Category Intentergy

The Day I Couldn’t Sing

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The Day I Couldn’t Sing

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On Friday, January 6th I had the honor of being with my friends Laura, Karen, and Brenda when their mother Wanda passed away. Wanda was an honest, simple, and kind woman. My children called her Grandma Wanda. Losing her battle to cancer was the result of a long hard fight. She is greatly missed.

After Wanda’s passing the family asked me to sing at her funeral. There was not a question as to my willingness. I was ready. The song was even one of my favorites “Here I am, Lord” by Dan Schulte.

As the funeral approached, my nerves grew. My sadness seemed to have a hold on my voice. The day of Wanda’s funeral I prayed for grace and the ability to sing in a way that was worthy of honoring Wanda’s life.

It was a cold, windy day. The funeral home did not have an organist to accompany me so I found the music online. The funeral director and I checked and double checked that it was the correct music. As the funeral service began, I followed the ministers and other vocalist into the funeral salon. We were seated next to Wanda’s coffin.

It was heartbreaking to see the sadness on my friends’ faces and knowing that Miss Wanda was lying there next to me. The other vocalist sang the opening song beautifully. The opening prayer was humble and reverent.

It was my turn to sing. As I took my place at the microphone, I could hear the melody in my heart but not in my ears. Slowly the music began to filter in through the speakers. The speakers were overhead, projecting outward, and away from me. I leaned forward and took  a deep breath. Too deep. I missed the sound of my opening note. I quickly caught up but my voice was shaky and a bit high.

The winds blowing outside shook the windows and the WiFi antenna. The music stopped. I sang a few words but could not find the melody in my ears or my heart. It was as if the sadness and wind had blown me too far off my musical course. I could not sing.

I apologized. The music buffered and restarted at a different spot. I waited for the chorus and I sang again shakier than ever and without my heart in the song. As I made it to the last verse, my friend smiled at me and nodded. She knew I was doing my best and how hard it was to be there. The music cut out again briefly but I sang that last verse and closing chorus to the best of my ability, sat down, and cried.

My tears were not from embarrassment but from shame. How could I let Wanda’s family down? How could I let Wanda down? I just couldn’t sing. Continue reading “The Day I Couldn’t Sing” →

The Creative Power of the Unknown – Wise Words Wednesday

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The Creative Power of the Unknown – Wise Words Wednesday

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The personal philosophies found in the This I Believe collection continue to amaze me. One that stood out to me in particular this week came from astrophysicist Alan Lightman.

In his personal philosophy he wrote, “I hope that there are always things we don’t know about the physical world as well as about ourselves. I believe in the creative power of the unknown. I believe in the boundary of standing between the known and the unknown. I believe in the unanswered questions of children” (Allison, 149).

Our brains are so overworked with the little details of everyday survival that we forget to hold onto the magic of wonder. We limit our boundaries for growth.

I love when my children ask me questions that stump me. Those questions demonstrate the tremendous potential my children have for understanding and intelligence. It also reminds me that it’s ok to not be a know-it-all. We always have something to learn about our world or ourselves.

As you embark on your schedule-driven journey this week, leave a little room to learn and explore things that are new or unknown to you. Provide creative energy to your conversations and introductions. Allow the unknown to extend into your personal motivation. Continue reading “The Creative Power of the Unknown – Wise Words Wednesday” →

Burning Desire

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Burning Desire

Like all kids, mine love camping and campfires. Any time the weather is nice (especially in mid-February), they beg to have a fire and roast marshmallows.

We almost always say, “No,” however last night was an exception. For whatever reason (probably because hubby and I were just as eager to be outside), we converted the charcoal grill into a fit pit and we had our very own campfire.

This winter has been very dry and warm so the grill was necessary to keep the fire from consuming our lawn, house, and fields.

As I watched my children tend the fire and roast their hotdogs and marshmallows, my heart was warmed. 20170212_180047After eating we sat there in the quite twilight watching the flames dance.

Here came my burning desire…

My family at peace together enjoying one of life’s simple pleasures stoked a burning desire inside me. My burning desire was to hold my babies tight. My burning desire was to always be my husband’s side. It was a burning desire to never forget the sights, smells, sounds, and feelings of that moment. Those moments were burned into my heart and memory because of the simplicity of the evening and love for my family. More than anything my burning desire was for happy moments like this one to never end.

As all desires and fires do, the heat died away and the callings of life cooled our enthusiasm and pulled us back into the reality of daily tasks. The fire pit had to be doused, the trash had to be collected, baths were needed, clothes picked out for tomorrow, and bedtime prayers had to be said.

The passion of this lesson cannot be diminished by time though. The desires created in these moments added to the love I already had for my family. I now have a cherished moment to keep safe in my heart and a spark of love that will continue to be lit when we think of that one Sunday in February when we built a fire.

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. Sorry this wasn’t a hot and steamy romance story. It was kind of romantic though.

 

 

Meet and Greet Weekend Party

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I encourage all my blogging friends to join this Meet and Greet Weekend party. Spread the wealth and share your blog while connecting other writers.

Keith Haney's avatarBecoming Bridge Builders

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Meet and greet are opportunities for you to give people a chance to know more about you. It also gives you the opportunity to promote your blog. To make this more fun. Tell us what country you are posting from.  Tells us about your blog, what topics you cover, why you started blogging and a link to the post you are most proud of.  The other rules of engagement are listed below. Remember to copy this link on either your blog or social media outlet. I hope you get new people to see your heart and passion for blogging.

Here are the rules of engagement-

Leave a link to the post you are most proud of.

SHARE this post (social media or reblog)

The best way to increase readership is to engage with other bloggers! Comment on their posts. Invest time in what others are doing. It will help you…

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Worms in your Ice Cream

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Worms in your Ice Cream

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After taking my kiddos to their annual well visits, we headed to the local frozen yogurt shop. This place is so cool! Not only can you make your own frozen yogurt sundae or shake, but you can also sing karaoke or tie-dye a t-shirt.

With my help, each kiddo selected chocolate frozen yogurt, of course and then dashed to the toppings buffet. There were lots and lots of toppings. There were healthy, fresh fruits, not-so-healthy sprinkles, candies, cookies, marshmallows, and syrupy toppings. It was a sundae lover’s dream. I was surprised by many of their choices but said nothing because I didn’t want to hinder their excitement. After their bowls were filled to the brim, they had the shop owner weigh their bowls and headed to our table.

It was then that I went to make my sundae. Of course this distracted my little sweeties from eating their own frosty treats and all three had to follow me around and learn from my expert sundae building skills.

Sadly, they did not like my choice of peanut butter yogurt. They loudly protested when I added nuts, but when I made it to the fresh fruit, they realized there was no fresh fruit in their bowls. Things went sour from there. Continue reading “Worms in your Ice Cream” →

The Right to be Wrong – Wise Words Wednesday

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The Right to be Wrong – Wise Words Wednesday

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“I believe that man’ noblest endowment is his capacity to change. Armed with reason, he can see two sides and choose: He can be divinely wrong. I believe in a man’s right to be wrong.” – Leonard Bernstein

This I Believe is a collection of personal philosophies. I am currently reading it and LOVE what I am reading. The history of This I Believe dates back to the 1950’s. The original This I Believe series asked individuals to write their philosophy and then share it on the radio. It was a huge sensation.

As I pour through the philosophies of tremendous individuals, both from the 1950’s and present, I am moved by the similar themes that continue to surface. Kindness, compassion, intelligence, and faith are key elements in all of the entries. Each of these traits requires us to grow and change. Our wrong choices set us up for opportunities to do just that. Grow. Learn. Change. Become better people.

As you encounter the mistakes of others and yourself, remember the right to be wrong is guaranteed to everyone. We cannot develop deeper understanding in our lives, if we don’t discover what works and what doesn’t.

Being wrong is different than being bad. Continue reading “The Right to be Wrong – Wise Words Wednesday” →

Versatile Blogger Award – February 2017

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Versatile Blogger Award – February 2017

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“Life is about being a versatile athlete and training in all realms of life.”  -Ray Lewis

Upon receiving my nomination for the Versatile Blogger Award from The Wandress, author of “wandering in my Genes,” I was exceptionally honored. Her young blog on life and works of literature is sweet, sincere, and uplifting. To be considered “Versatile” by someone who has created such a fluid work of blog art is really a treat for me. Thank you!

The Versatile Blogger Award is an honor that also serves as a pay-it-forward approach to blogging. When this award is given, the recipient is to share 7 facts about his or her self (hopefully enlightening their readers as to why they have been deemed “Versatile”), thank the individual who nominated them, and then nominate 15 other bloggers that are also worthy of the honor.

As for my 7 Versatile Blogger Facts:

  1. I try to write a little every day. It is a proven practice for honing and strengthening one’s writing voice and skill. (I still need A LOT of practice.)
  2. Receiving “likes” and comments on my blog posts is the equivalent to winning the lottery. Anytime I receive a notification that a post has been liked, shared, or commented on, my heart does a happy little cartwheel.
  3. My children always want to be a part of  my blog writing process but sometimes I am leery of including them. While I am comfortable exposing my own thoughts and fears, I am not always comfortable sharing details about my precious children. I guess I am just an overprotective mom.
  4. I have the most amazing collection of friends. They are all so different and lead such varying lives that I feel blessed to be a tie that binds them.
  5. I plan my meals a month at a time. I print a blank calendar at the beginning of each month, look through my pantry and freezer, plan our suppers, and then make my grocery lists from the monthly menu. It is one of my attempts to control the chaos of my life. It also saves money on groceries.
  6. My favorite color is blue. I LOVE the color blue.
  7. I don’t like to wash windows. I will sweep, do dishes, laundry, and vacuum my heart out, but I don’t like to wash windows. I plan to write about this in my spring cleaning posts.

versatilebloggernominations

Now to my nominations of other bloggers.

I follow a number of bloggers that I believe are tremendously versatile. Here are a few. Please check out their work.

  1. Meli author of https://thedreamingyogi.wordpress.com
  2. vinaytheblogger author of https://techyvinay.wordpress.com/
  3. Life in the Leslie Lane
  4. An Epic of Epic Epicness
  5. K. Lamb author of The Gentlemen Project
  6. Whitney Edna ibe author of https://whitneyibeblog.wordpress.com
  7. Bev author of https://sahmclub.wordpress.com/
  8. Steve Cauley author of https://pastorstevencauley.com/
  9. Natalie author of https://natalieschriefer.wordpress.com/
  10. Dawn Liz Jones author of https://dawnlizjones.wordpress.com/

By: Melanie A. Peters (2 time Versatile Blogger Award recipient)

P.S. Be sure to award someone with a compliment or statement of gratitude for what they bring to your life.

 

Undeniable Claim

Intentergy 4 Comments

This week my focus is on insurance. Weird, I know, but I hope you will understand my need for this coverage. (pun intended)

Undeniable Claim

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In October my son was involved in a playground accident that sent us rushing to the ER for stitches.

The school provided us with a completed form to submit any out-of-pocket expenses to their insurance. I dutifully photocopied  our bills and carefully checked and double checked all the information. Within two weeks I received a letter that our claim had been processed. Woohoo! (That was in December.)

The first week of January I received a bill for the October ER visit. This was stressful. I just knew I was going to have a fight on my hands with the insurance and/or hospital.

After a quick review of the claim notification from December, I found the column outlining the exact amount of the bill. It was marked “Amount Denied.” Dang it! How could I have missed that?

I called the number on the claim notification and spoke immediately to a customer service rep. She was polite and explained that the $87.02 was the discount amount agreed upon by the hospital and their company. She did not know why I received a bill but would put me through to their company’s adjuster Jennifer.

Jennifer was unable to take my call at that time so I left her a detailed message.

Adjuster Jennifer called back the next day confused about my question. She said I had nothing to worry about unless I received a bill. I explained that I did receive a bill and was really hoping she could help me. Jennifer told me to email a copy of the bill to her and she would call the hospital. I figured it would be a week or so and I would have to call back. 😦 Continue reading “Undeniable Claim” →

Reassurance Getting Insurance

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This week my focus is on insurance. Weird, I know, but I hope you will understand my need for this coverage. (pun intended)

Reassurance Getting Insurance

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Health insurance is a necessary evil.

Dealing  with insurance companies is comparable to wrestling a medically-mutated King Kong, who is empowered with financial cryptonite.

Unfortunately that King Kong power is angered by government regulation and Jokers wielding lawsuits from every direction. (Can you picture it?)

As I wrote earlier, health insurance is a necessary evil.

Last year I had to seek out a private health insurance plan for my family. We had to have some sort of coverage to protect us in case of medical emergency. The Online Market Place offered limited answers and even more limits to actual human contact. I was too scared to commit to anything the digital deities that heathcare.org provided me.

I contacted our regular insurance agent Dennis. He set up a time to meet with me and helped answer my questions and did some deeper investigating into what the best health care plan was for my family. His help with finding our insurance coverage was very assuring.

When it came time to submit the application for our chosen plan online, I could not get it to go through or show the correct information for my children. Their dates and genders would not stay corrected in the information screen. I just knew that if one date or one gender was wrong on that application, we would be up a creek of medical sewage. Continue reading “Reassurance Getting Insurance” →

Fear of Thinking

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Fear of Thinking

the-fear-of-thinking

Maybe it’s the age of instant information that has set us back in our ability to devise free thought. Perhaps it is the scariness of standing out from our crowd that has stopped our willingness to speak about original thought. Political correctness is always putting us in our place and prevents us from perusing what our hearts know to be true.

Whatever it is, many people today are afraid to think for themselves.

Freedom of speech has become the accepted mode for trash talk and insults, but has lost its power to protect speech about what is morally acceptable.

The Constitution’s First Amendment was composed so that individuals have the right to speak of what they believe. Our current climate considers the sharing of beliefs to be an infringement on the rights of others, so please don’t speak of God or prayer. Don’t stand for the National Anthem. Whatever you do, don’t suggest that life isn’t always fair.

I do believe that all men and women are created in God’s image and that we all have innate goodness and value. It is so hurtful to our race (the human race) to see the derogatory speech and actions of those who don’t think they are being treated fairly. Vandalism, theft, and assault are, and never will be, means for acceptable expression. You can’t heal pain with hurtful actions. Continue reading “Fear of Thinking” →