Why?

I have been blessed beyond measure with the care of a beautiful little girl named Katie. She's been in our watch care since she was 6 weeks old, she'll turn three in November. Katie's favorite word these days is, "Why?" Why is the response to most any statement I make in response to any question she asks. "Where's Papa?" (that's my husband), I'll answer, "at work" and Katie's response will be, "Why?" I'll go on to tell her that he's working to make money and her response will again be "why?" Finally I'll ask her why she's asking and then she'll answer, "Me don't remember." It makes me laugh but as I think on it, life is much like that. We always want to know why. Seldom are we satisfied with accepting things as they come, we always want a reason. If you'd ask us why we want to know, like Katie, we'd often have to say, "Me don't remember."

Why is it so hard to accept things as purely blessings, or, fate, if you will. I personally don't believe in fate, luck, chance. I believe that things happen by God's perfect plan and design...yes, even the bad things. I believe they're life lessons sent to teach us to have more faith, to trust, and to keep our eyes focused on God. Why is it we think that we should be immune to hard times? Even the most perfect child has that stubborn streak, or, as Katie is doing now, goes through the terrible twos.

I'm thankful God accepts me as I am, allows me to make those mistakes from time to time through which I can grow, and even sends the hard times along the way....the detours and rocky roads. Through those times I grow. I once heard a preacher say that it's in the valleys that we grow, it's in the valleys where we learn to depend upon the Lord.

Someone asked me why my blog is called The Princess Ponders. Well, I am a princess....the daughter of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I do ponder....I wonder why. I ask a lot of questions, some for which there are no answers. I wonder if God gets tired of me asking why like I do with Katie.

Hot Summer Days

I don't remember summers being this hot when I was younger. We didn't have air conditioning at our house until I was a teenager. We'd cool our house with a fan in the upstairs window in the evenings. It would pull out the hot air and in the cool and made for some mighty comfortable sleeping. We played outside on a blanket under shade tree all day long, we didn't dare go in the house unless it was an emergency for fear my mother would put us to work. Barbie dolls, bicycles, jump rope and hopscotch were the sum of our long summer days.

Summers were filled with fresh vegetables from the garden my daddy grew so lovingly each year. I still remember that wonderful taste of those first tomatoes and that wonderful sweet corn. Of course, I also remember all the canning and freezing that went along with those vegetables. Picking, shelling, husking, burring, washing, cutting, slicing and the hours spent preparing them to go into jars, bags, and the freezer. It paid off, though. We had vegetables all winter long. I didn't realize that vegetables came in metal cans in the grocery store until I was grown. (I didn't know meat came in anything but white paper from the butcher either.)

Now, I'm a lot older, probably a little more jaded, and definitely hotter. These endless days of 100 degree temperatures make me realize where the phrase "dog days of summer" came from. It's not fit outside for man nor beast. I sometimes wish for those gentler, simpler days and the innocence of childhood. Now, I live for the air conditioning, a comfortable chair and a good book to read or a movie to watch. I also count the days until cooler weather.

The Way you do the things you do

I've had the flu this week. If you run into someone who has it, run as fast as you can the other way, especially if you didn't have the foresight to get a flu shot. I've already got that on my calendar for next fall! Never do I want to go through this again...never.

But that's not what I started to write about. Since I've been ill I've not felt like doing anything so I've watched a lot of television. One of the things I watched was a Bio-pic on The Temptations. It was, of course, filled with the pitfalls of the rock and roll industry....sex, drugs, and death, as well as all the wonderful music the group produced during their hey days. Anyway, that's still not what I sat down to write about...as the song "The Way You Do The Things You Do" came on it set my mind to pondering and pretty soon here came the $64,000 question, Why? Why do we do the things we do? Especially when we know they're wrong and there's going to be a price to pay.

My grandmother always said, "You're never too old for a spanking." The last time I remember hearing that phrase from her it was directed towards my Daddy and was regarding a dress I wanted to buy which he deemed too short. Mini-skirts were in big demand and Daddy thought anything that showed your knees was too short. She reminded him, I got the dress, but I also learned a lesson that day. No, it wasn't that you had to obey your mother even when she was only half your size, or even that you should always respect your mother (both of which are true, but both of which I already knew at the time.), but rather it was the truth of that phrase, "you're never too old for a spanking."

We make choices, take unknown roads, take an occasional "wide cast" (any one who raises hunting dogs will understand that phrase), but there'll always be a cost. Sometimes it may just be a spanking, other times the punishment might be life changing and everlasting.

I miss my grandmother, she died when I was 18. She was a wise woman, plain-speaking, and didn't mince words. I learned a lot from her, sometimes I wish I'd paid more attention.