Invisible Man

It started with one simple sentence spoken at the end of the lesson, but it left me deeply pondering my daily life. The sentence came at the close of the story of the rich man and Lazarus taken from the Bible, Luke 16:19-31. The story, if you are not familiar with it, tells of a rich man who had fine things in life and the beggar, Lazarus, who laid at his gate wishing just for the crumbs that fell under the rich man's table. The sentence my Sunday school teacher left us with was this: Who is the Lazarus in your life? As I sat through the service that followed Sunday School I couldn't shake the question from my brain.

I live in a very rural area, so obviously I don't have a beggar laying at my gate. I don't have a gate for that matter. By American standards I am far from wealthy, yet, there are ways I'm rich. I am rich in love and family. I have plenty to eat, a comfortable home. I am spiritually rich with the ability to worship when, where, and how I please. There is a Bible in almost every room in my house, and I have lots of Christian literature. I can go on line and google questions I have and instantly have access to answers from people much more knowledgeable and educated than myself. Many people have deposited into my emotional bank account with their encouragement, compassion, concern for me and for my well being. In all of these ways I am wealthy.

So how many people do I pass by daily who are inwardly just begging for a little crumb? How many do I have the power to give what they need, and yet I walk on by excusing myself from the responsibility for others? It only takes a crumb, a smile, an understanding glance, and acknowledgement. Those things cost me nothing.

This question has me very disturbed. I try to be positive, up-lifting, light bearing if you will, but what am I not seeing because it's right under my nose and I simply won't open my eyes?

The rich man must have stepped over Lazarus everyday, until he didn't even see him anymore. Lazarus became the invisible man. Unseen by one with more than enough excess to meet his needs. How many times have I been like him?

How many times do I withhold crumbs of kindness, time, a listening ear, or even a smile. Who have I let become invisible to me? I pray God will open my eyes to see what I'm choosing not to see.

Before we started out to California I wanted to make a little something for my nieces' children.  I knew my sewing time was limited so I looked around at a couple of drawstring bag tutorials and thought maybe I could pull it off before we left.

We filled the bags with marbles, jacks, and a little parachute man for each bag. Please take note that if you are flying jacks could delay your flight as they are not easily recognized today.  They sent the carry on we had these in through the x-ray machine three times and finally opened it to see just what in the world we were carrying.

I love these quirky little rabbits

This is a happy little storybook print

I have a thing for elephants lately, and these are so cute.

And just who doesn't love a Scotty dog?

The boys were are little harder to choose prints for,  I chose a monkey print and a stripe.

The first year we were married my aunt sent my husband and myself little knitted drawstring bags.  She filled them with marbles and we played a game every evening.  We played for keeps, and each of us stashed our marbles where the other couldn't find them before going to bed.  Both of us would plunder around the house trying to sneak into the other's bag the next morning.  I'm not sure which we enjoyed more, playing the game or trying to find the marbles.

I hope my great nieces and nephews have as much fun with theirs as we did with ours.

A Sunny Day, a Picnic, and a Funny Game of Ball

 Happy birthday to my sweet Belle!  She spent the night with me Monday, and when asked Tuesday morning what she wanted to do she said she wanted to play with her cousins.  We went to visit them and immediately she became enamored with the animals.  Belle loves animals and would sit  and hold them for hours if they would oblige her.      

The cat quickly became disenchanted with being held, and she jumped up out of reach.  After much coaxing on Belle's part to no avail,  she decided to turn her affections to the dog. 

He enjoyed the attention for a while, and graciously let her hang on as he trotted this way and that until he found something to chase in the woods.

At that point the gig was up, and he took off.

 Belle called after him for a while and then decided to put her efforts into helping Angel Eyes make her own ant farm.

The kids all enjoyed the day.  Here Sweet Cheeks and Scooter are racing home with the mail for their mom,

and Angel Eyes is on her pursuit of ants,

We rounded out the afternoon with an impromptu tea party.  

First we had hot herbal tea, then we tried cold blueberry tea.

They thought pouring was just as fun as drinking the tea.

Friday evening we all got together to play a little ball and have a picnic.  Have you ever tried to have a ball game with 7 kids (we were mean and didn't let the baby play) with ages ranging from 2 to 7?  Let me just tell you it gets wild really quickly, and  anything similar to rules just flies out the window!  However, if it's comedy you are after it can be found at such a game as this!  There are no pictures of the actual game because the picture taker was trying to play and referee at the same time.  I do have a few pictures of the evening though

Finally, the mosquitos took over and we all made our merry way home.  It has been a great few days around here.  How are things in your neck of the woods?

Wrapping up California

Wrapping up my California series for now. Maybe the future holds another trip. I certainly hope so, we had such a wonderful time! We just happened to be present for Big Hat Day, and some of us participated at a higher rate than others.













It was a fun day taking in the town, and antique shops along with the festival and good ole' kettle corn! I love that stuff!

We are talking BIG HATS here!

We took in a Little League game with a very special pitcher, and some darling little spectators!

On the day we went to Carmel we visited Clint Eastwood's ranch it was really lovely with sheep grazing on the fields, and the landscaping was gorgeous!

Of course everywhere we went was gorgeous, each place in a different way.

Carmel

While visiting California we toured Carmel Mission which was founded in 1770. I believe it was the second mission built in California, and work started on the church building that is still there today in 1793.

It was a lovely place, and I know this is crazy, but I couldn't help thinking of John Wayne while walking around there.

I confess this, finding it disturbingly sad that instead of thinking of the noble purpose of such a place I kept thinking of western movies, at least while walking around outside. Once inside, the iconic art and architecture all moved me away from fictional fantasy, and toward a holy spiritual place.

Walking through those doors the transformation of thought was almost instant. I don't want to sound overly dramatic, but it was something to experience. Again, pictures do not do justice to an experience, but I'm sharing them anyway.