Category Archives: heart

On the Way to God’s Garage!

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This blog spot is about healing, and sometimes I feel really bad that I lack organization. My topics are here, there, and everywhere…..some funny, some real tear-jerkers, some kind of blah, but all with an intended meaning to help bring us closer to a healing place in life! So, bear with this old mom and read on about some of my thoughts following my daughter’s trip home from a mission trip in Haiti.

Right up front I’ll put it on the plate. I know that not everybody is in favor of “us” (US citizens) being in another country helping out when we have so many problems right here under our own noses. However, I’m entitled to my own belief and opinions, and I want to say that I know that we should be helping all people who are in need, not just those in foreign countries. We are to serve wherever our hearts lead us. The key word phrase here is “we are to serve”, not sit idly by and complain, fuss, and give thoughtful insights as to how the world got to be such a terrible place. We are to get up off of our dusty butts and do something to help better our world!

That being said, I will tell you that I am a most thankful person every day of my life. I’m thankful for things like food, a home, peace within the walls of my home, health, a loving family…..all of the things that everyone places at the top of their own thankful lists. But, when my daughter and her fiancee‘ came home from serving a week in a Haitian orphanage, spending time hugging the aged and those dying alone , and visited a debtor’s prison, my life experienced unrest and is still in a mindset of restlessness.

I say “thank you” for everything, and every day I am overcome with appreciation for my wonderful blessings. But, when I saw the photos that Stephanie shared of the Haitian children, something began hurting in my heart like never before. I saw the faces of the oppressed. I saw the look of loneliness. I definitely saw starvation. The intense, sweltering heat, and the lack of blessings such as cold, pure drinking water were evident in every photo. No formula for babies. Nobody to extend caring, loving arms to children roaming the streets with no place to call home. My heart really aches just writing these words!

Here I sit and not far beyond the boundaries of my home is the daily scene of poverty, not just physical poverty, but spiritual poverty, and I’m aware of this. Yet……I sit. Something very big is missing in my own heart that Stephanie and the others who went on this trip possess. My heart is missing the final part of love. My heart is missing the “giving” part. My heart is missing the “action” part of love! I say love with my lips, I feel it in my heart, but I’m not always living it. My heart needs a tune-up and I cannot rest until I get my heart into “God’s Garage” and allow Him to give this old woman the tune-up of her life.

Stay tuned……..I’ll be posting lots more of my thoughts and actions in the days to come. Want to join me as I travel to the tune-up place? I’m not sure yet just where it’s located, but I know I’m on my way, and I know the Master Mechanic that’s in charge!

Love,

Clara

The Duck Tail — You Gotta Love the 50’s!

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My kids think it’s so funny when I tell them stories about “my times” of growing up. It’s definitely a hoot for me to think back to how different things were back in the day.

So, let’s talk for a minute about the duck tail hair cuts. I can remember standing on the playground of Hammonton High School in New Jersey swooning over Frankie Avalon as he would walk on by the chain-link fence and talk to us. Okay, maybe he didn’t always talk, but he did wave at us as we girls gripped the fence in hopes that Frankie would walk over and touch one of our hands. No, trust me, he never touched mine. If he had, I would never have washed my hand again!

Frankie had a duck tail which was the absolute most studly fashion statement for guys’ hair in the 5o’s. This awesome style was the dream-child of barber Joe Cirella (Italian, I’m sure) and this fashion became the craze when television and movie stars began waltzing the streets with their ducktails, also known as the Duck’s Butt, or the D.A., but we’ll keep it polite here and stick with ducktail. You can actually look at the tail of a duck and see how Barber Cirella came up with this idea!

I remember my father ranting and raving about how awful that was! He had plenty to say about the ducktails! Truth-be-known, if he hadn’t been in his 30’s at the time or had a head of kinky waves that wouldn’t comb straight, he would have strutted a duck tail, too.

What’s all this have to do with us today? I guess I just think fashion raves are just that…..they come and go like the waves of the sea, and sometimes we get so hung up on what people wear, how they style their hair, or better yet, what color they put in their hair, that often we miss out on the heart of the person.

Ducktails in the 50’s. The disco punk in the 60’s and 70’s. Long hair for guys. Short spikes for girls. Vice versa. Who cares? What really matters is what the person is made up of on the inside. The outside is nothing more than a signature fashion statement of the era in which we live. It’s been that way for time evermore, and fashion statements will continue to change like the tide until the end of time.

I’m sure you’re wondering if I had a ducktail? No way! That was for the guys. Me? Beehive all the way!

Love,

Clara

PS I sure do wish the ducktail would come back, guys! Why don’t you work on that?