The Power of Gratitude

Back from Albuquerque

I just spent a week in Albuquerque, NM with my friend and business partner, Marcia Lynn McClure. It was a working vacation, but we had some time to play, talk. watch movies, and see the sights of the town she grew up in. Albuquerque is also the setting of her latest novel, The Time of Aspen Falls. She took me to several points of interest in the book, including her favorite restaurant, "Sadies." Good food!

I came back with lots of great native jewelry and souvenirs for my family. :)

Here's a little video I put together from the trip. If you're a Marcia fan, you'll even catch a glimpse of her old high school in here. :)

Parable of the Acorn

I was sitting by the creek the other day, watching the water roll by, just relaxing and enjoying the breeze upon my face and the aroma of the creek’s breath on the grass beneath me. Looking down I noticed an acorn. Immediately I thought of the parable of the acorn which I love so well. The metaphor for life it contains continues to amaze and inspire me.

It’s aspirations to be a mighty oak locked within it, the acorn plummets, severed from its parent tree, dropped to the cold hard earth. There it enters a dangerous world where it can be trampled upon, carried off to a squirrel’s nest, or rot in place. If it’s one of the lucky ones, dirt will eventually be kicked over it. Perhaps with decaying leaves upon it, it will one day be buried enough to begin those swelling motions that bring about growth. Even then, it will be decades before the tiny acorn spreads its lofty limbs skyward.

As I thought of the acorn’s journey, I had the irresistible urge to bury it in the earth. With my fingers, I dug a hole in the damp soil, inserted the acorn and covered it with dirt. Perhaps the acorn was frightened by my actions. Being placed in a dark, cold place, unable to see the sun or its parent tree above it, it may have cursed me for my actions. But I knew that I had set it upon its journey. What’s more, I may have taken years off the trip with my simple action of planting it in the earth. One day when it spreads its limbs skyward, it will thank the heavens for the woman who came along and buried its tiny body in the earth.

In my life there have been many individuals who came along and planted, watered, and nourished me just when I needed them. Some have taken years off my journey with their simple actions. Others have literally saved me from squirrels’ nests and rot. And I thank my Father in Heaven – my parent tree – for sending those people my way. What’s more, I am convinced that angels from the unseen world have attended me, comforted me, and given me the strength to survive the dark earth, and the growing pains of my sapling years.

I hope in some small way I've been able to pay these favors forward to others who needed encouragement along their way. That knowledge would be one of my greatest joys.

Doctors Freedom of Choice to Be Stripped Away by President Obama

American Family Action Alert just sent out a note about President Barack Obama's decision to rescind the "conscience rule" that protects health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions or other medical procedures that go against their moral and religious beliefs. Here's an excerpt from that news alert:

"If the rule is rescinded, doctors, nurses and other health care workers could lose their jobs or be punished professionally for adhering to their sincerely held religious convictions. Obama's proposal would take away their religious freedom.

The current rule empowers federal health officials to cut off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, clinic, health plan, doctor's office or other entity if it does not accommodate employees who exercise their right of conscience. It applies to more than 584,000 health care facilities..." For more details and to write the White House, go here.

Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, you should stand up and fight this. Why? Because if the President can take away one group of people's right to choose what to believe and how to live their lives, he can take away YOUR right to choose how you'll live your life! Power corrupts, my friends, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If you want your rights, you HAVE to allow other people their rights. If you allow one group of people to be trampled upon, you allow yourself to be trampled upon.

My Letter to President Obama

It you expect to give women the "right to choose" to have an abortion then why are you taking away the right of a doctor to choose what he will do in his own practice? If you usurp the freedom of one group, Mr. President, you usurp the freedom of others. And you do not have that right. You are usurping powers you are not authorized or delegated to have.

It is morally wrong for the federal government to force a doctor, nurse or other health care professional to participate in abortion – which stops a heartbeat and kills an innocent human life. This could cripple and damage the sensitive souls of doctors and nurses who value human life. More likely they will step down from their jobs, and our country will lose the very best health care providers we have ... the ones who actually value and uphold their oath to "do no harm."

Then again, I guess you don't value your oaths, do you Mr. President? You made an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. And the U.S. Constitution gives you absolutely NO RIGHT to interfere in freedom of religion or the freedom of a doctor to choose by his conscience which procedures s/he will or will not legally perform.

I urge you to a) go back and read the Constitution and Bill of Rights and b) uphold the oath you took two months ago to defend it. (Actually you took that same oath before that as a Senator). Please, for once in your political career, keep an oath that you have made. Do not to rescind the “conscience rule.”