Thought Of The Day

“Often the strongest blades were pounded the hardest, or scorched the most severely; We judge them by their strength and sharpness, not by their prior rough experiences. With our comrades it should be the same. A good blade is rarely forged in a velvet box.” 

― Orsov

The Challenge - Guest Post by Shanda Neighbors

Yesterday I did NOT want to go to church, which is precisely why I went. I've found that on the days I don't feel like going, it does me the most good to go. I was not wrong. The message was interesting. I haven't been able to get it out of my head. It was about the power of complaining. We were challenged to go one month-no complaints! I have to admit my first thought was, "this is no challenge for me." I tend to be more internal with my junk, so the whining/complaining thing didn't phase me, well not until later. I got to thinking more about it and realized, I'm more of a baby than I acknowledge. Maybe I don't whine, but I do critique, correct and....ahem...nag. Apparently my family knows it well. Too well. The hubby and kiddo were smiling, giggling and throwing knowing glances my way. After NOT much thought, I concluded that they were absolutely right. 

I'm going to do this. Challenge on! In the month when we celebrate being grateful, this seems a fitting undertaking. The preacher's point: "it's hard be thankful one day of the year, when you spend the whole year complaining." He wasn't talking solely about imposing self control on the tongue. He was encouraging a change of focus. It was a call to turn from self, and all the ways I'm offended (not getting my way) to the only one great enough to put me in my place, God. Yesterday I barely made it out of church before I noticed that I was doing it again, complaining.  Hmmm... one month huh? This is gonna be a long, rough one.

Back To Life - back To Reality!

Back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now....  Remember that popular 90's song by Soul II Soul?  Man, that was my jam, ha ha.  More than that though, those lyrics describe exactly how I feel right now.  You see, last week Thursday my trusty companion, my mac computer, crashed out of the blue.  No warning, just died. 

Let me tell you I was devastated. Incredulous.  Frustrated. All kinds of emotional.  After all, I am a Graphic designer and my computer is literally my umbilical cord.

When I finally calmed down enough to think sane thoughts, I took some time off from work to regroup.  (A small benefit of being my own boss) Well, my Mac had to be replaced so I ordered one right away and tried to forget how much money I was spending.  (By the way that didn't work.)  Then, I tried to figure out what to do with myself in the main-time... Since I had ordered my computer, I had days to wait before it arrived. 

 Let me tell you, the first few days sucked!  Royally.  I was counting down the day, hours and minutes until my computer arrived.  I guess you can say that I was in digital detox......complete with nervous twitches, anxiety and the patience of a junk yard dog. This went on until it occurred to me that when I was on the computer and really busy I always told myself that if I had more time I would complete my unfinished projects, experiment with new recipes, watch some movies I had been meaning to see....and trust me the list of things to do went on.  Hello, free time!  Let's just say that things changed dramatically after that.

And just when I was really starting to have some fun, my new computer arrived. 

 I am happy that it is here.  I am.....kinda. Lol, back to work I go, yay.  And trust me, I have so much to catch up on.  Hopefully though, I will remember a valuable lesson I learned from this whole experience.  My life, my reality, is not in a box...no matter how useful or tricked out it is.  Can I get a Amen!

Have a good week lovelies.

Cherio!  

Don't Give Up The Fight (Guest Post by Shanda Neighbors)

It was summer break. My middle sister and I had been fighting. She has always been a feisty one. We had a summer war going. My sister was little, under five feet  tall. She's been that size since she was about ten, and she's still just so at nearly forty. Anyhow, growing up she had a huge Napoleon complex. She'd pick a fight with anyone, age, size, sex, didn't matter. My eldest siblings survived her somehow, but by the time she got to me, it was out of control. She was relentless.  I'm guessing me being younger, and she being older, she assumed that entitled her to kick my behind at will. I disagreed with that theory. I was about her size (at three yrs younger) but I was much stronger. 

That summer we had several physical fights before my grandmother  intervened, island style.  She warned us both, "I don't care who starts it. The next time I catch you two fighting, I'm going to fetch, and give you both a switch, and you can both wail (she used an island term) on each other. The first person who cries, will have to face me, and a switch of my own. Remember, I don't care who started it, but I'm gonna finish it."  By "wail on" she meant beat the snot out of.  I wanted no part of that. Now you'd think that warning was enough to scare my sister. She'd never won a fight against me, or anyone else for that matter. Picking a fight with a sibling that's sure to pummel you, is insane! What's worst is, having to face my grandmother after the fact! She's was no joke! But, true to form, and hardly a day later, here comes my sister ready to fight. I don't remember the exact action that started it, what I do remember is, before I knew it we were throwing blows for the "umpteenth" time that summer. Grammy, true to her word, saw the fight, and quickly produced two tamarind switches.

 For the sake of this story, I will tell you  that a tamarind switch is from a tamarind tree. They don't break. Ever. She gave us each one, and just as though she was beginning a race,  she said "go!" I remember thinking, "I don't care how much this hurts, I WILL NOT cry."  At the time, that thought was a departure from strategy. I had figured out early on that crying, got me out of, or significantly lessened impending trouble. Crying quickly became a part of my play book, but not this time. I knew that this time if I cried, I'd put myself in a worse position.  I was taking swats that hurt like the dickens, but I was determined to give ones that hurt even more. Remember how I said I was stronger than my sis? It sure didn't feel like it, but whatever strength I had, I used. I put every bit of power I possessed into the whacks I was delivering. I wanted to cry, but she actually DID cry. As soon as she did, it was over. Grammy grabbed her, and I was free to go. Lets just say she got dealt with. 

 I wish I could tell you that we never fought after that but that would be a lie. My sister being who she is, and me being who I am, have fought many times since. I will tell you this, our fights have been few, and far between.....and to date, they have never been in the presence of Grammy.

Today I was reminded of the best fights, and friends you'll ever have, siblings, family. They've taught me the art of love, and conflict. It's a vital, and invaluable lesson. I'm grateful. Perhaps some will find this story a bit cruel. I'll admit that in the Bahamas we do things a little  differently.  It's a different place, and that was a different time. To me it wasn't cruel it was guided instruction. That day I learned, there are times when you should fight like your life depends on it. I learned that present pain isn't always the whole story. I learned that you can endure more than you think, and I learned that Sarah Knowles (grammy) is a woman of her word!

Find more of Shanda's adventures on her blog www.aboutloveandtruth.blogspot.com