...4.30.17...

Faith

is not hoping GOD

can

it is knowing HE

will.

morning coffee.

with my fur baby.

welcome to coffee hour.

welcome to this Sunday morning.

just BE.

robin. 

...just BE. smell of rain...

the smell of rain

 A cold March wind danced around Dallas as the doctor walked into 

Diana Blessing's small hospital room.  It was the dead of night and 

she was still groggy from surgery.  Her husband, David, held her as 

they braced themselves for the latest news.

That rainy afternoon, March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana,

 only twenty-four weeks pregnant, to undergo emergency surgery.  

At twelve inches long and weighing only one pound, nine ounces,

 Danae Lu arrived by cesarean delivery.

They already knew she was perilously premature. 

 Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.  

"I don't think she's going to make it," he said as kindly as he could. 

 "There's only a 10 percent chance she will live through the night.  

If by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one." 

 Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described 

the devastating problems Danae could face if she survived.

She would probably never walk, or talk, or see.  She would be prone

to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete 

mental retardation, and on and on.  Through the dark hours of morning as 

Danae held onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of 

drugged sleep.  But she was determined that their daughter would live to be a 

happy, healthy young girl.  David, fully awake, knew he must confront his 

wife with the inevitable.

David told Diana that they needed to talk about funeral arrangements. 

 But Diana said, "No, that is not going to happen.  No way! 

 I don't care what the doctors say, Danae is not going to die.  

One day she will be just fine and she will be home with us."

As if willed to live by Diana's determination, Danae clung to life

 hour after hour.  But as those first rainy days passed, a new agony 

set in for David and Diana.  Because Danae's underdeveloped nervous system 

was essentially "raw," the least kiss or caress only intensified her 

discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby.  All they 

could do, as Danae struggled beneath the ultraviolet light, was to pray 

that God would stay close to their precious little girl.

At last, when Danae was two months old, her parents were able to hold her

 for the first time.  Two months later, she went home from the hospital 

just as her mother predicted, even though doctors grimly warned that her 

chances of leading a normal life were almost zero.

Today, five years later, Danae is a petite but feisty young girl 

with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life.  She shows

 no sign of any mental or physical impairment.  But that happy ending 

is not the end of the story.

One blistering summer afternoon in 1996 in Irving, Texas, Danae was

 sitting in her mother's lap at the ball park where her brother's 

baseball team was practicing.  As always, Danae was busy chattering when she suddenly fell silent.  Hugging her arms across her chest,

 Danae asked her mom, "Do you smell that?"

Smelling the air and detecting a thunderstorm approaching, 

Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."

Danae closed her eyes again and asked, "Do you smell that?"

Once again her mother replied, 

"Yes, I think we're about to get wet, it smells like rain."

Caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin 

shoulder and loudly announced,

 "No, it smells like him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."

Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Danae happily hopped down to 

play with the other children before the rain came.  Her daughter's words 

confirmed what Diana and the rest of the Blessing family had known all along.  

During those long days and nights of the first two months of her life,

 when her nerves were too sensitive to be touched,

God was holding Danae on his chest, and it is His scent that she remembers so well.

fact or fiction.

i love this story.

just BE.

robin.

i hope you will join me.

today and every friday.

join me in this space to.

just BE.

shake off the ugly.

bask in the moments.

breathe in the truth.

and beauty.

that is there.

if you just look.

thanks for joining me.

invite your friends...

let's make the movement to

just BE.

...4.23.17...

Every once in a while we do something and a little voice inside says, 

There that's it. 

That's why you're here. 

And you get a warm glow in your heart because you know it's true. 

Do more of that. 

Jacob Nordby 

you just have to be open.

to listen.

welcome to coffee hour. 

welcome to this Sunday morning. 

just BE. 

robin.

...just BE. remember how to Love...

If you are lucky someday, you’ll stand, surrounded by people you know, 

or in the dark of night, quietly by yourself (it does not matter where exactly)

& Life will fill your whole self & it will spill out a little with each breath 

you take after that & you will give your promise to hold the world safe, for as long as it takes

& then, afterwards, you’ll go about your days, wondering what has changed

& you won’t see for a long time how it happens in small moments.

When you smile at someone you do not know. When you speak up,

though it is easier & quicker to just keep moving. When you stop & hold the hand 

of a friend who can no longer go on & you speak in a low voice that only 

she can hear & you say these words (or something like them): I would not want to be in a world without you in it.

& if you are lucky someday, maybe after one of these moments, you’ll understand

why Life filled your whole self & all you could do was open your arms to hold 

the world close & remember how to Love.

all my problems.

are solved.

sitting in this rocker.

keep it simple.

enjoy the moments.

just BE.

robin.

i hope you will join me.

today and every friday.

join me in this space to.

just BE.

shake off the ugly.

bask in the moments.

breathe in the truth.

and beauty.

that is there.

if you just look.

thanks for joining me.

invite your friends...

let's make the movement to

just BE.

...4.16.17...

"...when the world quiets

to the sound of your own breathing,

we all want the same things:

comfort, love and a peaceful heart."

~Mitch Albom

have a blessed.

Easter Sunday. 

welcome to coffee hour. 

welcome to this Sunday morning. 

just BE. 

robin.

...just BE. this will be my life...

I am going to make

everything around me beautiful-

that will be my life.

Elsie De Wolfe

simple.

beauty.

stop.

breathe.

it.

in.

just BE.

robin.

i hope you will join me.

today and every friday.

join me in this space to.

just BE.

shake off the ugly.

bask in the moments.

breathe in the truth.

and beauty.

that is there.

if you just look.

thanks for joining me.

invite your friends...

let's make the movement to

just BE.

...4.9.17...

She let go.

She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear.

She let go of the judgments.

She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.

She let go of the committee of indecision within her.

She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.

Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice.

She didn’t read a book on how to let go.

She didn’t search the scriptures.

She just let go.

She let go of all of the memories that held her back.

She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.

She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go.

She didn’t journal about it.

She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.

She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.

She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.

She just let go.

She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.

She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.

She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.

She didn’t call the prayer line.

She didn’t utter one word.

She just let go.

No one was around when it happened.

There was no applause or congratulations.

No one thanked her or praised her.

No one noticed a thing.

Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort.

There was no struggle.

It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.

It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be.

A small smile came over her face.

A light breeze blew through her. And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…

~ Rev. Safire Rose

she let go...

and let she God.

welcome to coffee hour.

welcome to this Sunday morning.

just BE.

robin.

...just BE. say YES...

How to live a life

(or at least what i know so far...)

1. you already are...Now.

when are you going to choose to enjoy it?

(how's that for clearing up the clutter?)

Secret #1:

every single

moment say Yes

to life (& don't

be afraid to say no

in order to do that.)

Secret #2:

There is no right

way to do life.

there's only stuff

that works & stuff

that doesn't

Secret #3:

They say there's only

Love or Fear, but

there's really only

Love. sometimes it

takes being afraid

awhile to see that.

Brian Andreas

Something Like Magic

april, spanning the years.

some of my moments captured.

that allowed me.

space to breathe in.

space in which to...

just BE.

robin.

i hope you will join me.

today and every friday.

join me in this space to.

just BE.

shake off the ugly.

bask in the moments.

breathe in the truth.

and beauty.

that is there.

if you just look.

thanks for joining me.

invite your friends...

let's make the movement to

just BE.

...4.2.17...

Someone once told me to always

live for the little things in life.

Live for 5am sunrises and 5pm sunsets

where you'll see colors in the sky

that don't usually belong. Live for

 road trips and bike rides with music

in your ears and the wind in your

hair. Live for days when you're

surrounded by your favorite people

who make you realize that the world

is not a cold, harsh place. Live for

the little things because they will

make you realize that this is what

life is about, this is what it means to

be alive.

make the ordinary.

extraordinary.

welcome to coffee hour.

welcome to this Sunday morning.

just BE.

robin.