Signs at the Crossroads of Fear & Courage

 Signs at the Crossroads of Fear & Courage                            by: Lisa Morgan

Signs are supposed to guide us in the right direction. Signs can also be misleading, humorous or deceiving. Navigating a road to success can be complicated especially when you have misinformation guiding your path. Allowing fear to guide you cause you to be lost down a road of isolation coming to an intersection at the crossroad of fear & courage. When what you fear makes you angry, take that passion from the anger & transform into courage. Fear is a powerful weapon that an enemy can use to subdue you. You can also allow fear to hold you down in chains, when all you have to do to free yourself from the chains is to gain knowledge. Knowledge will break chains that bind you. You must be careful of where you obtain the knowledge for sometimes wickedness will fool you into thinking you are filled with knowledge & wisdom, when in fact you are pumped up with arrogance, pride & ignorance. Allow that which you fear to encourage you to have courage. The courage can then be used for good to defeat, whatever caused the fear. Be a person of great courage & not of anger or fear. Also remember that which you fear might not be so frightful if you research what it is that you fear. Inform yourself with knowledge not hearsay, but truth. The truth may open your eyes to see that which you feared may not deserve the fear, for there is nothing to fear.

A wise person knows knowledge is a powerful tool. The first key to wisdom is to revere the Lord God & from there you can start paving your pathway to wisdom. Acknowledging that you are not the center of this vast universe is key to being a wise person. Humbling yourself is not a bad thing but an empowering thing., You see if you put things in perspective realizing how insignificant you are as an individual among all the creations God has created, then you are humbled, thus you can out your pride aside & hear God, wherein comes the beginning of wisdom. Sit on top of a mountain & look out at the valley below or rest your weary bones onto a secluded beach to gaze out upon the ocean, then if you should feel how small you actually are in the scheme of things. Those who think they are on top of the world have a hard day of reckoning coming, when they realize that world that sat upon was nothing but a spinning wheel. Spinning wheels blowout from time to time leaving you stranded. Be aware of those who speak of everything you want to hear, that tickle your ears with sweet nothings, because that is exactly what they speak of...nothing.

If you have ever felt helpless in a situation, where you could not help someone or save someone, then you know how powerless we as human actually are despite all of our arrogance. I will say that prayer helps me.  Everyone walks their own path in life. Sometimes we choose the difficult road that is winding with treacherous cliffs leading to dead ends, even though there was a straight path ahead which was a much easier path; it appeared to be boring, thus the more exciting path was chosen. The truth is even a straight & narrow roadway will have crossroads. The crossroads we face will all have consequences regardless of the choice & these are the lessons we learn from. If you are lucky to live long enough, you realize to learn from the mistakes of others, so you don't have to make those same mistakes yourself. When you waste time making mistakes that others before you have repeatedly made then you are being a fool. Life does not give us refunds on wasted time.

Dreams are a funny thing. Dreams can be a driving force or a nightmare. Dreams can become illusions or be prophetic. Dreams leading to aspirations, believing that you can achieve, achieving goals through hard work & seeing the fruits of your labor flourish is the reward you reap. Likewise if your dreams are lined with greed, envy, jealousy, sloth (laziness), pride; then inevitably what you have sown will be a crop of malcontent, anger, deceit more of the aforementioned greed, jealousy, sloth & pride. The viscous cycle of jealousy, anger, pride, sloth only lead to a nightmare negating any rest or peaceful dreams. Dare to dream but enact wisdom, courage, hard work to see those dreams come to fruition.

A garden does not flourish without being tended to with care. Briers, weeds or tares will suck the life out of everything they touch. You must be mindful to remove the briers, weeds/tares from your garden, otherwise you will have a brier patch. Briers & weeds always attach themselves closely to the living things around them to disguise themselves. Make sure your "Garden of Eden" is not transformed into a "Garden of Weeden", through fear, laziness, ignorance & deceit.

 I wanted to add one more tidbit of wisdom before I finish this post, be mindful not to post your Google Search to your Facebook status. The world may not be ready to know that much about you. Rest assured your next visit to church, the local watering hole or family gathering might never be the same, if you do make that mistake. Never look to me for wisdom, as I am constantly learning myself. I merely offer up life experiences, after making my own mistakes; you can do with the information what you will. Choice is a beautiful thing. Freedom is a powerful thing. When you combine knowledge, truth, choice & freedom, you have a fundamental cornerstone for building a foundation. America was founded in such a way. Let freedom ring, while never forgetting freedom is not free, there is always a cost to anything & everything in life, remember those crossroads I spoke of earlier, they come into play with choice. Here's to hoping each one of you has an interesting journey on your road to wisdom, keeping your eyes & ears open for truth.

Thank you for spending your time to read my post,
Lisa Morgan
Author of Get Beach Slapped, the reality check book.
#GetBeachSlapped #wisdom #quote #life #saltlife #freedom #dreams

My Bucket List became a Bouquet List

My Bucket List became a Bouquet List

written by Lisa Morgan                                                                                         3/25/2016
                          
Life happens to us when we aren't paying attention. Sometimes if we take a moment to reflect on our lives then we find the most amazing things were taking place; things that we had wished for at times but never expected to happen. Dreams can become reality. It's what you do when the dream becomes reality that truly matters the most.

Everyone it seems is making bucket lists these days. You know that good old to do list of things we want to experience before we kick the proverbial bucket falling into the final resting place.  It made perfectly good sense to me sit down in front of my laptop, peck away at the keys to produce a simple bucket list. What I found was it's not as easy as you might think. My premise was that if you had only one day left to live, but you could do anything or go anywhere to do that anything; what would it be? I was stumped. I thought I would reflect on the fifteen years of my life, in order to get some perspective on the things I had wanted to accomplish but never quite got around to doing, in the South we call that "roundtuit" or get around to it. I sat down with a paper & pen at my kitchen bar to pen what I've accomplished over the last fifteen years. God bring you what you need in the season that you need it to come to you, even if you had forgotten what you needed.

I'm a dreamer with realist tendencies or vice versa & even so I consider myself to be a down to earth person. What I found was quite astonishing to me. My bucket list of things I had wanted to achieve twenty years ago had actually happened to me, not necessarily that I felt like I made them happen. Does that make any sense? I had at various time vocalized or day dreamed about wanting to attain certain goals, but with the direction that my life was going at the time, I might as well have been hoping to walk on the moon or dance with Brad Pitt. Although the dance with Brad Pitt option will remain open as long as I'm breathing. 
I digress once again so back to the handwritten list I was penning while sitting at the bar in my kitchen one morning. I sipped on my second large mug of java clicking my pen on the counter top. I started to put down on paper my achievements minuscule or grande. This is what I wrote:

Create Paintings or Artwork
 Sell at least one painting or piece of artwork (I'm an Artist)
 Get on a Plane (Conquered a fear)
Write TV show concepts & have them looked at by Hollywood Execs
Go to Hollywood Oscar parties (realize that I'm Not the starstruck type)
Buy a Mercedes ( realize the new wears off the label after a few weeks but still cool )
Produce & Direct a documentary film   (I'm a Producer & Director)
Write a Screenplay & have it filmed (I'm a Screenwriter)
Write a book
Have an admired comic laugh at my writing (David Brenner)
Write, Act, Produce & Direct a sizzle reel for a TV show (I'm an Actress)
Act in film play productions in Georgia (Not Oscar worthy just fun)
Find True Forgiveness
Pay cash for a house (good timing both in buying, selling & buying again)
Realize that you have a best friend, a true friend
Have my book Published (I'm an Author)
Sell at least one copy of my book (Yay!)
Write a Blog
Go to a Rolling Stones concert
Realize my soulmate is not perfect but neither am I
Appreciate my life

When I had finished this list of accomplishments, it dawned on me that this was an awesome bucket list, that I never could have imagined accomplishing twenty years ago. I decided to rename "My Bucket List" with a more deserving name & I christened it "My Bouquet List". The list had become a much more aromatic, colorful list therefore more deserving of a title befitting a fragrant stroll in a garden of life. No matter what I achieve from here until they lay me under the earth to push up daisies, I will consider my life to have been far more colorful than I could have written for myself. You see all the BS I have dealt with has cultivated a fertile ground for a lovely garden from which to pick a bouquet of flowers. Reality checks come when you least expect them but are most needed. God had given me a Bouquet List, while I was looking for a Bucket List. All things are possible with God.

Thank you for taking your time to join me,
Lisa Morgan
Author of the Get Beach Slapped book, a satirical reality check on life.
www.getbeachslapped.com

I had a Farmhouse in America (spoken in Meryl Streep's voice)...A Funny farm!

I'm seriously considering purchasing a farmhouse. I thought I'd never move again. "Never say never for that is exactly what you will do" is my mother's motto and yes my mother is once again correct, as always. I am on a quest to find the perfect or imperfect farmhouse to acquire before I retire. Hmmmm.... kind of catchy don't you think? I will be blogging throughout the process which I'm sure there will have many ups and downs, as all home buying experiences usually possess. Oddly enough I feel like I'm coming home in my soul and yes I suppose I am coming back home. Who said you can never go back home? Oh yes that would have been my dearly departed Dad many, many moons ago when I was in my early twenties.

Actually a farmhouse anywhere in the south would suit me. Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South or North Carolina maybe Florida or Louisiana. Texas is not out of the running. The idea of having acreage with fruit trees, a garden, a view, a flowing creek appeals to the down to earth side of me. Getting back to my country girl roots is something that I would not have envisioned a decade ago. My how things change! It reminds me of what my mama has always said, "Be careful what you say you won't do, for it's exactly what you will end up doing, if you're not careful." Funny how God's plans for our lives will supersede our plotted out distorted version of paradise. Sometimes that dirt road looks mighty appealing especially when walking another step on pavement seem impractical.

I've always wanted to give my homestead a name. A name that reflects who my husband & I are so I think the farmhouse will be christened "Solitude". My husband's name is Sol, so the name Solitude would announce to the world that "Sol" & "Tude" reside here.

What about a barn? I could sit in the loft of the barn after a day of working in the garden & I could chronicle the events of the day from sunrise to sunset. Can't you just see me doing an old school version of reality TV, where you read what is happening with the occasional snapshot, to give you the visual. There would be no list of all the meals or snacks ingested because in reality who cares!? The chronicles would be about the ups & downs of farm life. The moments of laughter, intensity or excitement when the garden or fruit tress spring forth their bounty from the earth. Yes moments of gratitude, harmony mingled with dirty jeans & un-manicured nails & salon free days. I'm up for the challenge! Let the games begin.....that sounds like I'm an Olympiad, which is absurd. Let the best of the rest of my life begin!

I can see myself sipping tea from the back porch of the elusive back porch, target shooting at a series of tin cans lined up across the property as my hubby picks up the cans & re-positions them on top of old wooden wine barrels. He would ask me if I'd like a refill of tea & what my dinner menu consisted of as he walks through the screen door to start the laundry. The dogs are all holding their dinner bowls while the cats are sleeping on the porch swing. The catfish are jumping, old paddle wheels pumping and something is off. Did my hubby just refill my tea glass & ask me what I wanted for dinner as he went to do laundry? Wait I must have dozed off for a moment! Well a girl can dream can't she? Call that moment reality checked!

The quest to find my farmhouse in America has begun. I sit here typing gazing out my office window watching the blue jays chasing squirrels around the trees. The dragonflies are zipping to & fro while the butterflies are fluttering as butterflies do. My cats are stalking the elusive dragonflies. The dogs are basking lazily in the afternoon sun ignoring the curious squirrels scampering around the trees. The birds have spotted the seeds I tossed out for them. I love the way nature knows exactly what it is to be doing, while humanity seems somehow stumped by our need to control life & everything around us. Humanity wants to "fix" what God has created or to "enhance" God's creations. We fail miserably, create chaos & call ourselves successful masters of the universe, as if we are playing some gigantic video game in a virtual world. I think that the birds, squirrels, cats, dogs, butterflies, bees & butterflies have more sense than most humans. Maybe what I need to do is get back to nature, learn to relax, put my hands in the dirt, kick off my shoes & tune out the noise. God provides for all of his creations. I have faith that it will all turn out the way that it should.
My foot has fallen asleep which is code for me to leave this desk chair to venture outside. I hear a glass of green tea calling my name.

I'm quite sure there will be a book written about this journey. Maybe I'll call it "Down on the Funny Farm"? You can purchase my last book Get Beach Slapped online at bookstores & ebook sites or go to my webpage for links.

Thank you for taking your time to join me,
Lisa Morgan 

Follow me on Twitter @thebeachwife.
my Facebook page Get Beach Slapped
 
www.getbeachslapped.com
#humor #lifelessons #realitycheck  #home #alabama #farm #family #getbeachslapped #book #farmhouse #blogger #humor