Let Me Tell You One Thing

12/31/2017   Paula Day Johns Heaven Walks Away When night falls and the night sounds reach my ears, I listen with all my might anticipating a sound I fear. It is a sound that plucks the strings of my heart, A melody that is dark and foreboding about those that depart. Heaven walks away into the night song, All things bright are absorbed by the dirge. All that is left is the hole; Heaven walks away and I am left alone to purge.

Yesterday, December 23, 2017 I was in Cracker Barrel doing what I thought I would never be doing, having lunch alone in Cracker Barrel.   There was a table near me seated with about three people.   The waitress was clearly trying to connect with the customers at that table.   There was a woman who would laugh so loud and so inappropriately that all heads would turn.   Really?   Either she was mentally ill or else she was trying too hard to have a good time.   I rather believe it was the latter reason.   Just because it is Christmas, don’t interrupt people just to show that you can laugh and have Christmas whether anyone else wants to celebrate it with you or not.   Just laugh softly, connect with your waitress, you don’t have to show her that you are the comedian of the year.   Surely, you have more intimate friends that you can do those things with; o r not, there are a lot of sad people in this world that are very lonely. That is one perspective of what I saw.   Another is, pe

Vs3. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young-even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Vs4. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will still be praising You. Selah. Vs5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. Vs6. As they pass through the Valley of Baca.   They make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. Even the birds try to find the altar of God to lay their young.   The holy presence, even wildlife evidently can sense it.   Those who seek the Lord as the one thing pressing on their agenda, those will still be praising.   Still praising, after what?   I would imagine, those who seek the Lord will still be praising Him after the storm because they praised Him through the storm.   On the other hand, those who do not praise in the storm are quite battered after the storm passes over.   They are beaten, defeated, disillusioned, and disguste

Psalm 84 Devotions in Psalms October 8, 2015 How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts!   (Psalm 27:4 one thing I have desired of the Lord that I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.) Vs2. My soul longs, yes even faints for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (Psalm 42:1, 2 As the deer pants for the water brooks so pants my soul for You, O God.) One of the things that I think about is how dependent we are upon our desires to motivate us to do anything.   We cannot accomplish anything without a desire to do so.   When I read how this writer is penning how strong his desire is to be with the Lord, to behold His beauty and to want to be in the house of the Lord, and the related reference of the soul panting after the Lord, I think, now how does my desire line up with this passage? I begin by asking for a desire such as this da

October 6, 2015 I don't have too many moments of clarity.  I am usually chasing rabbits down a path to no where.  But ever so often, the bell will ring, the lights will come on, and the Hallelujah chorus will sing! Those are the moments when I stop, look into the face of God and say, " There really is a God!".  It is in those moments that the links connect, the dust bunnies leave, and the puzzle pieces actually fit! It can be about the smallest things, or it can be major decisions.  But Let Me Tell You One Thing, it is in those moments of clarity, that all darkness is illuminated, the questions are answered, and truth appears. How often do these times come?  Rarely. Sometimes it is a hit and miss attempt to know which direction to go with decisions in our life.  We try this way or that way, only to find it is not the way to go on a particular decision.  We often pay greatly for those times, reaping results from poor judgement and decisions. My husband, Clyde,

Devotion in  Psalm 80 A Prayer for Relief September 9, 2014 Asaph. A Psalm.   1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!   2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, Stir up Your strength, And come and save us!   3 Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!   This psalm is probably related to the captivity of the ten tribes aggravated by the contrast of former prosperity, a prayer for relief comes through this Psalm.    It is a call to the Lord of hosts to lead them, a call to restore them to a former time, a call for His countenance to shine on them, to give them His favor.   In verse one, the Lord of hosts leads Israel between the cherubim like a flock             (Psalm 77:20 You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.) In verse two, a reference to a time of Ephraim (a tribe), and a prayer that the Lord of hosts go back to the time He s

I have been thinking lately about why I incessantly use my bedside, tabletop humidifier.  I have been doing that for two years.  Even when I go out of town overnight, I drag the inconvenient thing with me.  I can't complain about it, I gave $20.00 for it at Walgreen about two years ago.  I really don't know what inspired me to buy one in the first place.  I have lived my entire existence without one so I know it is not vital for my survival.  I haven't given it much thought until recently.  I began to wonder, why am I using that stupid humidifier.  I mean every night, no matter how tired I am I go under my bathroom sink, get a 2 quart pitcher, fill it with water, fill the tank to the brim, wipe up the water I spill because I do it with one eye closed and half asleep, plug it in and usually wipe it down with a cloth to make sure there is no water on my bedside stand or on the unit itself.  But then I lie down in complete peace and usually sleep like the sweet baby I am.

Sheets have never been a particular topic that I cared to discuss with anyone.  I mean, sheets are sheets.  One sleeps on them, launders them, puts them on a mattress; they are just sheets, nothing more. I have begun to realize that even our sheets can become a complex matter if you are actually trying to shop for them.  I can remember a time when a sheet was sheet was a sheet.  You could buy them in colors, or you could buy them white.  I even remember a time when the fitted ones all came in twin, double, queen, or king sizes.  Sheets were not a major matter to contemplate.  It occurred to me as time went on, that the market place was filling up with sheets that only tried to confuse me.  I knew the size of my mattress, it was a queen sized one.  But then gradually shopping for new sheets became a thing of wonder.  I usually ended up going home and sleeping on the same old sheets even when I bought a new mattress because I was no longer sheet savvy.  Did I buy 200 thread count or