Funny...

Today in NOTL:  well, it was a gorgeous day and looking to be a fine evening, too! At 8:30 p.m., it's 70F/21C, going down to a cool 66F/19 overnight with possibly a few drops of rain tomorrow.

It's funny, how things work out, isn't it??  Earlier this week, we got a rather nasty email which happens occasionally to anyone who either writes a book or has a website.  Part of our lesson has been learning to recognize that it simply expresses one person's opinion and let it go. 

Afterward, though, we got several affirmations - of our art, our work, and this comment regarding Deb's video of my poem, Only Trust:  Thank you angel ladies. You have no idea how you have helped me thru this time in my life. As I write thru my tears, I am totally convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that God WILL make a way out what seems like no way. Be blessed angel ladies and thank you for blessing me and others with your gifts.

I post it here to encourage you to share the link to the video and poem with anyone who may need a reminder that we are never alone and that God will indeed make a way for us.   

(Cool art for a hot evening, for those of you who are in the midst of summer heat.) 

Knowing...

Today in Niagara-on-the-Lake:  Really, the weather here is glorious.  Today at 10 a.m., it's a delightful 68F/20C under blue skies with just a few clouds for contrast.  The day gets only better, warming up to a high of 73F/23C under partly cloudy skies. 

Last night we had a chuckle, I must admit.  As you know, we are offering two teleclasses, one on angels and the other on abundance.  Deb put a few listings online to get the word out. 

In comes an outraged email response, condemning us for charging for the workshop, thereby profiting off 'God's words' and the angels.  I am sure this person feels strongly that all things spiritual should be offered free of charge, presumably since 'God's words' are a gift. 

It's about this point that, if Dad were still alive, he'd say, "Think about what you just said.  Did you hear yourself?"  LOL 

And he'd be right to demand examination of that opinion, since by our friend's reasoning, Bibles should be free and Christian bookstores should give away all their products.  By her reasoning, what comes as gift from God should be freely given as gift from God - so I suppose Madonna shouldn't charge for concerts, and authors should write for nothing.  Athletes should play exhibition games in free venues, and architects and doctors and dentists... I'm sure you get the point.  Everything is a gift, from life and time to every skill and ability! 

This is the problem with fundamentalism, that people who espouse it fail to THINK - they simply buy whatever their preacher is selling, and that poor person probably has done the same.  Had our friend thought about it, she's realize that all preachers are supported by selling their work, their ministry, their books, etc.  Had our friend been familiar with scripture, she'd know that Jesus himself taught that the worker was worth his - or her - wage.

When we fail to think for ourselves, we give away our power to others.  Everyone is free to find the teachers whose words resonate within them and to regard other teachers as they choose, of course.  But when we stop thinking and choosing for ourselves, when we stop examining what others are saying and verifying whether those statements are true...well, that's when we get 'birthers' and tea parties. 

Law of Attraction says beat the drum of what you want, so I'm going to give thanks for a thoughtful, informed population of spiritually savvy light-workers!  Join me!

Definitely Deborah!!

Today in Notl:  At 11:30ish a.m. the temp is a delicious 70F/21C with a mild breeze under sunny blue skies.  A perfect summer day, and it only gets better as we warm up to our high of 75F/24C - with a comfy 65% humidity.  Ahhhh, what every summer day should be!

Deb has been busily working on her bracelets this week.  I am amazed by their beauty and wish I had had something like these to wear when I was teaching.

Back then, I used to coordinate all my jewellery to my outfit for the day.  LOL  It was a good thing my birthstone, the ruby, matches my favourite colour, red!  I'd have been in sad shape if my birthstone were a colour I cannot wear well, like yellow citrine or peridot green.

Luckily, though, I am a winter on the colour palette, so the ruby and sapphire tones work with my skin colouring.  I loved buying both fine and fashion jewellery and then coordinating each day.

Boy, though, if I had had Deb's bracelets to wear - !  With their beautiful mix of colours, they work with every skin tone and fashion.  What I really love about them, though, is their mix of stones and materials.

Every bracelet is like a prowl through a box of treasures.  Charms of one kind or another, vintage beads, semi-precious chips and stones, glittering crystals or rhinestones...I never tire of looking at her bracelets.

Normally, of course, we look at an item of jewellery and say, 'What a lovely pearl bracelet,' or whatever - and move on. Deb's bracelets receive far more than the casual glance and dismissal; they invite careful perusal and appreciation.  Her customers have told us they are often asked to remove their bracelets so people can admire them more closely, lol, and I can understand why.  Every beautiful bead and stone is chosen with care to play off one another.

A woman Deb met in a bead store said once, "Oh, these are quick work, I do them too."  And for that young woman, they are quick work: she lines up, say, red beads and white beads, then quickly alternates them onto string or wire.  She can knock off a bracelet in ten minutes, she says, and I think she can.   And she can take paint and throw it onto a canvas, too, but that doesn't make her Jackson Pollock!  LOL

No, Deb doesn't do assembly line work and her bracelets aren't quick crafts.  Each bracelet and charm is the result of care and thought as she combines various elements and chooses the ones which complement each other best.  Quality shows!

Tuesday Already!

Today in NOTL:  At almost 4 p.m., it is a five-star day in Niagara with temps of 82F/28C under blues skies with a breath of a breeze. Temps will drop this evening to 70F/26C.  Lovely!

I can't believe it's nearly 4 p.m. - we haven't stopped all day today.  Finally I have a chance to sit and look out the window and enjoy the birds - but not all of them.

I'm a little miffed at the hummingbirds.  They came by a few days in a row to sneer at us for not having a hummer feeder.  Fine,  we put one up and filled it.  It has been nearly 3 days, and nothing!  Not a single bird!  We'll have to clean the feeder and re-fill it, hoping to see them soon.  Argh.

The sparrows, never disappoint.  They visit us in droves, great gangs of them, lining up ten or twelve on a branch, taking turns visiting the feeders.  The cardinal family and the blue jay family visit often, and the mourning doves have found us as well.  A surprise visitor is a young crow, on his lonesome, who comes by every day to check out the feeder and have a nosh.  It's a never-ending circus at the feeder!

Art today is one of a set of four handpainted bookmarks given to a friend who reads voraciously.

Birdseed and feeders and bells, oh my!

Today in Notl:  A gorgeous day!  At almost-10 a.m., we're looking at temps around 72F/22C, with a lovely breeze under blue skies.  It will warm up to 82F/28C, but with a low 58% humidity, it will be one of those gorgeous summer days we love.

We have really been enjoying the birds here at our Mary Street location.  There is a lovely fruit tree (crabapple?) in the front yard as well as a venerable tall old what-seems-to-be-an-ash tree with low hanging branches offering perfect perches for gangs of sparrows.  Because there is a hedge along the side and front of the yard, it's very private and the birds visit the feeder undisturbed, so we get in a lot of watching.

If you are a Facebook friend, you can see a few shots Deb took of the front bird feeder filled with sparrows - about a dozen at once!  It was very funny to watch them trying to find space as more and more birds came to join them.

This morning was a blogtalk radio show, and we are getting very frustrated with Blogtalk.  While it's true that we have older computers, blogtalk seems to have some issues of its own.  This morning, for example, we went through the show as usual, only to discover when we checked archive that for some reason, it quit taping in the middle of a sentence only 40 seconds into it! 

No red flags, no message flashing to say we'd been bumped or that there was a problem - it just quit!  Very frustrating to think that we were speaking to ourselves.  So, after breakfast, we'll have a do-over show...*crossing fingers*

Hope the only do-overs  for you are happy ones!  (Artwork today is in honour of the grey cat seen sleeping under a small evergreen in the yard.)

Oh sheesh

Today in Niagara-on-the-Lake:  A lovely Sunday, with noonish temps of 73F/23C, rising a bit to 79F/26C as the afternoon wears on under blue skies with a few clouds for show.  Now, The Weather Network, Canada's answer to The Weather Channel, suggests that those 79 degrees will feel like 90/32C, but with the afternoon's humidity dropping from 73% to 69%, I can only conclude they are weather wimps, spoiled by Canada's lovely summers.

Back in the day, I was a one-way kinda gal: one way was strict Roman Catholicism, and I do mean hard-core Catholic.  I prided myself on being able to answer my students' questions about the church and its teachings, and when I had a Southern Baptist student enter my grade, I switched to the King James version of the Bible so that there could be no question regarding the correctness of our Catholic teachings.  I am ashamed when I think of the questions that poor child must have taken home to his mom.

The Angels remind us continually that all things, without exception, serve good if we allow them to do so (even if I have trouble seeing the good in fundamentalist religious extremists' activities).  They teach that it is a human misunderstanding of Creator's mind and will that allow us to develop religions that are based on exclusion and condemnation.

It may be difficult for us to observe such religions in action and see the good, but the more we try, the closer our alignment to Love.

Worry...

Today in NotL:  After a VERY delightfully rainy period, it's now a lovely 79F/26C at 10:30 a.m. with slightly overcast skies and a breeze.  Rain forecast for this afternoon tapering off toward evening, and heating up to 82F/28C.  Another winner of a day!

Boy, it sure is easy to worry, isn't it?  There's so much to worry about!  Economy, the health of loved ones and friends, global warming, the oil spill, natural disasters...on and on the list goes. 

Here's a better way to handle worries:  Ignore 'em.  How insane does that sound?  Let me explain.

Instead of worrying about what might happen, do two things.  Find something in the here-and-now to enjoy and affirm the desired outcome. 

For example, say you are low on funds.  You know from experience that worrying doesn't help - if it did, you'd be rich, eh?  So instead, don't think about being low on funds or creditors or whatever.  Find something to enjoy - maybe sit out in the sun and watch the birds or take a walk or watch a movie or call a friend (don't talk abut unhappy things though!).  Find something good to enjoy. 

When you do, give yourself over to the pleasure of it and then affirm the positive.  "I've been in tough spots and always came out ok...I'm ok now and will be ok."  "Money comes easily to me in unexpected ways."  Use any affirmation that makes you feel good and expresses your happy result. 

If you are an optimist, you can see the value of this method.  If you are a pessimist, think of it this way: it may not bring you money, but at least you'll enjoy a few worry-free moments! 

Here's hoping all your days are worry free!

Please send some prayers...

Hi everyone, Deb here.

Just wanted to ask for some prayers for Jean this afternoon.  She's been feeling under the weather and now she is shivery and uncomfortable.  It's about 40 degrees here with the humidity (That is about 100) and she is under a pile of blankets trying to get warm.

Please send prayers that she will move through this bug quickly.  Prayer power is amazing - as are all of you.

Have a great weekend.  I'll keep you posted.  But I think we'll be closed for the weekend.  Got some appointments to shift...

Cheers and blessings,

Deb

p.s. Early bird special prices end on Sunday.  If you wish to take the online Way of the Angels course or the Radical Abundance, you can save.  AND, if you want to take them BOTH, you can save even more!  Check it out here:
http://theangelladies.com/angel_ladies_inner_resourc.htm

God and Dog

Today in NOTL:  At 10 a.m., clear blue skies with a light breeze and temps at a delicious 73F/23 with a predicted high of still-comfortable 84F/29C.  Another NOTL weather-winner of a day! ;)

What a cafufle in Toronto over a dog and God this morning!  A kind and gentle priest, being presented with a smiling dog at communion, gave the dog the sacrament.  A parishioner, shocked and horrified that the body/blood/soul/divinity of Christ would be shared with a fiilthy dog, has filed a formal complaint with the bishop and left the church.

Ok, I can see the person's point: the dog is certainly not a baptized Christian with full understanding of the sacrament, which could equally be said of the apostles at the last supper, I expect.  But the apostles were not dogs, but humans.

I think the person who complained, whom I feel sure thought that s/he was defending the sanctity of Eucharist, is missing the point of Jesus' life and ministry, which is love.  I feel equally sure that the priest in question was acting out of a loving inspiration, and I am utterly convinced that the action was powerful and moving to many of the congregation.  I suspect that there were some moist eyes among the smiling observers.

Jesus died for love, we are told.  Is there anything he wouldn't do for love?  I cannot imagine that there is, so when the priest responded to the communicant's love for his dog, I believe it was a divine inspiration to do so.

Wouldn't be beautiful if we were all equally responsive to the impulses of Love?

I am off to give Mr. Murphy a great big hug!  Have a lovely day, all!

Today in NOTL:  At 9:43 a.m. it's lovely out, with temps of 77F/25C and a gentle breeze.  Showers predicted for later today, but I am not getting my hopes up.

They say 'dumb animals,' meaning animals don't speak, and it's true enough they don't speak in English, but they sure do make their wishes known!

The cat yamps a meow at me, sounding very much like 'NOW!' and she certainly could use a bit more patience.

Mr. Murphy sits beside me when I eat, looking up at me and opening his mouth silently in a Law of Attraction bid to get a bite to enjoy.

And outside my window is a hanging bird feeder for the dear sparrows.  Each morning we put a cup of seed in it, and it's gone by early afternoon (much of it on the ground as they scatter the seed to get to the sunflower seeds).  I fret a bit when the birds visit an empty feeder, but they must keep to OUR schedule, not the other way round.  (Yet)

The feeder is under the covered stoop, and from that position the birds watch me at my chair as much as I watch them.  If I move too quickly to grab a paint brush, for example, the birds at the feeder scatter in alarm.

The other day, one of them stopped by too late, and the feeder was largely empty.  As I watched, fretting a bit, the bird turned its head and looked at me.  Then it took seed in its mouth and spit it out onto the ground.  And then, it turned its head and sat there looking at me as if to say, "WELL?"

We put out more seed.  'Dumb' but not stupid, eh?

Hope you and the birds out your way are having a fine day!  (And yes, the illustration is a small artwork by Jean!)

The Inner Martha

Today in Niagara-on-the-Lake:  At 9:30 a.m., it's overcast and grey, with 94% humidity making 72*F/22C feel hot and sticky despite the light breeze.  Feels like rain, and a few showers are predicted for this afternoon.  It's dark for morning, and all the cars' lights are glowing as they pass...my kind of day!

Those of you who have been following The Angel Ladies know that I am an ordained deacon in the Community Catholic Church (all of the Catholic, none of the Pope).  On Sunday mornings, on Blogtalkradio, Deb and I offer a worship service (not a Mass, more like morning prayer in the tradition of the Divine Office).  Lately, Deb has invited me to take part in the homily, making it more of a discussion rather than a sermon. 

Yesterday's gospel was that of Mary and Martha.  The story is one familiar to Christians:  Jesus and company stop over at M&M's house; Martha bustles about, taking care of the guests while Mary settles comfortably to listen to what Jesus has to say.  Martha eventually gets tired of doing all the work and complains to Jesus, asking him to make Mary help her, which was the accepted role for women at that time.  Jesus, however, rebukes Martha, telling her that she is worried and distracted by many things.  'There is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part," he decides and does not send Mary off to work.

The holy stories of the many religions are like onions: they have layer after layer of meaning, and this one is no different.  We discussed several aspects of the story, but one of the most pertinent is on my mind this morning. 

"You are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing."

We get the point: don't let physical considerations distract you from your spiritual growth.  This is a toughie for us, as our physical needs are genuine and important.  They can, however, overwhelm us.

Our clients tell us this repeatedly.  They don't have time for workshops, much less readings and visits with friends and girls' nights out and even simple relaxing, and why?  They have work to do, a home to keep, children to ferry, etc., etc.  There is simply no time for the hobbies they love, the relaxation they crave, the spiritual activities they long to enjoy.

Maybe you too?  The truth is that of course there is time to devote to their spirit - the same 24-hours each day that we all enjoy. 

Will things have to shift and change to accommodate their desired activities?  Yes.  Might they have to delegate some things and discard others?  Certainly. Might the family have to help with dinner and housekeeping?  Of course (and it's a wonderful thing for the family as well as the mother). 

Will the shift be smooth and easy?  Probably not.

But the most important question is this:  After the simplifying and reorganization, is it worth it? 

We're devoting ourselves to putting things in proper order - spirit first!  Join us, and let us know how it goes.

Hope your day is a great one!

Sigh

Now, that's not a disheartened or sad sigh....it's a happy sigh!

Isn't it funny how much easier it is to complain and gripe than to speak positively?  It is for me, anyway.  If I don't watch myself, I catch myself snarking and sniping and being sarcastic.  That's dangerous, too, because getting in that frame of mind is a sure way to increase the challenges of the day.

I think that's why God made windows, actually! 

When I look out and see those crazy sparrows going after the seed, or the parade of dogs being walked by, or the newest blossom in the garden - well, it's hard not to smile and feel more hopeful about life generally!  And then there are the pets.  If Mr. Murphy isn't being his adorable - but B.A.D. - self, I can always visit Katiecat for sweeteyes and kittiechat. 

Life is good. What makes your day brighter?