JsueChat

I'm back. It's been too long and, frankly, I have been lazy. I define "lazy" as not doing what you know you should when you know you should. So, with apologies and humility, I have returned. Update: I am now 11 years into retirement and am feeling pretty good about my use of this flexible time I earned. At least it feels well spent. I'm growing in my skills and dealing with many new challenges every day. It's a great time to be alive even though the society we live in abounds with naysayers, fault-finders and, frankly, a negative stream of complaining and whining like I've never seen before. I believe one of the great gifts God gave to His creation is adaptability. And to prove it to us, He allows challenges and obstacles in our paths so we may grow, learn and improve. There is purpose in our "being". Since retirement I have written and arranged 20+ songs I've discovered I love textile...

Isn't this a peaceful setting where I can read, reflect, and restore? Yep. That's what Jesus said. He first said, "Peace I give to you." and then he stated it again but added the "My". This morning I was reading the book teaching on the 23rd Psalm. It is written by a man who used to be a shepherd. We were looking at the phrase "you annoint my head with oil." Now, it is allergy season here and my eyes are itchy, my nose is twitchy and sometimes I want to scratch my skin off. So, as the writer began to tell about fly season for the sheep I completely understood the torment of flies and parasites. Apparently sheep can get these nasty little critters so bad they even get in through their noses into their brains and drives them absolutely crazy. They'll run and rub and itch to the point where they'll bash into anything they think will remove the irritation. Sometimes this will result in even killing themselves. It must be aw...

Conductor in an orchestra rehearsal. Found this photo on Flickr by  Jorge Franganillo We just had a retreat this weekend where we worked on music for our Christmas presentation. It may be corny but I always seem to notice the parallels in my life experience to what God's word teaches. As we worked together to learn the music we were nearing the close of our efforts Saturday afternoon. We were completely running through all the music that we had worked on. And, of course, watching the director brought us to the end together. But there was one piece in particular where our horns were lagging, the choir was churning out the notes, and I bet we had about four different tempos going on. As I watched our director increase the size of his pattern, move to get our attention and energize his efforts to make us all realize ... we are out of synch! We were not together! WATCH ME! He didn't say a word but I thought what a fantastic picture of the body of Christ. Without a wor...

So I'm taking the plunge into the social world of bloggers. Why? Because I’m a chatty, social person who would like to say something. First, all the opinions and comments in this blog are completely mine. They come from my own thoughts and I want to make it perfectly clear that they are my opinions and should not reflect upon my employer, my family or any of my affiliates. I know these people cannot dissociate from me. I hope my posts will prove to be a source of good feelings about their association with me. If not, please see the intent is to be kind, gracious, honest and well-mannered. That said - who am I anyway? and what do I plan to say here? Second question first: I have no idea what I will end up saying on this blog. I hope it will be worth reading, sometimes funny, sometimes sad and offer a little wisdom. Mostly I plan to share experiences, recipes, opinions, and, with a little luck, they will add to the life of anyone who reads this. Who am I? Janet Sue as a ...