I haven't written much here lately, but what I have has been negative, or leaning that way, and I feel I should apologize for laying that on you. But there is hope, there's a lot of it.

Help for dealing with life's problems comes from various places. I suppose if I don't listen to God's and His angels' hints about it, He or they try something else to get my attention. Yesterday a gem of that came from across the Seas. Though she has more than enough to deal with, herself, Linds at "Rocking Chair Reflections" wrote a beautiful and helpful devotional about stones. It was much more than thoughts on what our earth is made of, and she ended it by asking what we do with the stones in our lives.

I had to think some on that, for many have come my way. I am not turning negative again here, I promise. I answered Lind's question this way. I thank God for lots of things, but more than any of the good things, I thank Him for the stones rained down on me. I didn't like it when some of them fell, but oh the serendipities they bring.

I remember a psychology teacher, to get across a point, told of being in a special needs class, where another student bullied her. My teacher would not talk, would not say anything. She just sat there staring ahead, and they assumed she was deaf and dumb.

When her teacher wasn't looking, the other student would pull her hair, or kick her under the seats, but she didn't fight back, until one day he leaned over and spit right on her face, and the insult of it woke her sleeping fears she had until then, protected with muteness. That little girl eventually earned a Masters' degree, and stands out as the best of college instructors.

We need to understand that David had much more going for him than fighting the giant who expected to turn him into putty. Chances are David wasn't thinking of anything then, but where to aim the stones he held in his hands. We know the rest of it. We do have some choices when we hold the stones life sends. We can keep our fears and doubts about ourselves tucked away, but not using our strengths, our talents, our possibilities, is a giant price to pay for dodging the stones.

That is how I feel about my knee injury. And my awful working conditions. I think you might even be a little proud of me. When work called today, wanting me to work a station none of you would leave your Mom or Dad on, I told them no. There are jobs somewhere, maybe even different kinds of jobs. I truly believe God didn't take care of me all these years, to leave me to work in a place like that. But there is something else that is important, too.

God had future plans for young David, and He has plans for you and me. Perhaps I will not write a best seller, or do any other creative thing. The point of this is, if I'm constantly dealing with knee pain, or working conditions that suck life out of me, all of my energy goes for those things. Not much is left for talents or abilities the stones keep me from seeing. Creativity
and contemplative thinking cannot begin. So bring the stones to me. I will deal with the job hunting, and tonight I'll write another chapter of my book. I cannot stand wading in this wasteland that keeps me from me.