I am reading a book by Emily P. Freeman called Simply Tuesday.  Emily has a blog, http://www.chattingatthesky.com, that I also read and she has suggested it is a good thing to STOP every once in while and think about what you are learning.  Such a good idea, I am finally doing it.  I  like Emily and feel like she is a friend and a real person, maybe that’s what the “P” stands for.

So here’s the small and large things from September:

1. To release fear and self-pity. I learn this weekly, daily, hourly. But this month it struck me while singing, “Let go my soul and trust in him, the waves and wind still know his name.”  All the things I fear for and worry about are in his hands.  Simple as that.
2. It’s OK to be a detail person.  I am a noticer and sometimes feel that burden.  Carolyn Watts in Hearing the Heartbeat said,  “Our hearts are made to need details-that’s why God tells us so often to remember. “
3. That I like salad with only olive oil, but preferably a really good one. There is a local oil from olives that grow near my house that is delicious and grassy. And I have to admit it pleases me that I can drive by the olive trees regularly.  It is called Ascolano, by Lodi Olive Oil.  http://www.lodioliveoil.com/.
4. That I benefit from doing yoga more often.  I have been going 2-3 times a week in September rather than my usual 2-3 times a month, and it is therapeutic to my aging body. Sometimes I mentally resist and silently mock the persistent “yoga speak” of some of my instructors, but then it’s a good time to practice my forbearance, and sense of humor.  Namaste.
5.  That sunsets are a gift.  They serve no useful purpose, and are pure beauty and grace, like the Giver.