What a tangled web

I bet you think this is going to be a blog about deception and you would be wrong.  Actually it's about hair, my hair.  You see it's the time of year when the heater gets turned on in the house. Yes, I know I live in Arizona, but it does get chilly here.  Granted not as chilly as most other parts, but chilly none the less.  Now, Arizona is already a pretty dry state, not a lot of humidity, so when the heater runs it dries the air out in the house even more.  Have you noticed how when the heater runs in your car you tend to get shocked more?  Because it causes more static electricity being so dry, more friction.  Something like that, I just know in the winter with the heater I tend to get shocked more.

I have long, THICK hair that can tangle if you look at if funny.  Usually those tangles are "manageable", but when you add in the dryness from the heater and the static electricity those tangles tend to get a mind of their own, usually at the base of my neck and especially when I take a day off from brushing my hair.  What?  You've never done that??  Well, it was the holidays and there was noone to see, noone to come over, and nowhere to go.  Jammies all day long, I don't think I even brushed my teeth(don't tell my dentist), but that's a whole different blog.

Anyway! So this morning I realized I hadn't brushed/combed my hair in a couple of days.  DON'T JUDGE ME!!!  I got out my brush and began the strokes.  It started out well, the right side was done in a matter of seconds, then I started on the other side.  That was a whole different story.  Immediately I ran into resistance.  20 minutes later I finally had smooth hair, albeit a little bit less of it.   Mind you this was not the worst it's been.  While visiting back in Colorado at the beginning of the month, I got one that spanned the whole back of my head.....just by the end of the day.  I had to have my husband brush it out for me, because I just couldn't do it.

So, the lesson I've taken from this, one I hope to heed, is that I need to brush my hair EVERYDAY in the winter and I need to find a better conditioner....one for daily use to keep those tangles at bay. Anyone know a good one??   I'm not usually a tender headed sort of person, but those "rat's nests" as I call them sure do hurt.

FYI, I've already finger-combed several tangles out my hair that happened just while typing this out.  I told you it tangled easily!

A Garden For Daily Living

I received the following poem in a Christmas card this year and wanted to share it with you.  

I hope you enjoy it as I did.

A Garden For Daily Living

 by Imel Timberlake and Mary Helen Looney

 Plant three rows of peas

Peace of mind

Peace of heart 

Peace of soul

 Plant four rows of squash

Squash gossip

Squash indifference

Squash grumbling

Squash selfishness

 Plant four rows of lettuce

Lettuce be faithful

Lettuce be kind

Lettuce be happy

Lettuce really love one another

 No garden should be without turnips

Turnip for service when needed

Turnip to help one another

Turnip the music and dance

 

To conclude our garden we must have thyme

Thyme for fun

Thyme for rest

Thyme for ourselves

 

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love.

There is much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

It's really not about blame, about who's right and who's wrong.

It's really not about blame, about who's right and who's wrong....

I heard that line in the Christmas movie, "An Accidental Christmas", last night while trying to think of what I was going to write.  The movie isn't anything special, but that line jumped out at me.  In this day and age we are always so quick to find blame, rather than take responsibility.  We are quick to point a finger, quick to tell someone they are wrong or it's all their fault.  But do we ever stop and think about what our part was?  It's so much easier to cast the blame on someone or something else than to take any responsibility upon ourselves.  Because lets face it, if we admit any responsibility then that means we would have to do something about it and it's so much easier to let someone else fix it and then complain when they don't.

After the devastating tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary the immediate reaction was to find a cause, a reason, someone, something....anything to blame so we could fix it and keep it from happening again.  We are saddened and outraged that it happened and demanding change.  It doesn't matter if the change will really help, we just know we need to change something, anything so that we can feel like our outrage has accomplished something, so we can feel better.

When we can blame someone or something else we don't have to personally do anything about fixing it.  It no longer becomes our problem, our responsibility.  It sure makes things easier doesn't it....or does it?  The problem is that when you think you aren't responsible then you don't think you need to do anything, change anything.  It becomes someone else's job to do that.

We've become a society that no longer takes responsibility for anything: "It's not in my job description".  A society that doesn't care about the unborn: "It's a fetus not a human being".  A society concerned about "what's in it for me" or "what do I get in return".  We've become a society that calls evil good and good evil. A society that idolizes people that have done nothing (Kardashian, Hilton, etc). A society that pays more attention to the bad things/people than to the good things/people.   A society that talks about tolerance, but that is it, just talks.  We no longer have discussions, we have arguments.  We no longer have love, we have hate.  We no longer have differences of opinion, we have name calling.  We no longer have "turn the other cheek", we have "how much can I win in a lawsuit?".  Gone are the days of helping your fellow man, because now if you do you might get sued.

So what am I trying to say in all this rambling?  Simply this: What if what needs to be changed is ourselves?  It's not about assigning blame, about who's right or who's wrong.  It's about taking responsibility, ownership, of ourselves, our lives and our decisions.  Remember when you are pointing that finger at someone else, there are 3 more that at pointing at yourself.  Rather than looking for someone else to blame, let's start looking at ourselves and how we can change.  It won't be easy, but then things worth having never are.

Matthew 7:3-5  
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect