Nan's Calendar

by Nan Forehand, Statesville, NC
Dec. 6, 2011

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. James Baldwin

Well, for months I have known I need to clean out my inbox at yahoo. Tonight, I faced my inbox! It held over 1300 emails! It took a good while to do it, but I faced that inbox head on. At times, my back began to ache, my eyes got blurry and seriously, I thought about getting up from the computer and "forget about it"!
I have accomplished what I set out to do. Sure, it would still have needed to be done even if I had not touched the keys. Yes, it took time and effort and it was a chore I didn't want to tackle. There will always be more important priorities that anything we dread to do.
Cleaning out my inbox was not the only thing I did this evening. Among other things, I brought order back into Ashley's room. It became a staging area for teddy bears. It isn't in perfect shape right now, but it is much better than it was earlier this evening.
The bottom line is to remember the quote I am sharing with you today. It's really all about our habits. We easily get into the habit of saying "I'll do it later"..... I'll face it later..... It really is such a relief when we have faced the giant and knocked him down to size.
Whatever it is that you have to face, like it or not, face it and you will see it never was as big and bad as you imagined it to be. Remember, our reality will never be as bad as our imagination would have it appear. Whatever we created in our mind isn't real. It is imagined. Give up the inclination to speculate, assume, over dramatize, to procrastinate. That being said, when I was given the vision of Nan's good will bears, I believe God created the vision. I am continually amazed at the astounding number of teddy bears I have either in my home now or have had since this vision became a reality. My hands have touched more than 430 bears to date. More than 165 teddies have been given to children and seniors with dementia or alzheimers in the Iredell Emergency room since July 22nd. My attic is overflowing with teddies! This is by the grace of God.
I wanted to make a change in my community for the better. God granted me the vision through the teddy bears. I faced the need head on and God provided the bears and the story continues. It's 1:12 am and I really need to get up from here and get some sleep. When the creative juices begin to flow, as with everything, we have a choice to act or not to act. As I type this message, I pray you are sleeping peacefully. For those of you working a late shift, I pray you are having a good evening at work. Always remember you are in my prayers and that I love you. Until next time.
Love always, Nan