U -Turn to an Upgrade

Have you ever just been driving along with the nagging feeling that you're definitely headed in the wrong direction? You realize that nothing about the scenery or the landmarks seem to resemble any of the places you've seen before, yet you continue to plod along getting yourself farther and farther away from familiar territory. Suddenly, it hits you and...whoa! Your brain has signaled you that it's time to slam on the brakes, come to a screeching halt and make a u-turn!

This is an example of a physical experience that can actually happen to us inside of our heads; within the depths of our psyche where all of the important stuff takes place. You see, our thoughts and our intents, our desires and our call center for action are centered within that big mass of squiggly tissue referred to as "gray matter". Gray matter is very real, and it is here that thought processes are triggered and resulting actions are spurred.

Of course, I am using theoretical analysis to make my point for this blog. I am not a doctor or a psychologist. But I do believe that I can use this analogy to illustrate my point even if the example is not 100% accurate. So if any professional medical folks read this; cut me some slack...okay?

Moving on...I was in such a rut. I was like an airplane that taxied and never took off. I was like an astronaut who accidentally got locked out of her spacecraft...lost in space. I was like a run-down watch battery where the hands keep moving back and forth in the same place. Driving along in my mind and traveling the exact same routes over and over that went nowhere. Get the picture?

Then one day it hit me and I slammed on my mental brakes. When I came to a rubber-burning stop, I looked around my mental landscape and took it all in. Nothing seemed recognizable to me. My thoughts and my hopes and my dreams had all undergone a drastic change. In a way it was somewhat frightening because after all; these are the things that made me who I am, and if they have all changed then who am I now? What do I mean? I'm glad you asked that question!

I have always been a BIG dreamer. Dreaming and hoping...hoping and dreaming...my escapism. I have set goals for myself and developed ways to achieve them (well; maybe some of them if not all), and most of all I have taught myself to be grateful and to be happy in the meantime while God works out all of the small details of everything else. But somewhere along the road to fulfillment, my mind took a wrong turn on a side road. It must have happened during a temporary and brief moment when I was feeling a bit down. You see, it can happen precisely in this way. You can take a detour from your purposed road of travel onto some side trail and BOOM! In a second you're in foreign territory and if you continue down this side trail, pretty soon you're out and out LOST!

We have GPS and Navigators on our smart phones and in our car dashboards. Bet you didn't know that there is a GPS for our minds and hearts too. It's not called Global Positioning System but it's called God's Positioning System. It's the word of God! It's the scriptures that teach us, lead us, order us, and guide us. If we get off of our beaten track, they will turn us around and place us in the right direction and get us going again. If we find ourselves lost and afraid, we can turn to our spiritual GPS and voila...we are back on the road again. We are never truly alone as long as we carry God's word with us in our hearts.

So, I quickly made a u-turn and headed back to where I had come from. My GPS lead me back all the way. It was no trouble to find my way back. As I traveled along the road, I began to recognize familiar road signs. Each sign was a scripture verse put there to encourage me on my journey. Each one was a guide and a promise and an assurance from God. And probably one of the most important road signs I saw was the one that said "In this world there will be much tribulation. But; fear not for I have overcome the world".

And most of all what I discovered was a great big free benefit of using my GPS . Along with a lifetime free subscription was a free upgrade. I received this free gift simply by accepting it. Simply by saying "yes, I'll take it and thank you". Just like that I had become instantly improved from my old version that had the doubts and the negative thinking and no peace. Just like that I had been upgraded.

Just like that.

First He Lies, Then He Cheats...

Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive! And if you tell one lie, you’ve got to tell another…and another…till even you don’t know the truth. Well all of this is so true, and whether or not Mr. Cheater gave a second or even a first thought to any of it when he came face to face with Alexis. Literally, it was not face to face because they were several feet away from each other when he came out of one of the private rooms all hugged up with another woman. But something had charged the atmosphere causing him to look around and when he did he looked smack dab in the face of his “one true love”.

Ever hear the expression “time stood still”? I think it’s supposed to describe something totally different than what was going on here though. It’s supposed to refer to to when two people who meet and immediately discover a mutual attraction for each other; in a good way of course. This situation was anything but beautiful but it sure was memorable!  Alexis looked at Frank, Frank was looking at Alexis, (Raquel who is Alexis’ friend) was looking back and forth between Frank and Alexis while the unidentified playmate with Frank just stood there wondering where to look.

Nobody moved for a full minute. Thankfully, Raquel had the sense to make the first move. She gently but firmly took hold of Alexis’ elbow with the intention of steering her into the next room; where they had originally been heading. She quietly urged her to come along and not cause a scene that would only make a bad situation worse. 

At first, Alexis resisted the movement, but when she did allow her friend to lead her away, she moved on, but was continuing to look over her shoulder at the retreating backs of her boyfriend and the stranger he was still hugged up with and now he seemed to be whispering something in her ear.

Here’s a little back-story to catch you up. Frank had called Alexis earlier on this Saturday night and begged off on a date because of car trouble. He had said that he would get the car fixed by a friend who could only do it right then and afterwards he’d call her. She was none the wiser, so she had settled down for the evening when her friend Raquel called and persuaded her to accompany her on a night out to have drinks and maybe get into a card game. This is how they ended up at Abe’s’ Place.

It goes without saying that the evening that had begun as a fun time had definitely lost its’ flavor for Alexis. She couldn’t concentrate; she was upset and still couldn’t believe what she had seen. Worst of all, she had a pain in her chest  brought on by realizing that Frank was just like the many men who had hurt her, lied to her and cheated on her in her past. There was no use in her staying here now. There was no way she would be able to concentrate on the card game. And she didn’t want to make conversation with anyone else right now, so she asked Raquel to drive her home.

She was very quiet on the ride back to her house. Raquel was respectful of this, so she didn’t ply her with the usual platitudes that one dishes out at times like this. She merely touched her hand while they were driving along, and when they got back to the house and before Alexis had gotten out of the car, she simply told her friend “Call me when you want to talk. Anytime, you need me; just call”. Alexis had nodded her head and let herself into her house where only hours before she had left in such an upbeat mood.

So, she made herself and cup of herbal tea, and changed into her pajamas. Curled up on the couch in her family room, she didn’t turn on a lamp. The lamp she always left on in the dining room shed enough light into this room. Besides, she needed the dimness to frame a backdrop for her little pity party she was about to throw. 

Putting her head back against the cushions and making herself comfortable, she blew out a big sigh, and just let her thoughts free fall while she sipped the delicious pungent brew of her tea. For a moment she had considered spiking it with a healthy dose of brandy, but nixed that idea for several reasons. After her pity party, she was going to have to put some things into serious perspective and she wanted to be sober for that. She let out a wry chuckle because the mellow buzz she had gotten from her drinks at Abe’s had quickly faded away the moment she caught sight of Frank and his little honey.

Yes, it was time for a close introspection and possibly a plan of action. She knew that there had been times in her life when she thought she knew how to make the right choices, but she just knew all of that was behind her. There was only a slight issue here; should that plan of action be revenge or the decision to simply move on?

Close Encounters of the Veggie Kind...

Ladies have you ever wondered what was going on in a man’s head when you smiled at him? Let me expand on that question with an actual experience I had. Recently, I was in the supermarket doing my shopping and there happened to be a gentleman in the vicinity of the produce section; fresh fruits to be exact. I noticed him from my extra sharp peripheral vision and slowly pick up and inspect a few ripe melons. He’s still pondering over the fresh herbs and I moved slightly to a more advantageous post and I could see he’s selected fresh cilantro. My amateur chef radar alerts me that he’s probably a pretty good cook if he wants to use fresh ingredients and at the moment I think this, he moves over and picks up a few leeks, and fennel.

Bingo! The first instinct was spot on! A guy who appears to know something about cooking. Very impressive. So, I walk away from the melons and amble up beside him (allowing a personal space of a couple of feet) and begin to select some celery and as you reach for a produce bag to gather up a few bunches of scallion and get a look at the third finger left hand and there is no ring. O-kay.  Nice clean well manicured hands, and …wait a minute…do I detect a subtle familiar fragrance around this man? Why yes…I inconspicuously sniff a little lady like “sniff” and I am sure of it. Burberry for Men and it’s one of my favorites colognes to smell on a man.

Alright now…here I go. I’m going to give him an innocent little smile that says "hello, I'm friendly" just to see how he reacts. Oh, have I mentioned how fabulous I looked that day? I had just left the day spa where I had treated myself to the works; facial, hair and eyebrows, mani/pedi. I was wearing a cute Capri set with matching shrug sweater,and open toe shoes to show off my pedi. And I smelt good too. So, I continue to look around a bit until I can catch his eye without having to stare him down thus having him think I'm some kinda grocery store stalker nut. I wish could say that he and I both reached for the same bag of onions at the same time and experienced a moment complete with angelic music from heaven and a star-burst from making eye contact. That definitely did not happen!

What did happen was dude gave me a cursory look with a brief nod and walked away toting his fennel and his leeks and his whatever. You know I really wanted to follow him, swagger up to him and get all up in his face with attitude and say "In case you didn't notice, but your leeks look wilted and are probably not fresh! Humph!" and then strut away giving him my back before he could think of anything to say. That definitely did not happen either!

What did happen was I shrugged it off, mumbled something to myself about him probably being a jerk anyway, put my basket down and left the store. I headed for Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice latte and by the time I had bought my coffee, added a lemon-almond biscotti to my order I had put dude out of my mind. Maybe another time and another place; it's all good, right?

So I know that you ladies have had similar experiences, perhaps in a laundromat, fast food restaurant, church or at your grand-kids school. Whether or not we made a contact let us be assured that this old reliable tried and true expression can apply to the situation: It's not us...it's them!!

Have a great weekend out there with family and friends, worship at a church of your choosing, and be blessed. We will return on Monday... and we gonna talk some more about Helena and her secret!!

Rock on!!