Category Inspirational

sometimes thought-provoking. occasionally wise. always simple

The Rocky Path

SimplyB 2 Comments

******This is a devotional written by a good friend of mine, Robyn Knieriem, and it touched my heart. I asked her permission to share, and I hope you find the same encouragement in her words that I found.******

“He alone is my rock and salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” Psalm 62:2

One morning last week I started walking up Judi’s trail at Glen Eyrie. In all the years we have come here I have never walked the whole trail. It was just me and my puppy Charley and as little as she is, I felt I needed to protect her from anything harmful….like the bear recently seen by a friend’s RV in the park at Glen Eyrie! 😲

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Broken? Beyond repair?……not so fast my friend.

SimplyB 4 Comments

Are you one who gets excited to fix broken stuff? Can you part with items that simply do not function anymore? Some folks really find joy in diagnosing and fixing up and repairing….and then there’s me. I once declared our dishwasher as a goner and insisted that it simply could not be fixed. My husband tried to trouble shoot it but alas, all attempts to make it function failed. Bought a new fancy high dollar dishwasher, installed it, pretty impressed with its shiny new features, turned it on. Uh, it wouldn’t turn on. Tried this, tried that, looked at each other, shook heads and exchanged unpleasantries.

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Stroll or scroll?

SimplyB 6 Comments

Last evening around 9p I went for a walk. It had been a routine hot summer day in Kansas but my legs told me, “get up, woman, and take a walk”. It’s just so easy to fall into a habit of sitting with cellphone in hand, scrolling through news clips and social media, fogging the old brain with far less than uplifting content.

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Little People and Toy Boats

SimplyB 4 Comments

Little people. And toy boats. On the ledge of our bathroom’s whirlpool tub. Does this scene bring a tear to your eye? Likely not. I mean, usually I stay calm and tear free when I see them….unless I’m fixing to clean that tub. Then growls, tears, sighs all indicate my distaste for cleaning.

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Mad Skillz? Nah…??

SimplyB 6 Comments

Our retired life plans involved RV life and travel. The opportunity to combine that with volunteer work at various faith based organizations across the country presented itself shortly after retirement. And it seemed like the perfect fit.

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What YOU lookin’ at anyway?

SimplyB 4 Comments

Well today I had a little flashback as I was doing my morning face routine in the mirror.

Do you happen to recall your very least favorite song when you were a teenager? The mirror reminded me today. “At Seventeen”. Are you familiar with the song?

I learned the truth at seventeen that love was made for beauty queens…..

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Need to Know Basis

SimplyB 10 Comments

The new year, 2022, came right on in the door and sat down. Looking suspiciously similar to the past two years. I feel certain that I’m not the only person on the planet who is done with the pandemic. Every news clip on COVID, vaccines, deaths, hospitalizations? I just can’t anymore. Not that I don’t care. That’s not it at all. I do care. The numbers, the news, the pictures, the personal stories really break my heart.

This morning when I woke up my mind was filled with an intensely awful memory from when I was around 5 years old. Involving a life altering event to my parents and sisters and myself. You won’t get details, but the effects of that event were permanent and sad. Anyway, as this flash of memory hit my brain waves I sensed God asking me “Can you be thankful even though….?” What a difficult thing to ponder. Especially at 5 in the morning. I couldn’t answer right away.

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Simple, Sweetie.

SimplyB 11 Comments

Gravity. Not my friend.

Aging has been working overtime on me, it seems. Good grief. Sagging parts. Wrinkles in the most unusual places. More chins than anyone would ever possibly need. Curious bumps and spots on my skin, some that can be frozen off by the derm doctor. Of course they find their way back to new locations, and bring their friends with them. Oh, but they are “harmless”. Except for the bruises to my psyche.

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Gifts and Givers

SimplyB 10 Comments

In your own experience, who has historically been the parent most likely to shop for and/or create all the gifts given in your family? For me it was my mother. As a result, I really don’t remember many details about the gifts she gave me. Except that she generously gave to her children. So many gifts over the years. And so much of herself.

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Walls, foundations and bucket lists

SimplyB 15 Comments

We like to travel. Actually, we love to travel. I was born with the “let’s go” gene. And I believe the hubby was, too. So, we have done a lot of traveling when possible. Life has put a bit of a cramp in that plan, but still, we travel.

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Speaking silently

SimplyB 8 Comments

What speaks to your soul? For me, it’s almost always the wonders of God’s creation. We travel a lot to beautiful mountains, lakes, oceans, and so on. But sometimes the wonders of creation are in my own backyard.

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One Best Thing

SimplyB 9 Comments
1958-ish

Today is Father’s Day. This is my daddy, whom I have written about often. We had 17 years together. I’ve had 50 years of life beyond those 17 years. Without him. Do I miss him, even 50 years later? Well, yes.

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A moment in time

SimplyB 8 Comments

I had a “moment” the other day. It all started when I saw my hairbrush while getting ready for the day. It was full of gray hair. FULL of gray hair. And in that moment, I “saw” my mom. Of course when my eyes lifted to look in the mirror, there she was again.

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While you wait on the Doorkeeper

SimplyB 13 Comments

Do you like to wait? When we go to restaurants and see more than 10 people in line generally we turn right back around and leave. That’s how much we like to wait. Once in south Wichita I was stuck in my car waiting on a train, and it turned into a 45 minute wait. Then I learned this was the norm for that particular area! I just can’t think of anything I really enjoy waiting for. Not food, not trains, not telephone calls on hold. I could go on and on.

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Is there really no place like home?

SimplyB 6 Comments

We were driving through the Flint Hills of Kansas yesterday. Isn’t it beautiful?

Maybe you do this too……read on.

There are homes in this picture. You can’t see them well from this view but I assure you they are there. We drove down several lovely country roads while driving to and from this location. The views were just stunning, I’m not exaggerating. And as usual, I love seeing the homes on these acreages. On absolutely serene looking acreages that just scream “Perfect Life”. Do you know what I’m talking about? I look at these homes and think how awesome it would be to live there.

So….do you dream and imagine and envy a bit on drives like this? Like I do?

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