Tag: positive thoughts

Truly Thankful

Give Thanks in ALL Circumstances

January 21, 2022

Truly Thankful

(Note: This post was written December 11, 2021 while I was in whomever-banned-my-computer-operating-system-from-the-internet limbo.) 

I am thankful for grace today. 

Louis was at a standstill in interstate traffic yesterday waiting to turn off on our exit and glanced up in his rearview mirror to see a white car racing toward him without slowing down.  He twisted the wheel to avoid hitting the cars in front of him and accelerated to lessen the impact – and our car is still crushed so bad the back doesn’t exist anymore.  All of the doors were so damaged he had to climb out the window and even his driver’s seat is broken.  No airbags deployed though, our $5,000 worth of rebuilt engine we did four months ago is still in great condition.  Car starts, engine runs, no fluid leaks, but without a working rear axle, that sweet engine is meaningless. 

I’m just happy Louis looked up and turned the wheel.  Without it, he would have been crushed between the stopped cars in front of him and the vehicle that hadn’t noticed everyone else was stopped.

Thank you, Jesus, for his being alert. 

I am beyond-words thankful that my husband is still alive. 

I picked him up at the gas station while he was on the phone with the insurance.  She said after listening to his description of the crash, “I’m so glad you are here and able to talk to me now.”  He said he thought he was going to die but refused to just sit there and watch the car kill him without trying to do something. 

Sometimes life flashes before your eyes.  It was December 10, 2021 – my Daddy died on that day three years ago.  Three years ago in the middle of work my mom called and I left to meet her at the hospital, but my Daddy was already gone.  Without his being alert, December 10th could have been also the day I lost Louis.  That thought was bizarre. 

Logically, since he had called and said he was okay, would be busy calling 911 for the lady behind him, and would later need me to pick him up, I told my boss he was in an accident and I’d need to leave to pick him up.  Christina was almost at the gym.  Plan was she could cover for me. 

I tend to look at things logically.  Cars and things can be replaced but people cannot.  I could be mad about it, but that doesn’t do any good.  Instead, I’ll choose to look at the positive.  We’re here.  Louis is still doing life with us.  We have a temporary fix to our down to two cars with five people working issue.  And Monday we move…

Thank you, Jesus, for deciding December 10, 2021 wasn’t Louis’ time to go home.

Thank you for reading,

Type at you next time!

~Nancy Tart

Wimpy Atlas

Ever feel like everything in the world is raining down on your shoulders and you can’t keep anything up? That was today…

December 20, 2018

Wimpy Atlas

Am I the only one who feels like Atlas with wimpy shoulders sometimes?

Yesterday was a good example:

I got up at 5:30am to work, the guy cancels as I’m just on the road.  Bummer.

Get back home, waste of a half-hour prep and 20 minutes gas and time, but I try to stay positive.  My breathing flared up; can’t lay down to go back to sleep.  Grrrrr… hot tea and honey while I work on my character cards for the 6th in The Devonians – 26 characters in this one because it is set during a community planting season.

I write a program for translating ages – this will make future work easier.   I had my tea.  I hoped I would avoid having to take the allergy pill (discovered a natural antihistamine as I’m allergic to both Benadryl and the emergency inhaler I was supposed to be taking 4 times a day, but I still prefer not to take anything).   I pick up the second ride.  I’ve now made $20.

I chose not to dwell on sad things pinging around the back of my brain.

But when I got home about 11, I was starved.  I made my Shakeology because Louis wasn’t hungry (the kids had already eaten, and I wasn’t going to make a whole breakfast just for me).  Louis took the next call so I could finish eating.  I gathered all my stuff into neat little piles so I could use my tools to guide my story.  Christina needed help on an Algebra problem so I set my Shakeology cup down.

But… (that word NOT in the positive this time!)

As I finished with Christina’s problem *BAM* I turned and knocked the full Shakeology cup over ($3.50 meal – I hate waste)!   *SPLASH* the broken blinds, the window, the lamp, the wall, EVERY ONE of my 26 cards, my hand-written “cheat sheet” I’d created almost a year ago for the Devonians families, and the floor are covered in goo.  Imagine slightly soupy pudding – that’s the consistency of Shakeology + coffee.

Immediately, as quickly as the drops of fluid, everything negative that I was trying to hold back rained down on my brain.

The evening before, Mom got Daddy’s ashes… all that’s left of his body is in two boxes on her table.

Didn’t get to stop by Mom’s on the way home (*thoughts* you are a horrible daughter.)

Didn’t get to snuggle on the couch with Lucas because I was cleaning while he fell asleep (horrible mom.)

Didn’t get to fix my pie or anything to take to the party (horrible guest.)

I had to drive in the morning but only had two calls & the would-be big one canceled (horrible provider.)

Lucas wanted me to play trains… I was busy teaching (again, you never play with him!)

…and on and on and on… my brain just rained down things I wished I could have done differently, things I wanted to do but hadn’t, and things I should have done.

I felt like the world was falling on my shoulders and squishing me flat.

Now I was hungry, it was noon, and the very next call was “make some rice for lunch” because we had one pound of beef in the freezer and “stir-fry would be good.”  All I wanted was to type my frustrations out and make another Shakeology to actually eat.  I wanted to get to my vitamin shake before I went to work at 2. (I was leaving early to stop by my mom’s today!)

I read somewhere that a mother is the Chief Mood Officer in her home.  When I start getting lost in emotion, I remind myself of that.  I turned on Christmas music, started cleaning so I could start rice, and prayed I’d be able to pull my own mood up (and keep the house from growing dark).  My siblings’ party is tomorrow.  I can choose to shift my focus on the positive.  Hopefully it works!

*By the way* I didn’t get my shake until I was on the way to work, my mom wasn’t home when I got to her house, and on… BUT I was working playroom so had brought my Devonians folder and was able to use the 40 “lost” minutes to recreate some of the destroyed cards.  I forced myself to focus on the positive again… this week has been a constant challenge for me.  God.  God is totally in control. (I just need to lean on Him – His shoulders are not weak.)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Danger in Daylight

February 19, 2018

Danger in Daylight

I like to notice things, but sometimes, especially when I’m watching something more important (taking Lucas to the potty) I miss big things.

Today we went to a local park to meet some friends and enjoy the afternoon.

We had been there about an hour or so when the girls finished with their kites and skates and Lucas was purposefully tumbling on his swing-car which led Mom to decide it was time to put some things away.  Jillian and I took my computer, the swing-car, the  kites, and the skates back to the van and put them away.  I answered a text.   3:42pm.

20180219_160624.jpg

We went back to play on the swings.  (Here, Christina, Anastasia, and Lucas all can fit on one swing!)

Less than ten minutes later our friends drove up.  This mom would notice a couple parked next to her and think they looked out of place because they were staring. (Most moms are used to people staring at them because of silly things like Child A has no shoes and you make them stop in the van and put them on, Child B brought his temporary pet lizard and you toss a prayer of thanks that it didn’t escape in the van, or Child C is crying because someone else got out of the van first.  It’s life.)  She didn’t think much of it then.

A Frozen Treat Vendor showed up.  He blocked the view to the cars with his open air vehicle.  I wondered how he could keep treats frozen with no shades and open windows in front and back; but then upright freezers don’t allow heat to escape too quickly.  Lucas needing to potty interrupted my thoughts.  Several other families were playing in the playground too.  Our kids were running around together.  We mothers periodically were having panic attacks as our toddlers would disappear from sight behind a large slide.

When I walked back, there was a small crowd of people behind the Treat Vendor’s jalopy.  They weren’t buying ice cream or whatever he was selling.  They were on their phones.  My friend asks, “have you seen my baby?” (aka toddler super silent slipper-awayer) so we looked for him.  I walked around the Treat Vendor.  No baby, but three busted vehicle windows.  Panic about the baby surged inside – we had to find him!   I hear “I found him!” and then find out what’s going on at the cars.  It seems a black vehicle with a couple in the front and a younger man in the back stopped behind two vehicles, slipped between them, busted the windows, and grabbed bookbags and purses.  They attacked three vehicles and fled.  The police showed and filed their report.  We started canceling cards and the other things adults do when they lose a wallet.

Christina’s bookbag didn’t have anything they wanted, unless they plan on selling a college history book and biology lab book – new that’s $385 but used less than $100 for both.  What it did have were irreplaceable sentimental items: her Bible, her current journal, her “Faith Book” (a Sunday School project that she’s carried around for a few years with written prayers and answers), various Civil Air Patrol memorabilia with special personal meaning.  They took her ID, library card, and 2 months of college notes (the whole semester, they had just come from school) too, but we can replace those.  She bought that backpack years ago on sale but know the reason they took it was because they watched her walk to the car and put it up (full retail would have been $65 new).  They had taken two expensive purses from other cars.  It was her camel-back (holds 1 liter of water) backpack for CAP that she spent many hours working to earn money for.

We looked in the garbage bins hoping maybe they threw it away.  We looked all along the road.  Since they have her ID, I keep praying they will drop the unwanted stuff at our door instead of toss it away.  We WANT her Bible, journals, Faith book, and two 10-cent notebooks with two months of class notes!  That is what we can’t replace.

I have to look for the good: No one was hurt (doesn’t count our cut fingers and booties cleaning glass and driving home in it), they emptied my bank account at two locations with heavy surveillance which may help catch them, I didn’t have “hidden stash cash” in my wallet like I used to carry, they left the little girls’ schoolbook bag even though it was a second hand computer bag, we enjoyed some fun company, Christina has a second camel-back backpack for CAP, and God has this situation in hand.

That’s my “deep breath” to calm.  Writing (typing) calms me.  Despite the huge earthly probability that it won’t happen; we’re still praying and believing that Christina can get her Bible, journals, and faith book back.  Please believe with us.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

“But”

The mood-changing power of one single word.

July 20, 2017

“But”

A lot can be carried in that small word.  It changes the tone of an entire speech, reading, paragraph, or statement.  I find a lot of “but” clauses.  

For instance:  ”Mom, everything is great, BUT…”

“We don’t need anything from the store, BUT…”

“It was such a horrible day, BUT…”

“I will protect you and your people as I did for your father, David.  BUT…”

The last was snipped from I Kings.  Solomon has built the temple, asked for wisdom from God, honored the friends of his father, promised to serve God just like David, built a giant palace for himself (Which was not built to be greater than God’s temple; where the temple has gold, the palace has brass; where the temple has olive wood, the palace had cedar.  He gave the best to God.), and spent two chapters praising God, promising the people he would be true to God, sacrificing to God, dedicating the temple, and feasting with the people in honor of God’s mercy and provision.  God replies with (paraphrased) “Thank you for your praises and true heart, I will protect you and your people if you keep your heart toward me as your father did.” 

The very next chapter starts with “BUT…” 

Because of what is after that one word – the fact that Solomon loved women of lands God warned the Israelites not to take wives from lest they turn the peoples’ hearts from God (they worshipped idols) begins his decline from favor.  

Because Solomon allowed a negative “but” (literally about 300) into his life, he opened a door for idolatry to his people (he built temples for his wives’ idols) and ended up leading his people away from God.

That is a great lesson for all of us.  Despite all the good he did, when he allowed negative “buts” into his life, he lost what he had earned.  God didn’t instantly smite him down – I think God was waiting and hoping he would come back.  God wants all his children to love him, but He won’t make them; He wants relationships, not robots.

We need to insert positive “buts” in our lives.  

Like these:  

”This day is not going well, but I can change that!”  

”I’m really irritated at so-and-so, but I can forgive them.”  

”I’m not the person I want to be, but I can change that!”  

”I’m not really noticed here, but I can do my job well.”

Putting positive “buts” in our negative statements helps us to change our normal, hard-on-ourselves thinking and give us a tool to change our perception.  Sure, this is life and not everything is always going to go our way, but we can analyze the problem and find a way to fix it!  

Try it; the next time a negative thought starts to come in your head or across your lips, add a “but” and think of something positive that can offset or fix the negative.  

It helps!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

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