Penny in my Palm.

Today's Joy: Benefitting from Benefits.

Well, Reader, tonight I write to you from a comfy armchair where I'm surrounded by myriad insurance brochures scattered about. As I'm now a full-time employee, my employer has graciously extended a variety of affordable healthcare options. Vision and Dental and PPO's, Oh My! The best part? Even the "pricier" plan with all the trimmings can be had for less than $100 a month. What a blessing!

Tomorrow I will fax in my enrollment paperwork and come Sept. 1st, I will have health insurance for the first time in....well, quite a while. Today, my two favorite phrases in the English language are: $0 co-pay and would you like to see my insurance card? I'll probably flash mine just for fun. That's right, who's got insurance now??

Can't wait to see the eye doctor and the dentist and my general practitioner. Oooo, my new insurance will cover a chiropractor too. Up to 20 visits per year! That'll work wonders for my alignment.

God Bless benefits! When you don't have them, they can seem like Willie Wonka's golden ticket. Makes me mindful of all the folks out there who will likely never be able to afford them.

Dear Lord, please work on the hearts of the lawmakers and those who run the insurance companies. Help them find a solution for our nation's healthcare crisis--one that will allow people access to this much-needed care without bankrupting families or the system. Please Lord, work in the hearts and minds of those who have the power to make a difference. Help them to lead with compassion and intelligent planning. And help us, the masses of everyday folk in this country, to recognize good ideas and strong policies and throw our support behind them. We know, Lord, that all things are possible through you, and that you have blessed us with more resources than we will ever need. Help us to utilize those resources wisely in caring for each other. Remind us that the quality of life experienced by the least of us is as revealing about our society as a list of its achievements. We seek your guidance and council. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Today's Joy: Stuff You Can't Get Enough Of.
All right, Reader. Perhaps you're getting a bit bored with all my passion flower photos. If so, I do apologize and promise that I will move on to something else shortly. I'm just so darn pleased with them and lately, they've been appearing at the rate of one new flower each day. As there are only two left to open and a blossom lasts just 24 hours, I've been relishing each new debut. I think I find passion flowers fascinating in part because of their brief lifespan. All that creativity and drama and glamour goes into something so fleeting. Certainly keeps me mindful of the beauty in the moment.

Besides, I'm sure there's something in your life, Reader, that fascinates you no end while simultaneously boring the crud out of everyone who loves you. I think that's one of the bedrock principles of any good relationship: I'll put up with your weird obsession if you put up with mine... (within reason, of course.)



It's also important at times to indulge our innate curiosity impulse. Helps us understand the world around us, and perhaps even ourselves, a little better. Have you noticed, Reader, how much better it feels to focus on the healthy things in your life that you can't get enough of, rather than on all the things that bother you? You might say that a little healthy fascination makes us happier. I'm all for that. And if you somehow haven't had your fill of passion flowers yet, here's a link to my flickr set. Okay, I promise I'm moving on now.......

Today's Joy: Showing 'S' A Good Time.

What a blessing today has been, dear Reader! Took my visiting friend out to see all the critters at our farm and a few of my favorite country back roads. Also stuffed her full of homemade food and lemon cake. Now, when she leaves for the Ukraine in the morning, it will be with a warm send-off.

Her visit has been such a joy. I'm so grateful for it. And to my wonderful family & friends who've made her welcome and will see her safely to the airport tomorrow while I'm hip-deep in an early morning inventory at work. She's been here for just over 24 hours but somehow, we managed to fit a whole visit into that time. Isn't it amazing how time can swell and contract to fit what we need, how the knowledge that every moment is precious gives each experience a fresh sharpness and vitality? God loves the mindful! Find a moment today to savor, Reader. Find that joy, that tiny triumph or that breath of peace and live every inch of it. Choose to do more than go through the motions. In the end, what you focus on makes all the difference.

Godspeed to you, my traveling friend! Wherever you are when you read this, I know it will find you living the moment.

Photo: S, Just Before Leaving for the Ukraine, May, 2010.