1. 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' What's something you've seen recently that you thought was beautiful?
Aside from my man’s bea-u-tiful eyes, I would have to say the Texas wildflowers! I love all of the colors and how they dance in the breeze - though that dancing does make it a challenge to photograph them!
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| ©2017 Suzanne G. McClendon |
2. Our culture and beauty...your thoughts?
I believe that our culture, and society in general, puts too much emphasis on physical attributes. People should not be made to feel like they are the scum of the earth based on how they look. It is the beauty inside that counts in the end. Having a beautiful soul is far more valuable than having a beautiful body.
3. Age before beauty, beauty queen, beauty mark, beauty sleep...which beauty-ful phrase resonates with you today? Why?
None of them really resonate with me, but I will choose age before beauty. I think that people should more often stop and pay attention to the beauty of the old around them. I am speaking mainly of the elderly people in our lives and sadly abandoned and forgotten in the nursing homes, but also of architecture. People and buildings shouldn’t be destroyed just because they are old. This whole move toward euthanasia is quite troubling to me.
alligators, coyotes, black bears, birds (but pigeons in particular), sharks, bats, bed bugs, rats, rattlesnakes, and the black widow spider.
Which 'beast' on the list scares you the most? What is the liklihood of you having an actual encounter with that particular beast? Did a movie contribute to your fear of this creature? Have you ever had a real-life encounter with any of the animals listed?
Rats are the ones on that list that scare me the most. Evidently they CAN really come up through the sewers into one’s toilet! I found an animal control website the other day talking about it. I thought that only happened in horror movies, but nope; it’s real. That is scary.
Thanks to Alfred Hitchcock, birds make me nervous, but they do not scare me unless they are swarming. Then, they don’t scare me so much as make me wonder what they are up to and if I need to seek cover.
I have encountered thousands of alligators in my lifetime and almost stepped into the mouth of one once at Brazos Bend State Park. I was paying attention to one of the zillions out in the lake and missed the one right on the edge of the water. I was looking for a shot at an alligator with its mouth wide open, but I wasn’t looking to be inside that mouth!
Spiders…I used to have David put them outside. I didn’t want to squish them. But, once they started biting me, I decided that it was game on. If they are inside the house and I see them, they are goners. We get some pretty big ones in here sometimes. I let David squish those, but the rest I can handle. Did you know that there are tarantulas in Texas? I think I’ll have a heart attack if I see one of those in the house! But, maybe the heart attack will wait until I get its picture. :)
This beauty was in our backyard the other day, hanging out by the tomato plant cuttings that I’m trying to sprout.
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| ©26 March 2017 Suzanne G. McClendon |
5. Where were you when you last heard a bell ring? Was it alarming or musical?
A real bell? I don’t know. Tonight, I heard the bell at the railroad crossing, so I guess that is about as close as I can get for now. It was meant as an alarm, but I think they can be kind of musical, too. We love trains.
6. What's your favorite carb? How's that for random?
Hmmm all of them are trying to race to the front of the line, “Pick me! Pick me!” I love bread and potatoes! If there were no other foods available to me, I think I’d still feel rich if I had potatoes and bread to eat.
7. Let's wrap up another month of Hodgepodging and life with an acrostic. Recap your month using the word MARCH.
I’m sorry. I can’t think of anything to put here.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
2 Timothy 1:7 KJV
Dear Heavenly Father,
Please take away this fear and give me the strength to endure the weeks ahead and what they hold for me. Please help me to feel your love. Please calm the thoughts that are racing through my head and bring me peace.
In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.
Please check out David's Wednesday Hodgepodge post, too. Thanks!
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Posts
It will all work out okay. The wildflower pictures are beautiful. I love you. Zing! Zing!
ReplyDeleteCan I have that in writing?
DeleteThank you.
I love you, too, my Zing.
The wildflowers are beautiful and so vibrant! If I came across a field like that, I probably could stay hours just watching the flowers sway in the wind. That spider is scary! I'd be so freaked out if we had spiders that size here in Minnesota. The largest one that we see is a Daddy Longlegs, but they're friendly spiders and don't bite. I agree with what you wrote about valuing older people. Unfortunately, that's true here as well that there are a lot of seniors who are forgotten once they start living at a nursing home. I hope that changes in the future.
ReplyDeleteThank you! We are blessed to have a church here in town that has a wildflower field. It is a small one, less than an acre, I think, but it is packed with flowers. It is the prettiest part of town this time of year. :)
DeleteThe spider in the picture is actually quite small. I just got lucky with my macro lens. :) It was maybe an inch, if that, from the end of one leg across to the end of the opposite leg. I took the red on it as a warning, though, and didn't pester it for too long. This one is way smaller than a Daddy Longlegs, at least as far as its legs go. Its actual body is probably bigger.
It will be nice if it ever changes in a good way for the elderly. I've been hearing some really bad things. One of the more western states is entertaining the idea of euthanasia. Supposedly, people will be able to have themselves put to sleep like people do to pets. However, in other countries, this has already been abused with people deciding just because someone is old and "going to die anyway" that it is okay to "put them to sleep" even against their wishes. I read a very sad story about an elderly lady where the shot giver had her relatives hold her down while they injected her, all the while her saying, "I don't want to die. I don't want to die." How could anyone, any human with a heart or any sort of conscience, hold a mother, grandma, aunt, or sister down and let someone kill them, with them begging to live? I just can't comprehend such depraved indifference. :(
This world sure needs prayers!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a blessed day.
Love that verse you shared from Timothy.
ReplyDeleteWe really enjoy trains too. We can't hear them from our house unless there's a storm coming. Something to do with air pressure I'm sure, but I don't understand it. :)
Thank you. That verse was given to me about 10 years ago when I was going through a very scary time. I named it. I claimed it. I prayed without ceasing all that weekend and came out of the other side with significantly less fear, pretty well free of it of all things that I had been afraid of, including bridges and that was doing something. :) Now, I am dealing with a big fear and trying to hold on to that verse. I know Heavenly Father honors His word. I don't doubt that for a moment, but this fear has a terrible hold on me right now. Both sides of the coin I've been given are fear-filled. Could you also please pray for me? I need all the help that I can get on this one. Thank you in advance.
DeleteHow odd that you can't hear the trains from your house unless a storm is coming. That is very interesting! It also sounds like a good research subject. :)
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a blessed day!
Beautiful pics of the flowers and even more beautiful is your closing to Hodgepodge. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Katie. It is a prayer that I need to pray without ceasing right now.
DeleteThanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a blessed week!
I hope to see those wildflowers in person someday in Texas. Bread and potatoes are two great choices of carbs that are yummy. I love your random prayers.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you'll be able to see them in person someday, too, Debby. :) Though sometimes they show up early, like this year, March is usually the best time of year to see a good many of them.
DeleteThank you. That verse and that prayer is very heavy on my mind right now. I am trying to ward off a major panic attack and it is getting more and more difficult to do so.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a blessed week!
Beautiful flowers! Oh, carbs! Where do I even start???
ReplyDeletePraying for you!
Thank you on all counts. :) I appreciate the prayers very much.
DeleteThanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a blessed week!
Ha-I feel the same in trying to answer the carb question : ) Recently I was in a crowded restaurant with my 80+ year old mother and the wait was lengthy. Two teens were among those waiting who had snagged a seat, but they never looked up from their devices to offer my mom their chair. Their mother did not tell them that would be a nice thing to do either. Made me a little bit sad.
ReplyDeleteIt never ceases to amaze me the total lack of respect out there in today's youth and, apparently, in the mother of the teens you mentioned. David and I were both raised to give up any seat we had to an elder when they came along. The lack of respect and compassion make me sad, too.
DeleteThanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a blessed week!