Good Evening TSJ Friends!
Today has been a full day so my blog letter is a bit late in the day!
The tidbit of wisdom I wish to share is of both feeling blessed and being blessed. Let me explain. I am feeling happily blessed today. I say “happily blessed” because while I am happy today, I believe that even on our less-than-happy days we are being blessed – though our blessings may go unnoticed or unrecognized. For me the word “blessed” connotes a divine quality that is part of God’s extravagant grace or favor toward His creation and creatures.
This also has been a good week here at our TSJ Headquarters. (Truth be told, it is a small “headquarters” but Solomon and SJ think it sounds very important.) Anyhow, we thought you would want to know we are celebrating Mr .John’s return to health. So in that regard we are feeling blessed (in a receptive state) while being blessed by God’s Love and your love and prayers.
And because there have been two celebrations of life for friends who have died this past week we are once again remembering to be grateful for just how special such blessings as good health, happy hearts, honest prayers and lots of love are here on Planet Earth. Loss does not feel like a blessing in most situations but at such times we are still being blessed.
This may all sound rather sweet and even fluffy to some. But I can’t help defending myself a bit. Why? Because while it is sweet indeed to be people-sheep (“peeps”) in God’s pastures and while we should always be grateful, we also know good health, happiness, prayer, and even love can be difficult to celebrate when they are severely challenged.
So I argue it is not “fluff” to talk about simple things like health, happiness and love. Especially if we are learning to celebrate them in tough times. I might add that what may seem like fluff on the surface is not necessarily so. For example,while sheep may look soft and fluffy (as in this picture of Solomon and SJ), 
wool is not very fluffy when it collects a lot of mud and dirt along the way!
Our human mental states are a bit like sheep wool. They can easily collect dark, unkind, fearful thoughts that weigh us down. In fact we can become overwhelmed, “burnt out” and even immobilized at times.
But God is in the stress. God is in the tough times, always waiting for us to recognize and accept the blessings that are freely given. I admit I struggled with that last week when I wrote to you about having flashbacks of fatigue and fears when John suddenly took ill (and it did not look like the flu at first.)
But the good news this week is that it is probable that the flu caused John’s cardiac irregularities. He is currently back to health and operating at full steam. We are following up as directed with a cardiology check up but the likelihood is high that he will be given a “clean bill of health.”
So, while John and I are thankful for our good news, we are mourning with our church families who have lost loved ones and with each other for losing our friends. The Good Shepherd specializes in healing all our wounds,He is the ultimate comforter in our times of loss and grief, and in pain and suffering. So we know the families will be watched over by God and the angels and comforted and encouraged by those who love them.
Meanwhile, knowing these men and attending their “celebrations of life services” was moving. Honestly, we all would do well to be so highly recommended for earth and for heaven as these two men – models of goodness and kindness – were to all. They were also fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, church leaders, husbands and friends and much more.
They have both left a legacy of faith, faithfulness and kindness along with laughter and lessons that we humans share on our earth journeys. They both had lived full lives and died within a few days of each other. We can only imagine what they said . . .after they heard God welcome them Home and they looked around … and saw each other. What a comforting thought.
May you feel many blessings this week and may you acknowledge and accept that we have a Shepherd always abundantly, extravagantly and faithfully loving and blessing us.
And may we find great comfort in surrendering our lives in the service of Love to the God who “. . . turns embryos into babies, who keeps planets revolving around the sun, who turns acorns into oak trees and makes flowers bloom.” (Marianne Williamson) Such is the Source of real happiness and inner peace.
So let us re-set our intention each day to be an extension of God’s love in this world. I do believe that it is in serving others with love that we most readily experience the God of all blessings.
Solomon smiles his approval. And he wants you to know his wool is fluffy and soft and he is proud of it. No bad attitudes or dirt collecting for him!
Good night!
.