Sunday Best

As I begin each day I spend a great deal of time getting clean, groomed, decorated and properly clothed. This to go to work, where I will sweat, be in constant contact with unmentionables and certainly will collect a stain or two to my hand picked outfit. By the end of the day make up is no longer in it's original location or state, but rubbed about to highlight less desirable features. All in a days work.

What is the benefit of this morning ritual? The first few people think I look very nice, but by mid-day they think I look tired and as I egress to the car some ask if I feel okay. And this causes me to chuckle as some days I am not sure myself. But all in all I don't mind the disheveled condition in which I leave work as I feel it is worth the mess. It feels good.

Then there are those times where I don't want to paint the barn or put on the dry cleaned outfits. I want to just relax, be comfortable. This is nice, but upon reflection, it may appear that I am placing less effort for one activity more than others. This can cause observers to say that it appears one group of people is more important than others. I make less effort for some. Hmmm.

And what about Sunday? I grew up in a liturgical world. Dresses, hats, gloves, shiny leather shoes and proper manners. Sears Finishing School, I know where all the silverware goes and what it is used for. I made the most charming appearance upon attending those great houses of worship. The question would be for whom did I dress? And this got me thinking about all the other times I do or don't "dress". Where should my focus be?

Truly I need to start dressing from the inside out, not the top to bottom or utilizing war paint....not saying I don't need it, just shouldn't be the first coat or project so to speak. What is my motivation for the day, who has my focus and what do I want to be seen by others when I exit the preparation room? I think it needs to always start in the heart, looking for the reflection of my actions, then the mirror for necessary repairs. And if I indeed have the proper focus for the day, I will desire to honor others with my spiritual, emotional and physical appearance. That does not mean designer jeans or zillion dollar handbags, but cloths that are modest. Then I can assure my hair is in a kept style and just a tad of accents if it is pleasing to those I should please first in the world, family. And I know that if I dress in this order, putting on my Spiritual Sunday Best first, everything else will fall in to place. Despite the day or the number of stains I will have the glow that only comes from getting dressed in the right order.

Romans 13:12-14

Memories..........

Memories, those things that are entertaining and over time become even more so as they evolve into new, enhanced memories. Those of you who have been around older folks might have seen this phenomena. A story losses details and gains details and suddenly it is a completely new story. Best part, no one knows that the elements have been changed so you are able to hold the audience captive with the same intensity as when they were first told, version 1.1.

As we have watched this stage in life unfold we are seeing bits of the present disappearing and more of the past becoming a bit cloudy. And for most of it, only we recognize these changes. But every once in awhile he remembers that he can't remember, which upsets him. Then he sees a bird and he has instantly forgotten what he remembered he forgot. I see glimmers of this in my life already. I wonder some day will I be remembering a different reality? This would not be all bad, but most of my real life has been exceptional.

So for me it has always been pictures. I have thousands of pictures, literally. Books, boxes and now discs and hard drives. I don't won't to miss a thing. I believe I got this from my parents. I am so grateful for this annoying yet perfectly divine habit. I have pictures of everything; first swim, first cake, first camping trip, first concert, first car, first job, first school, first (only) husband, first son, first house, and on and on and on. Wonderful. I have piled through these memories on a few occasions this past year and a half with the unexpected loss of a cousin, loss of a dear nephew, the stroke of my father and the graduation of our son. Other moments we have enjoyed spending time in the years of memories from pictures of my husbands family and mine, remembering wonderful times, and we are left smiling.

So I have found that by writing books with pictures instead of words I am able to restore order to some memories for my dad and will be preserving memories for me. When opportunities arise we can reunite with family and be able to show them every moment missed. We can share with friends and entertain them with stories of our lives. And hopefully we will not drift too far off the facts, but when we do, we trust we will be as entertaining as in our more reliable and fact filled presentations.

“The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time” Friedrich Nietzsche