Author: Theresa Riggs

Did you ever notice that the word “change” is embedded within “challenge?”  

My husband and I are making some big changes this year – we’ve just sold our home in South Dakota to move back to Texas – in AUGUST!!  (What were we thinking?!?)

We are, at least at the moment, planning to open an upscale diner in the DFW area.

The challenges are many.

We had three goals on our last trip down – to attend a family wedding, to pick up a moving trailer we’ve purchased (we are moving ourselves), and to look at some potential sites for our restaurant.  On the way down, we were involved in a wreck just south of Wichita, Kansas.  As we slowed to pass the third (yes, third!) accident in front of us, a young woman who was behind us failed to slow down and hit the small (borrowed) trailer we were pulling behind our truck, breaking the tongue of the trailer completely off and sending it rolling.  Her car became airborne, flying over our truck and landing up-side-down in front of us!  We helped pull her from her car, breaking out the driver’s window to extricate her.

Thank God, none of us were hurt – a miracle indeed.

She had been talking and texting on her cellphone according to several witnesses who stopped to help, and so was cited for distracted driving.

This incident brought many challenges to us, dealing with insurance companies, changing our plans to pick up our moving trailer (did you know that rental agencies will not allow you to tow with a rental car?)

We had to be towed from the scene because the gas line in our truck had ruptured, spend an unplanned night in Wichita, and find a rental car that would hold all the belongings we had been bringing down that were in our truck and the small trailer.

Kudos to my darling husband who navigated all those issues with grace.

These challenges brought quite a few changes to our plans, delaying things by several weeks while we wait for our truck to be repaired in Wichita, and necessitating another trip to Texas to get the moving trailer.

Yet, we have had some wonderful discussions together, raising our consciousness in several ways.

GRATITUDE – NO ONE WAS INJURED!

BLESSINGS –  instead of choosing anger over the situation or being fearful that things would not work out, we chose to bless the young woman and the events.

FAITH – we believe the unfolding of all this will serve a higher purpose that we may or may not know right away, or ever.  Perhaps this experience will serve the young woman involved in a “growth opportunity” that benefits her, perhaps Doug and I needed the extra time in South Dakota for some reason?  Who knows?

What we do know is that God is present, saturating our lives with good.  And that any time we choose, we can lift the “lle” from the challenges of our lives into a change for the better, and use the lle as a reminder to love life’s experiences!

 

 

I received a lovely thank you note yesterday.  I didn’t recognize the name or the address on the envelope, so, of course, I was intrigued, and even more so once I realized it was a beautiful “thank you” card.  As I read the written note inside, it quickly became clear that my husband and I were being thanked for our help last December during a hotel incident in Santa Fe.  While enjoying our complimentary breakfast in the dining room, a man fell, hitting his head on a stone pillar.  I, being an RN, and my husband a former EMT, went into action without even thinking about it, controlling the bleeding and curious on-lookers, helping calm the man’s wife, making sure an ambulance was on the way, checking vital signs, etc.  We were happy to be of service, both of us being quite sure that Divine Intervention had brought us to breakfast a little later than usual that morning.  Before the ambulance left with the injured man, his wife – such a lovely woman – thanked us profusely, and asked for our mailing address.  The letter was from her, and I alternately teared up and laughed as I read her note of gratitude recounting the situation.

Little miracles happen every day –  our job is to pay attention and be grateful!

It is a really windy (again) day in Pierre, South Dakota… too windy to plant the seeds I’ve been wanting to put out in our garden.  The seeds  I have chosen so carefully would be everywhere except where I want them! I have planned my garden well, selecting the types, colors, sun needs, height, spacing to grow just where I want them in order to enjoy a beautiful, successful garden.

Every day, we each plant seeds of thought in our lives to be grown, sometimes with little or no thought.  What are you planting today?  Will you allow the winds of apathy, anger, dis-ease, or unrest to spread your seeds in an unholy way? Today, make a sacred contract with your conscious mind to plant seeds of love, peace, joy, and wholeness right where you want them to grow, inside you, your loved ones, your community and the world! Lavish them with spiritual practices – prayer, forgiveness, gratitude, meditation, and watch them flourish.

My husband Doug and I are moving back to Texas, where I have lived nearly all my life.  We want to be closer to our families (at least most of them!) Doug, who has been in the food service business for most of his life, wants to open up a restaurant…an upscale diner, where people can gather and be nourished with good food, great service, and peaceful surroundings.  We are looking forward to this pre-retirement phase – can’t wait to find just the right place and get going!

 

I love the spring (and all the seasons)!
It is time to plant herbs outside, to savor those “outside on the patio” moments here in South Dakota, where the spring is just now popping out from the ground, bushes and trees.

With gratitude for God’s loving presence in my life, in constant awareness of my higher spiritual consciousness, I allow only those thoughts and words for myself and others that BLESS, BUILD, and HEAL!

This morning I’ve spent time just thinking about friends from Denton, TX, where I lived for most of my life, and was quite involved in my church, the schools and community. What a blessing to have wonderful people in your life that you know you can always count on, just like family.

almost the end of the year, and I just purchased new inserts for my day planner – yes, I still use an old-fashioned “write in it” calendar, that I dress up with highlighters, pictures, doodles, and colored pens! Those are simple things that bring me pleasure – inserting new photos of my sweet granddaughters, marking all the family and friends’ birthdays to celebrate, changing addresses from the recent plethora of Christmas cards, and breathing in the fresh hopefulness and potential that comes with all those lovely, empty pages that just beg for important notes and invitations!