Blogs of The Fast and the Furriest Dachshund Molly

Allegiance to the Flag and the Fourth of July

6/28/2018

This has been an interesting kind of week hasn't it? There are things that get repeated thought-out one's lifetime and over time you learn why.

Here in the south (though I'm sure it's more places than here) you constantly hear people say they refuse to talk about religion and politics. (In this blog we're going to hit on both. Mom and I are simple folk, and we have no desire to get caught up in conflicts and conversations we don't pretend to know anything about, so bear with us on this one).

Now Mom and I's question, " How is that so, when every time you turn on the tellie, log onto FB or the POTUS favorite social media tool Twitter you see inflammatory political comments, or the news reporting situations that make you blush for all involved."

Red Hen Owner

Maxine Waters

Donald Trumps Tweets about Red Hen Owner

We understand the zeal that drives the human heart to create unimaginable beauty, to write breathe taking sonnets, that leads the mind and heart to add life and meaning to a script from a play. By the same token, this passion when unfettered, or unbridled can wreak indescribable pain and harm to ourselves and others.

Peter in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 gives an example of running a race and the self-control required for winning said race. He closes this example with the statement " But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." Please excuse my paraphrasing but he's careful what he says, and does, so that nothing inflammatory can be linked to his message. I'm certain that Peter was a very passionate speaker, yet he managed to discipline his body, mind and speech. Maybe we should attempt to imitate Peter and try to be respectful of the impact our words and actions could have on others.

When Mom was growing up she went to a rural county school and every morning before class they would recite The Pledge of Allegiance. They would place their hands over their hearts and one child from the class would get the honor of holding the flag.

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

One nation "indivisible". Our prayer for this Fourth of July is that we all truly embrace the idea of one nation indivisible. That we come together with one heart and one mind. I pray for unity, regardless to our political beliefs, that we think back to a time when we all agreed to simply disagree, and went on with our lives and our friendships.

Hopefully the powers that be will see that at this point and time in the history of the U.S. we have certain problems that could be addressed and resolved more quickly if we laid aside our differences and collectively attempted to find solutions, rather than to name call and incite discord.

We need to remind ourselves from time to time that as individuals we can far exceed our own and others expectations, and we can certainly surpass the examples set before us.

Now if we can accomplish all that individually, think what we could achieve together. Aristotle said it best when he said, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Have a Safe and Happy Fourth of July dear furiends and friends.

Love and Peace Molly and my Mom

Here's an oldie goldie Mom and I thought of while writing this blog

Enjoy

2 Comments

About That F-Word

6/20/2018

4 Comments

It's hibernating weather here in our part of the stiflingly humid south. Around the end of May Mom and I start dreaming about Fall. Ahhh...we can hardly wait.

Anyway, back to hibernating in the AC, this is our thing on days like today. I'll dash out, take care of business and dash back in. I kind of like this part of summer.

Mom and I get to spend a lot of time inside chatting. No one hates the heat, mosquitoes, ticks, horseflies, or gnats more than Mom. If she's not swatting them she's imagining they're close by, waiting to stealth bomb her at any minute. This makes it difficult to get any sort of reply other than uh hu or what did you say?

Yesterday as my FB followers already know was my Dad's Birthday. Yups, he just turned the big 59. Mom decided she'd take the old guy out to one of his favorite BBQ's places to celebrate. They had a wonderful time and the food was great as always.

Just as the meal was ending a waitress came over to clean the table bedside the folks. She, being terribly busy and in a rush, dropped the condiment tray on the floor splashing BBQ sauce alll over the Mom and Dad. This never turned into the drama I'm sure you're imagining. Dad, who bore the brunt of the condiment attack, simply went into the bathroom and cleaned himself up. Mom mopped up some of the floor and cleaned off her purse. In the course of cleaning her purse, she knocked over her beverage and then commenced to mopping up the other side of the table and floor...

Now I know you, my followers, don't have a clue what my Mom is like, but I do. Today my Mom just looks at things and lets it go. Her philosophy is for the most part, "just go with it".

In the past, Mom was simply hell on wheels. She felt there wasn't a wrong on this earth she wasn't put here to set straight; and she honestly didn't care who it was that needed to be set straight, she could handle it. For the most part she did just that. There was no fool she suffered lightly. Nopes, not a one.

Forgiveness wasn't a word in her vocabulary either. Old age has mellowed my Mom a lot. Don't misunderstand me, she's a work in progress. There's a story I remember of someone sharing about a conversation they had with Ruth Graham. "They were driving along and saw a sign that said, construction ahead, thank you for your patience". According to the tale Mrs. Graham liked that sign a lot. She thought it applied to we Christians. It truly does apply to my Mom, there's a fair amount of construction that needs to be done ahead.

That's ok, as our Heavenly Father is faithful to put situations in our paths according to the areas that are still under construction. One of those, for my Mom, is still forgiveness. I told her we pups can teach our hoomans a lot. I can forgive my Mom and Dad anything a thousand times over. That's simply the way I'm made.

By the same token we dogs don't have the health issues connected to stress and lack of forgiveness that humans do. (I guess Mom isn't the only one that struggles with this one).

(1) Whether it’s a simple spat with your spouse or long-held resentment toward a family member or friend, unresolved conflict can go deeper than you may realize—it may be affecting your physical health. The good news: Studies have found that the act of forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health, lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol levels and sleep; and reducing pain, blood pressure, and levels of anxiety, depression and stress. And research points to an increase in the forgiveness-health connection as you age.

There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed,” says Karen Swartz, M.D., director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Chronic anger puts you into a fight-or-flight mode, which results in numerous changes in heart rate, blood pressure and immune response. Those changes, then, increase the risk of depression, heart disease and diabetes, among other conditions. Forgiveness, however, calms stress levels, leading to improved health.
Forgiveness is not just about saying the words. “It is an active process in which you make a conscious decision to let go of negative feelings whether the person deserves it or not.

Luke 6:37

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;

Matthew 18:21-22

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

That's a lot of forgiveness.

(2) Forgiveness is for our own growth and happiness. When we hold on to hurt, pain, resentment, and anger it harms us far more than it harms the offender.
Forgiveness frees us to live in the present. Reliving the wrong that was done to us keeps us living in the past and missing today’s beauty.

Forgiveness allows us to move on without anger or contempt or seeking revenge. As Confucius said about revenge, “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” This applies as much to the spirit of anger behind the desire for revenge as much as to revenge itself. Even if you do not actively seek revenge, holding on to your anger brings you down.

Forgiveness brings you back to good spiritual, physical and mental health. The systems of the body respond to negative emotions, affecting the immune system in ways that would blow your mind. Releasing those emotions is a good thing.
Forgiveness clears the cobwebs so that you can see the good in life again.

Romans 3:23

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

We're only human, we all have short comings, and to be honest we're all going to fail at meeting the expectations of others. If God can forgive us, can we not try to follow His example and forgive those who have hurt us?

Myself I do keep trying. I think of Ruth Graham's "Construction ahead thank you for your patience", sign and I smile. Honestly I'm not sure how many miles there are until we hit the Construction Completed notification, and I'm certain I'll never go through life with the grace of Ruth Graham.

I'll keep on mopping up the spilled BBQ Sauce through out my life with whatever bit of grace I can muster in the moment, and remember "to err is human, to forgive is divine" Alexander Pope.

Molly looks at her Mom busily typing away and says, "Mom you're 15 min. late on taking me potty, but I forgive you". BOL

Love and Peace,

Molly and my Mom

Sources of our Quotes

(1) John Hopkins Medicine Healthy Aging

For some reason the above link doesn't work Plz copy and past the IP address below in your browser

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/healthy_aging/healthy_connections/forgiveness-your-health-depends-on-it

(2) The Good Men Project The Importance of Forgiveness

4 Comments

The Flickering Flame

6/17/2018

3 Comments

Gazing out the window from her perch early Sunday morning Molly's thoughts turn back several years to another morning. She and Tabby Cat were chatting about nothing and everything. Tabby loved sharing tales and somehow or other they all had a message.

Smiling and thinking to herself that regardless to how much time had passed Tabby's tales were still relevant. Molly knew in her heart she would be thinking back to their chats hunting for little tidbits of truth for many years to come.

Tabby was talking about the state of the humans heart and how it didn't matter what century we were living in certain truths would always apply. Such as how a little kindness could accomplish indescribable miracles.

(1)Mother Teresa was canonized a saint on Sunday, September 4 2016. The sisters have a vision that runs like electricity through all of their houses. And that is to serve, without getting noticed, without pride, without a pat on the back, without the instant gratification of, say, more social media followers. Once you change that perspective, once you see how every little thing, every little interaction, every little task matters, watch the joy unfold. Because the genius of the soul is not just compassion, it’s kindness. Kindness is compassion in action. And that is living like there is heaven on earth. Because it is here.

(Here being, when and where you let our Savior shine through your life and your heart regardless to what you may be personally going through. It's denying yourself and allowing God.)

Colossians 3:23,24 __23 Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men, 24because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.…

Matthew 5:15,16 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

This simply act of obedience sets something heavenly free in your heart, and in your life.

Moving on Tabby shared his favorite story of the lamp from the book of St. Therese Of Lisieux Her Last Conversations. (Now this is a paraphrased version passed down from one cat generation to another throughout several centuries of cats that lived at Carmel monastery in Lisieux France. (Tabby always swore he was a decedent of a Grey Tabby Cat that lived there at the monastery).

A cat who lived at the monastery wanted to light the candles for a funeral procession there at the church. Realizing he had no matches, he was greatly disappointed.

As he started walking out the church doors he noticed a little lamp burning in the entryway. Getting closer the cat sadly saw the lamp was almost out. There was only the smallest of flames flickering in the lamp. Quickly he lit his candle as he knew the flame would be going out any min.

Knowing now he would be able to complete his task the cat took his candle and lit all the candles in the sanctuary. (2) It was, therefore, the half-extinguished little lamp which had produced all these beautiful flames, which in their turn, could produce an infinity of others and even light the entire universe.

Nevertheless, it would always be the little lamp, which would be the first cause of all of this light. It's truly God's miracle that a fire, can be started by a single flickering flame.

May we do our tasks with kindness, however small they may be, that others are drawn to our light (our Heavenly Father), and we begin our own fires that may "even light the entire universe".

Love and Peace,

Molly and my Mom

Sources of our Quotes

(1) Fox News Opinion

(2) St Therese Of Lisieux Her Last Conversations (The Yellow Notebook #5 Pg 99)

Enjoy our favorite version of This Little Light of Mine

3 Comments

The Mourning After

6/12/2018

5 Comments

After binge watching an entire season of iZombie Mom and I decided that just as is stated in Ecclesiastes 3:1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven,

4: A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

While we aren't really feeling up to dancing, we no longer feel the only thing we can successfully accomplish is to vegetate in front of our favorite Netflix show.

Life goes on regardless to what goes on around us. We dogs have the perfect personality to cope with life and it's challenges. We for the most part live in the "right here and the right now". We aren't really caught up in the past and we don't worry about what's going to happen tomorrow.

Mom and I had a chat about this and we've decided this is something she needs to work on in her own life. Mom is a bit of an "Over Thinker" which is a problem of a lot of hoomans. Over thinking causes people undue anxiety, it affects productivity, your relationships, and how one looks at the world.

Focusing on the "right here and right now" eliminates any chance of over thinking a situation and adding any sort of unnecessary anxiety or stress. One thing Mom has started doing after our chat is pausing, taking a deep breath and remembering

"Isaiah 41:10 (ASV) Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God." (Mom forgets God is always with us) so she's started trying to remember this when she begins feeling stressed.

Humans have to give up the illusion that they are in control of anything in their lives, and put their trust in God, who is in control and wants what's best for them. Just like our hoomans do with us. Regardless to how it may seem at the time. (a little bit of faith can go a long way , remember the mustard seed?)

A week or two after Tabby Cat's passing Mom shared a story he told her as they were chatting in the garden. Tabby was a very old kitty so he had a wealth of stories for almost any situation.

Growing up on a farm Mom knew exactly what Tabby was talking about when he asked her if she'd ever seen a mother hen gather her chicks when sensing danger close by.

There isn't a creature more fierce or more tender than a mother hen. Continuing his tale Tabby said, "This is how our Heavenly Father looks over His children. He would draw us to Himself under His wings until the danger has passed. Despite how frightening a situation may seem, or how impossible to overcome, God is with us through it all. Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Another thing Tabby explained is how animals and people aren't really that very different, and how humans would benefit from adopting a few life lessons from us pets. If you can't eat it, pee on it or chase it don't worry about it. It's no wonder Tabby made his journey to Rainbow Bridge, he was truly a wise and gentle furiend.

Ecclesiastes 318 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath[c]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

Let's try to not worry about tomorrow, or over think a situation. May we simply enjoy the task we have before us, and appreciate the fruits of our labors. Let us take comfort in remembering we are never alone, for our loving Father is with us always.

Until we meet again sweet Tabby Cat.

Muddling through The Mourning After,

Molly and my Mom

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Allegiance to the Flag and the Fourth of July

About That F-Word

The Flickering Flame

The Mourning After

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