world at present is a full-blown example that we haven’t successfully grown beyond ourselves to this point. There are people doing good, loving others, giving and caring; but not to the point where we all feel compelled to do that in the long run. Selfishness is our desire to always first be the victim, to always feel our need as a priority and to always take care of ourselves. Only when we truly learn to reach outside that small perimeter of understanding will we fully learn the lessons of why we were created and so purposefully placed here among so many others with different mindsets, beliefs and situations.  dl-mood-family

Developing a heart full of love is our purpose, finding others with whom we can share our heart is our aim. Love is the directive which compels us in that pursuit. As it states so perfectly in the Gospel of Matthew 22: 37 – 39, 37 Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  Growing up into adulthood is the soul’s learning how to put others and their needs above our own; and love is the will within us to do exactly that! God’s love lighting us up is what brings the rest of the world hope.

A Life Honored . . Anew Each Day!

08 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Choices, Contentment, Family, Fullness, God, Life, Love

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God, Legacy, Majesty, Nature

Yesterday I had to have something precious cut down and removed because it was no longer viable or thriving, but rather dying by degree. It was hard to part with the Purple-Leaf Plum tree I first planted out back right after my dad passed, nearly a quarter century ago, in his honor. He adored nature; and it was the closest tree I could find in Phoenix back then to the brilliant hues of Red Maples which he adored! oshimoto_e45_018

I must admit, I got a bit sad thinking of the tree being cut down after all this time, and then again seeing it piled up in freshly cut pieces. I had to accept its slow demise over the last few months just to get to this point where I could even consider having it cut down! It surely seemed to be the right time to remove this beautiful specimen, which once was so glorious and colorful; but it surely wasn’t easy to accept it, lying there in pieces! At some point in my observation of the tree’s remnants, my emotions shifted from sadness to a stable contentment; there was a shift in mind and mood, in realizing there was so much more than just this one failed tree of honor connecting me with my dad’s passion for nature!   bible-verses

I realized that all of my life I’ve sought the refuge and peace of nature, enjoyed the wilderness and appreciated the beauty in almost every plant because of my dad’s influences and preferences! He shared his heart and soul’s passion for growing plants, gardening, landscaping, exploring the wilderness and seeing all the beauty found in God’s majestic natural designs with me; so I now have that same appreciation in my soul by which to honor his life’s legacy every day! God blessed us all with hearts, minds and senses by which we may appreciate the wondrous natural world around us; and I surely witnessed that in my dad’s life by example! And in the place of that beloved tree, I will create an edible garden around an old wooden picnic table I inherited just yesterday from a dear family friend. Everything continues in its seasons, for its reasons and for God’s purposes!  Signature02

Thankfulness!

17 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Contentment, Family, Gratitude, Happiness, Life, Love, Wisdom

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Gratitude, Peace, Thankfulness

So thankful this Saturday for all those in my past . . the easy cartoon-filled mornings of my youth; prior to my parents getting us busy with our outside chores or our family errands and adventures. So blissful in recollection of days spent sweeping, pulling weeds, cleaning house, building our forts, chasing our dreams or perhaps just chasing rainbows. I’m thankful for trips to the public library to get some books to read, for trips to the grocery, for road trips and weekend outings to the lakes and parks. I’m thankful for a father who worked hard all week; but never failed to spend time with his family, as he truly made it a priority. I believe he even enjoyed it, as it was never a difficult decision for him! I’m thankful for family that played board games, that made laughter as much a priority as love.  original_thank-you-heart-gift-card

I don’t remember perfect days without turmoil, without a fair share of grief or malady; but I do remember plenty of reasons upon looking back in which to be grateful in plentitude! I had a wonderful childhood! I was loved, looked after, had a roof over my head, clothing and food to eat. I had toys with which to play, parents whom knew the value of education not only in school; but also in the aspects of life which made us good citizens of this country and of humanity. I was taught to love God and that God loves me. 246170384_5PTKhJj9_c

I truly ache for those who are born into anything less than love, as I believe compassion and caring is born first of love. And all love first comes to the human heart through the Spirit which lights the flame of it within. So thankful this Saturday looking back on all of those which brought me to this one! Today, I’m not starting with cartoons; but after breakfast, I am spending time with two people who are family to me, loved and treasured in their years of wisdom for their part in my life. What more could I ask?! I have a roof over my head, food to eat, clothing to wear, shoes on my feet as well as a heart that is full of love! And more than ever, I know God loves me and I love Him!   Signature02

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Cheryl Ries-Author & Model

Cheryl Ries-Author & Model

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