Our lives are far too busy today to stop and enjoy what our grand creator has prepared for us, but one trip to the cabin in the woods reminds us that man is not as important as we’d like to think he is.
This quiet solitude gives us the peace we so badly need in this world gone mad. It matters not which direction you turn, the silent beauty increases.
Sitting quietly on the porch, a pair of woodpeckers may be seen tending to their nest in a barren tree. Maybe a turkey vulture will land on a nearby branch looking for dinner as he rests his wings. The unfamiliar quiet is soothing to our ears and the birds that sing are pleasurable to our hearts. The peace that surrounds the old cabin warms our very being and invites us to give thanks to our heavenly father.
Squirrels continually look for food and bury it for the leaner days of winter while they cautiously watch us. Animals’ lives go on whether we are here or not; they have no worries or cares. They go about their lives and do what comes naturally and when we leave their view, it matters not to them.
If we meditate on these things we will find this peaceful harmony that surrounds the cabin is the very thing that makes our sanity return to our hearts and minds. Look closely at the variety of birds; hear each one sing a different tune. They fly south and come home again without anyone calling them or showing them the way. They exhibit the same instincts that were given to them at the time of their creation so long ago.
Whether walking down the dirt road and stopping to admire the tangled roots of a tree or finding a tree that grows needles, we stand in awe at the creation itself because it is too wonderful for us to grasp. It causes our heart and minds to grow in appreciation for the Creator that gave so much thought to the unsearchable gifts he gave to lowly mankind.
It’s then that we should remember we are but a speck of dust in the eyes of our Heaven Father, Jehovah; yet he tenderly cares for each one of us and answers the prayers of the honest hearted ones. Oh Jehovah!
Yes, Jehovah is the name of our heavenly father. Your name is beautiful and no one else can possess such a glorious name. Thank Jehovah today for the beauty he created yesterday. Yes it still surrounds the cabin in the woods today.
Sing praises to Jehovah, and glorify His name. (Psalms 83:18)
Just about everyone knows that life is getting harder and people are becoming wearier as the bad todays turn into worse tomorrows. People are abusive and it is seen in many of the young people today,
When a person comes from an abusive home, they carry much baggage around as they are growing, and by the time they become adults, a very large suitcase is needed. The contents in that suitcase are the very real damages of broken and abusive homes. There are all kinds of labels for each behavior. Low self-esteem, cruelty in different ways, no love to give, and the list goes on and on for an eternity.
Have no doubts, they seem to know they are in some way damaged goods and not suitable for any type of life that might give them happiness and peace of mind. There is no need to talk about living in an abusive home because everyone that resided in that situation knows all the common threads that patch their livestogether, gives them a warped sense of humor and an outlook on life that cannot be understood by someone that has not been there.
This ugly little green caterpillar was afraid of everything and always imagined the worst of things. She was not sure how that came to be, but she only knew that’s how it was. This ugly caterpillar shared a house with a mother, and four siblings. Her bedroom was in the attic and a chimney ran straight through the middle of the space. Her sister slept on one side of the room and she slept on the other. There was a window in the wall between their beds and there was a huge oak tree in the neighbor’s yard, which they only knew as an acorn tree because of all the acorns that fell throughout their yard. In the summer it provided shade for their swings and that was nice, and at night it looked like a fluffy cloud that gently swayed from side to side as if it were dancing. The ugly green caterpillar loved watching the dance until she drifted gently off to sleep.
In the winter it was a totally different scene on the ceiling of that room. At night in the winter the limbs were bare and when the cold wind blew, the branches looked like crooked arms that danced wildly across the ceiling from her sister’s side to hers. She remembers staring at the ceiling for what seemed an eternity, with eyes wide open and remembering the Wizard of Oz with scenes of the flying monkeys. Oh, this little green caterpillar just knew that those horrible monkeys were going to get her and hurt her in some way. At night, all she could do is stare at the ceiling with eyes wide open, afraid to close them lest they come and grab her and take her far away from home. Her heart would beat hard and fast while she shook from head to toe. She remained that way until her eyes would close, heavy with sleep, and too weighed down to stay open, then sleep came only to bring on nightmares of what her thoughts had been just a short time ago.
This caterpillar used to speak very softly, hardly above a whisper and she remembers the caterpillars always getting closer to her and turning their heads’ always trying to hear her better. She does remember the teacher always saying, “What? What did you say? Speak up; I can’t hear what you are saying.” It was quite embarrassing because everyone was looking at her and they laughed which made her even more embarrassed. Sometimes she’d wonder if she would ever live through some of those days; always wishing she could just disappear into thin air never to be seen again. She had no idea just about everyone goes through something in their childhood that was embarrassing in some way. Many nights she would cry herself to sleep, but no one else could hear her.
When the green caterpillar grew to be a teenager, she fared no better. She didn’t seem to fit in anywhere. She managed to make a few friends but she’d lose friends as soon as she made them but never knew why.
She was good at sports and swimming and was able to beat everyone in her class at all the sports and the gymnastics we did. No one liked her because of that either. She just happened to be better at sports than anything else and enjoyed them immensely. That littlegal loved going to gym class and it was the only class in which she consistently earned an A. It was an A in all her physical education classes throughout her school years. By her teens she had learned to speak louder than she did when she was a bit smaller, but it still wasn’t loud enough because people had to still ask her what she just said, and besides that, she still stuck out like a sore thumb.
There was no sense of style and was lost in a sea of young adults not knowing how to behave since they all were lost and trying to find themselves within this sea of teens. Oh well, she graduated finally and now she thought that she would suddenly fit in somewhere that she didn’t fit in so far. Still, she was not comfortablein life or even in her own skin. She wanted out of the house. She wanted to be on her own. Her parents took a look at her fingernails and said, “No, you’re not quite ready yet.” That’s all they said, “You’re not ready yet.”
It was then that this little green caterpillar went into a cocoon and hid, because here she finally felt she was in a safe place to hide from life. Safely tucked away in this cocoon she knew she was safe to try and make changes. She was changing daily, and hoped that she would fare better in life than she had so far. She wanted to be liked by everyone. While in that cocoon she would daydream about how she wanted to be. At night she would think of how she could be better and these thoughts consumed her while she was in that cocoon all by herself.
That little green caterpillar, which had seen herself as being ugly, and unwanted, had gone into a cocoon tohide and hoped she would change. Instead of feeling angry all the time, she became calm, and stayed that way as she silently began to work inside that cocoon.Once she felt that she was changing into something else, she relaxed and began to feel much better.
Not too much time had gone by before a male butterfly began a conversation with her through the cocoon wall and in a very short time, he just swept her off her many feet. She knew that something was different. She knew that she already made some changes and felt that she was still making changes just how big those changes were; was yet to be seen.
But she had no idea exactly how big those changes had become and actually no one was quite ready for her to come out of the cocoon; and she was in for the biggest surprise of all.She suddenly felt it was time to leave the cocoon for good. Besides, it was getting a little crowded in theresince she had grown a little more than she expected to. She was going to step outside but discovered she had no feet anymore. She started to cry, but when she went to wipe the tears away, she noticed that she had huge, thin flaps of material where some of her feet used to be.
When she moved them fast, she wasn’t on the branch anymore. It was raining but that didn’t bother her, she thought this was great fun and oh how much easier it was to fly than coordinate all those legs and feet.
When she got tired enough to stop, she landed on a flower and she saw her reflection in a drop of water on the flower. By golly, she was no longer ugly but had turned into a beautiful butterfly. She could now see color, no longer were things just black and white. She could now actually see colors; what a beautiful sight. That good looking thing that swept her off her manyfeet had been patiently waiting for her to come out of the cocoon.
He still had a power over her, and since it was such a powerful attraction, they flew away together. This proves that with lots of work, time, and thought, the suitcase can get lighter until one day it disappears.
Yahjekwu Greg is a life coach and he wrote an article giving advice on marriage. He encouraged husbands and wives to think about different things that they not only ought to think about but they need to act on them too so they will be happier, enjoy their marriage, and stay in love with their spouse.
I was very interested in this article and found the information quite useful. I was married 30 years to my late husband and while our marriage wasn’t perfect, we did ok with all the ups and downs that life throws at us. Items of advice included appreciating the little things that your spouse does for you every day, they are sure to build up your marriage.
Sometimes when arguments arise and you both may be angry with one another, I know for a fact that appreciation for the little things your spouse does for you each day will bring you back to thinking about them and not yourself. It will soften the anger you feel toward them and set the right tone to do some serious talking with each other. This really takes some ability to see beyond the anger, and I am today remembering that I sometimes did feel the right way about him. He was still my spouse. Really think about your spouse and maybe just little things they do are things that you can count on. Such as, do they come right home from work? Do they tell you they love you every day? Do they compliment you on something? If you think about these types of things, I’m sure that you can come up with something.
Along that line is the advice to say that you enjoy the little things in your marriage. The safety you may feel because you are married, always having together time, discussions before decisions are made, family time, couple time. Those are some of the things I enjoyed in marriage. Being able to depend on your spouse is a big plus. You know they are there for you and always will be. When the marriage is not in an exciting or critical time just remember another thing that will strengthen your marriage is being glad your spouse is a part of your life and being thankful that you have found each other.
I think of the term, “Each other” differently now. He or she found you as well as you found him or her. In fact, that term makes you think of a two-way street rather than a one-way street. For me, it opened up a new way of looking at togetherness. The faster you can get this attitude before the marriage, the sooner you will have each other’s backs.
He is probably very lucky Sometimes you have to think of these things and remind yourself why you fell in love and married them. Things like these positive thoughts will make you again feel satisfied in your marriage. Remembering why you fell in love will remind you that you really do still love them.
Respecting your mate will always work in your favor, supporting their decisions, and if you respect your partner, you will try to learn to listen to them before speaking in anger. I am working on doing that and it is slow, but I do see that relationships always go better, no one’s feelings get hurt, and no one gets angry back at you.
What about laughing together. This was another piece of advice that he gave. Laughing together is wonderful and it lifts your spirit and theirs too. It clears the air and it makes everyone relaxed and feels closer together. Have you ever been with others and looked at each other and began to laugh a little? It’s private why you are laughing, but you both know what the joke is.
I believe that YahJekwu Greg was trying to get a point across that it is imperative to consciously work on your marriage, you have to forgive each other too. Besides these things, I noticed that there were things in his article that had to be a decision that you make and need to commit to. How about deciding to love your mate each day? Decide that every day you are going to work on strengthening your relationship. Decide that you are going to look at the positives in your relationship, and definitely decide that you are loyal and fully devoted to your mate. One will never go wrong when following those suggestions.
Remember that your mate needs to be alone sometimes to pursue hobbies, friendships, and family. Yes, you are part of that circle but just sometimes they need time to themselves just like you do. It’s better to allow them to have a little space before they come to you and tell you they need a little space which usually means a lot of space. This allows them to be themselves and have some room to grow. Marriage takes work, no one marries and rides off into the sunset and lives happily ever after, that just isn’t what happens in real life.
He probably mentioned a few more, but I cannot think of them right now. He calls them mantras; I call that advice good common sense. When you follow the advice, you will have a strong and happy marriage. Happy marriage to all those who follow this good common sense. Even when your relationship is good and you’re happy, following these suggestions will make it happier and keep it always strong.
When I was just a young princess my hopes of finding my prince became much less hopeful with each frog, I forced myself to kiss. I say forced because with the word going around in that day, it was believed that frogs gave you warts. I certainly didn’t want warts and so it went that I had to close my eyes and force myself to kiss each one of those green, or brown, slimy creatures. Much to my dismay, not one of them gave even a whisper of hope that my prince would instantly appear after kissing those gross little creatures.
So, with a big sigh, and the fear of getting warts from each frog, I would spit on the ground, wipe my mouth with the back of my muddy hand, and spit again just to make sure that I got the taste of frog off my lips and all traces of the cooties they could possibly give me along with warts were gone. About the age of seven when I finally gave up on the idea of my finding a prince by kissing frogs. It seemed totally useless to me. Who believes such a stupid thing anyway? Well, I went back to my usual way of trying to find my prince charming and that was in the daydreams I would allow myself to indulge in each day. I did always wonder what a prince and his princess did when they rode away to live happily ever after. It seems that no one I asked knew the answer to that question either.
I asked Uncle Ernie about that and he said I would just have to wait until mine showed up so I could find the answer to that question. I then asked him just when my prince would be showing up. He told me he wasn’t sure when that would be, but he did know that my prince would show up just when he was supposed to. Uncle Ernie said that my prince might even show up as a knight in shining armor and rescue me from a tower. I gave him a kiss and climbed down from his lap. Maybe I would dream of this tonight. I sure did doubt it though.
My little corner of the attic was just the right environment to imagine that happening. In the winter the bare branches of the big acorn tree next door moved across my ceiling as though they were just waiting for me to fall asleep and they would then snatch me up and take me away. When I heard the wind whistling in the dark and saw the branches dancing across the ceiling in such a foreboding manner it was utterly impossible for me to even close my eyes. It was a pretty scary scene that played over and over again each night. When I got too scared, I would call my brother who slept in a bed on the other side of the chimney from me and sometimes he would let me climb into bed with him and he would put his arms around me. I felt safe with him and sometimes thought that maybe he was my knight in shining armor, but I do have to add that he was no prince charming. He was just an older brother who was mean to me as brothers usually are to younger sisters.
Well, even after some time had passed by and I was growing up I still waited for my prince charming but to no avail. I began to believe that there was no such thing as a prince charming who would take me away to live happily ever after. When I had just about given up on the idea of a prince charming even existing at all, I heard my mother say that she had just found her prince charming. I ran to her and asked her where he was and how did she find him. I was eleven at that time and she told me that I was too young to know how to find one, but she had finally found hers and I would find mine someday. I asked her if she was going to ride away and live happily ever after and leave us here.
About that time I started into JR High School for seventh and eighth grades. It became a painful realization that there was no such thing as a prince charming and there were no knights in shining armor either to come and find me or rescue me from a tower. My life did continue on and even though the reality of there not being a prince charming or a knight in shining armor coming for me on a white horse, I still held out a shred of hope for there to be someone to find me and rescue me from the nightmare of the teenage years. Nope, it never happened. I grew up and went through life in the normal way, getting through as best as I could.
Then one day I realized something miraculous had happened. There was such a thing as a prince charming. I now had the proof because my prince charming walked into my life to rescue me, but he was no prince charming, even though I saw him that way. He did finally appear after much doubt and fear that he would never come to find me and take me away from this house and my siblings. As for what they did and lived happily ever after? They must not have known what it was either, because they did not live happily ever after, and that finally ended her search for her prince charming. She learned that life was just life, and there are good times and bad times and we always figure out how to get through the bad times and we try to remember the good.
I remember his first kiss upon my lips, for that was the very moment he captured my heart; and it was that very day when our love began, there in the World of Reality. My heart was pounding, my mind racing with excitement, and my thoughts were running wild, I continued alongside him into a land not familiar.
I saw the sign: it plainly said “The land of dreams” Your eyes were so trusting, and your words so sweet. You easily convinced me that we belong together in the land of dreams. In the land of dreams our love began to blossom. The more words of love we spoke to each other, the deeper our love grew, yet, the many words of love we exchanged became so confusing to me. I’d find my thoughts spending much time in the world of reality; he always knew when my mind wandered back there. For it was only he who knew where I was, and exactly how to bring me back with him to be with alongside him.
I remember his first kiss upon my lips, for that was the very moment he captured my heart; and it was that very day when our love began, there in the World of Reality. My heart was pounding, my mind racing with excitement, and my thoughts were running wild, I continued alongside him into a land not familiar.
I saw the sign: it plainly said “The land of dreams” Your eyes were so trusting, and your words so sweet. You easily convinced me that we belong together in the land of dreams. In the land of dreams our love began to blossom. The more words of love we spoke to each other, the deeper our love grew, yet, the many words of love we exchanged became so confusing to me. I’d find my thoughts spending much time in the world of reality; he always knew when my mind wandered back there. For it was only he who knew where I was, and exactly how to bring me back with him to be with alongside him.
cm writes 