Reading Material

Welcome to my blog.  This is my first blog entry since going more public and inviting more friends and family to take a peek.

Note: Tablets and smartphones may have a different look, but you can drag down and there should be a button to click on "View web version".

I hope you began as suggested - with the first blog and then continued reading in date order.  So you'd have a little background into "Gail the Blogger". 

The second and third posts became more about Covid than I wanted them to be.  I wanted this to be more of an upbeat blog.  But, the fact is, these are the times we are living in and this is the situation we deal with everyday.  So I suppose some of what I'll have to say in the foreseeable future will be related to this.  But, I hope that I can find more upbeat and positive commentary on the subject and occasionally find something completely different to comment on.

I read recently that during this time we should all just find our "flow".  Find something new to do or something we like to do, but just never had time for.  Some people have taken up gardening or knitting/crocheting.  Many have already put together several jigsaw puzzles.  Some have taken up more walking and home exercise.  Some have done more reading or more binge TV watching.  Some have discovered Zoom and have regular cocktail parties online with friends. Many other new hobbies and maybe a few new passions have been discovered. Everyone got your house cleaned out?   I hope you have found your flow.  Writing just happens to be mine.  It always has been, but I just didn't always have the time. 
So I hope to continue with my flow here and I will try to write something at least twice a week.  I hope you take the time to take a peek. Some things will be long.  Some short.  Some may just be a thought for the day.  As mentioned in my "news release" if you want me to send you an e-mail when there's a new blog, just let me know.  This particular program has a way for you to sign up through them, but I didn't like that it was so cumbersome in the beginning for you and I didn't like how the e-mail was structured when sent.  Yes, I did a lot of testing.  So I decided to do it this way instead.  If you just want to try for a while, you can always let me know anytime to unsubscribe you. I won't be offended either way. 

But, back to the "flow" we are all supposed to find these days.  I mentioned people reading more and this blog is one of those things you may want to read.  But, I want to address the real readers.  You know, the ones who are experts on all the Great American Novels.  Sometimes I think those deep novel and #1 Best Seller book readers tend to scoff at people like me, who prefer to read in shorter snippets. Like the fact that I enjoy Reader's Digest may mean that I'm intellectually inferior. I also like newspapers and magazines.  Oh, dopey me.  But, I'm not fond of all newspaper articles or magazines.  What I read has to be of some interest to me. And, lately there's a lot of things that I just avoid reading.  You know the stuff I'm talking about.  So here I am asking if you'd like to occasionally read my short little or longer snippets of information and hope that sometimes it will interest you.  Or at least give you a different perspective on things.  But, more than anything, I just hope to put a smile on your face sometimes.  Give you a break from life.  Which is why I was a bit distressed when I realized #2 and #3 were about Covid.  But, that's life these days.  What my blogs won't do is raise your IQ.  Nor will you get any hint of how I vote.  
As for me and reading... I have read books.  Believe it or not.  Not Moby Dick.  Not War and Peace. But a few that were a bit shorter than those.  And I have read one very good book.  In fact, I'm currently working on my 3rd and 4th time through this book in 2 different formats at the same time.  Can you guess the book?
The Bible.
It's not an easy read. Some of it is quite interesting and some is a real snooze.  But I got through it the hard way - once.  The 2nd time, I found an online resource that examines each book with illustrations and narrations.  Go to You Tube and search for "The Bible Project"  You can add specific books in your search if you want, like "The Bible Project Jeremiah", etc.  I'm doing that run through a 2nd time, and at the same time, I'm doing an online study with St. Louis Cardinals pitcher, Adam Wainwright.  You can find his Bible study group on Twitter or sign up for e-mail here: Walking with Waino
Just thought in these tough times, you might find comfort in this particular book, but it's up to you.

What I hope to gain from all this, besides closer relationships with God and Jesus, is to just be a kinder, gentler more accepting person.  Try to be less judgmental of people.  Oh my, wouldn't we have a lot less issues in this world right now if we could all do that???  I think some people - myself included sometimes - forget that there is ONE Judge.  ONE.
I'm trying to be a better person.  I can't always help what I think, but I'm finding that maybe sometimes I just shouldn't say what I'm thinking. (Or write it).  And if I stop saying it out loud and/or writing it, then maybe I'll stop thinking these things in my heart.  All this might just make me that kinder, nicer person.  

The other day I had a friend who was a bit annoyed with a client. I told her that "God loves her (the client) just as much as He loves you."  We all need to remember that.  This friend understood and agreed wholeheartedly.  Then I said," After all He loves the bitter old [bittys] just as much as the sweet little old ladies".  Then we both wondered which category we'd end up in as we begin to age more and more.
I think - somewhere in the middle. After all, if I was a sweet little old lady there wouldn't be much fun in this blog sometimes now would there?