Category: home

A Legacy of Love

On By Betty OwensIn home, love, travel

CloudsInFlightAt the time of this posting, I’ll be on my way home from Ecuador. I’m certain I’ll have lots to tell you about our trip. Just getting ready to go has been an amazing journey for me and also for the three others on our team.

I’ve learned a few things about human nature. I’ve learned there are a great many loving individuals out there who will give sacrificially to a cause they believe in. Sometimes, they gave because they love us and want to support us. So I shed a few tears as I unfolded wadded-up hundred-dollar bills that had been pressed into my hand after church on Sunday.

ants-1169349_1920And then there are those who have nothing to give except their thoughts and prayers. Those are most welcome, because faith moves mountains. And sometimes, prayer is a sacrifice too. Because people are busy and the world is a distracting place.

With all that’s happening in our great, big world, all the bad news can easily overwhelm us. But I choose to focus on the good. The ordinary people who seem to be able to cut through the deepest darkness with their bright smiles and loving wishes. Folks who not only know the two most important commandments (according to Jesus–Matthew 22:37-40), but practice them in everyday life.

heart
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ” — Galations 5:22-23

I wonder if they realize, they’re passing on a legacy? A wonderful, beautiful legacy of love.

Has someone surprised you lately with a sacrificial gift or an act of kindness? I’d love to hear about it. Leave it in the comment section or email me via the contact tab above.

If you’d like to know what I’ve been up to, you can find me and my current activities on my Facebook Author page, or on the Owens to Ecuador group page. See you next week!

Follow me on Twitter!

Save

The Importance of Being Earnest

On By Betty OwensIn home, teacher, treasures

According to dictionary.com, the word earnest means: serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous.

On Purpose StickyLast month, I blogged about living life on purpose (with purpose). I will admit, it isn’t easy. I’ve had a post-it note stuck in front of my nose for days to help me.

In my decisions: choose to make a difference in the lives of others. Whenever possible, I’ve made an effort to spend time with my family instead of holing up with my latest work-in-progress. That might mean babysitting or conversing with my school-age grandkids whenever I’m blessed with the opportunity.

To maintain this intent and purpose, I’ve needed to spur myself and stir up the zealousness when I only wanted to retreat. You see, we make a daily choice, whether by habit or intent, to get out of bed and go to work. We go because we need a paycheck, or because we know our work is necessary for the good of others.

school-teacher-148135_1280I had dinner with an elementary grades teacher last night. She takes her work seriously. She’s earnest in her calling. She’s inspiring young minds and helping mold their future. Those aren’t just cliches to her. They are her purpose. It’s not always easy. I’ve spoken to teachers suffering from burn-out. They were discouraged, and had lost their zeal for the work that once described them and gave them purpose.

So it’s important to maintain our purpose. That’s the real importance of being earnest.

Did you wonder from my title, if I was going to reference Oscar Wilde’s play by the same name? Well, you’re right, I am. The subtitle of Wilde’s original work is “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.” The play was originally performed in London on Valentine’s Day, 1895. It was originally described as a “satirical farce.”

I had read the thing a number of years ago, but it had fallen by the wayside in my memory until spurred by the 2002 movie with Rupert Everett and Colin Firth (among many other brilliant and funny actors). If you’ve never seen it, it’s worth a watch. It’s cute, lighthearted fun, though it does carry a message and an obvious play-on-words.

So, in closing, what changes would you make to your life, in order to pursue a more earnest, purpose-driven lifestyle?

Maybe you’d need to be more present in your own life. Put away your phone, tablet, laptop, etc., and make actual eye contact with your loved ones or coworkers. That droning sound you hear as you’re texting a smiley-face to your best friend? That’s your spouse talking to you about his day. Wake up and let him know you care about him and what happened to him.

ripplesStop what you’re doing, whenever possible. Touch your child’s face and make eye contact. Respond to their need for attention with love, instead of impatience. Be earnest in your affection. Make a difference and you’ll hear a splash and see the ripple effect on the surface of your life.

I don’t play accurately – anyone can play accurately – but I play with wonderful expression. — Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

Guest Post: That’s Home by Matt Owens

On By Betty OwensIn home, Memories, season, special things, treasures, tree

Six years of memories. I’ll just need one last look at the yard, at the tree I’d planted, at the landscaping I’d done, at the small place in the corner of the yard where the grass grows a little richer because that’s where we’d buried the cat. Inside the house, I’ll revisit the kitchen I’d remodeled, listen to the sounds of the creaking floorboards, and take a glimpse once more of our first child’s room we’d worked so hard to make his own. And climbing into the truck to haul away everything we consider ours, I’ll watch the house grow smaller in the side mirror until I turn the corner, and it will be gone.


As the season has changed and the trees have begun to glow with red and orange fire in the light of the autumn sun, it’s become apparent that not just six years have passed, but a portion of my life filled with bittersweet memories. It seems as though the more recent years were the sweet ones, though, as I’d grown so much closer to my wife, and it was in those years that we’d welcomed two beautiful boys into our family. At the new house, we’ll have a lot of work, but each busy moment will add time towards years spent in our new home.


These thoughts have made me realize that a house is just a feature of our family. It’s certainly part of us, and we make it ever more so the longer we live in it. We grow to love it, become comfortable in it, make it look and smell and feel like our home. We fill it with treasures, with special things, with fond memories.


My sons will spend their days there growing into young men. They’ll be fascinated by bugs. They’ll catch or kill them and present them to their mom as both a discovery and a gift. She’ll shriek in panic. The boys will rub the insect between their fingers, getting the icky goo stained on their skin, and probably wipe it on their clothes. Or they’ll hold it loosely, and it’ll leap out of their small hands to find refuge in some small dark place hidden from curious eyes. And then she’ll make them wash their hands, and she’ll make me catch it and set it outside preferably unharmed.


But we’ll always remember these things. That’s part of what home is – the memories of how we grew together, grew to love each other, grew to know life and experience joy, pain, laughter, tears. Growing together in such a way that our roots are beyond untangling and fed from the same soil; and our trunks intertwine, our branches sway together in the wind, our leaves make each other appear ever greener. When it ends, when autumn comes and our leaves change and fall, and winter rules our bodies, the real home was the memorial that we made together, four lives grown side by side such that no man can separate them. That will never change. That’s home.