Dear Friends,

August!!  How can it be that we are looking at the beginning of the end of summer?  For those with children and grandchildren, the back-to-school rush has begun.  The school supplies and new (or new-to-you) clothes are being purchased and everyone is busy getting ready.  For teachers, it means the end of summer vacation, but the beginning of paychecks! (Yeah)  For some it just means we have finished the month of July and we are moving on...nothing too different.  Whatever it means to you, it is true that we will now be looking towards cooler weather, maybe some rain, and harvesting gardens, along with preserving what we harvest.  We were looking forward to a bumper crop of blackberries this year and couldn't understand what was happening to them because we knew we weren't picking them.  Then we realized that the starlings were eating all the ripe berries before we even made it to the back yard.  What is usually several hundred pounds, turned into about 20 to 30 pounds this year.  More than a little disappointing, but life is like that.

Often, we plan to do one thing and something gets in the way.  We find ourselves frustrated that we can't go where we planned because the car breaks down.  We can't see our favorite television show because the weather is bad and all that is showing is maps with storms and the weather guy talking and talking (not that it isn't good to know what is coming, but you know what I mean.)  Our kids get sick, our work needs us to stay late, traffic is bad so we are late, or we forget an important project.  Life is funny that way.  I read in Reader's Digest a quote by John Lithgow.  He said "Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug."  I loved it.  It is exactly what happens.

So, what do we do when life happens?  We have a choice.  We can realize that things happen and be patient or we can become agitated and work ourselves into a "stew."  The Lord said in Psalms 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God."  I love this.  When I feel like the bug on the windshield, I try to relax and realize that there is a plan and I need to let it play out.  Our Heavenly Father loves us and will help us make it through anything if we let Him.  I remember someone once saying "Our lives are like being in a horse-drawn carriage with the Lord.  We want him to guide us through the ride, but we won't give him the reins!"  I know you are smiling because you know it's true!

I hope that as we move through this month we will work a little harder at letting go and letting the Lord work in our lives.  When we feel like the bug on the windshield, just smile and picture yourself handing the reins to the one person who can get us where we want to be.

Love to you all,
Pat Romney