Sally Clarkson's Blog, page 53

Tea Time Tuesday: Strength & Hope Amidst Adversity

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"A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water."

Eleanor Roosevelt

Miss Teacup and I pondered many difficult things this week in a challenging time in history. Yet, as I read about Eleanor Roosevelt yet again, I realized that she was a woman who had experienced adversity most of her life and yet showed women how to live resiliently. Her parents died when she was young and she experienced so much time alone. Her husband, President Roosevelt, had an affair early in her marriage—again, loneliness and darkness of the soul. So, she knew what she was talking about when she said, “You never know how strong a woman is until she is in hot water.”

When you are squeezed, what comes out? This is the theme of this week because it has been my ponder.

But, as always, I gather beauty and joy in my life every day as an act of standing against adversity, so I will share some of that with you.

A new favorite: Eggs Royale—like eggs Benedict only with salmon instead of ham or bacon or spinach—though you could probably pile all of these on and it would be tasty. Early morning breakfast with one of my girls challenged me to try it! And now I am a fan!

London Fog Earl Gray tea: make your tea strong, and let it steep. (I even do this with my Yorkshire Gold). Add a half teaspoon of vanilla, use sugar as you usually do, and then cover the tea with foam as in a cappuccino. I love to make my tea this way when I have more time or I want to treat myself.

I share many thoughts this week about my eye accident, why I am having surgery, and what I have learned over many years of how to become a dependable and wise warrior in this broken world. So much more, but I must off and make dinner for my hungry tribe before we have dinner guests and then my women’s weekly Bible study. Won’t you join us? All are welcome. :)

And know, above all, you are in my heart and I pray for each of you daily. Sending my love—and my wishes for you to have some good moments of tea and peace.

Graciousness & Thoughtfulness: The Heart of Manners (10 Gifts)

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Recently, I was in London for a meeting and my path led me to cross by a very trained mannerly horse. I merely said, “Hi, you beautiful creature at which point, the horse bent down and kissed my hand (and nibbled on it for a minute. Of course the reality is, I just wanted to share this fun moment with you.)

But truly, this horse did not flench, just went back to his normal stance of dignity.

From Rhymes for Kindly Children

“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot...” ― 

Robert A. Heinlein

The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.

Fred Astaire

Not long ago, I was taking a train to Sarah’s house for the first time since I had my hip surgery. Still a bit precarious on my feet, I was a bit concerned about how I would climb up and down the platforms of the train stations. Because of Covid and loss of train staff, I had to take 4 trains instead of two and had more barriers to cross than normal. I just did not want to fall and create havoc again.

At each station, though, getting on the train and exiting onto the little narrow steps, someone offered to help me with my luggage and hold my arm! I was so pleasantly surprised and actually wondered if they were actually angels. But, nonetheless, their thoughtfulness of me, the way they each helped me as a course of life spoke volumes to me of how trained each one had been—the idea of serving

Contrasting this, rude behavior can also reveal my heart and surprise me with how ready I am to feel badly--even by a stranger's words.

Recently, I was standing in line quietly at Walmart to pick up some medicine. A surly young woman, looked up and glared at me, pointed her finger in my face and said,

"Hey lady! Hey you!  Move back to that fire extinguisher. We don't want you hanging round here so close. It bothers us. Just wait for your turn back behind the fire extinguisher! Go on now!"

Inside, I immediately felt offended by her manner of speaking condescendingly to me and the outright demand she made out-loud in front of a crowd with no sense of graciousness. Her words and attitude accosted my heart. It took me by surprise to react so quickly to someone I had never met.

I wonder if this is how children feel when a mama goes off on them when they are totally unsuspecting.

Probably, this happens to all of us far too often.Each stranger had an impact on my heart, but each made a choice of how they would relate.

I realized how, living in a whole culture that was surly, inconsiderate or dishonoring to people, where people cut in on the freeway, and all sorts of other brow beating incidents,  cultivates hostility. If indeed this incident had taken me by surprise and created a reaction---and I am a believer trying to be loving in my responses--then surely on a larger scale, it would cultivate an atmosphere of casual  disrespect and inconsiderate behaviors of others-which leads to broken or callous relationships on the whole.

Old fashioned manners, honor and respect were drilled into me daily when I was young, and so I drilled it into my own children. Even more important, though, is giving a vision, a self-image to ourselves and our children that we want to be gracious, kind, thoughtful, helpful, patient, considerate because Christ was all of these things. Graciousness—respect , thoughtfulness and kindness mixed together, deeply touches the hearts of those who feel it given to them. .

"You need to honor those older than you."

"Make a choice to treat people as though they have worth and use friendly voices and faces."

"Give all people respect as it makes them feel dignified and opens their hearts."

Over and over again we repeated our 24 ways, our desires, correction and modeling graciousness until it became a part of my children's pathways of thinking in each situation.

Jesus bowed his knee to serve every person who came his way--women, prostitutes, children, lepers, tax collectors,  so that His actions gave each person He met worth. There is great dignity in relationships when people learn the ways of graciousness.

However, I fear it is too quickly becoming a lost value. The more we devalue God's values--and dishonor the value of children, the great value of elders and wise older women, and embrace euthanasia,  the more we feel free to criticize everyone in office with no  sense of reverence or culpability towards God, the more we demean the value Jesus gave all human beings. Lack of graciousness is a downward spiral toward the degeneration of all relationships.

When honor is gone, there is no basis for strength or integrity in relationship.

Our sense of graciousness to others, will build our own humility and desire to see God's great worth and holiness.

If a child is not taught that some relationships are holy in nature, worthy of respect and graciousness, then they will have no place in their minds to understand the holy nature of God, and our need to honor and give Him worth through all the ways we behave in life.

How do we train our children to be gracious?

*We give them verses to memorize:

"Do to others as you would have them do to you." Luke 6:31 Then we constantly train and instruct. "Is that the way you would like to be treated? What makes you feel important in the eyes of others? (Stop what you are doing and look someone right in the eyes. That tells them they have great value to you.)

*Teach your children to speak graciously to others.

"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." (one of my favorite training verses.) And then we say, "How could you have said that more graciously? Did you consider how to respond to everyone so that they would be encouraged?

*Before you have guests to your home, (or before you go to someone else's home for a meal), you train, train, train.

"Greet each person who comes to our home in a way that will tell them we are happy to have them. Learn to ask at least one question to everyone who comes so they will know you care.  Please tell the mama who cooked the meal, "thank you for having us," because she will know you appreciate her.

*Give little immediate instructions.—Train as you go

"Open the door for people before they walk through when you can." Give up your chair to others older and and others more in need of a chair than yourself." "If you see someone who is being left out of a game, try to find a way to include them."

Graciousness is a constant mindset that says, "I am the mercy of Christ to those in need.”

I am the respect of Christ to others who need to know their worth. I am the loving words of Jesus to those who need to hear life-giving words."

When a child grows up developing this kind of graciousness as they go, they will have it as a treasure the rest of their lives. And of course, it goes without saying, that graciousness begins with the way you treat your children--remember, we choose to be gracious to our children even when we do not feel like it!"

We had many conferences, meetings, dinners where our children had to learn to wait on us and to be gracious with good attitudes in their waiting. But training them over and over and over again, gave them a self-image that they were called to become ambassadors for Christ in their worlds, and that is started with honor and gracious giving of themselves to others.

Training in graciousness has opened jobs for my children, scholarships, opportunities of all sorts. Having a value to honor and attend to others has caused others to want to work with them.

Eyes, voice and attitude were the ways we spoke of practically showing graciousness to others.

How have you trained your children to become a picture of the graciousness of God to others?

May someone treat you graciously today!

Lifegiving Parenting: God Gets In Through the Doors.

Long ago, reading “The Door in the Wall” by Marguerite de Angeli, captured my imagination. Then, when I walked through Oxford, and I began to see such doors everywhere. The walls are to protect those inside from the onslaught of dangers in the world from coming in uninvited. The door was to provide the few who were safe, beloved, trusted individuals a way into the place of sanctuary and a way for those who were prepared for the outside world to foray out for life matters.

Such a door gave me an imagination for parenting. We are to provide safe sanctuaries and places of beauty and life-giving for those inside our doors. And a place for the influence of the outside world to enter when deemed appropriate.We provide doorways for their hearts to all that is good, true, beautiful.

Little ones take in all facts as truth. That is why we protect them when they are young until they have developed strong values based on truth, beauty, righteousness and goodness. They do not need to see all the horrific things happening in the world when they are too young to bear it. As they grow stronger, we walk with them to help them develop muscle for coping. Then we open the world of home to other influences little by little, walk into the world side by side with our children to help them learn how to manage to flourish in the outside world.

Lifegiving parenting is not a program to implement in your home or a set of principles and practices to say and do. It’s not a formula, a ritual, or a set of rules. It is a way of living. From one perspective, it is like building and cultivating a Christian home—creating a structure and atmosphere in which the Spirit of God can work to bring the life of God to you, and through you to your children. To consider how the life of God gets into your home, I think it might be helpful to consider an illustration about a house, which has only a limited number of openings where things can come in.

The primary way the life of God gets into your home is through doors. There are numerous symbolic doors in Scripture, especially in the New Testament—doors of faith, judgment, and opportunity. Jesus calls Himself “the door” to salvation (John 10:9). But perhaps the most picturesque door is in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Jesus is speaking to “those whom I love” (3:19), asking if He can come in and sit down at their table with them to eat.

As parents, you want to be sure that door is open in your home, that Jesus is invited into every bit of life, rhythms, relationships. . It is, of course, the door to eternal life in Christ, but it is also the door to welcome the love of God in the person of Christ. Remember, too, that Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” ( John 13:35). So keep your doors open for others whom He loves and who love Him; they will bring Christ’s life in with them. Lifegiving parents open the doors of their homes to Christ and His followers to let the love and life of God in.

The Lifegiving Parent: Giving Your Child a Life Worth Living for Christ By Clarkson, Sally, Clarkson, Clay

Tea Time Tuesday: Pancakes, Patience, & London

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“Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage.”

Catherine Douzel

Miss Tea Cup, Would you like to go to London? I have a meeting and I would very much like not to travel alone.”

“ Of course, I shall be your travel friend. But, you must know, even if they don't have strong tea available, I will be happy to submit to the other black stuff if you deem you need ,something hot, strong and sweet to make your trip viable."

And so she did accomodate me--some coffee, because there was not a strong tea available. And so we shared in the fun.

Last week took me to London for a meeting with some kindred spirits who care about children, parents, family, home, education. I boarded a train, and finally walked. The first destination was a charming, very old, traditional pub, first called Duke of Clarence. As this is just opposite Horse Guards, (more in the podcast) and 10 Downing Street, you can be sure for hundreds of years, colleagues met to discuss political plans, wars, finances, royalty and all the matters that government required. After all, what better way to build diplomacy than over a pint of something bubbly.

It is around the corner from the Old Scotland Yard. This pub where I met a friend, (Jacqui) for lunch, adventure and curiosity. Most popular here is fish and chips or steak and kidney pie (both traditional). We opted to split ham and chicken pie! And of course a berry crumble to finish it all off. It is said that Winston Churchill occupied the upper floor called Pol Roger to discuss all sorts of issues involved during his years as a prime minister.

Westminster is the area where parliament, 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and St. James Part and so much more live. Such a very fun and busy place to visit.

After lunch, on my way to the meeting, I had a photo with one of the valiant Horse Guards soldiers with his horse. When I held out my hand, the horse began to nibble my fingers as though I had something there he would enjoy. Twas fun indeed.

Consequently, several books I want to recommend from my own childhood were about horses:

books--Black Beauty by Anna Sewell and The Wild Stallion--Walter Farley

Feasting on pancakes this week

Most of us in the UK will celebrate Shrove Tuesday, which is a feasting of sweets before Ash Wednesday, when anglicans traditionally begin their contemplation on Easter Tide. Before going into a time of contemplation, we will make a gazillion pancakes—for me, 100% whole wheat (recipe in The Lifegiving Table) made with vanilla yoghurt instead of milk, and we will have an assortment of things to throw into the cakes according to preference—for me, it’s salted, roasted Walnuts this year, Clay, blueberries; Joel, chocolate chips—and will provide for others grated apple and real maple syrup.

Life, Travel and Flourishing in a Foreign Country is a paradigm for life.

Learn to accept the fact that you will be out of control, often.

Be Flexible and Cultivate patience

And so much more! I hope you will love the podcast on my membership about the “Ways of God” and more in my podcast today.

Horseguards, War Rooms, Westminster Abbey—all on today’s show—my favorite places to visit.

Horse Books--Black Beauty by Anna Sewell and The Wild Stallion--Walter Farley

Finally, a saying that I find so true as we face these challenging times:

In tough times we all hope for knights in shining armour or the cavalry to show up and effect change. Dean Devlin--screen writer

Praying for all the precious ones caught in the raging war. I’m praying for you, too, my friends!

Cultivating Virtue & Character in the Real World: 10 Gifts of Heart, Chapter 3 (#2)

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“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” --Aristotle

As a grandparent, I am committed more than ever to support Sarah and Thomas to the training and inspiration of their young children. Character is the pool from which they will live and make all of their life decisions. Virtue, moral excellence expressed through godly character, takes a lifetime to build, yet is it one of the best gifts we can give or our children. I love to read to them, to inspire the imagination, to awaken wonder in their heart of how they will grow up to be heroes in their own lifetime by working hard, learning to serve, becoming aware of the needs of others. I was recently telling the story of the artist Rembrandt to one of my littles:

Showing my sweet one a beautiful art piece and allowing them to engage in its beauty opened the opportunity to then talk about how Rembrandt became such an expert—by many years of training and practice. Rembrandt became a master of light and  a detailed painter, exquisite faces by training, practice, and years and years of painting, over and over and over again--practice. His skill was developed over many years. And so it is with any craft, skill, degree or accomplishment.

Of course, this is also true of character and a Christian testimony--

the character that is habituated to improving, developing integrity by practice, stretching to work hard, to do the best, to exceed expectations comes from daily practice and personal integrity.

Those whose ideals are set high and aim, each day to pursue those ideals will have the opportunity to become excellent in any field.

This comes from an inner grid, the way one learns to see life and expects himself to live. We called this "self-government," when we trained excellence of character into the very fiber of our children's souls.As a grandparent, I am all about words—they guide, inspire, form the very brains and values of us as humans. I want my precious ones to have the same opportunity to have the pathways of their minds filled with the “ways of God.” Children grow up to love what they hear, understand, know and ingest.

It has been many years since we began our parenting journey. Over the years, my belief in the value of training and shaping my children’s character has only grown. So many times, our discussions turn to lessons they learned long ago …

Our 24 Family Ways: A Family Devotional Guide By Clarkson, Clay Buy on Amazon 10 Gifts of Heart: What Your Child Needs to Take to Heart Before Leaving Home By Clarkson, Sally

Everyone Needs the Comfort of Home

The other day found me busily tending to many needs. There were calls to make, laundry to run, and inevitable dishes that follow meals at home. I finally had a chance to take a cup of tea to my favorite chair and rest a moment, and once more it struck me: though home making always takes a lot of effort, it is worth it. We all —mamas, too!—need the comfort to be found in home.

In a world that rebelled against God’s original intention, too many are left with no understanding of the Genesis mandate or the importance of home building. Broken families, divorce, abandonment, passivity, and abuse have plagued family history and have left scars on the hearts of children grown into adults. The vision of home as a place to flourish and grow fully into healthy persons has too often been lost in the busyness, distraction, and brokenness of both our secular and our Christian cultures.

Add to that the impact of technology in recent years, as social media tends to elevate virtual relationships over real-life, face-to-face encounters. Tweets, profiles, and statuses have replaced personal conversations. Gathering around the table for food and family discussions, lingering on front porches for long conversations over coffee, whiling away evenings with family and friends—all these have been replaced with quick trips through the fast-food drive-in or fifteen-minute meet-ups at a local coffee shop. There is little time or space for instruction about life or discussions about truth. Our souls seem to be filled with the sawdust of a lost generation.

Corporate moves have displaced people from their relatives; megachurches have replaced local congregations; and so many of us have become accus- tomed to growing up without a physical, local community of friends with whom we share life every day and who hold us accountable. Neighborhoods have become merely places to hold the dwellings where we sleep, grab food on the go, and meet our bare needs for existence. Sometimes we are lonely, and we do not recognize what has been lost.

As a result, in so many ways, we have become a homeless generation.

For encouragement in your own homemaking, may I suggest the book these words came from?

The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming By Clarkson, Sally, Clarkson, Sarah

Winnie the Pooh, Friendship and TTT

Miss Teacup was off again. I think she feels much like me. I found her warming by the fire.

This bleak midwinter weather, constant rain and windy storms, and freezing cold—why it’s just too much for a girl.” “Oh, I can’t agree. more, Miss Teacup. It is why I appreciate you so much. Please come warm me with your liquid gold. I, too, am in need of solace and warmth!”

So, friends, I hope you will join us today for Tea Time Tuesday and warm up with a little reprieve of delight for yourself.

Today, one of my favorites speaks to us about the profound importance of tea:

“I don’t feel very much like Pooh today,’ said Pooh. ‘There there,’ said Piglet. ‘I’ll bring you tea and honey until you do.’

Oh how I love Winnie the Pooh. To think of the joy of having a kind friend who would ply you with tea, and in his case, a jug of honey, until you feel more yourself.

We all have those times when we feel out of sorts and as though no one “gets” us or that we are unique in our circumstances or relationships. C.S. Lewis knew what it was to feel a bit “different.” He said,

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”

And he is so right.

When we feel someone knows us and still loves us and understands us and our deepest thoughts and dreams, we are so very grateful. I pray you will feel seen, loved and affirmed in our time together for Tea Time Tuesday.

Be sure to grab a cuppa something—and maybe even a little treat, and breathe in friendship and peace for a few moments. I will put a photo of some amazing cakes and special bakes I found yesterday for an out of town friend who is visiting, two angel friends who are coming to my house for dinner, and for my Bible study friends and or children later today—whoever gets to these amazing cakes first gets to consume them.

Some highlights for todays’ podcast, Teatime with Sally:

A Treatise on Winnie the Pooh

Children, and adults, need to have at least a part of their hearts and souls filled with belly laughs, innocence, friendship, adventure and a tiny escape from the world at large. Our family loved Winnie the Pooh everything, (books, dvd’s, art) because it was so beautiful and fun—and each of my family was like the personality of at least one of the characters. (More on my podcast about that!) We loved this over Tea Times on Sunday afternoon. Twas wonderfully fun.

Food:

Today, I talk about Chicken Kiev, chicken Cordon Bleu, fish pie, and all sorts of ways to easily put together a dinner for your children.

Classical Kids book: Story Orchestra: 4 Seasons in one (and information about the classical study of musicians and their stories and resources on LIfewithsally.com—my membership—you will love this series.)

Friendship stories and verses from the Bible (also a series coming up in my membership—lifewithsally.com.

Mostly, I just love spending time with you and hope you are having a great day!

The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons in One Day: Press the note to hear Vivaldi's music (Volume 1) (The Story Orchestra, 1) Frances Lincoln Children's Books Buy on Amazon The Story Orchestra: The Magic Flute: Press the note to hear Mozart's music (Volume 6) (The Story Orchestra, 6) By Flint, Katy Buy on Amazon

Shaping A Heart with Character: 10 Gifts of Heart, Chapter 3 (#1)

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“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

GALATIANS 5:22-23

The work of a mama is never done. So they say, and I can definitely confirm the saying’s truth! Watching over our children’s character can be exhausting, yet it is some of the most important work we will ever do. To give our child a virtuous heart, to teach them to value hard work, patience, relationship skills, truth-telling, keeping their word and so much more is to bless them for their whole life. It does take time to create pathways in their hearts and minds to love virtue, but so very important to their well-being.

“You never let me get away with a single thing, Mom!” My sixteen-year-old child looked at me with a dramatically tragic face and tears spilling over big, blue eyes. “Why can’t you just understand that I’m a teenager? All of my friends have attitudes, too, and their moms let it slide. I’m just feeling emotional.” Her eyes were flashing with perturbation now. I sighed.

Confrontation, especially with my children, is surely my least favorite thing in the world. All I had asked was that she empty the dishwasher and load the dishes. The roll of her eyes, the mutterings under her breath (“It’s always me; the boys never help”) and the thump of her reluctant feet had prompted me to suggest that perhaps work was simply part of life and that she had a choice to make about her attitude.

Our confrontation at the sink, as with other mother-child confrontations, continued far beyond that dishwashing moment. We talked afterward. I shared some relevant scriptures. I reminded her of our standards as a family. I hugged her. I encouraged her. I sent her upstairs to recover and to have some time to think and pray. And then I sat back on the couch, exhausted, knowing very well that ten such conversations might happen again the next day with four of my sweet and less than perfect children in the house.

Moments like that, though they seemed tedious, were charged with some of the most important work I did as a mom. I knew then, and even better now, that I was training my children’s hearts forming their faith, and strengthening their character through those confrontation. I know you will be encouraged by the podcast today—I was! Just in the preparation.

10 Gifts of Heart: What Your Child Needs to Take to Heart Before Leaving Home By Clarkson, Sally

What If Everything is Changing?

The changes we’re seeing in our current time “under the sun,” not just in matters of home and family but also in attitudes toward Christian truth and morality, are of the fundamental kind, the ones we couldn’t or didn’t want to see coming, but that now we cannot avoid—the prevalence of divorce and fragmentation of families, conflicting ideas about God, challenges to the Bible’s authority, rejection of once widely held Christian standards and beliefs.

We’re seeing increasingly dramatic confrontations over some of God’s foundational “solid rock” truths that provide stability and safety from the storms of life. Even though we as believers are building our homes “on the rock” of Jesus’ words, more and more homes built “on the sand” surround us and are vulnerable to the storms (see Matthew 7:24-27). Sandy foundations for many are being eroded and washed away.

David asks in one of his psalms, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (11:3). It’s a good question. What happens when the foundations change? What is our response when our fundamental values are no longer honored? What do we do when the foundations we live by are rejected by those around us, or even by our country?

As a psalmist of Israel, David’s answer was a simple reminder of what followers of God have always known to do—to trust God because He reigns from His temple in heaven and will protect the righteous (see 11:4, 7). As king of Israel, though, David could not foresee what his question perhaps presciently foreshadowed for the future of his country.

About four hundred years after David’s reign as God’s king over all Israel, the ancient foundations of the Promised Land, already split into two kingdoms, were being further decimated—the northern kingdom of Israel had already been conquered and scattered by Assyria, and the southern kingdom of Judah (land of Jerusalem and the Temple) was less than a decade from being overthrown and exiled to Babylon for seventy years.

In the midst of all that change and many prophecies of coming judgment, God offered an indirect answer to David’s Psalm 11:3 question through Jeremiah, a prophet to Judah: “Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls’” ( Jeremiah 6:16).

When the foundations and fundamentals of Christianity that have provided stability for us for so long are rocked by challenge and change, and Kansas seems like a distant memory, the answer is not to panic, or fight, or just give up.

The answer is, in fact, to be like Dorothy in Oz—to adjust and adapt, keep going, keep believing, and never give up the vision of home. The biblical answer to David’s question, and to ours, is to trust that the God we know is faithful and the ancient paths we know are good. In other words, when things are changing around us, we stay faithful and stay the course. In that path alone we’ll find peace in the midst of conflict.

Whatever else we may do in response to the changes happening around us, the one thing we cannot do is neglect our families. The eight heartbeats of lifegiving parenting covered in chapters 2–9 are an attempt to define, at least in part, what “the good way” will be for serious Christian families to walk in as we navigate through our uncertain time “under the sun.”

The Lifegiving Parent: Giving Your Child a Life Worth Living for Christ By Clarkson, Sally, Clarkson, Clay

Tea Anyone? Tea Time Tuesday: Aggresively Happy

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“The path to Heaven passes through a teapot.” – Ancient proverb

My wonderful friends,

How I wish I could have each of you over for tea to my little home today. I would pick your brain, hear your thoughts and dreams, share with you mine. To have the opportunity to share in real friendship is one of the treasures of my life. So do come if you are in the area.

I love my friends here. And the way they talk. This week, a lovely woman was paying a bill at a store and she had her friend hold the leash of her dog. The pup begin whining thinking his owner was leaving. The owner turned around and in a very posh accent said,

“Oh, you Silly Little Sausage!” I think I shall say that to Darcy sometime. It was a giggle moment.

There are so many different tidbits in my Tea Time Tuesday podcast today, but I haven’t time to write about all of them—you will just have to listen. Meanwhile, take the advice of someone whose quotes I love:

You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,love like you'll never be hurt,sing like there's nobody listening,and live like it's heaven on earth.

William W. Purkey

music: Sleep Sound in Jesus Michael Card

Steve Green: Hide them in. your heart

Books: that affirm love to your sweet ones:

Wherever You Are, My Love will Follow

Written and Illustrated by Nancy Tillman

Guess How Much I Love You (20th anniversary)

Written by Sam McBratney

Ten Little Fingers And Ten Little Toes Padded Board Book Board book by Mem Fox –

Picture Book, August 23, 2010

Make trays and have a picnic in side —croissant with raspberry jam, pan au chocolate

coffee, choc almonds, graham cracker bears, gummy bears, buy lidded cups online—for toddlers

Have fruit unhand:grapes, raspberries, sliced apple or pear

Finger sandwiches

cheese bites

Join Joy and me Tuesday, 6 Eastern Time , Tuesday, Feb. 15

for an Instagram live about Cultivating Happiness in a Dark World and so much more.

Meanwhile, get your copy of Aggressively Happy by my daughter, Joy Clarkson. Today is launch day.

Aggressively Happy: A Realist's Guide to Believing in the Goodness of Life By Clarkson, Joy Marie