December 10: Writing Prompt #344-Unexpected

Unexpectedly, you lose your job. (Or a loved one. Or something or someone important to you.) What do you do next?

First, I would allow myself to grieve and accept the reality of what or who was lost in that particular moment of time.  Next, I would reflect and reevaluate.  Reflect upon what just happened and its future effect on my family’s lives as well as my own. Then, reevaluate where to go next and how to best handle the changes my new reality will bring. Finally, I rejoice in the good that can come from what or who was and is and move forward with peace and joy in the life that once was and will soon be!   

December 9: Writing Prompt #343-Out of Your Reach

Was there a toy or thing you always wanted as a child, during the holidays or on your birthday, but never received? Tell us about it.

Actually, I was fairly spoiled as a child. I don’t know of anything that I always wanted that I never actually received. I did ask for a car and ONLY a car on my 16^th birthday, and I did NOT get it, at least not on my birthday, but it’s because I was being a brat about it and didn’t deserve it anyway, even later.  J  It was the only time I remember being such a spoiled brat as a child. Lol…not really.  But, I was very lucky to have parents who showered me with not only presents, but also love, guidance, shelter, food, a college education, and more than everything I needed at any given moment in my life (and they still go above and beyond today to help in any way they can or that we may need)!  Thank you, mom and dad, for making sure nothing was out of my reach and helping me achieve my goals in life through your own sacrifices for our family. 

December 8: Writing Prompt #342-A Source of Anxiety

Write about a noise — or even a silence — that won’t go away. (We’ll let you interpret this in different ways...)

The Silence that Remains…

There is the silence of things undone.

The stillness of a moment between two when the words in your head remain there.

There is the silence of prayer when contemplating what to say to the Creator of the Universe and the accompanying quiet listening for the answers often unheard. 

There is even a silence in the written word when writing back may cause more pain than good.

The silence of all the things left undone presents itself in the form of dissatisfaction in the strangest moments and reminds me of the dreams left unsought after.

This stillness of life’s unlived moments hangs heavy in the air like a wet blanket on a clothesline in the rain. 

The stillness of death sends me running for a breath of fresh air and to seek out that former noise and light of life in nature and the stars of the night sky.

And in the end, this is the silence, the stillness, that remains, even on my own future deathbed, the silence of friendships unattended to, risks not taken, love not given, and words left unspoken. 

December 7: Writing Prompt #341-What’s Your Learning Style?

What’s your learning style? Do you prefer learning in a group and in an interactive setting? Or one-on-one? Do you retain information best through lectures, or visuals, or simply by reading books?

The short answer: Group OR one-on-one, interactive, visuals, reading, and discussing print. Honestly, I learn best though multiple learning styles. Each different style reinforces the material and helps it “sink in,” so to speak. J  I love the idea that we don’t all learn the same way.  I know it sounds a bit odd, but that’s what made me fall in love with teaching, trying to figure out how to help someone else learn. I realized early on that not everyone would be able to learn the material simply by reading or studying it independently as an assignment. I started to research ways to present the information in multiple different fashions including visuals, various multi-media, and even partner or small group work.  I enjoy the excitement that comes when a student who has been struggling with a particular subject or concept is able to “get it” simply because the material was presented in a new or different way! I could go to school to discuss concepts and ideas my whole life and never wish for any other profession. Unfortunately (or I should say fortunately), life took me down a slightly varied path from this “college professor” dream of mine. Instead, it brought me to looking after “little ones” and their teachers and mentors.  So, now I clap with children as they pull up for the first time or scoop them up to hug them when they experience fear about their new found independence. I make up new counting games for them simply because counting makes them happy, and I dance with them to their favorite songs.  I laugh with the teachers as they relay their daily stories about the funny things the students in their care said to them, and I rejoice with them as they get excited over the newest accomplishment the toddler in their classroom has achieved that very minute. Most of all, I learn from my students, my colleagues, the children’s teachers, and the children themselves more than through any other method. So, what’s my learning style?? I learn by teaching! J   

December 6: Writing Prompt #340-Fifteen Minutes

You have 15 minutes to address the whole world live (on television or radio — choose your format). What would you say?

Radio: And Paul said, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But when there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: Faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13. 

No other words I know could better address the problems of the world today.  We have forgotten what real love is and how it should act.  If we could live and love today with even a fraction of the type of love Paul was describing and that Jesus showed us when he walked the earth, we’d understand its full potential and power to change us and make us the best we can be. 

I’m certainly not a wise woman or a prophet, and I don’t even come close to comparing to Jesus or any of his disciples who gave up everything just to walk with him for a few years, but I do know that love is the answer for it all.  When all else is taken away from us, when all else falls down around us, love will stand.  I challenge all the individuals of the world to try love, respond to challenges with love, greet life each morning with love, and go to bed each night with love in your heart.  Practicing patience, kindness, respect, selflessness, protecting others, rejoicing with truth, trusting, hoping, and persevering….that’s where our minds and hearts need to go first, no matter the situation. Even if you don’t believe in God or religion and have never read the Bible, you can’t disagree with the good being more patient and kind can bring. 

So, in this New Year, let’s practice love and see what it can do.  Thank you for listening and may love change you this year.