It’s the last day of October, and here it’s rainy, wet and coolish but not yet cold.
Fall is in full swing, and tonight all the little trick or treaters will be out looking for candy.
It’s Halloween today, what are you wearing?
On Saturday we were doing a decluttering project, and I came across these photos, oh my heart!
In the picture is a much younger me, and my wee Leanne who is now 19 years old(what!??!), and my beloved Mom, now gone some 11 years. Oh, how I miss her!!!
And here is my sonny boy, Geoff, and he’s now 28!!!
And then this:
from left to right Me, Selena, Seana, Celestein the front, Leanne
Here are myself, Leanne and my some of my dear nieces, who lovingly came outto take their young cousin out trick or treating.
We miss Seana so much; we lost her to Ovarian Cancer in May of 2012.
So today, I thought, I am going to dress in memories. Memories are like a precious necklace strung with the finest of jewels.
What jewels are in your necklace?
Do have diamonds in your necklace, the sparkling beauty that comes from things that have seemingly crushed you, created so much pressure you didn’t know if you could stand it for one more minute? But when you think back, you know now, you have the strength you never dreamed was possible.
Do you have glass beads, so fragile, and so easily shattered, yet there it is gleaming on your necklace? You did not break; you are not destroyed.
And there are the creamy pearls, milky white and incandescent. There have been people and circumstances, who are the grit in the oyster, challenging you, grating, rubbing you the wrong way. And you have learned, and you have grown, and now you are luminous.
The opals are so lovely, shades of cream and threads of mauve and pink, and pinpricks of blue shot through with lemon yellow. The gem is opaque, and at times you have been confused and cannot seem to find the way ahead, yet as you have carried on, baby step by baby step the road opens up even if a bit by bit. And you find you are not lost; you are on a journey.
Emeralds, they shine, green and glorious. They are the budding of new life after the frigid, barren cold of the frozen winter. They are the hope you cling to that spring, indeed will come again. That the trees will unfurl their leaves and the blossoms will burst forth with colour once again.
You finger the garnet, rolling its smooth loveliness between your fingers. It is the deep red of suffering, the death of dreams, the deep sorrows. You know that after a time, one day, there will be a radiant resurrection. You know that sorrow and suffering do not have the final say.
The amethyst, its purple haze, is the waiting days, the in-between times. You have learned a calmness, a quietness, peace in the midst of times of transition.
You can’t help but smile when you see the citrine, its bright sunlight yellow bringing back memories of the happy times, of all the laughter and the joy.
The turquoise is very precious. It is friendship. Those people who are steadfast and loyal; those who will not only laugh with you but will also weep with you. These friends are treasures, and they have enriched and deepened and given meaning to life.
The translucent blue of the aquamarine, speaks of the crystalline, glittering sea. The times of refreshing and renewal, like diving into a pool on a scorching, humid day and coming up fresh and energized, ready to keep on keeping on.
Have you got your necklace on, my friend? What memories will you take out today to treasure?
Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you. “O afflicted {one}, lashed by storms, without solace, surely I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. Isa. 54: 10-12 (Berean)