when worlds meet

when worlds meet,

whether it be a nudge or collision

nothing remains unchanged, unaffected

 I have been spending more time in Akron this spring

and it has resulted in many more opportunities for examining

what was, what might have been, what is and what may yet be

1988-DTBD* Grayson, Kentucky is "home"

1959-1988 Barberton/Akron/Kenmore, Ohio is "home"

but honestly, the lines are a little blurry right now as my heart is torn

life before Bill

life with Bill

life without Bill

life as a daughter

life as a mother

life as a grandmother

life as a niece

life as a cousin

life as an in-law

my childhood 

my kinfolks childhoods

my children's childhoods

memories from the past, some better left forgotten

present choices that are becoming memories

future hopes and plans for making memories worth passing on

sharing bumps, bruises and breaks

times of mourning, times of healing, times of laughing

growing in strength, courage, character

at the end of it all I am very aware that my world living without Christ

was very different than the world I live in Christ

it is Him, not me, that makes any difference that is good

*DTBD= date to be determined

"For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient,deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Titus 3:3-7

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

Ephesians 2:1-10