Connie Writes

His Banner – November 2018 Much to be Thankful For by Connie Hawkins I love Thanksgiving.   It really makes me sad that retailers hop into September advertising ‘back to school’ in July.   In September Halloween is on display; they brush right past Thanksgiving as they hurry into the Christmas season. Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in Canada , the United States , some of the Caribbean islands , and Liberia . It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest . Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday and that, in my opinion, is sad.   God has a lot to say in the Bible about hearts of gratitude, being thankful and giving thanks. Although it’s deemed a ‘secular’ holiday, Thanksgiving is the one day of the year that we should come before God with hearts of thanksgiving, not taking the day for granted or brushing it aside as if it’s only...

We just got back from a family vacation at Disney World.   It took months of saving and planning but taking the grandchildren to Disney is a memory I will always cherish and I hope they will, too.   Memories are a gift that shows us what life is all about.   They don’t just happen, they are made.   The faces of my grandchildren as they stepped from their world into a Magic Kingdom was priceless, a memory that you just can’t put into words. I’m sure a million feelings swirled inside their heads…their oohs and aahs and wows warmed this grandma’s heart.   I’m sure the kids didn’t even realize that we, as a family, were making memories – they were just having fun. I think one of the reasons we hold onto our memories so tight is because memories are the only things that don’t change when everything else around us is changing.   No one can ever take our memories from us; they will remain with us throughout our lives if not in our thoughts but through our ...

His Banner -   September 2018 Connie’s Corner Faith by Connie Hawkins As I sit at my computer thinking what to write for the September issue of His Banner I find my thoughts wandering to several friends who are having a tough time.   One dear friend has had a stroke, another is battling cancer, and one is in rehab fighting an infection; my husband’s coffee buddy recently died.   Dear me I say to myself, what next? I honestly don’t know how a life without Jesus survives.   I do know that trials, those of my friends, as well as my own, keep me on my knees.   Difficulties and struggles are a challenge to our faith, and faith is simply trusting God when we don’t know what lies ahead. When we are beside ourselves wondering what is going to happen next that is the time to exercise our faith and belief in a God who loves us so much that he won’t let us down; we won’t suffer alone.   When we find ourselves on the edge of a cliff two things will happ...

Every now and then an article comes across my desk that really touches my heart.   This is one of those articles (author unknown) worth sharing with my blog fans. A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six pack of Root beer and he started his journey. When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman   sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his Root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkie. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a Root beer. Again, she smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word. As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before h...

Work is love made visible.  It's a good thing I don't make my living writing blogs for according to this dashboard I haven't entered a blog since April! How can that be I ask myself? I must have another blog account somewhere for I know I couldn't have gone four months without writing -- could I? I love words too much without writing on a daily basis. Will Rogers said he loved words only he didn't like strange words because you don't understand them and they don't understand you.  But old familiar words are like old friends you know 'em the minute you see 'em.  So even though I haven't written a blog in four months, the words are still inside my head and now it's time to let them out!  I'm back!

This article on aging was written almost 20 years ago.  I thought it would be fun to repost it. Enjoy. Aging, a matter of mind By Connie Hawkins I'm having another birthday. At 50 something, they seem to come faster than they used too! I read somewhere that age is a matter of mind. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter! Truthfully, the only time age didn't matter to me was when I was a kid. I could hardly wait for a birthday, then. I was even excited about it. When you're young, you think about aging in terms of fractions. When you're four and someone asks you how old are you? You never say I'm four going on five. You're more likely to say, "I'm four and a half." No one ever says their 36 and a half or 36 going on 37! When I was a teenager, I always jumped to the next number when someone would ask my age. I just turned 15, but I was going to be 16. Even when I was 13, I was going to be 16. Well, I was eventually. Ev...