Down South Sisters- Gift and Thrift

Your Mantra is that phrase about yourself that you hear over and over in your head and only really stop to recognize when someone like me says….

“What is your Mantra?”

Mine has always been

“There will never be enough Money. You will always be Poor.”

So, no matter how much money I made in my life, no matter what I was doing, how hard I was working, how much I tried to manage my finances. The MANTRA kept playing and of course the money was never enough.

First ask yourself

“What is your Mantra?”

Then ask yourself

“Is it working for me?”

If the answer is no then you have to go about the business of changing it to something that will serve you better.

That is what I plan to do.

I have noticed something touching in the store this week.

We have a really huge selection of books.. old books, new books, inspirational, funny, children’s, cookbooks…

I have noticed a tenderness and sweetness in how our customers are looking at, touching, and handling our books. It’s like they all know collectively that the end of books as we know them is looming on the horizon. Electronic data and information are flooding us with options that don’t involve the book as we know it.

I love the smell, the touch, the physical sensation of a book, a newspaper, a magazine. I will miss those things and I am glad Down South Sisters can be at least one small part of keeping these precious treasures intact and in the right hands.

Our customers will hold and cherish the books they purchase in our store.

They love them as much as we do.

I have come to the conclusion that at the end of my days when I am looking at that last setting sun….

The following WILL NOT matter:

The leaves in the yard

The full gutters

The bathroom that needs remodeling

The shoes in the hall

The dishes in the sink

The clothes in the hamper

The car that won’t start

The keys I can’t find

The job, the house, the ‘stuff’ I had

And on, and on, and on, and on

And the following WILL matter:

Who I loved and who loved me.

Is there anything better than unexpected joy?

With the store break in, a dismal Black Friday, and financial struggles beyond belief… the last few days have been such a blessing.

To have so many well wishes and good energy from the local customers is such an unexpected joy.

It makes me want to hang on even more.

So.. I guess the store will be around as long as there is one tiny fiber of my being that thinks it is possible.

My heart is full and my hopes are high.

Lord let me “Breathe and Receive”

As I sit here alone in the store on Black Friday… the name has never felt more appropriate.

We worked for weeks getting ready for this, we advertised, we gave out coupons, we bought extra stock.

AND here I sit on black friday without a single customer.

I wonder how many other local businesses are doing the same.

With Walmart, K-mart and all the other big “marts” out there.. us little guys simply have no chance, no way to compete.

If we really want to change the direction of America we should be shopping local and local only when at all possible. I say this as someone who’s husband ran out in the middle of the night to buy a computer at yes, you guessed it, Walmart.

Many small businesses like mine will close their doors before Christmas because nobody wants to shop at small businesses anymore.

Black Friday indeed.

There are those moments when something happens that is so clearly sent from God that you simply can’t deny it.

I had one of those moments this week.

I have been struggling with what I know to be my path… ego and money and fear are all clouding what should be a very clear message from God that tells me what my life should be about. I have heard it clearly when I listen.

Reverend John T. Lochridge, Jr. came in my store this week and a conversation ensued that led me directly to the answer to my current struggle. Reverend Lochridge has led a very interesting life in which he practiced “listening to and obeying the voice of the Lord when he felt the “nudge”…

There were times he had no source of income whatsoever but did it anyway, he lived out of a bus for a time, he traveled to various revivals and evangelistic missions with no means of support trusting that God would provide. He never asked the churches or communities he was serving to provide any monetary support whatsoever. He has traveled the world and touched an unimaginable number of lives living this philosophy.

I only hope to get a small measure of this kind of courage and faith.

Reverend Lochridge has a book by the same name “The Nudge” which I highly recommend published by Brentwood Christian Press.

He pastors at 2nd Baptist Church 120 Linwood Road, Kings Mountain, NC 28086.

Thank you Lord for putting this wonderful soul in my path!!!

Ok the little bird is fed up with her own fear and lack of faith.

The little bird is going for it.

All or nothing.

Fall or fly.

Soar or Sink.

At this point the little blue bird is either going to free herself finally from the fear of failure or success or both that has plaqued her all her little blue life or she will have tried valiantly and can be at peace knowing she did all she could do.

The little bird will take off from her branch and not look back and fly far enough so that she can no longer even see a twig of the safe and comfortable tree that she has been sitting in and keep her eyes on the horizon believing fully that there is the biggest and best Mountain (forget trees) just beyond her sight.

Say a collective prayer for the little bird.

In case you haven’t been reading the saga of the little bird.

Click here to catch up

As I sit here blogging and then planning to Tweet and Ping….

I wonder.. is this technology a blessing or a curse.

I find myself often consumed with the need to ping or tweet or blog at the oddest times.

Just like every other single thing we humans invent… these toys can be used for good or for bad.

Dear Lord, please give us the wisdom to use what we create to enrich our lives and the lives of others.

Amen

You know that moment when everything feels right, feels like you are on the right path, feels like you finally are through the forest and can see a huge expanse of green pasture in front of you and a clear view of home….

Well do you want to know what it feels like when IT happens…

Feels pretty darn AWESOME!!!!

I have thought a lot about conversations I have had in the last few days and weeks with the most intelligent person I know. It appears that No amount of intelligence seems to be able to help us human beings who are searching for a better way find that way easily. Maybe it is suppose to be hard but somehow I don’t think so. I think maybe intelligence might be a hindrance instead of a help. If we just stopped thinking and started acting maybe that would work.. but how on earth do we do that? It is sad to me that almost every single dream I have ever had has somehow been tied to money or the lack of it.

It seems that the more we try to escape this current earthly reality that requires “money” to survive the deeper we get into it. It is so easy to say.. “oh just don’t worry about the money… it will be there if you follow your heart”.

It is a lot harder to actually just do it on a consistent basis.

’cause What if you are wrong. What if you are wrong? What if you are wrong?

When you have that nagging feeling that you need to just switch direction and do something totally ‘out there’… entertaining the idea is one thing… actually putting that foot into the deepest, darkest, water you have ever seen is another.

Is the answer as simple as just doing it? Could that possibly be?

I wouldn’t know cause I CAN’T STOP THINKING…. and wanting God and the Universe to “Show me the money” before I take a leap….