Did you ever hear someone say, "He's made his bed, now he'll have to lie in it"? Have you ever wished someone had said that to you when you were young--and that you had listened to them?
The new year has just begun. It is the time of new beginnings. It may look like this outside:
But in a few months it will look like this:
One of the wisest things I've ever read in a novel was in a 1951 book called Shoulder the Sky by D.E. Stevenson, Robert E.'s cousin. A shepherd in the hills of Scotland happens across the cook's son, hiding in the opening of a cave, reading a book, a truant from school.
"Now listen," said Daniel gravely. "Just you listen to me and I'll tell you something worth remembering. When we're young we make our beds and when we're older we have to lie on them. I'd make myself a comfortable bed if I were you--straight and tidy with the blankets well tucked in at the foot--then it'll not come adrift when you lie in it. If a bed's not properly made at the start the blankets'll maybe fall off in the night and you'll wake up shivering."
A child could learn in a few short months to make his bed properly. It might take a grownup a little longer but I'm going to give it a try because I don't want to wake up shivering next winter.
If you have been shivering a little lately from the cold, the flu, from bad news all around us, you might like to visit the blog I visited earlier through Cozy Little House's Welcome Wagon Friday. It's name is My Cottage On the Lake and the blogger had some lovely ideas for finding beauty all around us. Beauty is always good when you're trying to make your bed properly.
http://mycottageonthelake.blogspot.com
Yes, I've heard that saying. I only wish we could put "old, wise heads" on young bodies!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great saying, and so true. I looked at Barb's blog, I somehow missed Friday's blogpost last week... what she says is so true, and I am going to practice being grateful and looking at everything around me with new eyes.
ReplyDeleteI learned to make a bed properly and tight before there were fitted sheets. It's true if we build our bed sheets/quilts correctly it won't fall apart. This is so fitting (sorry the pun) of our lives too. We must be wise in how we build.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to shiver. :)
T
Dewena,
ReplyDeleteYou sweet thing....I was coming over to thank you for such a lovely comment and I see you have included a link to my blog. Thank you and I am so flattered.
I loved what you had to say and I can tell you have such a generous heart. Adding you to my sidebar.
So lovely to make a new friend....please visit me often.
xoBarb
Awe funny! I am always saying it..."you made the bed now sleep in it" ..I love that saying!..don't think my husband likes it though! Haha!
ReplyDeleteBtw... I never saw that email? Wonder if was my MSN acct? Anyhow it's marissadlg@msn.com....sometimes it foes into junk ..I hate that cause I loose a lot of mail that way :( Have a good Sunday!
Thank you for your post today!
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing that saying as a kid and wondering what it meant, lol! My mom used to say "You can't have your cake and eat it too." and I thought "Yes, you can!"
ReplyDeleteDid you know that your profile is not attached to your email? That just means that I can't respond to your email, lol!
ReplyDeleteThis week will be a bit hard because I'm sick. I DO happen to have a couple of posts written that I haven't posted yet, so that will help. Unless I don't feel like getting them ready to post but how hard is that? Lol!
I used to only post once or twice a week for quite awhile. Lately I'm back to trying five days again. Sometimes I blog while watching t.v. That way, if I get stuck on a paragraph, I can come back to it. Or sometimes I just write a way and ignore the t.v.
I also make myself notes. When I'm out and about things will happen that will give me an idea, or someone will say something funny (like my family) or say something that causes me to pause and think "That would make a great blog post!"
Some of my longer blog posts are a product of days. I get an idea and write a first paragraph. But then I get stuck and not sure which direction to go or I just run out of time or whatever. So it stays in the drafts folder until I get interested again or get time again.
Some posts have been in draft for months before I ever get around to finishing them. When I am looking for an idea I will browse through my drafts folder and see what ideas I have.
Sometimes all I write in the draft post is "write something about how messy your purse is" or something like that. Just an idea. That was how I did one of my blog posts recently.
I also found a tutorial that's taught me how to make charts and also how to put a text overlay on a picture. So now I can jazz up my posts a bit.
I'm not very good at it but it's fun and gives people something to look at rather than text. So that helps me have fun with it as I play around with it. So I've done that several times which makes it more fun for me. I'm hoping to get better at it but I'm not very creative, lol!
Now that I know how to do it it doesn't take as long and goes much faster!
Hi...if two comments show up from me just delete one / but I got an error when I hit "Publish" on the first one. I had commented on the crazy coincidence that I have a draft post sitting in wordpress on D.E. Stevenson. Not only the books that I have collected of hers but what's crazier is 1 ) I am re-reading Shoulder the Sky this month and used that very one as a pic for the post since it has an old fashioned illustration inside the cover! So are you a "Dessie" ? :) I am....
ReplyDeleteDewena, As usual, you've made me stop and think. Live life as if we are making the bed we are to lie in. Although I'm snide enough to have used that expression with my children, I'm afraid I never applied it to my life. Oh, I can see the splinter in another's eye! More food for thought from you. Thank you, and a huge thank you to you and your family for prayers for our little Cooper. laurie
ReplyDeleteDewena,I found your blog through Debra's post about D.E. Stevenson. I'm so glad I did, it's just lovely. I think D.E. may have a new fan. I'm off to look for a copy of the book!
ReplyDelete