Dreaming of a White Christmas

For as long as we can remember, we have all been dreaming of a white Christmas.  This feeling has been intensified by the popular song by Bing Crosby that we have grown up listening to.  Many of us have been experiencing unseasonable warm temperatures lately, making the chances of having the proverbial white Christmas very slim.  I have heard people talking about this and have even read posts that people have put on Facebook saying that the weather is not putting them in the Christmas mood.  We all find ourselves saying, “It will not feel like Christmas if there is no snow.”  

I have recently found myself thinking the same thing this year.  Then one morning on my way to school, I heard the song “White Christmas” and as I was driving and listening to the song, a thought occurred to me.  Do we really have to have snow on the ground in order to have a white Christmas?  I thought about the question for a moment and then decided that no, we did not need to have snow to have a white Christmas.  I started thinking about God and what He has called all of us to do during our time on this earth.  We all have a calling on our lives, and while each person’s calling may be different, we all, every single one of us, are called to make the world a better place and to help our fellowman.  

As I thought about this, I realized that when we fulfill our calling to make the world a better place and to help each other, we bring light to the world.  Then I thought to myself, “What color is the light?” and of course my answer was white.  In that moment, I realized that it is up to each of us whether we have a white Christmas or not.  We can choose to answer our calling and bring light to the world.  When we do, the world will be a better place and we will feel more positive about the world in which we live and the lives we are living. God’s love and His goodness is light and of course His light is the whitest of all, so if we have God’s love in our lives then we once again can have a white Christmas regardless of the weather.  

So, the next time you feel the urge to say that it will not seem like Christmas without snow, think of ways that you can bring light to the world.  Think of ways that you can spread the joy that God wants all of us to feel and think of ways that you can help your fellowman.  If you do that, then you most assuredly will have a white Christmas.  Spreading the light that God shines on all of us, seeing the world with positive eyes, and helping our fellowman will bring each of us peace and PEACE MATTERS.  

~Dan~

Living in Peace and Harmony

Christmas is time when we gather with our families and celebrate the season we look forward to all year long.  During the Christmas season, we try harder to find the time to spend with the people we love.  We set aside our differences, and we try our best to get along with each other so we can enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.  

There are many different kinds of families, and all of our families look different on the outside.  However, our families have one very important characteristic in common.  We love each other.  We all show our love for our families in different ways. How we choose to show our love for our families is not that important.  What is important is that we all know that we love each other, accept each other, and have each other’s best interest at heart.  

The holidays can be a stressful time for all of us, and sometimes that stress causes us to experience friction with people in our families.  We try hard to give everyone equal attention, but it seems that many times people feel slighted and feel that they did not get as much time as someone else.  When we feel like we are not getting what we need from someone, we often lash out at them.  When we do this the peace and harmony that we are supposed to feel at Christmas is overshadowed, and our gatherings become something that we dread instead of something that we look forward to.  

God has called all of us to accept each other.  Sure, there are things that others may do that irritate us, but we should always do our best to overlook one another’s faults.  Think about it like this.  We all have faults.  We all do and say things that we should not do or say, and God overlooks them and loves us anyway.  If God can do that for us, shouldn’t we do the same for the people we love?  Sometimes it is hard to do, but it can be done.  It can be done by letting go of the expectations that we all have.  We have to realize that the people we love are not perfect, but we have to accept them for their imperfections and love them anyway.  More times than not their behavior has nothing to do with us.  It has everything to do with how they feel about themselves.  If we can remember that, it will make it so much easier for us to overlook the little things that typically irritate us.  

The most important thing is that we all are able to be together and enjoy each others’ company.  We can do that even if we do not agree with each other 100 percent of the time.  When we choose to give people the benefit of the doubt, we have more peace in our lives.  When we refuse to believe that someone’s actions is a direct reflection on us, we can easily let things go.  When we accept people without trying to change them, it will be easier to get along with them.  Christmas is a time of joy and peace.  We all know that, and we all strive to make that happen.  Christmas should be a time that we enjoy gathering with our families.  It should not be something that we dread.  The only person we can control is ourselves, so if we go into a family gathering remembering that, it really will not matter what someone else does because we will still have peace.  Satan wants to destroy our peace all the time, but particularly at Christmas.  We all have to stand firm and be ready to fight off the urge to get angry or get our feelings hurt.  Living in peace in harmony is something we should strive to do every single day. 

When we have peace in our hearts and on our minds, we can withstand any irritation that may come our way, and when others see the peace we have, it will help them to have more peace in their lives.  Peace is the key to a happy family, and peace will help all of us enjoy each others’ company more than we ever have before.  So, when you gather with your family this year, have peace in your heart and on your mind, because PEACE MATTERS. 

~Dan~

Here are a few pictures of the people that I will be spending Christmas with this year.

Jeff

Peyton and Paycee

My parents, George and Darlene

Jeff's parents, Bob and Donna

My grandma, Ruth

My brother and sister-in-law, Andrew and Amy

My niece, Katie

My nephew, Jake

My niece, Tessa

Jeff's brother and sister-in-law, Greg and Stephanie and Jeff's nephew and niece, Gabe and Maura

Making the Good Outweigh the Bad

Christmas is such a special time for all of us.  We all have many fond memories of the Christmases of the past.  Although we may be stressed during the holiday season with the added pressures of shopping, baking, decorating, and 101 other important tasks, what remains in our memories when we reflect back on Christmases of the past is the wonderful time we shared with our family and friends.  As I was reflecting on the Christmases of my past, I realized that I, like everyone else, choose to remember the positive aspects of the season.  Then a thought occurred to me. If we can do that with Christmas, why can’t we do the same with all the other days of the year?  

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all could try a little harder to focus on the positive days in our lives and the positive experiences we have instead of allowing the negative days and negative experiences to drag us down?  Of course, we do learn from the difficult times in our lives.  We all go through valleys in life, but once we are through the valley, it is over.  We should never forget the lessons we learned, and we should never forget how thankful we are that the bad times are over, but we all need to try to live with a more positive outlook and try to focus on the positive side of our past.  After all, we all have positive memories to hold on to.  

So, let’s all try to do this.  Let’s remember the lessons we learned from the valleys of life.  Let’s continue to share with others what we learned in those valleys, but let’s not live in the negative past.  Really we should all live in the present more.  The present is a gift that we often take for granted.  Let’s choose to remember the good times in our lives.  Let’s choose to see the positive side of life, and let’s spend less time focusing on the negative.  

We all have the power to make the world a better place.  It is a process that starts within each of our hearts, and when we share that with others, it will spread like wildfire.  Maybe if we can all do that more, the positive side of this world will begin to outweigh the negative side more and more. 

Focusing on the positive aspects of life, doing good for others, and trying to make the world a better place will bring more peace to the world and PEACE MATTERS!

~Dan~

When Our Homes Reflect the Spirit of Christmas

Today I am sharing a few more pictures of our house decorated for Christmas.  I am posting pictures of the keeping room, which is a little sitting area we have off of our kitchen.  Jeff, Peyton, Paycee, and I spend most of our time in this area.  I am also sharing some pictures of the basement.  The basement is still a work in progress.  I am trying to make it have more of an early feel similar to the upstairs.  I am not there yet, but it is a fun process.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Also, if you have not read the post I did to honor Parker, please read it.  It is called “The Gift of Life” and it will appear below this post if you continue to scroll down.  I am hopeful that as many people who can will donate to their local animal shelters, so I would really appreciate it if you would read it and share it with anyone you know who has a love of animals.

As you prepare for the upcoming Christmas Season, remember the true reason we celebrate Christmas. If we do that, we will all have a little more peace, and PEACE MATTERS!  

~Dan~

The Gift of Life

On Thursday, December 7, 2006 Jeff and I became parents.  We did not become parents in the traditional way, but we became parents nonetheless.  We became parents to a sweet little girl, who we named Parker McKenzie Weaver-White.  Parker was a gray Miniature Schnauzer who would change our lives.  In the months leading up to us adopting Parker, Jeff and I had been seriously contemplating becoming parents in the traditional way.  We had been together for four years.  At the time that we were discussing our future as parents, I was 34 and Jeff was 32.  We felt as if we were the right age to have children.  We were secure in our relationship.  We had good jobs with no fear of losing them and we had love.  We knew that there were children who could benefit from the environment that we could provide for them, but the more we talked about it the more it just did not seem right for us.  We knew we had love to give, but we really did not want to make the lifelong commitment that comes with raising a child. So, we decided that having children was not right for us.  

I have to say that once we decided that children were not in our future, I was relieved, but I was sad at the same time.  I felt there had to be a way that we could share the love that we knew we possessed, but I really could not figure out what we should do.  The morning that the idea of Parker was born, I was driving to school.  I came to a stoplight, and as I was sitting there these words enter my mind as clearly as anything I had ever heard.  The words were, “You may not be able to have children, but you can have dogs.”  At the time, I thought it was my own idea and my own thoughts echoing in my head, but as the years have gone by and I have developed a deeper appreciation and knowledge in the ways that God works in our lives, I know now that the voice I heard that morning was the voice of God telling me what to do.  

When I got to school, I immediately called Jeff.  This was in the days before texting, and told him that we needed to get a dog.  Jeff had wanted a dog for a long time, and I had given him every excuse under the sun why we should not have a dog.  So, when he heard me say that we should get a dog, he sprung into action to make it happen.  I think in some ways, he was afraid I would change my mind.  Jeff had always wanted a Miniature Schnauzer, so he started looking in the classifieds for someone who was selling them.  It did not take him long to connect with a lady who had two Miniature Schnauzers left from a litter that her dog had recently had.  They were twelve weeks old, which is fairly old for a puppy not to have been adopted.  

In the days leading up to us going to look at the dogs, Jeff and I began discussing names.  We knew that we would get a girl, so we were talking about all sorts of girl names.  We talked about naming our little girl Doris, after Doris Day.  We talked about naming her Harper, after the show Mama’s Family, but nothing seemed right.  I was in the shower thinking about what we should name our little girl, when this name came to be as clearly as the message that we should get a dog in the first place had come to me.  The name was Parker McKenzie, Parker after Sarah Jessica Parker and McKenzie, which was the last name of the family in the movie Peyton Place.  Our little girl would have the initials P.M.  She would eventually have a brother and sister with the same P.M. initials, and now I am telling you this story from a blog called Peace Matters, which also has the initials P.M.  I am sure you get the connection. 

I remember the night we went to look at the dogs.  We stopped at Petco on the way and bought a leash and a collar.  I was very apprehensive to say the least.  I was not sure at all that we were doing the right thing.  When we pulled up to the house, an older woman named Ruthie greeted us at the door.  She was a rough character who only removed the oxygen she was connected to long enough to smoke a cigarette.  Ruthie asked us some preliminary questions about our experiences with dogs, all of which I am assuming we answered correctly.  She then said, “Well, I have to tell you something about Miniature Schnauzers.  They will look straight into her eyes, and I believe when they do, they can see clear through to your soul.”  

She then asked us if we were ready to see the dogs.  We both said yes, and I was thinking to myself, “I hope we are doing the right thing.  I hope we are doing the right thing.”  When Ruthie opened the door to the room where the dogs were kept, these two identical dogs rushed out of the room.  They were wild as they could be.  They were running and playing with each other and getting into everything.  This only encouraged the thought that kept running through my mind, “I hope we are doing the right thing.  I hope we are doing the right thing.”  To be honest, I was ready to go home, but I looked at Jeff and could see how excited he was, so I remained quiet.  Jeff looked at me and said, “Which one do you want?” like the decision had already been made.  I looked at the dogs that really did look just alike except one was chubbier than the other one.  I said, “Well, I do not want a fat dog, so let’s take the skinny one.”  We told Ruthie which one were wanted, we paid for her and made our way to the car.  Jeff drove and I held the puppy in my lap.  The whole time thinking that I knew I was going to fall in love with this little girl and I knew that the day would come that I would have to give her up.  I looked at our new bundle of joy and said, “Your name is Parker and we are your new daddies.”  

Parker was the perfect little girl.  She was patient, she was loving, and she wanted to please us.  She personified the word peace from the get go.  And of course, I was right, I fell head over heals in love with her, but as much as I loved her, Jeff loved her even more, and she loved him with the same enthusiasm as he loved her.  They were inseparable. 

I truly do not believe there is any coincidence that the word dog is God spelled backwards.  I believe that the love that a dog gives to us is the closest thing to God’s love that we can have on this earth.  Dogs love us unconditionally.  They do not judge us.  They do not love us because of who we are, what we have, or what we look like.  They love us in spite of our faults.  They truly forgive and forget the wrongs that we do, and they want to be with us all the time.  God feels exactly the same way about every single human on this earth.  It is important that you never forget that. Living with Parker and watching her grow and become such a huge part of our lives was truly life changing.  She literally gave our lives meaning, and in many ways she gave us the gift of life.  

Fast forward 8 ½ years later and we arrive at March 18, 2015, the last day of Parker’s life.  I have written about the last day of her life in a separate post that can be read under the tab Parker’s Legacy, so I will not go into many of the details here.  However, there are some highlights that I would like to mention.  When we knew that Parker was not going to make it and we made the decision to take her to the doctor, we knew that her life was about to come to an end.  We knew that when we returned home, she would not be with us.  

Jeff drove us to the vet’s office, and Parker once again sat in my lap just as she had on her first car ride with us.  I remember looking at her and wondering why the time had gone so quickly.  I was reminded of how she was as a puppy and what it had been like to be her daddy for the last 8 ½ years.  Parker had been there for us in the good times and in the bad.  She had been a constant and loyal companion.  She had brought us joy when we needed it the most, and she had given us a place to direct all the love we felt we had. She was more than willing to accept it, and always gave us more love in return than we had ever given her.  

After we arrived at the vet’s office and talked to the doctor and she confirmed that Parker’s time was coming to an end, I found myself repeating a familiar phrase.  I kept saying, “I hope we are doing the right thing.  I hope we are doing the right thing.”  Even in Parker’s final hour, she was showing us what we needed to do.  Jeff’s mom always said that Parker was a lady.  I have to agree with her.  Parker was a lady, and a lady always knows when to leave.  Parker led us through her final moments with the grace and courage that she had always shown in her short life.

Parker was peace, and her passing was one of the most peaceful and beautiful things that I believe I have ever experienced and, I am so thankful that I was able to be apart of it.  I am thankful for so much.  I am thankful that Parker was brought into our lives, and I am thankful that I was blessed enough to receive her love.  I am thankful that she saw us through the valley that we experienced, and I am thankful that she was there to climb out of it with us.  December 7th will always be a special day to us.  It was not the day Parker was born into this world, but it was the day that Parker came into our world. 

So to commemorate this special day, Jeff and I have decided to honor Parker’s memory by making a donation to our local animal shelter in the amount of an adoption fee. We would like the shelter to identify a family they believe will make an excellent home for a pet but that does not really have the money for the adoption fee.   We would very much like to encourage you to do something to support animals in your area.  You can donate money or supplies to your local animal shelter.  You can pay for the adoption of a pet for a family who cannot afford it.  You can adopt a pet yourself, or you can simply donate your time.  No charitable act is too small.  We will be making our donation in memory of Parker McKenzie Weaver-White.  If you choose to make a donation, I encourage you to do it in the memory of a pet that you loved, and if you do not have a pet to be memorialized, please feel free to use Parker’s name.  That would make Jeff and me both very happy.  When we do something to help a dog, it is just like helping a dog that we love or have loved.  Taking care of each other and the creatures that God has placed on this earth to bring us love and comfort is what we are all called to do.  It will make a difference in so many lives, and it will ultimately bring us all peace and PEACE MATTERS.   

~Dan~ 

What Are You Going to Do with What You Have Been Given? Part 2

It is impossible to navigate our way through this life without encountering difficult situations and roadblocks.  God has promised us peace, but He did not guarantee that the road to peace would not have a few potholes.  Sometimes the path is bumpy and makes turns that scare us and shake our faith.  God uses these potholes to build our faith and draw us closer to Him.  When we profess to believe in God and make the statement that we want to follow Him, the world begins to take notice of us.  They are watching us even if we are unaware of it.  They are looking to us to be examples of how to deal with the difficulties and strife that life brings our way.  We are told not to conform to this world, but to be transformed.  God wants us to be an example to the rest of the world.  He wants others to see what He has done in our lives and desire the same blessings for their lives.  

One way we can show people the influence of God in our lives is by how we handle our challenges.  When we cling to God and have faith that He will direct our steps, we can face the challenges with a different spirit.  His love and peace and our faith in His love and peace can ease our worry and doubt, which makes facing challenges easier.  We have to allow God to carry the worry and doubt for us.  He is far more capable of doing that than we are.  Now, I am not saying that we will not have worry and doubt in our lives, especially when we are facing a challenge, but it can be greatly reduced.  When we have faith that God will see us through and when we let God know how we feel and let Him guide our path, we will see challenges differently.  We should talk to God and let Him talk to us all the time in the good times and in the bad times.  If we spend the good times talking to God and letting him talk back to us, it will become a habit. Then when we face difficult times, we will naturally talk to God and let Him talk to us. If we only talk to God during the difficult times, and not during the good times, we may not be in the habit of listening for Him during the challenges that we face.  

Like I said before, the world is watching us, especially the skeptics.  They want to see how we handle the challenges in our lives.  If they see us face the challenges head on with peace in our hearts, they will begin to realize that our relationship with God is real.  They will begin to see that God is love and that He wants to comfort us and renew our hope.  They will see that what we have is an amazing gift, and they will begin to want the same things for their own lives.  So, the next time your path gets bumping, do not fret.  Lean on God, talk to Him, and let Him talk back.  Thank him for the challenge and rest in his promise of peace.  

We are supposed to pray without ceasing.  He wants us to do that in the good times and the bad times.  He wants us to be an example to the world of what His love can do for everyone.  Turn your worries over to God and be thankful for what you have been given.  Stand up straight and proud and continue moving forward.  Let God be your guide.  After all, He is in front of you, beside you, behind you, and in you.  He will sustain your peace and PEACE MATTERS. 

~Dan~

Christmas: When Our Homes Reflect the Warm Glow That We Feel in Our Hearts

Christmas has always been a very special time for me, and I know I am not alone in my admiration of the season.  It seems that all of us find a little more time to be at peace during the Christmas season.  We try harder to see the good in the world, and we strive to be at our best and do for others.  At Christmas, our homes have a warm glow from all of the decorations that we display each year.  Whenever we get our decorations out, our minds are flooded with memories of the people who purchased them or made them for us.  We can quickly recall when we first saw each decoration, and we can easily remember each Christmas that we used the item.  The peace and joy we get from each decoration that we display is so strong that we continue to add to our collection, and our homes pay homage to the Christmases of the past.  

I, like so many others, have many Christmas decorations that are near and dear to my heart.  My decorating style has changed a lot over the years, and my Christmas decorating has evolved over the years as well.  I strive for a simpler look now, and I try to use my Christmas decorations as accents to all of the other collections that I display in our home.  Jeff and I have been decorating off and on for a couple of weeks now, and while I still have a few more things that I would like to do, I thought today would be a good time to show all of you what we have done so far.  Today, I will be showing you the decorations in the living room, office, and dining room.  I really like how everything has turned out, and I hope you do too.  

As you decorate your homes this Christmas season, I hope that you will be warmed by all the fond memories that each decoration evokes in you.  I hope that you will be reminded of the Christmases that have already past, and I hope you will look forward to the Christmases yet to come.  Most of all, I hope you will focus on the current Christmas season and do your best to make this season one of the best that you have ever had.  

The spirit of Christmas that lives in all of our hearts is something that we should allow to come to the surface everyday.  We do not have to wait until December 25th to experience the spirit of Christmas.  It can help bring us peace and joy throughout the year.  Keeping the spirit of Christmas alive in our hearts, no matter the season, will bring all of us peace and PEACE MATTERS. 

~Dan~

Keeping the Spirit of Christmas Alive Throughout the Year

Most of us would say that Christmas is our favorite holiday.  It has often been said that Christmas is for children, and while that is true, it is also for adults.  Even as adults we anxiously look forward to the arrival of Christmas.  We find ourselves becoming more and more excited as the day draws near and the decorations begin to appear.  It is that one time of the year when it seems people can lay aside their differences and live harmoniously with each other.  During the Christmas season the air seems fresher, our demeanor seems more optimistic, and we want to do good for our fellowman.  During Christmas, we speak of peace more than any other time of the year.  We become more generous, and we want to make our lives and the lives of others a little better.  You cannot listen to a Christmas song without hearing the words believe, peace, hope, love, and joy.  We hear these words all year long, but they seem to have a special meaning at Christmas.  

As Christmas approaches, we find ourselves going out of our way to do nice things for people.  We tend to smile more, and we feel a warm glow inside.  Even though the preparations for Christmas can be stressful, we find ourselves rising above them and doing them with joy in our hearts.  We reflect on the meaning of Christmas, and in general we try to be better people.  Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year.  

However, why do we think that the feeling of Christmas has to be relegated to one day during the year?  Why do we rob ourselves of that feeling for all the other 364 days?  Why can’t every day be Christmas in our hearts?  We celebrate Christmas to commemorate the birth of Jesus.  There are so many lessons that we can learn from the story of Jesus’ birth.  We can learn to be patient and to believe in something that is miraculous.  We can learn to be generous, hopeful, and obedient.  Jesus is, after all, the gift of peace that has been given to the entire world.  It is a peace that can last all year if we allow it to.  With God and His goodness, every day can be and should be Christmas.  The miracle of Christmas can be evident in our lives every single day.  

We do not have to wait until December 25th to be at peace.  We do not have to wait until Christmas to do for our fellowman and put the needs of others ahead of our own.  We often hear stories of people doing wonderful things for others during Christmas.  We collect money for the needy, we think about those who are less fortunate than we are, and we are encouraged to help them.  We can do that all year long.  We do not have to wait to be generous.  A generous heart is a peaceful heart, and when we do for others we do just as much good for ourselves as we do for them.  So, I ask you, what is wrong with walking around with a smile on your face, joy in your heart, and peace on your mind all year long?  

The answer is absolutely nothing.  Christmas may be one day, but it can be a way of life.  It should be our goal to make it a way of life.  We can feel that joyous feeling all year, and that is what God wants for our lives.  He wants us to be at peace, to have hope and faith, and to believe in something far bigger than ourselves.  So, how can we do that?  We can do it by living our lives the way God intends us to.  We can do it by having faith that God is in control and letting Him be in control.  We can do it by allowing other people to live their lives and not trying to control them.  We can do it by looking for opportunities to help others and going out of our way to perform random acts of kindness for people.  We can do it by allowing God’s peace to fill our hearts and truly believing that He can do that for us and all the other people in the world.  We have often said, “I really need to do this; after all, it is Christmas.”  Maybe we should be saying, “I really need to do this; after all, it is another day that God has given me.”  

As Christmas approaches and we begin to feel ourselves getting that Christmas glow, let’s say to ourselves that we are going to make this feeling last all year.  But let’s not just say it . . . let’s do it!  Let’s try to see the world through our Christmas eyes instead of our everyday eyes.  Let’s try to fill the world with peace, faith, hope, and love every day, and let’s go out of way to be good to the people we love and even the people we do not know.  If we can truly do that, then every day can be the most wonderful time of the year, and the world can be a more peaceful place, because PEACE MATTERS. 

~Dan~

A Thankful Heart: A Thanksgiving Message

As we all busily prepare for Thanksgiving each year, we find ourselves using words like thankful and grateful.  They seem to flow out of our mouths with such ease that it seems that we use them every single day.  There is something about preparing the biggest meal of the year and gathering with our friends and families that puts the words thankful and grateful at the forefront of our minds.  When we gather together on Thanksgiving many of us relay to others all of the blessings that we have in our lives.  We go around the table and each person recites his list of things for which he is thankful.  In school, we encourage our students to tell us what they are thankful for, and in our churches we sing songs and give testimonials about all of the blessings that we have received from God.  We seem to think that it would not be Thanksgiving if we did not go through this yearly ritual.  

Being thankful on Thanksgiving is a hugely important thing to do, but often once the turkey is eaten, the pumpkin pie has been sliced, and the dishes are washed, we go back to not being as thankful as we know we should be.  It is not that we do not have anything to be thankful for, but the ordinariness of our lives and the negative things of the world begin to quickly weigh as down again, and we find ourselves focusing more on the negative things associated with this life than the positive things. 

Having a thankful heart and being grateful for all that we have should not be something that we do once or twice a year.  It should be a way of life for all of us.  When we have a grateful heart we have more peace in our lives.  When we have a grateful heart we have less negativity in our lives, and we see events and situations in a different light.  When we live our lives with a thankful heart, we feel lighter and happier.  We feel that life does have meaning and that we can overcome all of the obstacles that come our way.  

I know that in my own life there have been times when it has been a struggle for me to think of something that I am grateful for, but looking back on the valleys of my life now, I can see that there certainly were many things to be grateful for.  If the valleys of life do nothing more for us, they teach us just how much we have to be thankful for.  Of course the valleys of life teach as far more than that.  They teach us to have faith, to be strong, and to lean on God.  They show us that God is still in the miracle- making, prayer-answering business, and soon we realize that had we not walked through the valley we would not have all the blessings that we now have.  

I, like so many people, become very reflective during this time of year, and I have increasingly found myself being thankful for the valleys in my life.  When we gather on Thanksgiving, we find ourselves being thankful for the same things year after year.  The things that we list are so very important, and they certainly are blessings from God that we should be thankful for, but maybe we should try something a little different this year.  

Maybe in addition to reciting our usual list of things for which we are thankful, we should find ourselves reflecting more on the things that we did not think were blessings when they first occurred.  Maybe we should say that we are thankful for the valleys and turbulent times in our lives.  Maybe we should say that we are thankful for the pain that we endured this year be it physical, mental, or emotional.  Maybe we should list the times we have been disheartened or depressed as a blessing that happened to us this year.  I believe that if we all would do this, we would see just how far we have come because of those trials.  I believe we would see how much God was with us during those times, and I believe that other people will begin to see their own struggles in a very different way.  When they see that we can actually be thankful for the valleys in our own lives, they will begin to see the valleys of their lives differently.  

We have all been called to bring light to the world.  We have all been called to show what miracles God is capable of doing, and sharing our struggles and being truly thankful for them is one of the many ways that we can answer our calling.  Being thankful for the struggles in this life and realizing that with God’s help we can overcome those struggles and be better, stronger people because of them will help all of us live everyday with a grateful heart.  We will find ourselves sharing what we are grateful for, not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day that we live.  Being grateful and truly living with an attitude of thankfulness will lead to peace and PEACE MATTERS.  

~Dan~

I would like to thank all of you for your support and encouraging words that you have given me since beginning this blog.  When I think of all the blessings that I have to be thankful for, each of you is among that list.  I hope that this Thanksgiving is filled with love of family and friends, hope for the coming year, and most of all peace because PEACE MATTERS. <3 

Dan, Jeff, Peyton, & Paycee

A Bedroom Facelift

As many of you know, our house is for sale, and we believe that it will sell in God’s timing.  While we are waiting for the house to sell, we are still living in our house and using it like we always have.  I, like all decorators, like to improve my house when I can.  Anyone who has a passion for decorating will say that his or her house is never finished.  We are constantly tweaking and changing things.  

Recently Jeff and I decided to replace some of the carpeting in our house.  We have lived here a little over seven years, and carpet tends to start wearing out and looking bad in that amount of time.  We replaced the carpet on the stairs going to the basement, the upstairs guest bedroom, and the master bedroom.  I would have loved to put hardwood floor in the master bedroom, but since the house is for sale, we decided that would not be a wise investment.  While we were replacing the carpet in the master bedroom, I decided to paint the trim in that room.  The previous trim was a grayish blue color.  I never really liked the trim color as much as I thought I would, but I thought I should live with it for a while.  

When the carpet came up, I decided it was time to change the trim color.  The color I chose is called backdrop.  It is a Sherwin Williams paint color, and I really like it.  I first saw this paint color when I photographed a home last year for the 2015 winter/holiday issue of A Primitive Place & Country Journal magazine.  If you have that issue, the house I am referring to is Louie and Georgia Leinberger’s home.  The title of the article is “Christmas in the Land of Lincoln.”  When I walked into Louie and Georgia’s home, I was immediately struck by the trim color.  I told Georgia that I have been looking for a good gray color to paint some trim in our house for years.  Georgia gave me the paint sample that she used, so this trim color will always be called Leinberger gray to me.  

After we painted and had the carpet installed we decided to rearrange the room.  We placed the bed in front of the windows.  I really did not think that I would like it, but I did.  It makes the room feel bigger and cozier at the same time.  I was concerned that the bed in front of the windows would detract from their beauty, but I was wrong.  So today, I am sharing some pictures of our newly tweaked master bedroom.  I really like how it turned out, and since the bedroom has been tweaked, there seems to be a deeper since of peace in the room, and I am even sleeping better than I have in a long time.  

One thing that God wants us to do with our lives is to continue to improve them.  He has given all of us particular interests and hobbies that help to improve our lives and fill our hearts with joy.  Decorating is one of the interests that fills my heart with joy.  It may seem strange that we are continuing to invest in and improve our house while it is for sale, but I feel this is God’s way of keeping me occupied and satisfied while we wait.  I know that our house will sell in God’s perfecting timing.  That may be next month, next year, or it may be five years down the road.

The old me would have driven myself crazy with questions and would have become very discouraged by this point, but God has helped me see that we all have to be patient and wait for things to come our way.  If we received everything we wanted in an instant, we would not appreciate the gifts that we receive, and we would not learn the lessons that we are meant to learn during the time of waiting.  Being patient, allowing God to be in control, having faith, and surrendering to His will will bring all of us peace and PEACE MATTERS.  

~Dan~

What Are You Going to Do with What You Have Been Given?

Every human on the earth has been given a gift from God.  Some of us are aware of our gifts, but many of us are not.  People see gifts as an ability to do something extraordinary or an extreme talent, but that is not always the case.  We think that people who can play an instrument, sing, give inspiring speeches, draw, or paint have been blessed with a gift and that the rest of the population has been left out.  Humans see gifts as something that can only be seen by the eye or heard by the ear.  

However, God views gifts in a very different way.  Many of the gifts that He has given people cannot be seen or heard.  The gift of talking to people, the gift of love, compassion, empathy, generosity, prayer, and influence are some of the most important gifts that people can be given.  Our job is to discover these gifts and use them to serve our fellow man.  We should use these gifts to help people who are less fortunate than we are.  In doing so, we are doing a great service to God, and we are honoring Him and the gifts that He has given to us.  Many of us feel like we have nothing to offer the world or God.  We feel like all we can do is live our lives and try our best to be the best person we can be.  While that is a very important goal and something that we should all aspire to, we should also realize that we have been given a gift that we can use to help others.  

We have all been placed on this earth for a purpose.  God has a grand plan, and the plan has been in motion for centuries.  We were placed in this moment of time for a reason.  We were not just haphazardly placed here without any thought.  God placed us here to fulfill His purpose and to make the world a better place.  We are supposed to help other people.  Life on earth can often be difficult, and we need help in navigating it.  While God should be and is our ultimate guide, He has placed people in our lives to guide us along the way too.  We all have people who we depend on and turn to when things get difficult.  We often do not realize that God has placed those people in our lives for a reason.  While we can acknowledge that those people exist in our lives, we often find it difficult to realize that we have been placed in people’s lives to help them too.  It is not that God is too busy or not interested in helping people, but He wants to use us to help others. 

 Many people can accept help from other people, but they have trouble having faith that God can help them.  When they do accept help from the people in their lives, they are accepting help from God.  Hopefully, in time they will realize that, and their relationships with God will be strengthened.  So, as you have probably figured out by now, we have all been given many jobs to do on this earth.  We need to discover what our purpose is and what gifts we have been given and use those to help others.  When we help others, we make God proud.  We not only make someone else’s life better, but we make our own lives better too.  

I cannot express enough how much God wants us to help others and how much He wants us to discover the gifts that He has given us.  Sometimes we may use these gifts and be completely unaware of it.  Not knowing what our gift is does not keep us from using it and blessing other people with it.  Many times the gift we have is something that we always known we possessed; we just never thought of it as a gift.  God can and will reveal our gift to us when we ask Him to.  

The most important thing to remember is that we have all been given gifts to use as armor to help others and ourselves.  We have a purpose, and we are important to God and countless others.  When we realize that, it will bring us peace, and PEACE MATTERS.  

~Dan~ 

A Kentucky Homespun Christmas: A Look Back

Jeff and I are back from the A Kentucky Homespun Christmas Folk Art and Antique show in Cave City, Kentucky, and the show was a huge success.  I really enjoyed every minute of it.  My parents traveled with us, and it was so nice to be with them and for them to see a side of me that they rarely get to see.  The show could not have been more perfect.  Stacee Droit and Wilma Gilbert did a wonderful job organizing everything.  Whatever we needed was there for us, and if we needed something extra all we had to do was ask.  Setting up our booth went very smoothly.  My mom, dad, and Jeff were an enormous help.  We started setting up at 8:00 a.m. and we were finished by 12:00 p.m., which was record time! 

There was a large crowd on Friday night, and it was so nice to see so many familiar faces.  I met people who I knew through Facebook, and many of the homeowners of homes that I have photographed for the magazine A Primitive Place & Country Journal were there as well.  It seemed that everywhere I turned, there was someone I knew.  On the second day of the show there was another good crowd, and it was nice to connect with even more primitive lovers.  

Overall the show was an enormous success.  Did I sell everything? No.  Did I make a bunch of money? No. However, I accomplished my goal, and I did the show and had a booth full of completely handmade items.  It was an enormous success because had someone told me two years ago or even a year ago that I would ever make anything again or ever be able to participate in a show like this, I would have thought he was crazy.  I would have said there was no way that that would be possible, but here I am.  That is the thing about God that we all need to remember.  He can restore what we thought was lost.  He can make a way where there seems to be no way, and He can give us the strength to endure the struggles of this life so that we can appreciate when the sun begins to shine on our faces once again a little bit more than we did before.  It is the valleys of life that make us appreciate the good times.  It is the dark days that make us appreciate the light.  It is the hopelessness that makes us realize how important hope is, and it is the lack of peace that makes us know just how much PEACE MATTERS.  

~Dan~

A Kentucky Homespun Christmas: Packed and Ready

We are all packed and ready to make our way to Cave City, Kentucky tomorrow to participate in  A Kentucky Homespun Christmas Folk Art & Antiques show at the convention center.  I am so excited about being able to be a part of this show.  I am nervous and have been constantly trying not to forget something.  I know it will be a wonderful show, and I hope that if you live close by that you will stop by our booth and introduce yourself.  

As I was preparing for the show yesterday God reminded me that when we are overwhelmed and stressed about the things that we need to get done, we should take a moment and look back on all we have already accomplished.  This certainly helped me yesterday.  Looking back and realizing how far we have truly come will bring us peace and Peace Matters.  

~Dan~

The Impassable Path

There are many times in life when we come to a wall in our path.  The wall seems impossible to get through.  We cannot pass through it, we cannot go over it or under it, and we cannot go around it.  We are quite literally stuck.  We are desperate to get past the wall, but we do not know how that is possible.  I have been in situations in my life when everything seemed hopeless.  I had to get out of a situation that I was in, but I had no idea how to accomplish that.  The hopelessness that sets in when we encounter a wall in our path is suffocating.  All we can think about it getting away, and when we look to the future, we see no way out.  It is a terrifying experience, and it often causes us to lose faith and think that God is no longer with us.  

I was thinking about impossible walls and was reminded of the story in the Bible about Moses.  He was leading the Israelites out of Egypt.  The Egyptians were pursuing them, and I am sure they were terrified.  They came to the Red Sea, and there was no way they could go further.  They could not go through the sea, they could not go over or under the sea, and they could not go around the sea.  Moses prayed to God and asked Him to make a way.  We all know what God did.  He miraculously parted the Red Sea and made a path for the Israelites to cross.  However, many of them were still scared to take that first step.  They had just seen this miraculous event take place and God had made a path for them, but they were still afraid.  They still did not trust that God would take care of them.  However, they finally did take that first step and followed God.  They may not have known it at the time, but they were walking toward freedom. When they all were safely across the sea, the Egyptians were still following them.  You see, they were taking the same path that God had provided for the Israelites, but not for long, because God allowed the sea to fall back in, and when it did, the enemy following them was destroyed.  

This is a story that many of us have heard in Sunday school numerous times.  It is a miraculous story that we know, but we do not think about how it could apply to our own lives.  When we come to a wall in our path, God will make a way where there seems to be none.  However, we have to have the courage and the faith to take the first step.  That is often the most difficult part.  God has made a way, but we have to follow Him.  We have to trust Him and know that He is leading us to freedom.  We have to trust that small, still voice that says, “Just follow me.  You are doing the right thing.”  It has often been said that taking the first step is the most difficult.  I believe that is true.  That first step can be so terrifying, but once we take it, the second one is a little easier.  Soon we will see that we are indeed doing the right thing and that God is leading us in the right direction.  

Once we begin walking the path that God has made for us, God will protect us from our enemies and tormentors. Once we get to the other side, we will have even more faith in God.  We will believe even more in His power and strength, and we will be stronger as well.  

So, if you are up against a wall and you have nowhere to turn, turn to God.  He will make a path for you, even when that seems impossible.  He will lead you to freedom and peace.  You just have to follow Him and have the courage and faith to take the first step.  Trust me, you will be so glad you did.  God will protect you along the way, and it will change your life.  I know it certainly changed mine.  When we walk in faith and follow in the direction that God is leading us, we will find peace, and PEACE MATTERS!     

~Dan~

A Kentucky Homespun Christmas: A Gift That Has Been Returned to Me

Many of you know that Jeff and I will be participating in the show called A Kentucky Homespun Christmas Folk Art and Antiques Show, which will take place in Cave City, Kentucky on November 13th and 14th.  I have been very busy getting everything ready for the show, and even though it has been stressful at times, I have truly enjoyed every minute of it.  Today I wanted to share with all of you some of the samplers that will be available at the show.  However, before I do, I wanted to give all of you some background on how I came to do the show this year.

I have written quite a bit about the struggles that I had in the recent past.  If you have not read the story of my struggle, you can click on the “My Story” tab above to read more.  When I was going through that difficult time in my life, I had to withdraw from almost everything I loved and had always held near and dear.  I had to abandon many of the goals and dreams that I had once had for my life.  When we are going through a dark time, there seems to be no time or hope for the dreams and goals that we once possessed.  

I did the Kentucky Homespun Christmas show in 2012.  I enjoyed it, but I went into it with the wrong attitude.  I had expectations for myself that were unrealistic.  I had never done a show like this before.  I had always wanted to, but I never felt like I had anything that people would want to buy.  Then I began stitching and thought that some people may be interested in buying some of my creations.  I spent the entire summer getting ready for the show, and I built it up in my mind and expected it to be a huge success.  I thought that I would sell everything I had made and that I would have peace in my life when these events unfolded.  

When the show did not turn out as I had expected, I was discouraged and allowed myself to feel like a failure.  I did sell samplers and everyone seemed happy with what I had made.  It was a wonderful show to be part of and everybody was so nice.  It was wonderful to get to connect with people I knew through my old blog and Facebook, Yesterday Once More.  However, this was during a time in my life when everything was getting ready to fall apart for me.  I did not realize that it was about to fall apart, but I think I sensed it in some way.  I refused to focus on the positive side of doing the show and only chose to focus on the negative side which was entirely fabricated in my mind. 

After the show, I felt like I had not done a very good job.  I know now that I did the best that I could do and considering that it was the first folk art show that I had ever done, things went really well.  During the late spring and early summer of 2013, my life began to spiral out of control, and I put down my stitching needle.  I truly thought it was for forever.  When the show was organized again, I was in no position to participate.  I could not even go to the show.  I was too depressed by my own problems even to attend.  

In 2014, when the show took place again, I was beginning to pull myself out of the hole that I had created for myself.  With the help of God, Jeff, family, and friends, I was beginning to see that there was still good left in the world.  Jeff and I decided at the last minute to go to the show.  I really do not think we would have gone had Stacee Droit, one of the show’s organizers, not sent me a text to remind me of the show.  I truly cannot thank Stacee enough for sending that text.  I am sure she had no idea what her contacting me would do for me.  This is a prime example of how God can use all of us to help someone else.  Many times, He uses us and we are not even aware of the good that we are doing.  When I walked into the convention center in Cave City, I felt a familiar sense of peace that always surrounds me when I am around early primitives.  It was the first time that I had been around the primitives I love in almost two years, and it was so good to be back home again.  

Going to that show signified the beginning of my true healing process.  I know it sounds strange to say such a thing, but it is very true.  After being at the show in 2014, things continued to get better, and by January of this year, I decided that I should give the show another try.  I texted Stacee and told her I was going to do the show again.  She was very happy about it, and so was I.  My goal was to start stitching in January and work all year.  I thought this would allow me plenty of time to get ready for the show and keep me from getting too overwhelmed.  

I remember the first time I stitched after I decided to do the show.  It was early in the morning, and I sat in the living room of the apartment that I had rented and retrieved all of my stitching items.  I put on a Christmas movie and started stitching.  I had a momentary fear that I would not remember how to stitch because it had been nearly two years.  However, I soon realized that stitching was like riding a bike.  I did remember how.  I cannot adequately tell you how each stitched strengthened my spirit that day.  With each x I made I could feel my spirit getting stronger and stronger.  I realize now that I was feeding my spirit, and I didn’t even know it.  I cried almost the entire time I made that first sampler.  They were not tears of sadness, but tears of joy.  I was so happy to be doing something that I loved again, and I was so happy to have the desire to do it.  

My plan to stitch all year did not go as planned, but I continued to get ready for the show.  There was a time where I thought that I would not be able to do the show, but in July, I kicked it into high gear fully committed to doing the show.  I am going into this show with different expectations.  It is not about selling my samplers.  It is about returning to something that I love and about being able to participate in something that I thought I would never be able to participate in again.  

I know that the show will be a success regardless of what I sell.  It will be a success because it signifies the growth that I have made this year in my walk with God and in my walk with myself.  It signifies that God can return something to us that we thought was lost forever.  I recently wrote a post about getting back on the right path and how, when we do, God returns gifts to us. Doing this show is God returning a gift to me that I thought I had lost forever.  It is a gift that I took for granted the first time, but one that I cherish now and will always be thankful for.  God wants to return the things that feed our spirits when we are ready to receive them.  I am so thankful that He has done this for me, and I know that He can and will do this for all of us.  Getting back on the right path in life, feeding our spirits, and getting a second chance at life brings us peace and PEACE MATTERS.

~Dan~

Laughter

It has been said that laughter is the best medicine.  In fact, I think it is a proven, scientific fact.  Even if it weren’t, I know that laughter is the best medicine.  I have seen it in action for years.  I believe that God wants us to laugh.  He wants us to feel all the emotions that we have been given, but I believe that laughter is one of the most important.  If you have ever thought that God did not have a sense of humor, take a look at some of the animals, people, and objects that he created and then tell me he doesn’t have a sense of humor.  One of the very first things that an adult tries to get a baby to do is smile or laugh.  In fact, it is one of the first things that we learn to do as a baby.  Think about when you see a baby laugh.  What happens?  It makes you laugh too, and it makes you feel good.  

I have been blessed to have several humorous people in my life.  Whenever I feel low, I can always count on them to make me laugh.  When we laugh, we do not feel as bad as we did.  When we laugh we have to smile, and that in itself is a good reason to laugh.  I like to think that I have a fairly good sense of humor, and I have been known to make people laugh, but one of the funniest people I have ever met is my grandma.  She laughs and smiles almost all of the time.  In turn, she makes the people around her laugh and smile.  Whenever I spend time with my grandma or we talk on the phone, you can bet that we will be laughing.  She never takes herself too seriously.  She has never been afraid to laugh at herself, and she has been able to find humor in almost any situation.  I think that my grandma has been very blessed to receive this gift, and it has sustained her throughout her life.  

Just from visiting with my grandma you would never know the struggles she has faced.  She lost a child while her husband was away fighting a war, her dad died when she was in her early twenties, she had a child with a chronic illness, she went through a divorce, she fought cancer two times, and she lost the love of her life.  Through it all, she smiled and was able to laugh.  She never lost her sense of humor.  I have often wondered what would have become of her had she not had a sense of humor.  I believe she would not have been able to face all the challenges that life had in store for her.  I don’t believe that she would have been the witness to the number of people that she has been.  She is 90 years old now, and she is still laughing and smiling.  I believe that God gives all of us gifts and that laughter is one of them.  He wants us to laugh and see humor in life.  I used to work with a woman who would often say, “You have to laugh to keep from crying.”  I believe that that is a very good attitude to have.  

This life can be hard. We all know that.  God has given us so much armor to protect us from the negative aspects of life, and laughter is one of them.  So, surround yourself with people who make you laugh and try to bring that laughter to others.  It will make them and you feel better and will prepare you for the trials that will come your way.  If you find yourself not able to laugh, just think of my grandma and people like her and just do it! When we laugh, we experience peace, and PEACE MATTERS.     

~Dan~

Being Pulled Back on the Path

When we are not on the path that God intends for our lives, we know it.  We may not be consciously aware of it, but we feel it in our hearts.  Not being on the path can be very frightening.  When we are off the path that God intends for our lives, we lose our hope, our faith, and our peace.  We struggle with the ordinary, daily aspects of our lives.  Everything seems like a struggle.  The hopelessness is suffocating, and all we can focus on is the moment that we are in.  We can no longer look to the future, for if we do all we can see is darkness and the next great struggle.  We find ourselves waiting for the next fire to erupt, and we spend all of our time trying to extinguish that fire, often in vain.  When we are off the path, we have to let go of the dreams and goals to which we once had clung. We realize that those dreams will never come true, and that makes the hopelessness even denser.  Then the day comes when God says, “Enough.”  He has watched us struggle and fight, and He knows that we need His help to get back on the right path.   

Getting back on the path is often a difficult and painful process.  We often have a lot of corrections that we need to make, but we realize that we have to follow Him, we have to obey Him, and we have to trust Him.  When we return to the path, peace and hope are not restored to us instantly.  Like I said before, we have to make amends for the mistakes we made while we were off the path, but if we continue to follow God and trust Him, the clouds will start to lift.  It may seem like this is a slow process, but each second, minute, day, or week that goes by makes the clouds lift even more, and when we look back on where we once were, we realize just how much progress we have made through God’s help.  

Very soon, everything starts to come into focus.  We awake each day with a renewed sense of peace.  Our hope has been restored, strained relationships have been renewed, our purpose has become clearer, and we have peace.  Then the most beautiful thing in the world begins to happen. The dreams and goal we once had and were forced to abandon begin to come back to us.  God hands them back to us like a gift.  The presentation of this wonderful gift gives us even more hope and peace, and it makes us want to follow Him even more.  Once we are back on the right path, everything seems lighter.  Now when we look to the future we can see light instead of darkness.  We can actually breathe again, things seem easier, and we know that all of our dreams can come true.  We actually have the hope and strength to make them come true, sometimes for the first time in our lives.  

You see, God wants to give us the desires of our hearts, and when we follow Him and trust Him He hands them to us, and we feel like a child on Christmas morning, and everything seems possible once again.  We have a renewed sense of peace, and PEACE MATTERS.   

~Dan~

Letting Go of Control

The whole world is seemingly obsessed with control, who has it, who wants it, who is going to get it, and who is going to lose it.  Every environment we come into contact with is operated on control.  People at our place of employment want to be in control, people at our place of worship want to be in control, and people in our families want to be in control.  We have spent the majority of our lives jockeying for position to see who is going to end up on top.  We fight for it, we lie for it, and we manipulate for it.  We try to control our lives and our bodies.  We want what we want when we want it, and we try to make sure that happens, often times in vain.   

Ironically, when it comes right down to it, the only thing that is really in control is the control itself.  Not being in control makes us mad, it makes us frustrated, it makes us bitter, and it makes a worry.  We carry the weight of trying to be in control around with us, and let me tell you, it is awfully heavy.  When we try to be in control of everything, we have difficulty maintaining relationships.  We find ourselves fighting with our parents, our siblings, our spouses, and our friends.  We become so obsessed with control that we no longer see the good in the world or in the people we love.  We want them to do what we want when we want them to do it, and if they do not we get mad and sometimes even cut them out of our lives.  

However, if we would just stop and think about it for a minute, having control over everything is not what we should want.  It is not what God wants for our lives either.  Imagine all the strife and worry that could be eliminated from our lives if we would just let go of control.  We all want peace in our lives, and one key to having peace is to stop trying to control everything.  We need to hand over the control to God.  He is in control anyway, whether we like it or not.  When we try to have absolute control, we tend to take matters into our own hands. We often mess everything up and get ourselves into situations that we do not want or need to be in.  Of course, when that happens, we look to God to get us out.  If we had just allowed Himto be in control, we would not have been in the situation in the first place.  

So, let go.  Let God guide your life.  If you find yourself wanting to control a situation, just step back and let God have it.  It is going to be what it is going to be, and no amount of control on your part can change that.  Now, I am not saying that we should just sit back and let whatever happens happen.  We have to be wise and know what we can control and what we cannot control.  We also have to make God part of our decision making process.  If we can give up on trying to control everything and everyone, much of the worry and stress in our lives will disappear.  It is a lot like the song by Carrie Underwood, “Jesus Take the Wheel”.  We have to let God take control.  That’s what He wants and His hands are far more capable than ours.  So the next time you feel the need to control a situation or other people, just say to God to “Take it” and let Him really take it.  Trust that He knows what is best and have faith that everything will work out the way it should and just enjoy the peace that comes from letting God be in control, because PEACE MATTERS.   

~Dan~

Darkness

Who of us did not spend much of our childhood being afraid of the dark?  In fact, who of us has not spent the majority of our adult life being afraid of the dark?  It is a common fear that most of us share.  Darkness is depressing, and it can seem to suffocate us when we are in it.  When we are in a completely dark space, we cannot see anything.  We are frozen and want to stand still to keep from running into something.  When we do move, we do so with trepidation with our arms in front of us checking for dangers that may be in our way.  But think about this, what does it take to get rid of the darkness?  Of course the answer is light, but it does not have to be the most powerful light known to man.  It can be just a little spark. You see, one tiny light can change the darkness and illuminate our path.  Imagine being in a completely dark closet.  The lights are out and you cannot see anything in front of you.  There is a door in the closet, and when you look at the door, you can see light coming in from the crack at the bottom.  Light will enter the darkness wherever it can.  That small light can guide you safely out of the closet.

We can apply this principle to our own lives.  We often find ourselves in darkness for one reason or the other.  The darkness depresses us and can suffocate us.  We can find ourselves so overcome by the darkness that we are afraid to move.  We become paralyzed in the darkness and can spend years there afraid to try and find our way out.  However, the day comes when we realize that hope, love, peace, and God can bring light back into our lives.  It can start with a tiny spark that will give us the confidence to start moving.  The closer we get to the light, the more confident we become and the bigger the light grows.  Soon, we have found our way out of the darkness, and we are again living in the light, no longer afraid to move forward.  

I know if you are like me, you have been in the darkness of this life before, and it is a frightening thing.  It does paralyze us, and we have trouble finding our way out.  God wants to bring light back into our lives.  All we really have to do is ask Him.  The light can come in many forms.  It can start as a tiny spark and grow from there.  You see, the tiniest bit of light will chase the darkness away.  Think about that for a minute.  It only takes a tiny spark to chase the darkness away.  I don’t know about you, but that makes me smile when I think about it.  So, the next time you are in darkness and everything in your life seems to be falling apart and you are paralyzed by fear, remember to look for that tiny spark that can chase the darkness away.  You may wonder what that tiny spark can be.  It can be anything that brings peace into your life.  Love, hope, peace, forgiveness, acceptance . . . any of these can be the spark.  

God does not want us to live in darkness.  He wants us to enjoy the warmth and the beauty of the light.  He wants to be that light.  After all, He said. “I am the light.”  Let Him be the light, and he will fill your life with all the hope, love, joy, and peace you could ever imagine.  Above all, always remember that light will always overcome darkness.  Darkness will never be able to stand up against the light, and light will always prevail.  If we remember this, it will bring us peace, and PEACE MATTERS. 

~Dan~

Feeding My Soul Through Stitching

There are many ways for us to achieve peace in our lives, and I have written about several of those ways in different posts.  God has given all of us certain interests and gifts, and when we participate in those interests, we find ourselves being at peace.  Working with our hands and creating something is one of the best ways to calm our nerves and feed our spirits.  There is something satisfying about creating things with our own two hands that gives us a feeling of satisfaction.  God has given us these interests to help us find more joy in our lives and feel like we are accomplishing something, even when we feel as if we are standing still.  

One activity that brings me a sense of peace and accomplishment is stitching.  For me, there is something about taking a blank piece of fabric and creating something beautiful with it.  I also love the repetitive motion that stitching provides, and it is sometimes amazing to me to see what a whole lot of Xs can create when placed in an appropriate pattern.  

So today I thought I would take a break from my normal posts and show you a few of the samplers that I have made over the years.  When I am stitching, I am only thinking about stitching, and the stresses of my daily life seem to fade away.  When I am finished, I have a sense of accomplishment and when I look at the sampler that I made, I feel happy and at peace.  God wants all of us to feed our spirits, and it is up to us to determine which actives will do that.  Once we discover what will feed our spirits and we do it, we will have more peace in our lives and PEACE MATTERS.  

~Dan~

Pattern by Jenny Hoffman

Pattern by Tina Woltman

One of my original patterns

Pattern by Tina Woltman

Pattern by Jenny Hoffman

Pattern by Tina Woltman

Pattern by Tina Woltman

One of my original patterns

These are some samplers that I am getting reading for A Kentucky Homespun Christmas Folk Art & Antique Show which will be held in Cave City, Kentucky on November 13th & 14th.