We can look around and see many marvels in creation, but, as a flower lover,  I think one of the most fabulous ones is the Soldenelle flower. (Scientific name Soldenella alpina.)  I have only seen pictures and read about it, but if I ever do see one I will salute it.

What looks like a little fragile flower turns into a picture of strength and determination. In order to survive, it performs several amazing acts. Growing on the cold mountainsides of European mountains is only the beginning. During the Soldenelle blooming season, the mountainsides are still  covered with patches of crusty snow laced with icy borders. By God’s design, when most of the ground is still unthawed, this flower finds its way through the most difficult conditions to grace the mountainside with a carpet of white to purple blooms.

If we were to back up six or seven months, we would see the  leaves of the Soldenelle plant spread out flat against the mountainside, absorbing every bit of the summer rays the sun would give them. This amazing plant then keeps this heat stored in its roots throughout the winter.

When spring comes and the earth begins to wake up, the Soldenelle knows its nap is over too. It’s time to sprout, and the warmth that’s been stored in its roots all winter moves upward, forming a small dome in the snow and ice. The head of the emerging sprout will fit perfectly into the protective dome. Amazingly, the sprout emerges unscathed and now the flower can start forming within the walls of the dome’s protection. Soon, large patches of flowers will claim their rights on the glimmering, white mountainside.

What an example of strength this little flower is as it faces life under these difficult conditions. Instead of looking to others that can often disappoint us,  we aught to look around us – at God’s creation for our inspiration. How many of these wondrous living things has He given us to inspire and encourage us – yet we barely notice? If something in God’s creation gives you special inspiration or encouragement, please share and let us all be blessed.

Whatever difficulty we are facing today – whether it be financial instability, relationship difficulties, unemployment, addictions, grief, health issues, or any number of obstacles – let’s remember what this little flower is trying to teach us. Let’s push forth with determination and be the best we can be. It could be that we just might become a blessing to someone else along the way – just as the flower is to those that gaze upon the Alps in spring.

 

First to address old business: Thanks to those that offered their input on last weeks blog. 100% of the three persons taking part said they would go to the hairdresser that charged $12.50 for a haircut and one of you guessed that I chose the same option. And I did. When I found the shop, it had a dual entryway – turn right and you entered the tattoo shop, turn left and you entered Eddie’s Hair Country. I was a bit nervous.  Although quite roomy, the business reminded me more of a barber shop than a salon – a place men probably wouldn’t mind coming to for a cheap haircut, but I wasn’t thinking I would recommend it to my girlfriends that frequented the $30.00 salons.  I hoped Eddie cleaned his tools between clients.  The first surprise I encountered was that the “lady with the raspy voice” was a man. Makes sense I suppose with a name like Eddie. I liked Eddie. I imagine he was close to 70 years old. When I asked, he filled me in on his hairdressing history. He  did hair in California for forty years and then moved back to the Black Hills where he grew up. His grandfather, a hairdresser as well,  was influential in encouraging Eddie to go into the same line of work. When I found out one of his grandfather’s clients was Elizabeth Taylor, I relaxed a bit. While Eddie clipped and cut, he threw out words like weight line, dry cut versa wet cut, wedge styles, etc. I began to think Eddie knew what he was talking about. To make a long story short – several $30.00 salon friends complimented me on my cute haircut. That takes care of it for me – I’ll be seeing more of Eddie.

Onto new business: This week I read a story I’d like to share. I have no idea who wrote it but it goes like this: A king went to his garden one morning only to find everything withered and dying. He asked the oak tree that stood near the gate what the trouble was. The oak said it was tired of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine tree. The pine was troubled because it could not bear grapes like the grapevine. The grapevine was determined to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and produce fruit as large as peaches. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac.

Everything in the garden was troubled until the king came upon a violet. The violet was bright and happy. The king said, “Violet, I’m glad to find one brave little flower in the midst of all this discouragement. You don’t seem to be the least disheartened.”

“No, I’m not,” said the violet. “I know I’m small, yet I thought if you wanted an oak or a pine or a peach tree or even a lilac, you would have planted one. Since I knew you wanted a violet, I’m determined to be the best little violet I can be.”

I liked this story because it says to me that some of us are oaks, some are pines, some are grapevines, some peaches, some geraniums, and some violets. But we can all make our mark in the world. Each one of us is special and designed for a purpose. Not one of us was created without a purpose. The violets of the world can make a difference in someone’s life, just as this violet did in the king’s life. This week let’s be a violet – determined to fulfill our purpose and to be comfortable in our own skin doing it.

Until next week, may God’s peace be with you.

Fear is one of the most powerful emotions and can often keep us from trying new things. I am going to relate a story that I believe a lot of women might relate to. Let’s make this fun and see what you would  have done if faced with the same choices I had this week.

Imagine that you just moved to a new town – you consider it too far to go back to your former hairdresser. You are on a quest to find a new one. You ask the neighborhood women ( of those whose hairstyles you like) where they go. You jot down some names and numbers. You take them home and start googling all the names on the piece of paper. The price for a haircut is anywhere from $10.00 – $12.00 more than you gave “back home” and you thought that was bad enough. You consider driving the two hours back home to your “old” hairdresser that does a good job and knows your hair.
On a whim, you decide to google “hairdressers in my area” and you find one that gives women’s haircuts for $12.50. This is $5.50 cents cheaper than even your former hairdresser charged, and half the price of any of the other shops around your current area. That almost seems too good to be true and even a little scary. Maybe a lot scary. But not scary enough you don’t call. A raspy polite voice answers. “Sure, we can get you in today.” Again – a little scary. You thought about driving by this shop, but it’s 10 miles up the road and you’ve got other engagements for the day. You run your hands through your shaggy do and sure wish you could get it cut. You make up some excuse so you can think about it for a few minutes.

Now, here’s the fun part. Choose from one of the three options and post your answer. Just say 1,2, or 3 if you like. And if you want you can guess what I chose. I will tell you next week. Here are your three choices:

1. Make an appointment with the neighbor’s recommended hairdresser and get in in two days for a $30.00 cut.
2. Call and make an appointment with your former hairdresser for four days out.
3. Call back the raspy voice and make an appointment to get in that afternoon for a $12.50 haircut.

Wishing you all a blessed week.

 

 

 

We have all heard the well known song, “Twelve Days of Christmas.” It’s been around since 1780 when it was first published in England.

The twelve days of Christmas have been celebrated in Europe since before the middle ages and each of the twelve days is a celebration honoring a saint. Day number 1 is Christmas Day and celebrates the birth of Jesus. The 12 days of Christmas concludes 12 days later on January 5th.

As tradition goes, on the 12th night, large parties were held throughout Europe. It was common practice that the roles of society were reversed on Twelfth Night, and the servants would be served by the rich folks. I know a little bit about how fun role reversal is as it reminds me of the time the doctors served us nurses a nice meal in celebration of Nurses Week. They not only served our meal, but they answered call lights so that every nurse could attend the meal. (I’m wondering if administration threatened them with their paychecks.)

Back in Europe, a twelfth night cake was baked and eaten at the start of the Twelfth Night. This cake was rich and made with eggs, butter, fruit, nuts, and spices. A dried pea or bean was cooked inside the cake and whoever found it was crowned the Lord (or Lady) for the night. This person would dress like a King or Queen and lead the celebrations. Bagpipes and other types of pipes provided music and games of various kinds were played. In many parts of the UK, people went wassailing on this night. Wassail was a drink made of mulled ale, curdled cream, roasted apples, eggs, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and sugar. It was served from huge bowls, sometimes holding up to 10 gallons of the drink. When toasted with this drink it signified a wish for a person’s well being or health. The custom of wassailing is seldom done today, but we still sing the song that starts out, “Here we come a-wassailing.” My preference would be, “Here we come an eggnogging.”

It has been a tradition in Europe to take the Christmas decorations down following Twelfth Night. I have European blood in my veins so think I will use that as an excuse to keep the tree up and the lights burning for a while longer.

Have you ever had the experience of not knowing anything about something, and then within a short period of time you are hearing about it everywhere? This happened to me this last week concerning the movie “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Whenever this sort of thing happens to me, I figure I should take notice, because maybe it’s God trying to get something through my thick head. The first encounter I had was through a newsletter I received from the Christian health share program I’m a member with. The second encounter came through a short reading I read in the free devotional magazine I use. And the third encounter came over the radio as I listened to a pastor on my way to church this morning.

The reason I knew very little about “A Charlie Brown Christmas” before this is because I have never watched it. And now, that I know what I know, I can’t believe I haven’t. The first time it aired was on December 9, 1965. I would have been 11 years old and you would think I would have liked a little cartoon about Christmas. I probably would have, except that it aired on CBS and in the remote area of Nebraska where I grew up – we only got one channel and it was not CBS. I doubt that I would have watched it anyway, because it aired at the same time as Bonanza, which was a weekly tradition in our house. As it turns out, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was the second most watched TV show that evening – second only to Bonanza. Forty five- forty nine percent of households (15 million homes) across the U.S. were tuned into CBS.

The making of the movie was done quickly after Coke-a-Cola called CBS and asked if they had a Christmas movie in the makings, because they wanted to sponsor it. CBS saw this as a good opportunity for them, and Coke-a-Cola was assured by CBS that there would be a Christmas movie for them to sponsor. Hurriedly, CBS contacted Charles Schulz and asked him to write a movie with his Peanut characters. By this time the Peanuts comic strip had become a world wide phenomenon.

CBS and Coke-a-Cola loved everything about the movie, except for when Linus reads the Christmas story from Luke  – and no less – out of the King James Version. They told Charles Schulz he would have to do away with this scene. “It’s too much religion,” they said. Mr. Schulz stood his ground and said “if we don’t tell them, who will?” He also told them if he couldn’t tell the Christmas story, they couldn’t use his characters. Because they were on a timeline and the movie had already been publicized in the TV guides, they had to go on with it. The TV producers were fully expecting it to be a disaster.

Now we know the rest of the story. On top of all the viewers that night, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” earned an Emmy and a Peabody Award.  As Charles Schulz accepted the Emmy he said, “Charlie Brown never wins anything, so thank-you very much.” And now for 50 years, the movie has been aired every year – usually twice a season. It has become a holiday tradition in many homes.

After familiarizing myself with everything I could find on the Internet about “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, I chastised myself that I had turned the TV off the evening I saw it coming on. I had chopped it up to a silly little animation program for children, and obviously, I had done this same thing for the last 50 years.

It struck me that maybe I had not missed the second showing of it. After some googling, I was pleased to find out that it will be shown again on Christmas Eve on ABC. It’s about time to start a new tradition, don’t you think?