Jeanne H Barnett's Blog

Creation is everything – all that exists is creation—
the earth, the sky, the plants, the animals, human beings . . .
Creation is everything that exists and it “speaks”!

Speaks? Communication.
There is verbal and non-verbal communication (methods of “speaking”).
Most of us have tried to figure out what a baby was “saying”
even when there was no sound, just moving and looking –
and we know that a droopy plant is trying to tell us it needs water –
and a sky formation might be “saying” that a storm is coming.

BUT—what about when just the presence of something or
someone can tell us (speak to us) about existence and
how it works for them, what are their characteristics?

There are individuals who, when they walk into a room,
their presence is “felt” by others in the room –
why does that not happen with everybody?
Why not look at why that is true and why not look around
outside at “nature” and explore what makes each thing we see
different from others and what makes us notice some

This is what drew me to notice the world outside my dwelling
and explore what made each item what it is, for example,
what makes a dandelion a dandelion, my first step into exploring how Creation Speaks.

A few interesting dandelion facts:
• Dandelion is rich source of vitamins A, C and K.
It also contains high level of iron, calcium and potassium.
• Seed can travel 5 miles before it finally reaches the ground.
• Seed of dandelion has disk-like extension that acts
like a parachute and facilitates dispersal by wind.
• Dandelion is useful in gardens because it improves quality
of the soil by increasing the content of nitrogen and other minerals.

Overwhelming to think about what I could gain
if I dig deeper into “hearing” the lessons from the life of the dandelion—WOW!

Going even deeper,
what can I learn about each part of creation that may be a “life” principle –
a lesson for survival –
a picture of how all creation is interrelated –
a piece of the puzzle that IS . . .
I want to “listen” as Creation Speaks . . .

As beauty and wonder fill my heart/mind,
I want to perceive the deeper messages. . .

LIFE sharing LIFE . . .
as Creation Speaks and I “listen” . . .

Walking along the beach with hot sand beneath my feet, a river on one side of me and a picnic area in the shade of some trees . . .

My Life seemed to be just like a plant I saw on this beach that was the only plant I saw anywhere on that beach surrounded by rocks and sand . . . did I look around me and complain that there was no one else like me and I felt SO alone OR did I look up at the sunshine and drink in the light of its rays and feel embraced by its presence . . . did I stop looking at the rocks and realize that I was not that far from the river, the refreshing living, flowing water OR did I gripe about having to try to reach that refreshing spot by growing my roots toward the river . . . sit in the hot sand and complain OR choose to grow deeper and out into the unknown, ignoring the fear and reaching out toward the source of Life . . .

choose . . . MY focus . . . look UP or look DOWN . . . MY choice . . .

It is, I believe, often overlooked in our busy,
hectic lives, that God is always present,
that God knows what we have need of
before we ask, and
that the Presence of God is confirmed in
many ways if we have eyes to see and
pause long enough to “know” God is there.

Saturday—Marcus and I decided to run some
errands (pick up my prescription at Walmart
and get some grocery items, look for some
work shoes for Marcus at J.C. Penney’s, and
pick up some food to bring home for lunch).

First stop – JC Penney’s
(Marcus found some work shoes and I found
a couple of summer tops on sale)
Second stop – Walmart
• (the parking lot was full so Marcus let me
out at the front door and he went in search
of a parking place in a crowded parking lot)

• (we had decided that I should call in our
food order when I first got to Walmart so it
would be ready for pick up when we left
Walmart—so, at first I sat on one of the
benches in the “airlock,” took off my mask,
set my purse beside me on the bench, and
dialed the restaurant; but the air conditioning
fan was so loud, I got up and walked into the
store so I could hear better on the phone)

• (Marcus joined me and we went to the
Pharmacy to pick up my prescription and
then got the grocery items we needed – we
were ready to check out and it was at this
point that I noticed I did not have my purse
hanging on my shoulder and thought I must
have left it in the car when I got out holding
my phone and my cane; so we checked out
our purchases and went to the car—my
purse was not in the car – what now . . .)

• (as we tried to decide the best approach,
I first tried calling JC Penney to see if anyone
had turned my purse in there since I had set
down my clothing purchases at one point to
decide which ones to get and might not have
picked my purse back up, but they said no one
had seen my purse and then, I remembered
I had paid with my debit card, so I had my
purse at checkout)

• (as we were driving to JC Penney so I could
go in and look where I had laid down the
clothes hoping maybe my purse had fallen
under the counter I was laying my clothes on,
I was praying out loud that God would help me
find my purse and help me to “see” where I
had left it . . . all of a sudden, a picture flashed
into my mind and I knew I had left it on the
bench in the airlock at Walmart when I had
stood up to go into the store because of the
loud fan noise—I told Marcus to go back to
Walmart at once and told him what I had
“remembered”)

• (Marcus drove back to Walmart, pulled up
on the sidewalk next to the doors I had entered
at first and checked the bench but my purse
was not on the bench where I had left it)

• (surprisingly, it is worth noting that I never felt
panic but I felt a sense of calm, “somehow
knowing” that somehow it would all work out
okay – although I could not see how)

• (at this point, I had a very strong feeling that
I needed to go to Customer Service to see if
someone had turned it in, so I got out of the
car and Marcus went, once again, in search
of a parking place in an extremely crowded
Walmart parking lot)

• (I got to Customer Service looking, I am sure,
like a desperate woman and I asked the clerk if
anyone had turned in an olive green purse that
I had left on the bench in the airlock area—she
said, just a minute and called out to another
clerk that I was there trying to find a purse that
was left on the bench in the airlock area)

• (the other clerk headed to the back – waiting
was hard, but somehow I felt my purse had
been protected and, when the clerk came back,
she was holding my purse – it was wide open
as I had left it on the bench and it appeared
that nothing had been touched—I was later
able to verify that everything was in my purse,
nothing was missing)

That purse had my driver’s license, my credit
cards, my checkbook, a good amount of cash,
all my keys, my medicare and other health-
related cards, and, of course, some valuable
pictures . . . the only thing not in my purse was
my cell phone since I was using it when I
walked away from my purse and I put it in the
belt holder I was wearing at the end of my call,
so I did not “miss” my purse at that time.

Praise God for providing an honest person to
find my purse and turn it in and thank God for
guiding me!

I do not take lightly the Presence of God nor do
I excuse my lack of mindfulness that resulted in
my scary situation,
but I am SO thankful
for the Grace of God,
for the Faithfulness of God,
for the confirmation of my Father
who counts my needs in this world
as important enough to merit the
ultimate response and resolution
ONLY GOD could orchestrate!
THANK YOU, GOD!
and thank you,
honest person who found and turned in my purse – may GOD bless you overwhelmingly
for your kind and honest heart and to the Walmart clerks who were also kind and honest and my very patient and loving spouse who went through all of this challenging “miraculous day.”

TO MY ENEMY:
Skyfall is where we start
A thousand miles and poles apart
Where worlds collide and
days are dark
You may have my number,
you can take my name
But you’ll never have my heart
—-
personal experience:
the enemy, the darkness,
always came when
my world was crumbling and
I was falling apart –
the condemning words,
the judgements for failure,
the taking away of hope by repeating
what I already believed about myself anyway . . .
so it worked to push me deeper into the pit of despair!
—-
TO GOD:
Where you go, I go
What you see, I see
I know I’d never be me
Without the security
Of your loving arms
Keeping me from harm
Put your hand in my hand
And we’ll stand
—-
personal experience:
in the darkest pits, somehow the tiniest pinpoint of light would try to pull me back from the edge (I could not see it then, but I can look back and see it was there) – slowly, agonizing moments would overwhelm me and out of “nowhere” I would find myself holding on by my fingernails hanging over a bottomless pit, BUT GOD . . .
the darkness would be ever so slowly pushed back and
it became less able to oppress my spirit
as healing flowed almost imperceptibly
into my wounded heart and
the faithfulness of God
has continued to this day and
into all the nights in between . . .
let the sky fall –
BUT GOD . . .

Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
At Skyfall
—-
the song

Songwriters: Adele Laurie Blue Adkins / Paul Richard Epworth
Skyfall lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

Could we stop shouting slogans from the NRA talking points and
really look seriously at this issue . . .
it deserves—no, it demands a focus on the goal of
decreasing violence of all kinds, everywhere.

BOTTOM LINE: let’s talk, not yell . . .
let’s listen – let’s discuss
• proper use of weapons,
• response training,
• effective protection approaches
along with
• the “right way” to resolve disagreements
• anger management
• respecting each other and all human life

At the founding of the United States of America, the Constitution stated:
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect UNION,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

It is NOT about my “right” to carry a military-style weapon,
it was and is about coming together to create and maintain certain ideals:
domestic tranquility, common defense, general welfare . . .
let’s discuss and let’s listen to each other,
let’s work out the best way to pursue these ideals for me and you–
the thoughtful and respectful exchange of ideas
can guide us through stormy times to a more peaceful world
away from the teenage-back alley-bully dramas
currently blocking adult interactions.

Is there an answer? I think there is . . .

for several days, I have felt a simple thought
pushing me to consider how “I see” anything –
what affects how I see or hear
anything in my world . . .

since I have enjoyed graphic design for many years,
the thought became a graphic that shows how
the same image can “feel” different just by
changing one of the typestyles
and that
brought me to consider how MY filters could
make my response to something or to someone
be different at different times,
when I am in different “moods,”
just changing one thing might make
a big difference in how I see or
how I react inside myself . . .

–like when I feel fancy and dress up
or when I feel casual and dress down,
or when I want to stay in my lounging clothes,
do I respond differently?

Perhaps I should consider MY filters,
MY state of mind,
MY heart condition,
how I AM “dressed” for the day and
how does it affect how I see–
I wonder . . .

God looks different to me than He does to you and,
in fact,
He looks a lot different to me today than He did
5 years ago or 10 years ago—
even the way He looked to me yesterday is
slightly different than He looks to me today
because every moment “stuff” happens or
I think of something differently than I did 5 minutes ago
or I hear something that makes me start thinking
about something I had never considered before that moment . . .

I’ve heard it said that we create God in our own image or,
at the very least, we assume He has characteristics
that fit some sort of a list of expectations we have in our minds.
This list seems to change over a period of time because it
draws from our experiences, examples of people we admire,
and how we internalize and respond to our daily existence—
we draw conclusions often without being consciously aware
that we are drawing conclusions—and
we incorporate these conclusions into our basic belief system
including how we view what we call “God.”

The puzzle of my life includes periods of dark traumas
mixed with periods of “blue skies” interspersed with
some periods I can’t recall very well because nothing very good
or very bad was happening to place a marker on that period.
And, so it is with my view of God—
sometimes I view Him in the “blue skies” above and
sometimes I see Him as a force against a very dark, stormy backdrop
and
sometimes I see Him as a part of the “structure of organized religion”
and
other times I see Him up in the clouds of a non-descript sky floating freely;
sometimes I think He is a very formal entity who wants my bowing down
and other times I feel He is a caring friend who is close to me;
sometimes I don’t think I can see Him at all and
sometimes I feel I can see Him clearly—and
I think that is all okay with God
as I wander on my path and wonder about God . . .
spirit seeking Spirit . . . always . . .
wait! is that a light I see just ahead . . .
does it look like . . . could it be . . . God?

“SOCIAL”
directly from Latin socialis of companionship, of allies; united, living with others

Dinosaurs likely worked AS A COMMUNITY, laying their eggs in a common nesting ground. Juveniles congregated in “schools,” while adults roamed and foraged for the herd.
—-
RECENT experience on “social” media—
—two sites – both “openly religious” in nature
site ONE—admin promoter of “one true church” I grew up in
expresses strong opinions, often judgemental
and condemning of those who disagree
site TWO—admin encourages discussion without judgement
more accepting of others posts
discussions are varying opinions from others

—my observations
site ONE—when someone offered a different opinion, the
admin and other posters attacked, some with degrading
comments and the admin would make a meme of one of
the most scathing attacks and post it on the site as a
“new” post which basically “honored” meanness
(I have posted in the past questioning the meaning of
a post by admin and experienced very strong, negative
push back so I do not post any opinions to this site and
rarely even look at its posts – it is very obvious that they
are not interested in “discussion” but only in declaring
their “opinions” as the ONLY “truth”)
site TWO—when someone offered a different opinion, the
responses were mostly offering ideas about other ways
of looking at the content of the original post and I did not
see any harsh judgements during exchanges of thoughts
even though some were stronger in their wording of
their opinions – but no name calling or demeaning words
(I have posted an opinion to this site and did not feel
“attacked” when someone disagreed with my opinion
and, when I further clarified my thoughts, I felt that others
on this site were okay with not making ONE perspective
the ONLY perspective but allowed disagreement without judgement)

The dinosaurs that lived in community seemed to last longer than those who did not—
repeatedly, nature shows us that living in community and working together for the common good is the better choice.
—may each of us work to make “social media” truly “SOCIAL“
consider BEFORE interacting or reacting on social media:
• posting as allies against challenges not against each other;
• united to make the world better for all not just me or my group,
• building community to live peacefully with others so
WE CAN OUTLAST THE DINOSAURS!

a “challenge” meaning: from the 1570s, “having been called to a contest”

For the month of January 2023, a group of bloggers chose to participate in a “challenge” to post every day in the month to a daily prompt. I was one of those bloggers and there were some who had participated before who knew what to expect—I did not know what was coming, but it sounded interesting. I wrote for the first day, but the second and third day were prompts that I did not feel able to write about, so I did not (my record was 29 days completed out of 31).

This challenge caused me to stop and consider a much more difficult “prompt”—how do I show up daily in my world, a world that seems so cold and obviously fractured—people not working together in most ways and some very combative.

The January blog challenge showed me that a very diverse group of people could exchange thoughts, opinions, ideas, pain, joy, and pieces of their life story without becoming hateful or insulting or judgemental. There were different belief systems represented, different occupations, different lifestyles, different countries, different cultures, different ages . . . and yet, as I read the different posts and the comments made by others on those posts, I was struck by a non-combative tone by people who were only connected through their blogs and, as “strangers” could have felt free to express some degree of “negative feedback” as some pretty strong posts were shared, but I did not see any of that—rather I saw most often expressions of care and concern for those revealing struggles with many different challenges, voices of comfort and encouragement.

WHY was this “world” different than the one I see every day?
I think, perhaps, some would say that participants chose to participate or not
and that is true and the “prompts” guided the focus of the posts which could be accepted or not, each person’s choice, and each person would choose to read or not read the posts of others.
However, would that not also be true in the world we live in?
• I can choose to participate or not in the daily challenge of facing the day
• I can choose to accept or reject the “prompts”: the loud voices, the news, the gossip, the rumors—what guides my focus
• I can choose to “read” or listen to what others are putting out or I can filter the overwhelming chaos and noise according to my values
• I can choose my response—what will I post on the wall of my heart/mind and what will I share with others

Me, You, Us – the challenge is real, but each of us has the option to come daily to the challenge . . . our lives are our daily “post” to the world we live in—what am I choosing to “post” today? Me, You, Us . . . increasing the fractures or focusing on the tiny points of light coming through the cracks—I choose . . .