Rain, thunder, lilacs and fear

Life is very good and God is waaaay better!
1.    Ahhh…the sweet smell of rain and the sound of thunder.  That is what I’m smelling and listening to right now.  Budapest is racing right through spring time and full force into summer! Summer in April…what?  My fans are working.
2.    My favorite flower is lilac – all varieties.  This is the season for lilacs here…oh man do I love them!  It reminds me of my Mom – she loved flowers!  I find myself loving flowers tooJ  I remember when I was a junior in high school and our class was responsible to decorate for graduation.  I had a two-fold reason to make it good; my sister Susan was graduating and I was junior class president so it needed to be done well!  So my Mom and I scoured our little town and the next town over for lilacs. I’m telling you what – that stage was FULL of lilacs!  I’m not really sure what the senior class thought (sorry for those with allergies…we didn’t even think of that!) but I was happy – there were lilacs everywhere!
3.    English tutoring brings many opportunities for discussion.  Recently a student and I were talking about voting processes.  April was election time here in Hungary.  The process is the same – the issues are very similar too!  Prime example:  refugees – oh my heart breaks for all the news and information swirling around.  I can only speak from my personal experience and I know the issue is complex.  I just see families that show me pictures on their phone with their homes and streets bombed; moving around trying to make a better place for themselves so the children can go to school and/or parents work without fear.  Fear is a powerful tool; it can be healthy or unhealthy. It can be used to hurt of encourage. Dear God; please help us to use fear in a healthy and encouraging manner. 


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