Reflection is a Beautiful Thing
By Mary Manners
"This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."
~ Psalms 118:24 ~
Today is a new day...the first day of my Christmas vacation and a time to breathe and reflect. The house is quiet; my daughter is at college and my husband is working. So I sit here with my laptop, a steaming cup of hazelnut coffee, Christmas music softly playing in the background, and my jumbled thoughts. Ah, peace...what a beautiful thing.
As my thoughts begin to slowly untangle and become coherent, I realize what a blessing it is to have the time to reflect. This year has been a gathering of long, stressful work days punctuated by treks to a faraway rehabilitation center to visit my mom, who's recovering from multiple foot surgeries. In between nestled juggled trips to the grocery store, loads and loads of laundry (how do two people create so much laundry), hurried visits with friends, a few college football games and long walks with my husband, and...writing.
Thank God for the gift of writing, for this simple act has kept me sane in impossibly busy times. As I reflect on the everyday stresses of life I realize that one activity has remained constant through the years...penning stories. I often joke to co-workers as well as my husband that I am traveling off to my writing bubble where the world is sane, there's an abundance of time to pursue every dream, justice always triumphs, and love prevails.
So, as the year comes to a close and I consider where I've been as well as where I'm heading in life, I realize that I need more of my writing bubble and less of the stress. That said, as I head into the New Year my strength is renewed by the realization that the laundry can wait and surely my husband and I can survive on dinners consisting of simple sandwiches accompanied by warm bowls of soup. Mom will soon be nestled back in her close-by apartment and the weather will warm, inviting more long walks with my husband, less football, and more hours of sanity in my writing bubble.
I'm feeling better already...reflection is a beautiful thing.
~~~~~
Mary Manners is an award-winning romance writer who lives in the
beautiful foothills of East Tennessee with her husband Tim and the
cherished cats they've rescued from local animal shelters...Lucky and Gus.
She loves swimming, running, flavored coffee and Smoky Mountain sunsets.
Mary believes everyone has a story to tell, and she loves to share
hers. She writes inspirational romances of all lengths, from short stories to
novels—something for everyone.
Learn more about Mary Manners at her website: www.MaryMannersRomance.com.
~~~~~
Lani
O'Dwyer offered her heart to Ryan Connolly years ago, and he tossed it aside
without so much as a backward glance. Though the town of Boulder Creek dubs him
a hero, she vows she'll never again fall victim to his charms.
Ryan
Connolly captains a raucous crew of firefighters at the Boulder Creek Fire
Department, yet he's unprepared for the adventure of falling in love with
beautiful and headstrong Lani O'Dwyer.
But
when a meddling angel at the annual Fighters for Hire charity auction brings
Ryan and Lani together, even regrets from the past can't thwart Ryan's plans to
make Lani his own.
