Light, Love, Hope

I have never understood men’s fascination with bacon. Where I live it is an obsession with some. So much so, that we have a bacon fest each year. Restaurants gather and make some of the most, in my opinion, obnoxious combinations of foods with bacon. Who would want to ruin chocolate mixing it with bacon?

We all have family members that embarrass us from time to time. I have a family member that makes it his life calling to be embarrassing in public. This past mother’s day, I took my aunt, my cousin (her son) and his girlfriend for a nice Sunday brunch buffet/cruise on a local paddle wheel riverboat. There is a massive crowd that day and it takes us an hour just to get our tickets and on the boat. My cousin is in one of his “moods.” We sit down and he proclaims loudly. “I am not hungry!” He sits at the table watching the three of us eat grumbling and mumbling under his breath about this thing or that.

As the buffet winds down and most of the guest head out to the deck, the kitchen crew comes to clear off the buffet table. In steps my cousin. He walks up to the serving table as the servers are begging to put away the remains of the buffet and blurts out, “Gimme that bacon!”, and proceeds to fill a plate with bacon. He piles it at least six inches high. There has to be a good pound or two of bacon on his plate; nothing else. He comes back to the table and sits down to “munch.” The waiters begin to remove the plates from the table. There is alarmed look in my cousin’s eyes. Someone is going to take his bacon. There will be none of that! He loudly blurts out, “Don’t touch my bacon! Don’t anyone dare touch my bacon! It’s my bacon!” By now the entire ship knows it is his bacon.

Me? I just want to crawl into a hole and hide.

Perhaps if I wasn’t so afraid that I wasn’t good enough. Perhaps if I wasn’t so self-conscious about how I look to others. Perhaps if I could see what others say they see in me, I would not be and feel so alone.

Perhaps I should look inside of myself and take God’s hand. Perhaps I could help spread a little love to others that feel like me. Perhaps I could share a bit of kindness to those that feel as lost as I do. Perhaps I can make a difference by spreading God’s love.

Perhaps if I give a little kindness, those that receive it will spread a little bit of kindness of their own. Perhaps that will spread even further and become a flood of people giving a little of God’s love. Perhaps that is what this world needs; more giving of God’s love.

Though you are not here, though you may be far away, I hear you whisper my name during my deepest times of trouble. That whisper brings me comfort when I feel sorrow. That soft voice touches my heart. It brings warm to my soul. Though just a whisper, the words dance upon a melody that resonates within my heart.

Just a word or a single phrase of a whisper can turn help turn an inner gloom into the hope of daylight. To whisper in the ear of those in our heart, “I love you” will touch them with the power of love that they won’t forget. It will be a memory that stays in their soul to be treasured across time.

Yes. A simple little whisper has that kind of power. Touch someone that means the world to you with a little whisper.

For someone in my profession, “crash” has a special meaning; someone is having an anxiety attack because they can’t get on Facebook. It may not always be like that, but when your computer suffers a “crash” it can be a trying experience. I have spent many an hour helping out those that I know, and some that I don’t, recover use of their computer and saved files.

It is very important today to setup your computer with a system to back up all of your data. On my home computer, I use a great program that is easy to use called Acronis True Image. I have an external hard drive that I use that backup feature in Acronis to backup my entire pc every night. I even have a special backup that handles my email. It is a reasonably priced setup to guarantee that you won’t lose those files that are important to you.

I do get a special bit of joy in helping people with these types of problems. I tell them not to feel bad when things like this happen because it is a normal occurrence and can be fixed. So it you are not backing up your computer, consider setting something up so that you can be back up and running in no time.

I sit alone in silence. There is no one to listen, to hear, what my heart needs to speak. The silence surrounds me; wrapping me in a blanket of insecurity. These feelings running through my head and heart need to escape but there is only the silence of my room. I slump on the couch trying to fight the great weight that I feel upon me. I gasp as if the breath is being forced from me. I look around. I am alone in silence.

I reach out my hand and utter a little cry. When all seems lost I begin to talk to the silence; to let out my heart and soul. I let all the feelings that I have buried inside me come out though there are no ears to hear my troubles; just the silence.

But in this silence there is solace for I know that God is there for me. He is listening to me; even if no one else is there for me. He reaches out to my heart and lifts me up. He gives me hope for a new day, a new week, a new year, a new lifetime. Though I may live in silence, he is always there for me just as he is for you.

Have you ever thought about what brings joy to your heart? For me it can be a number of things. The smile of a special little girl who is surprised with the gift of a horse figurine she wanted. The sound of a teenager’s squeal when she realizes she has tickets to see her favorite band.

For me it’s about giving. It’s about offering someone a chance to realize that they are thought of and special.

Lately I have been experiencing quite a period uncertainty and sadness. To help myself try to crawl out of this, I opened up the Jim Brickman Holiday channel on Pandora the other day. The first song that came on was one of my favorites that always fills my heart with joy; Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song.” It did the trick. I knew that this was God saying to me that things would be alright.

So when you are feeling down. Take a step back and think of something that brings you joy and do it. Let it warm your heart and bring a smile to your face. Even if it may be for just a short moment.