The Howell Blessings

So many of us go through life not even noticing what we are doing. We don't realize what is going on around us, or the affect we have on others. We just "do" life.  We wake up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch some TV then go to bed, just to wake up and do it all over again the next day. We count the days until the weekend when we can sleep in for one or two days, socialize with friends or catch up on chores or just "chill". Then Monday rolls around again and the routine of the week begins again. But some of us get interrupted right in the middle of our routine. Accidents happen, a loved one passes away, or a job is lost.  It's in those moments that we look up from our numb existence to look around us and wonder what just happened. We often think of these times as being tragic, one we never want to live through again, but if we really think about these times in our lives, these are the times we are really aware of what is going on around us. ...

It's 5 Minute Friday and today's word is SMALL Go! They say good things come in small packages.  As a child I had a hard time believing that because I liked big things!  Bring me a bicycle and a horse, forget that small stuff  I wanted something big, and I wanted to be BIG! As I matured a little, I began to think maybe there was something to this small stuff. I liked perfume, which came in small bottles and books. Even later I thought I had it all figured out. Of course I know what they mean now....a diamond ring!  How perfectly small and good that was. Now that I am older, I realize that it's not always things you can buy.  I appreciate small things now, like a small squeeze of my hand by my sweetie, a small thank you note from my nephews and nieces or friends.  I appreciate a small act of calling just to say hi. But I think my favorite small things are the little packages that are coming along now.   ...

                        Lonely The invitations were sent and yet no one picked up the phone when the follow up calls were made.  A text or two come in at the last minute with "sorry, no".   Excitement had built all week as she planned the appetizers, what plates they'll go best on and what to serve to drink.  But now, she goes into the kitchen to prepare the small delights with a somewhat less than enthusiastic step, not knowing how much to make, if any. One would think that with hundreds of Facebook "friends" invited and invitations sent to many more who do not frequent this social media hot spot, that the house would be filling up by now. Yet she keeps herself busy while anxiously looking at the clock, watching the time grow nearer to the party hour and the doorbell has yet to ring. It's such a lonely feeling having friends who seem to be so busy that they can't commit to spending two to three hours o...

Christians go to church on Sunday's. Shoot, non-Christians go to church on Sunday's, Saturdays and even Wednesdays.  We pray over our meals, maybe at night before we go to bed, and of course...on Sunday's. We've become "so familiar with God, yet so we are so unaware of Him"*.  We not only have become numbed by our daily rituals of serving Christ, we've become apathetic toward the One who created us and sacrificed for us so that we could live in His presence forever.  We've become so calloused to the sins we've committed that we don't allow ourselves to feel the depth of wrong we've caused.  Yet by God's grace and mercy, He loves us still. My momma always used to say that being a Christian and having a relationship with Christ are two different things.  When we go to church and say our daily grace these are things God leads us to do, but when they become routine, we are "missing out on the most exciting part of being a Christian -...