
What a Challenge!

What a Challenge!
My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.


Gloriously colorful, geometric shapes everywhere!







2. The ongoing belief that our bodies know how to be well and are always trying to move toward wellness.
3. Colorful carrots!


I made a delicious new dish, Maple Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Fennel Seeds, with some of them.

4. Our “Travel Buddies.” Have I told you about them? Three silly little stuffed animals HR and I have given each other over the years. But they travel with us EVERYWHERE we go.


I’ll do a blog post about some of their adventures soon.
5. Friday!

Joyful weekend ahead for you!
I love this hymn we sang at church this week, as the theme of the service was celebrating our nation’s independence holiday.
It challenges the belief that the United States is “God’s country,” that the USA is more special and deserving of good than other nations.
Take a look at the lyrics, with my emphasis in red:
This Is My Song
by Georgia Elma Harkness, Jean Sibelius, and Lloyd Stone
Verse 1
This is my song O God of all the nations
A song of peace for lands afar and mine
This is my home the country where my heart is
Here are my hopes my dreams my holy shrine
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine
Verse 2
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine
But other lands have sunlight too and clover
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine
O hear my song Thou God of all nations
A song of peace for their land and for mine
Verse 3
This is my prayer O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms
Thy kingdom come on earth Thy will be done
Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve Him
And hearts united learn to live as one
O hear my prayer Thou God of all nations
Myself I give Thee let Thy will be done
God bless … the World and all its Nations.

A funny, slightly irreverent and heartwarmingly truthful look at the various ways of seeing who Jesus “was” …

There are 3 good arguments that Jesus was BLACK:
1. He called everyone brother
2. He liked Gospel
3. He didn’t get a fair trial
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was JEWISH:
1. He went into His Father’s business
2. He lived at home until he was 33
3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin and his Mother was sure He was God
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was ITALIAN:
1. He talked with His hands
2. He had wine with His meals
3. He used olive oil
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a CALIFORNIAN:
1. He never cut His hair
2. He walked around barefoot all the time
3. He started a new religion
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was an AMERICAN INDIAN:
1. He was at peace with nature
2. He ate a lot of fish
3. He talked about the Great Spirit
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was IRISH:
1. He never got married.
2. He was always telling stories.
3. He loved green pastures.
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was MEXICAN:
1. He treated his mama like she was a saint.
2. He always wore llantas and a serape.
3. He was a carpenter who could fix anything.
But the most compelling evidence of all – 3 proofs that Jesus was a WOMAN:
1. He fed a crowd at a moment’s notice when there was virtually no food
2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn’t get it
3. And even when He was dead, He had to get up because there was still work to do.
(Robert found this somewhere on the internet but couldn’t remember where.)

Walking down an alley near me here in Savannah this morning, I came across this …

It struck me, immediately, as beautiful.


Marveling this morn, thinking back on the church Robert and I walked past on a walk near our Airbnb in the Riverside neighborhood of Jacksonville over the weekend.

It’s Romanesque and Byzantine architecture first caught our eyes. But then the large sign out front sparkled in joyfully inclusive welcome.

Look closer …


Thank you, Riverside. You are a Marvel.


Yes!
Here’s the article …
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/sport/taghi-askar-100-year-old-diver-spt-intl?cid=ios_app



May your Holiday 2023 be filled with an Abundance of All Things you consider Good.

LOTSA LOVE, NEAL & HR

One more selfie …

(Robert always takes the selfies because I invariably drop the phone.)