We have been blessed with so many beautiful, natural seasons.  Fall is absolutely one of the best!  It brings to all of us the grandest life we can hold through its colors and textures.  My heart just becomes warm and lightens with these changes given to us in nature.  After reading Aldo Leopold’s The Sand County Almanac, I could never see a blackberry bush the same again as it appears in the fall.  He calls them red lanterns.  I find the natural blessings so amazing, because they have inspired so many great artists like Leopold.  I have hope you can be inspired to bring out your artist with these colorful motivations!

Touch, smell, and see all that Fall brings.  Go out and really touch a leaf and feel its veins.  Run your fingers across the grasses that are turning golden and feel how they sway with you!  Look at the bright red blackberry bushes to see how they prepare for winter.  Let your senses carry you into this natural world of colors and textures.  Pause, even if it is briefly, to recognize these blessing you are given, and let them inspire you to celebrate!

Fall Dreaming

I lay my hand across the land.

The gingko leaves become a beautiful yellow.

The maple tree is a bright orange,

And the oak leaves are the brightest of reds.

 

As my fingers caress the wheat grass,

Its grains dazzle with a golden brown.

I whisper to the winter berry bushes,

And they respond with the brilliant red fruit.

 

I hold the ironweed close to my heart,

And the deep purple blends into my soul.

My tear falls upon the golden rod,

And it turns into a flume of yellow.

 

Ouch! 

What stuck my arm?

A small drop of blood trickles down the vine.

The blood causes the vine and the leaves of the blackberry bush to run crimson.

 

I stand underneath the white birch tree,

And its leaves float about my head like bubbles.

I look down to see that the soft crunch under my feet

Is the birch’s thin white skin on the ground.

 

I open my eyes.

Stretch my legs.

I look around at the fields.

I see that my fall dream has come true!

Lori Rennae Hickman Chapman

I pray your Fall is filled with blessings as brightly as all the Fall colors!  Create something spectacular to celebrate the season!  Let your artist side shine!  Happy Fall Ya’ll!

Love,

Rennae

 

 

 

Blessings

 

 

 

We all have times of crisis in our lives.  We all manage those times in different ways.  Recently I found myself not handling these in the best of ways.  I found myself being hit with one crisis right after another.  I kept thinking in my mind, I could take control and fix the crisis.  I said to myself if I take certain actions, the problem could be solved.  You do know by now that I truly believe our lives are set by our Creative Father.  The goods, the bads, the blessings, and the crisis all make us who we are and what we need to do.

Why were these times so difficult for me?  Why couldn’t I turn it over?  Why would I not accept the road I was on?  I finally discovered I was trying to do God’s job!  My faith had shrunk from the crisis, and I wasn’t allowing God to do his work!  I was reminded of this when a dear old friend posted on Facebook a piece about “God’s To Do List”.  I am and always will be a great prayer warrior.  I believe we can present anything to God and lay all things at His feet, but I had never thought about me trying to steal God’s job!

My crisis road has become quite different lately.  When my type A personality tries to take it all over and tries to do everything, I remember that’s not my job!  It is God’s job to direct that crisis road.  He sets the directions, the types of paths, and the final destinations.  I pray this week you can travel with more peace as God intervenes and controls your crisis paths.  I pray for blessings from God on your travels—like the ones I have received by letting go and letting God do His job!

Crisis Road

Just give me a little of life without crisis.

Please just take away the critical calls,

The immediate decisions and the now actions.

I want the pressure to stop.

 

I want it all to go away.

I want peace and calm to push the crisis to the back.

And I want the peace and calm to cloak the crisis.

To be covered forever.

 

I am not against valleys and hills of life.

But clawing my way from every valley to every hill is tiring.

I am weakening.

Constant clawing to stay above whatever is rolling up and rolling down.

 

Please allow me to get my breath.

Let me put it all at Your feet.

I know I need to release it.

But I am so badly afraid of letting go.

 

Please take it from me.

Assure me there will be no more.

Place hope in my heart.

Give me those that bring me comfort.

 

If I will not let it go.

Snatch it from me!

Lay Your calm and quiet Spirit on my soul.

Forgive me for not accepting my road.

Lori Rennae Hickman Chapman

Travel the road this week with more confidence and with your head held high.  You know the Holy Spirit’s aura is around you.  Jesus is holding your hand especially through the family and friends you have! And God has cleared the path for you to accomplish His destination for you in your life!  As one of our American icons, Roy Rogers, would say “Happy Trails (or Happy Crisis)”!

Love,

Rennae

 

 

Journey

 

 

 

I am very bias when it comes to the state of Tennessee.  I was born here, raised here, and have lived here all my life.  I have traveled the state from the small crevices in west Tennessee to the high mountains in east Tennessee.  Its beauty just surpasses anything I have ever seen!  The seasons provide even more diversity than the actual three divisions themselves.  Now know I have visited many places across the United States.  I have seen the northwest, the southwest, the northeast, the southeast, and the Midwest.  Even though I have enjoyed many places, especially San Diego and New York, I just find my Tennessee home is really special.  I like what we stand for, and I love where I have come from.  In my piece today, I try to share some of my reasons I love this place.

Many people just don’t understand the ethnicity of Tennessee.  The many immigrants that came to Tennessee are and were from many countries and cultures.  My family settled early in the founding of Tennessee.  Three of my four family sides are Irish.  The other one English.  We came in through the Ellis Island and the South Carolina routes, and we first settled in middle Tennessee.  But many families I know are from many other countries.  This diversity brought great variety in the cultures of our state.  All bringing great diversity in our music as well as our communities.  You can see my blood runs deep in this state.  I hope either if you live here or if you have or want to visit, some day you will appreciate my piece today.  I just had to share the great variety of everything that my state offers, especially with the change of the seasons upon us.  Enjoy our changes and our diversity if you are new here or if you have been here all your life!  And look me up to sit on the porch and visit, hum a tune, and sip some sweet tea!

Music of the Tennessee Land

The light rises along the muddy banks glistening on the clay.

The sound of the blues tunes glide through the air in the streets.

Sometimes the tune can be heard as far as the land between the lakes.

The mighty eagles and cranes along the waterways calmly sway to the tune.

As the mallards dance on the lake with their rhythm.

 

The white cotton covers the land like a snowfall.

It buffers the sound and carries high into the blue skies.

Just as the flat land changes into rolling hills, the tune shifts to a laid back country sound.

The toe tapping and the beat can be heard downtown coming from the Bluebird.

The Ryman and the Opry also add to the tone of the tune.

 

The hills and fields have cows and corn and soybeans laced throughout.

The squirrels, rabbits, and deer sway to the beat.

Then the tune makes its way toward the mountains.

The sound changes to a bluegrass twang.

The banjos and country violins ting and tang to the beat.

 

The trees thicken and the creeks run fast sending the tune further in.

The bears and the raccoons bounce to the beat.

The seasons change the tune of the song.

Fall, Spring, Summer, and Winter echo sounds of their own.

Up tunes, down tunes, high tunes, and low tunes all spread across the ground.

 

It does not matter where the beat takes me across the Tennessee land,

I am always welcomed as if I were at home.

Hospitality welcomes you anywhere.

Volunteering is just the natural thing we do.

Anyone’s porch is your porch for sitting and visiting.

 

Double names add an unusual tone to the way of life.

Family and food are the most precious lyrics of the song.

The football fields, the town squares, and the main streets serve as the community gathering places.

No one is a stranger as far as a Tennessean is concerned.

I find it easy to dance to the beat no matter where I am in the land of Tennessee!

Lori Rennae Hickman Chapman

I hope your home and place where you live has a special spot for you.  Look for all the wonders, diversity, and miracles that your spot holds!  You don’t know what you may be missing.  Isn’t it great having such different places to love on this Earth!  Thank you God for Your great plan in providing us beautiful visions, sounds, and taste of this Earth and your creation!  God bless you and your family where you call home!

Love,

Rennae

 

 

 

Blessings

As parents of children that are growing up and leaving home, we find great difficulty with the process.  Well most of us!  I can say that because I remember sitting in the welcome to the parents session at our first child’s college.  My husband and I seemed to be the minority in not being happy that ours was leaving the nest.  Other parents cheered when comments by the speaker were made about an empty house and free time.  We sat silent and looked at each other, because we knew each of us was thinking we love them too much to let them go.  It was the same with our other two children.  All the goodbyes, even to this day, are very hard.  We are adapting, but we really miss all the discussions, all the activity, and I have to admit even some of the fighting.  Well when the fights ended in hugs and ice cream!  So today’s piece is for all the parents like us that did not cheer that day.  It is for those of us that cherish every second of time before leavings occur again.  We would much rather hurt for that type of love than not to love at all! But we will always miss them!

Parting Love

If loving you means having to tell you goodbye,

Then I will love you.

I will send you away a hundred times,

If I can love you a hundred times more.

 

Loving you is a treasure that has been laid at my feet.

The opportunity shines like the silver and gold of the treasure.

The moments with you are like the stars.

They remain infinitely within my heart.

 

Love transcends all the boundaries that exist.

The boundaries think they can stop the love.

To only find they dissipate as love touches their constraints.

The distance only makes the love stronger.

 

When we are miles apart,

Our hearts are entwined like the branches of a vine.

We don’t have to speak to know we are there to support each other.

It becomes not just words but energy.

 

Some squander love.

They allow it to stagnate like water.

Or they shift it like sand allowing the precious grains to fall away.

They allow the love from those that love them to slip away.

 

But for others,

They hold the love so close to their chest that it is absorbed by the skin,

Reaching deep into the workings of the heart.

It is like when they began as one and then became two.

 

My heart beat brought you to life.

And your heart beat brought me love.

So what feels like hurt from your absence,

Is growth of the love I have for you.

 

If I have you part to love you,

I will allow it.

I will accept the hurt and pain,

But only allowing it if I know that your heart will always be with mine.

Lori Rennae Hickman Chapman

Good luck to parents with babies (excuse me grown adults or adult children—you will always be our babies!) leaving home!  Hold in your heart the love that will always remain in that bond no matter how far they travel, you are with them and they are with you.  And remember they know they can always come home!

Love,

Rennae

 

 

Relationships