August Reflections...

I cannot believe that today is the first day of September. No, really...where has the year gone? Better yet, where has the summer gone? Just yesterday it was Memorial Day, and I was excited about all of the time I was going to spend poolside.


In the most wonderful way--even though I only made it to the pool once in August--it was a really great month. I set some goals. I made some moves. In fact, I set ten goals for the month which included completing my applications for doctoral studies, reading one homiletics book every week, and establishing a regular sleep habit. I posted on Twitter one day last week, "One of the best feelings is watching the "to-do" list transition to an "it's-done" list...#productivity" I am proud to say that I completed eight out of ten goals. One is still lingering, and another (for reasons that will remain unwritten) I had to realistically remove from the list. (It feels so good to recognize when goals are really girdles in disguise.) 


I also had a wonderful praycation. I praised and thanked God for His "Is-ness" and "Does-ness." In other words, I acknowledged the awesome being of God and the mighty and miraculous acts He performs in the lives of His people. I opened up my hymn book, lifting my voice in song; There is a wealth of theology and encouragement in the New National Baptist Hymnal!  I was nourished spiritually by reading a chapter of Proverbs each day. I am convinced that a chapter of Proverbs a day keeps the foolishness away. Better than apples, and as my boy often says, they have a much longer shelf life, too! I also cried out and laid my supplication before the Lord. The days when my prayer was skipped or truncated because of the demands of life, I suffered. The days when I lingered in God's presence, trusting that the demands of life are in God's hands, I flourished. 


What else? Let's see:
Hubby and I were blessed to travel to Ohio for the wedding of one of his dear friends and brothers in Christ. We had a wonderful weekend away, reliving our vows as the beautiful couple confirmed theirs. Look at us...don't we look good?

Our senior church mother, Mother Emma Jeffries, departed this life. She was a super-centenarian. She passed on August 20, 2001...two weeks after celebrating her 112th birthday. No, that is not a typo. Mother Jeffries was 112 years old, and as the old folks would say, she was clothed in her right mind! Her homegoing service was a wonderful celebration of her life and legacy; She was a woman who loved and served the Lord, in word and example!


Lastly, hubby and I closed out the month at my parents' house being sheltered from the storm and and showered with the loved that is experienced in my mother's cooking. And thanks be to God, when we arrived home, everything was just as we left it. That said, I am not insensitive to the devastation in the wake of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene. My prayers remain with those who are cleaning up the waters and picking up the pieces.


That's it for August; I am looking forward to September and all that it has to offer...