Blessings of daily breath

We pray the Lord's Prayer and one of the statements we make is "Give us this day our daily bread." I read the paper the other day of a man who was doing what he loved to do, riding his horse, and at the end of his ride had a heart attack/stroke and died. Baihley's comment is, "guess he died with his boots on." He was a cowboy and competitor in the deepest sense. His faith; I don't know. I do know that every day when I awake I say a word of thanks for the breath I am breathing. Give us this day our daily breath isn't to be taken granted. Breathing is a blessing. Breathing is essential to life. We need to thank God daily for our bread and our breath.

Silence....

We are starting something new at our place. We are set up for horses. We have horses. We have more horses than we can ride. About 2 months ago a young girl came out and began riding one of our horses. It's been fun to watch her smile, laugh and learn how to handle Gizmo; a charming POA Baihley broke a couple years ago.
Last week another girl came out to our house to get introduced to the horses and today she began her horse lessons with Baihley. Our goal is to have a place where kids can come and learn to ride that otherwise couldn't afford horses and horse lessons. So far it's been quite the fun adventure. There is something unique about this young girl; her mother is deaf. Last week as we sat around the table and talked, it made me very aware of silence. The young girl would sign to her mother what I was saying and they would be talking back and forth; in silence. Silence seems so loud sometimes it's almost like someone is shouting. I watched the girl and her mother and the facial expressions. I haven't been around many deaf people in my life. When I lived with a neighbor lady after my father died, her grown daughter came back from college to live at home. She was deaf. I would come home and walk in the kitchen and the TV would be on but no noise. Edith got used to having the closed caption on and didn't even bother turning the volume up. It seemed real odd for me; very natural for both of them.
Today, as the girl and her step-father who is also deaf, were talking at the close of the lesson, it made me very aware of the silence that was filled with words. Perhaps they were words I couldn't understand, but they were words I could see. Her expressions made her signing come alive. I was even beginning to understand what she was saying.
We are warned in the Bible to watch the words we say. I know God allowed those who cannot hear a special sense. The way of expression lives out their words much more meaningful than sometimes the words we use. I used to love to watch my friend Karen sign at concerts. Every once in awhile she would come on stage and sign the words to a song. The meaning was never missed; the expressions, the gestures used in signing made the words jump into our hearts not simply our ears.
I am looking forward to getting to know the family more but also to learn how to make my words be words of expression lived out not simply words spoken. How can my words leap into people's hearts? How can I live out what I say and not simply speak? May I speak by my actions; the physical sign of the inward changes in my life. Not just say "I love the Lord" but let the actions; my sign language so to speak, say "I live the Lord."
She left this morning after she cleaned tack. She isn't paying for her horse time, she is working it off. And by the smile on her face and the giggles of two girls working on the saddle, it wasn't work at all.

Gifts that keep on giving!

This past week was my birthday. In my life birthdays weren't over-played. Some people have to be drama queens on their birthda; to me it's just another day but this year was a bit different. It was the first year in many that my friend would not be calling to wish and sing me Happy Birthday. There would be no plate of chocolate chip cookies, there would be no smile, there would be no sitting in the living room in their home and just killing time. She passed away right before Christmas.
I said to God in the morning that I was excited to see how he would replace what was missing.
Well God answered in a big way. I have had at least 100 different people contacting me to wish me Happy Birthday- many singing, tons of cards and e-mail greetings. People that I haven't heard from in years, people who I don't know well but knew it was my birthday. I had the chance to spend time with three people; extremely important in my life in a 24 hour time period. The one night we were eating at a Japanese restraunt just loving life and I thought how great God's imagination is; I just wanted a simple sign that God knew I would be missing her and he gave me a billboard bigger than life to remind me how much I am loved and appreciated. It's definately the gift that keeps on giving!