On the Porch
Onisha Ellis
My nephew is a podcaster and he starts off each session with the question, “hi, how are you, is everything ok with you?”
So today I decided to ask you a similar question. How are you?
We have made through a rough two and one half years and just as life is beginning to find its new normal there is talk of food shortages, gas prices are soaring and it seems the entire globe is in some sort of chaos. How are you coping? Or maybe not coping.
I am finding myself struggling with the consider it all joy advice in James 1:2.
The King James Version: My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Amplified Version: Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English: May you have every joy, my brethren, when you enter various and many temptations,
I read multiple versions searching for a loophole. Didn’t find one. The Aramaic version hit a tender spot. Various and many temptations.
Anxiety is a huge temptation for me. My goal is to find joy in this time we are living. Replacing fearful thoughts with hopeful ones. Angry thoughts with trusting thoughts.
It is summer and the earth is filled with beauty. We are in Florida for a few weeks and the Crepe Myrtle trees seem to be outdoing themselves in gorgeous blooms this year. The air is scented with rain, newly mowed grass and nature’s natural perfumers, flowers and vines.
I’m looking around me for whatever is good and pleasing and focusing on those things. That is how I am coping. We have made it this far, we can do this.
Oh and I am reading… a lot. I am thankful for authors.
After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience. Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites, Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix
In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books
My 2022 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.
Old Things R New 
I had never seen those Crepe Myrtles trees/bushes before. Thank you for giving me the chance to see them, Onisha.
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They grow well here in the south and this year they seem to be showing off. Hope all is well with you.
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