Month: August 2014

Sticks and Stones…

Posted on by Wendy
Words can be just as dangerous as sticks and stones.
Words can be just as dangerous as sticks and stones.

When I was growing up, we used to say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” I suppose as a child I really believed that. Young children often say mean things to one another. I guess I really never gave it too much thought when I was younger. By middle and high school though, words can really start to wound, often as badly as those proverbial sticks and stones.

I would imagine that there have been as many fights and wars started over words than for any other reason. Why is it that we take our awesome ability to communicate with each other and turn it into something ugly and hurtful?

Now that I have a child in high school, the words are flying. Everyone has something to say about somebody else, and quite often, it’s not very nice and sometimes downright ugly.

Hurtful words can sometimes be like that paper cut that we get; they aren’t really serious, but they hurt every time you wash your hands or take a shower. For a few days at least, that tiny cut is ever-present in your thoughts. After a little while it heals and we move on, but we don’t forget. Of course sometimes, words can wound much more deeply and can damage relationships and the people in them permanently.

Maybe our use of hurtful words stem from fear. Maybe we are afraid that the person we are talking about will take something away from us. Maybe they come from judgement. We are all fairly masterful at judging others. Perhaps they come from our own hearts that aren’t pure like they should be. I once heard a pastor say that if we sought to have a pure heart that seeks God, all of the rest would fall into place.

The Bible has a ton to say about our tongues and the words we use. The Book of Psalms uses words like swords and razors to describe the destructive capabilities of our tongues. It says our words can be used like arrows. Jesus said in Matthew 15:10-11, “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”

Ouch! So, what we say actually has an impact on our purity of heart. But, what if that person really is a bad person? What if we just need to vent?

Sometimes we need to talk things out. We are made that way. But, there’s a difference between talking things out and pure old gossip. When someone is acting in a way that is clearly wrong, maybe instead of calling our best friend and talking about her, we should pray for her, talk to God about her or him instead. Maybe we could reach out to that person and see if we can help in some way.

Isn’t that what we are called to do? Aren’t we supposed to love one another? Is that unbelievably hard? Yes. Does God know that it’s hard? Yes. Will we fail? Yes. Will God forgive us when we fail? Yes. Should we try anyway? Yes.

As I counsel my fifteen-year-old on her use of words, I’m really forced to take a look at my own use of them. I think this is just one more way God uses our children to convict us. It’s always fairly easy  to look at others and their mistakes, but rarely as easy to look at our own. Who ever said the journey would be easy? I think that thinking before we speak, is probably worth a try.

What do you think?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Be Careful What You Plant

Posted on by Wendy
My mom thought hat planting pampas grass at her pool was a good idea at the time.
My mom thought that planting pampas grass at her pool was a good idea at the time.

A few years ago, my parents installed a huge, industrial type fence around their pool. My mama was desperately looking for something to soften and camouflage that fence. I had seen some pampas grass at a pool I visited. It looked beachy, kind of like sea oats and it was cheap. They planted a lot of it and it came in beautifully. It did a fantastic job of hiding the fence. Unfortunately, the thicker it got, it also did an awesome job of hiding snakes.

After they had a record-setting year of snakes in their pool, and mama saw a six-foot black snake simply disappear in the grass one day, they decided the pampas grass had to go. The thing is, once that grass gets established, it’s nearly impossible to remove it. They tried everything from bush hogging it to burning it. It was an uphill battle. They did finally get it, but it was very difficult.

Mint is another one of those seemingly innocent garden herbs that grow extremely well.
Mint is another one of those seemingly innocent garden herbs that grow extremely well.

Mint is another one of those, you have to be careful with, plants. Who doesn’t love mint? It’s great in tea and mint juleps and mojitos. It grows beautifully here in the deep south, but you had better plant it in a pot. If you plant it in the ground, it will take off like wildfire. It’s very invasive and very difficult to get rid of

So, how do you know what and what not to plant? The best answer is usually a relative. There’s usually someone who is closely related to you, who can be a good mentor. But, a garden mentor doesn’t have to be someone who shares our blood. A mentor can be a friend or neighbor. There’s always somebody who knows something about growing things.

We have to be careful in our spiritual lives too about what we plant in our own hearts and minds, as well as in the hearts and minds of people around us. For example, if our church is struggling and we are frustrated and we start spouting off things like, “I hate organized religion.” That thought may take root in our children’s minds or our spouse’s heart. Then when God heals that church or tries to plant us elsewhere, the damage is done. Our family no longer wants to attend church and we know that Jesus loves the church.

There are many other examples like carrying around anger and refusing to forgive others or constantly losing patience with those around us. When we do these things over and over, they begin to take root and can spread like wildfire like the mint or grow so deep that they are nearly impossible to root out, like the pampas grass.

The good news is that Jesus always wants to meet us where we are and help us get on track and the Holy Spirit has some wonderful fruits like peace, patience, kindness and joy to share when we seek them. We also have a loving Heavenly Father who will send Godly mentors our way if we ask and watch for them.

We get to choose what we will plant. It can be beautiful and fruitful or it can provide hiding places for snakes. It really is up to us. What will you plant today?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Confessions of a Reformed (Mostly) Spider Hater

Posted on by Wendy
I have become quite fond of this industrious spider.
I have become quite fond of this industrious spider.

I have hated spiders almost as long as I can remember. They have lots of legs and eyes and they make those webs that get all over you if you accidentally walk through them. It’s very easy to walk through them because you can’t see them unless the sun hits them just right. That’s another thing; they are sneaky too.

But, as I’ve shared in an earlier post, that you can see here, http://gracefulgaines.com/2014/08/13/we-only-have-to-do-what-we-are-called-to-do/ I have gained some appreciation for this garden spider this summer. She has been hard at work in my garden and she has helped to keep the pests away. Every few days I found her in a slightly different spot.

Well, about a week ago, she was gone. I have no idea what a spider’s lifespan is, but I was kind of sad to see her gone. I guess it’s a signal that summer is winding down and I always hate to see the summer go, even when it’s a hundred degrees in the shade. I really do love the slower pace of life that seems to go hand-in-hand with the season.

But, then she reappeared, unfortunately, across the gate leading into my backyard. I was forced to disturb the web that she had worked so hard on. (If either of my siblings are reading this post; they have at this point, screamed in horror and slammed their laptops shut. They are serious spider haters.) I didn’t destroy it, but it was really damaged.

The next day, she had moved over to the window by the garbage can. I was really impressed at this point. This spider never seems to give up. Then last night, my hubby had to disturb her web again as he took the trash can down to the curb. But, this morning, she had moved a little and rebuilt.

This afternoon, I stood in awe of this industrious spider, (from a safe distance of course.) She never gives up. She builds this unbelievably intricate web. Have you ever really checked one out? It’s a work of art. We mess it up and she simply rebuilds.

I think there may be a lesson here. How often do we as human beings work very hard on something only to have it damaged in some way? This could be physical things or emotional things like relationships, friendships and marriages. We seem to have become a society where it’s the norm to walk away when damage occurs to our web. “When the going gets tough, we take off;” has become our motto.

It’s often easier to walk away than to rebuild and there are times when it’s definitely appropriate to go. However, there are many times when we should stay and rebuild, making our situation better and stronger and sometimes even more beautiful.

This spider has become a reminder of the beautiful rewards that can come from commitment and from standing your ground. She’s a reminder that we should never give up. Think about that, the next time you see one. (Even if you don’t like spiders!)

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

What is Your Capacity for Busyness?

Posted on by Wendy

 

"He leads me beside quiet waters."
“He leads me beside quiet waters.”

We had a guest pastor yesterday in church. His focus was on the 23rd Psalm and Jesus as the Good Shepherd. He went on to say that busyness is the great enemy of spiritual life today and that everyone is hardwired with a different capacity for busyness. I never really thought about it that way, but it made sense.

His point was that some people can stay very busy, yet still have the ability to rest and pray and listen to God. Some people only require six hours of sleep each night. But, some of us require eight and when we over schedule ourselves and don’t leave ourselves enough time for rest and prayer, our spirituality suffers. Our relationship with God suffers.

That means that to the human eye some people will always appear more productive than others. But, therein lies the rub. We aren’t supposed to concern ourselves with how we look to others when we are following the will of God. Will I look lazy if I don’t attend that event? Will it look like I don’t care or I’m not a good Christian?

These are questions that we should permanently remove from our internal dialog with ourselves. God made each one of us wonderfully different. We’re not all wired the same, by design. We are all originals. The only thing we are called to do is to follow God. If He calls us to do something, then we should do it. Caring about how it looks to others shouldn’t really cross our minds.

I’m always amazed at how the Bible can speak to me right where I am at any given moment and Psalm 23:2 really caught my attention today. “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters.”

Did you notice that it didn’t say, “He asks us to slow down and rest.”? Nope, it says. “He makes me lie down.” Rest is mandatory. I also took note that it didn’t say to lie down on a couch in front of a noisy television or while I’m playing on my phone. I know those things weren’t invented when this beautiful book was written, but I think you get the point. He makes me rest in green pastures and leads me beside quiet waters; not loud rushing waterfalls.

It’s a peaceful picture. It’s a picture of our God acknowledging that we need to rest and providing a beautiful, peaceful setting for us to do so. Because what comes next is, “he restores my soul.”

So, we have a Biblical example here of the importance of rest and being surrounded by some type of peaceful setting in order for our souls to be restored and ready to work.

Once we have all pondered that, we should ask ourselves, how busy we are and are we too busy? Everyone’s answer will be different and everyone will have a different degree of acceptable busyness. Of course, there are seasons when we will be slammed, and that’s okay. But, if we find ourselves exhausted all of the time and we never have time to pray, or we have that constant tension in our shoulders, or the daily headache that never seems to go away, perhaps we have reached our capacity for busyness and we need to dial it back.

We weren’t meant to be constantly stressed and exhausted. We can’t grow that way and we can’t experience God’s plan for us that way. Rest and restoration is supposed to be a part of our lives. If we want to be all that God has designed us to be, we really need to embrace that concept.

The more I think about it; the more I like it. How busy are you?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Magic of Breaking Bread Together

Posted on by Wendy
There's a beautiful type of community that is born when people break bread together.
There’s a beautiful type of community that is born when people break bread together.

I received a text on Saturday afternoon from our new neighbors. It said, “We’re throwing some burgers on the grill later, Jeff and Tina are coming. Ya’ll are welcome to join us.” Just like that; a dinner party was born.

It was very informal. We all brought a little something to share. There were kids and dogs running around. We ate on paper plates as we shared stories about ourselves and got to know each other better. It was fabulous.

What is it about sharing a meal that invites us to share a part of ourselves? Think about it. Many first dates are over dinner. Many blind dates are over dinner. When we introduce people we care about to other people we care about, it’s often over dinner. When we catch up with old friends, we like to do it over a meal. We like to celebrate with dinner too. Anniversaries and birthdays often are commemorated with an evening that includes dinner.

We all have to eat, but there’s something special about people gathering around a table and eating together that allows for a certain type of growth. Research has shown that families who eat dinner together have a tendency to be stronger. The kids score better academically and are less likely to suffer from depression and obesity. They also tend to have a better vocabulary. In fact, studies have shown that kids can build a better vocabulary from the family meal than from reading books. I knew it!

Isn’t it interesting that our parents and grandparents didn’t need any research to tell them the importance of a family meal? Food and family were considered to be blessings. Sitting down together to appreciate both was non-negotiable and we said “Grace,” before anybody took a bite. It was just how we lived.

Holiday celebrations and family reunions centered around food too and I’ll bet you if I asked you your favorite dish from the Christmases of your childhood, you would have an immediate answer. The same goes for family reunions. Everyone has a favorite dish that a relative made. My Aunt Doris used to make a ten-layer chocolate cake that was unbelievable. (It may not have been ten layers, but it was close!)

The Bible gives quite a few examples of Jesus sharing meals with friends. He too, seemed to enjoy a good meal with good friends. Of course, the Last Supper was perhaps the most important meal ever recorded.

We have become very busy as a society. We often eat sub-par food on the go. We skip family meals and we rarely get together with friends and neighbors to share a meal and if we do, we often go out to dinner. But, I think there’s something very special about eating together in someone’s home. There’s an intimacy and community that just isn’t present in a restaurant.

I think maybe we should make an effort to do more informal get togethers and focus less on our less that perfectly clean houses and more on the community around us. I’m so glad my neighbor texted me. We will have to return the favor soon.

What do you think about family dinners and informal get togethers? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

The Waiting Place

Posted on by Wendy
Waiting is something that we all have to do at one time or another. How we handle it is up to us.
Waiting is something that we all have to do at one time or another. How we handle it is up to us.

“You can get so confused that you’ll start into race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place. The Waiting Place….for people just waiting.” Dr. Seuss

In his book , Oh the Places You’ll Go!” Dr. Seuss describes the place where everyone is waiting on everything from a phone call, to a second chance, to a better break, to a wig with curls. We’ve all been there haven’t we?

We have had to wait to hear back from a job interview or medical test results. Depending on what we are waiting for, the wait can be excruciating. When we get some questionable medical news for example, we can have ourselves dead and buried in our own minds before our doctor has even read the scan. When we are forced to wait on something we deem life changing, we allow our imaginations to run wild.

There are other times when our period of waiting might not feel so urgent, but we get very weary of waiting just the same. There have definitely been times in my life when I desperately wanted a burning bush answer from God. I wanted Him to get on a megaphone and tell me exactly what to do. Should I stay? Should I go? Is now the time to make a move?

I often find myself very frustrated when I am in one of those uncertain situations and my constant requests for direction seem to be met with silence. I mean, doesn’t God want me to do His will? Is He not listening? Why won’t He tell me what to do?

Those are times when I really have to spend some quiet time in prayer and seek the Holy Spirit which provides us with patience and peace. God is always listening. Knowing that, is part of faith. He is also always working and always has a plan.

This is also a time when knowing scripture can give us hope. Knowing truths, like God’s ways are different from ours, and that there’s a time for everything, can be very comforting. Knowing there were people in the Bible like Joseph, who had to go through terrible hardship and wait for years, before God used him to save all of Israel, provides a certain amount of peace. God was at work through that entire ordeal.

There’s a certain amount of waiting that we all have to do on this side of eternity. The question we have to ask ourselves is are we willing to trust and be patient or are we going to run off half-cocked? If we know that God has our situation completely in His control, do we really have anything to fear? Should we allow ourselves to give into anger and frustration or are we willing to lean into His embrace as we confidently know as His children, “If God is for us who can be against us?”

I am painfully aware that this mindset is much easier said than done, but I think it’s one worth pursuing. Care to join me?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Spiritual Molts

Posted on by Wendy
My son was fascinated by the horseshoe crab shells we saw at the beach.
My son was fascinated by the horseshoe crab shells we saw at the beach.

My son, bless him, is an avid collector of just about anything. My daughter calls him a hoarder. Aren’t siblings fabulous? He is truly fascinated by God’s creation and will pick up anything that catches his eye from rocks to shells. When we happened upon this horseshoe crab, on our vacation this summer, he was anxious to bring it home with us. It was kind of broken up and my hubby talked him out of it. We also happened to be on the way to dinner.

But, ever undaunted, he found several more the next day and we let him bag them up. Horseshoe crabs go through molts as they mature. They get too big for their shells and they must shed them in order to grow. There are many animals in nature that do the same. They shed hair, skin, feathers and antlers among other things, so that they can grow. We’ve all seen a snake skin. That snake had to shed his skin so he could grow larger.

What we didn’t know about the cool looking horseshoe crab shell, was that they stink. When I tell you they stink, think dead, rotting fish sitting around. They smelled awful. We put them in several trash bags and kept spraying them with Lysol until we could get them home into some bleach and water.

The entire process got me to thinking about how we as humans grow spiritually. When we begin a journey with Jesus, we sometimes begin to shed bad or unhealthy habits. Sometimes particular attitudes that used to fit us beautifully, no longer fit. Sometimes relationships that used to fit us like gloves, no longer fit. In our process of personal growth, we can outgrow actions that used to make us happy.

But, just like animals who molt, we are most vulnerable as we begin to shed the old attitudes and old choices. In the beginning of our faith walk, we can be unsure of our path, which is why it can be so very important so surround ourselves with a strong faith community, who can encourage us and help us along as we grow stronger. In turn, as we grow stronger, and get further along, we should make it our business to help those who are  just beginning their journey.

In the beginning, we can be tempted to go back to those old pre-molt ways, but we can find that they no longer fit us, just like the horseshoe crab shell, and furthermore, they can be toxic and stink like those shells.

Paul wrote a good portion of the New Testament, and so much of it is about community. It’s so important to our faith walk. When I hear people say they don’t like “organized religion,” it drives me crazy because with no organization or plan, how can there be community? How can we learn from other Christians and how can they learn from us, if we sit at home and read the Bible or just watch a sermon on television?

I think that we go through spiritual molts throughout out lifetimes. The more we grow, the more we shed old beliefs and attitudes and I think the bottom line is we need each other, whether we like it or not. That’s just how we are made. We should always seek community and encourage one another.

“And let us not neglect meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” Hebrews 10:25

What do you think about community and spiritual molts? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

How Are You Doing As a Custodian of Faith?

Posted on by Wendy
We are all the custodian of something.
We are all the custodian of something.

I was working as a substitute teacher last week and we had the fourth graders out on the playground. I had my eyes on the kids on the swings when some commotion on the basketball court caught my attention. Apparently, some wasps had made a nest inside the basketball goal. When the basketball was thrown into the hoop, a few came out. What do you think happened next? Do you think those children ran away in fear?

Nope, they continued to throw the ball at the hoop and created a swarm. After I scolded them and moved them all far away from the swarm, I told another teacher and she radioed the office. A few short minutes later, the custodian arrived. He’s an older gentleman who has worked at the school for many years.

I pointed out the problem to him and he said he would get some spray. When I told him the wasps would likely be hard to get to, he didn’t bat an eye when he told me he would get a ladder. This man was willing to get inches away from stinging wasps to keep the children safe. I then watched him cross the playground and fix a hole in the fence, again keeping the kids safe. He obviously takes his job very seriously.

When we think of custodians, we often think of janitors, people who clean up messes. But, when I looked up the definition for custodian, the first one was: a person who has responsibility for or looks after something. The synonyms were: keeper, guardian, steward and protector. This man clearly was way more than a janitor; he was a custodian.

Then I began to think about all of the things in our daily lives that we are the custodians of, from our homes and cars to our marital relationships and friendships. We are certainly the custodians of our children and pets and sometimes our parents. I think for the most part, we take these physical jobs fairly seriously. We make dinner and keep doctor appointments. We lend a hand or an ear when a friend needs us.

But, how do we do with our faith. Do we consider ourselves custodians of our faith. Do we protect it and guard it? Are we good stewards? When someone in our church stirs up a wasp nest, are we willing to get a ladder and get close, to get it taken care of permanently or do we run away?

How about out in our communities, when something gets stirred up regarding our faith, do we stand fast or do we duck out heads and walk away? How about in our country or in the world at large? How are we as Christians, doing as custodians of our faith? What sort of message are we sending the world about what we believe and is it a message that Jesus would be proud of?

Luke 12:48 tells us that, “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.”

I don’t know about you, but I definitely fall into that category. I think I need to give some thought and prayer on being a better custodian to all that has been entrusted to me. What do you think? How are you doing?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Praying for Hope

Posted on by Wendy
Praying for hope when there seems to be none, is something we can all do.
Praying for hope when there seems to be none, is something we can all do.

The world is still reeling from the news last week of the death of Robin Williams. The fact that it was suicide makes it even more devastating. How could a man who brought so much joy and laughter to the lives of so many people, actually take his own life? As we were all grasping for answers, it was released that he had been suffering from severe depression. Some people even said it had been inevitable.

The fact that anyone would consider suicide inevitable, really bothers me. Quite frankly, considering anything inevitable, on this side of heaven bothers me. The definition of inevitable is unavoidable or certain to happen. When we say that something like suicide is certain to happen, that means we have taken any sort of spiritual intervention off of the table.

Do we believe that, “Nothing is impossible with God;” or not?

As Christians, when we learn that someone has cancer. We immediately begin to pray for them. They usually seek some form of treatment in the form of chemotherapy, radiation or surgery and we put them on the prayer list at our church. There will be pleas for prayers all over Facebook. Why should depression be any different?

Depression is an illness. Statistics report that 1 in 10 Americans suffer from it. I wonder why those people never make the prayer list. My church prayer list has a variety of illnesses listed and prayers are asked not only for members, but for friends and neighbors. Not once have I ever seen depression listed.

Do we  believe that God can’t heal minds as well as bodies? Is it possible that people are too embarrassed to ask for prayer for mental illness? If that is the case, then we, the members of the Body of Christ, need to do a better job in spreading love, hope and joy. We need to encourage those among us, who we suspect are depressed, to seek treatment, just like we would do for someone with cancer. But then, we need to pray for them and encourage them to pray.

It seems to me that someone who would commit suicide has lost all sense of hope, hope that life will get any better, hope that they will ever feel any better, hope that there’s a God out there who loves them and has a plan.

Christians are in the business of spreading and sharing hope. With approximately 25 million adults suffering from depression, according to another statistic, we have a lot of work to do. We need to get this illness out of the shadows and onto the prayer list. We need to encourage physical treatment and we need to pray for intervention on the spiritual side.

We are physical and spiritual beings; why would we cover one aspect of ourselves and not the other? I pray that the tragic death of Robin Williams will get depression out of the shadows and into doctor’s offices as well as onto our church prayer lists. Suicide is never inevitable; for nothing is impossible with God.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Appreciating the Bare Spots

Posted on by Wendy
This leafless limb always annoyed me when I looked out my window.
This leafless limb always annoyed me when I looked out my window.

There is a limb on an oak tree, outside my bathroom window, with no leaves on it. It annoys me every time I look out at the trees. It’s surrounded by limbs full of lush green leaves. Instead of appreciating all of the beautiful foliage that surrounds it, my eyes always seem to go directly to that bare spot. I wonder why it has to be there. It’s too high for my hubby to cut. Why can’t it just fall on its own?

My life can be like that too, I suppose. Everything can be going great. Everyone is healthy and relatively happy. (I do have teenagers!) Life can be overall really good, but there can be one small bare spot among all of the goodness and I can find myself focusing on that.

Perhaps you have experienced that too? Maybe everything is going great, but you hate your car. Maybe you have a great job, but you really dislike your boss or one of your co-workers. Maybe there’s a particular person in a club, group, or class that you are involved with, who aggravates you to no end. Maybe you have a job that pays very well, but offers you no satisfaction. The list is endless of the little things that we allow to consume our thoughts.

We can become so focused on the bare spots in our lives hat we start to miss all of the good things. We begin to forget all of the abundant blessings that we do have. Sometimes, there’s a good reason for those bare spots.

Look what I saw perched on that bare, unappealing limb.
Look what I saw perched on that bare, unappealing limb.

As I was gazing out the window this weekend, guess what I spied sitting on that leafless branch? Yes, that’s a hummingbird. I had to look closely to see it, but there it was. As I continued to watch, it flew away and returned over and over and its mate did as well.

So, all of this time that I had cursed this bare limb, it was providing perfect refuge for a tiny hummingbird. It couldn’t have provided rest for a hawk or an owl; they are too big and it would likely break under their weight, but it seemed to have been tailor- made for the hummingbird.

This got me to thinking about the bare spots in my life. What if there’s a reason that some things don’t go as perfectly as I plan in my own mind? What if God is using those spots that I see as bare, to create something else entirely? What if I were to learn to give thanks in all circumstances and know that God is always at work, and then intentionally focus on the abundance and all of the good?

Hey, there are two Bible verses there. “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

Hmmm, I may be onto something here. What do you think about appreciating the bare spots or at least not focusing on them? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂