This day is all about new years' resolutions. I've written a song where I said I wasn't planning on any more, but they aren't necessarily a bad thing if they are manageable and you stick with them.

So here's one for my stack, and it's bubbling up to the top:

I'm resolving to spend more time on Faith, Home, and Family this coming year, so I'll be taking a sabbatical from Social Networking sites for most of the year. I'm on many and they can suck your time away if you let them.

Inevitably, the family suffers when you spend too much time connecting with the thousands of friends you have online. And so, I bid you adieu, with a song that strikes me as appropriate, one I wrote this month for my book 'The Blue Door', which I am currently reading to my wonderful kids...


http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8549109

What foundation are the homes that we build for our families based on? Is it the shifting sands of this passing world, or the solid rock?

Do we build a home where our kids feel welcome? One they'd want to return to if they were ever in trouble? Build up your home as a warm and welcome place, a place that is a shelter from the storms of life.

The Robin and the Jay

Oh, the robin sung sweetly as she feathered her nest
With the soft down that came from the robin's red breast
And she built her home strong, for the eggs that were coming
As the winter snow thawed and the stream started running.

Twas a home built with care for a love meant to share
As the soft songs of Spring filled the sweet morning air
And the rains, they came down, and the wind whipped around
But the nest in the tree stood there, snug, safe, and sound

Are the homes that we build made of wood, hay, and stubble?
Are there gold and bright gems in the midst of the rubble?
Will our children remember, wherever they roam
That there'll always be a place to come home?

Oh, the bluejay came late to the wood in the glen
When the winter storms pased, with the Spring setting in
With a nest thrown together, and nary a feather
Unaware of the wind and the oncoming weather

Twas a home built in haste, and the jay, as she raced
Could not see the dark clouds that would soon lay to waste
All her efforts begun on a home for her young
As the storm cast her home in the dirt and the dung

Are the homes that we build made of wood, hay, and stubble?
Are there gold and bright gems in the midst of the rubble?
Will our children remember, wherever they roam
That there'll always be a place to come home?

Are the homes that we build made of wood, hay, and stubble?
Are there gold and bright gems in the midst of the rubble?
Will our children remember, wherever they roam
That there'll always be a place to come home?

Pantser or Plodder?

Question for you Today:

Are you a 'Pantser' - a person who writes their books by the 'seat of their pants', or do you 'Plot' out your story?

If you plot it out, how much detail do you go into on your novel before you write the first actual word of your story?
Do you outline the entire story, or just a start, an end, a conflict, and the basic parts of the story?
Do you ouline each chapter, the contents of it, what each character does?
Do you use the 'Snowflake' Method?


If you are a 'Pantser', how do you guide your story and keep from writing your characters into a situation they cannot get out of?

What arguments can you give in support of whichever method you choose, or do you fall somewhere in the middle?

Rose-Colored Glasses

If you've read the news recently, you probably are running scared, buying gold, stocking up on ammunition and building a fallout shelter in your garage.

With multiple new countries developing nuclear bombs, our own country (and the world's) finances in a mess, unemployment running into the double-digits, and Lindsey Lohan seeking treatment for alcoholism again, it's no wonder we're depressed, recessed, obsessed, and opppressed.

But God isn't asking us to look at the storm around us, through the eyes of panic and despair. He wants His children to remember that He is in control, and that none of this is taking Him by surprise.

While I'm nearing the final chapters of my new novel, I thought I'd share a song with you that has come out of this story - a song based on the following verse:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.Phil 4:8

If we actually see the world through those 'rose-colored glasses' that some people ridicule, we'll be much happier, and find the positive side of life, and see the Lord's hand at work all around us...

Click here to listen to the song.


Rose-Colored Glasses
Phil:4:8

This world is a mess, there is pain and despair
And there isn't a glimmer of hope in the air
But you'll be so much happier, freer of care
When looking through rose-colored glasses.

In this world there is trouble, and sorrow, and dying
And much of our time seems all tied up in crying
But life would be better when laughing and sighing
So look through those rose-colored glasses.

These magical glasses of rose-colored hue
Will help heal the heart of the saddest of you
For you'll see all that's right, and lovely and true
With these magical, the magical rose-colored glasses.

So when you feel troubled, and tempted to bawl
Just put on a pair; see the good in us all
And if someone you know just gave up on it all,
Just hand them some rose-colored glasses.