Category Archives: spirituality

Premiering Today: Alone Yet Not Alone

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“This is a well-written adventure told from the point of view of an intelligent, observant, and mature girl on the brink of adolescence, with a knack for sharing relevant detail.” ~ Publishers Weekly

Happy Film Friday! Arriving in theatres today is a movie brought to you by Enthuse Entertainment, an independent film production company.  Alone Yet Not Alone  is based on a real life account of a family during a time in history when British and French troops were struggling for control over the abundant resources in the new territory called America.

Despite increasing stresses and hardships around them, the Leininger family gives thanks and praise for the beauty surrounding them in nature and for their newly-found treasured right of “the freedom to worship.” The family had fled Germany to avoid religious persecution.

Through a terrible ordeal, when the two Leininger daughters are kidnapped by the natives,  the Leninger’s find security in their belief that what their homestead and their land would not provide, they would find fulfillment in God’s promise.

Alone-yet-not-alone-movie

To watch trailers of this movie, and to learn more about the plot, the cast and the making of the movie, please visit this link. http://www.aloneyetnotalone.com/photosvideos

Do return on Sunday. We will be honoring all fathers, including my own, whom I have also honored in my memoir Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. Sue’s memoir

 

 

Angelic Antics

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“Make yourself familiar with the angels, and behold them frequently in spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you.”    – Francis de Sales

It’s funny, I have never considered myself as a particularly creative person. I didn’t take a lot of  lessons outside of school growing up. Kids of my generation spent more time outside playing in nature rather than being shuffled to all sorts of organized sports and other extra curricular activities.

However, I did take a pastel drawing class at the YMCA one summer with my sister. It is a happy memory that stays steadfast in my mind all these decades later. Although, I didn’t have any innate talent, I found fulfillment in it.

My experience with the clarinet was another story. I’d much rather forget it and so would my parents. Their ears are still damaged from all the squeaks that came out of the instrument when I played it. Their pocketbooks became emptied having to so frequently replace reeds that both my sister and I ruined.

My twin sister and I had a different kind of creativity – we were full of ideas that were not always angelic!  Like how to “get Fanny’s goat” (Fanny is the stellar character in my memoir) and how get her involved in our childhood antics. Her creativity came from how to teach us life lessons that we’d later come to realize was about our silly, double trouble.

Thank heavens for Fanny. She was an angel for putting up with my twin and I and our two brothers. And I am  also grateful for all other angels my life~

angelsamongus2

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.

Sue’s memoir

Written Through the Ages

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art and spirituality

So much has been written through the ages about the connection between art and spirituality. I came across this story about a young artist who can so well articulate where her painting talent comes from. This girl is only 12 yrs old but has the ability to paint like someone who has been trained by a master.

It isn’t as if she has picked up her ideas about her creator from her parents. She says” my mom was an atheist” and the concept of God and creativity was never discussed in their household.

Watch this short video about her art, and where she says her vision for her paintings come from. http://bit.ly/1hMnVPG.

That’s all I am saying  for today from All Things Fulfilling. Do return tomorrow, we will be continuing this week’s theme about nurturing children’s talents.

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.Sue’s memoir

 

 

 

 

 

Easter: An Awakening of Spirit

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In my opinion, for many people – 

The joyful news that He is risen does not change the contemporary world. 

Still before us lie work, discipline, sacrifice. 

But the fact of Easter gives us the spiritual power to do the work, accept the discipline, and make the sacrifice. 

~Henry Knox Sherrill

Easter spirit

 

easter bunny cake

 

have a happy easter for peeps sake

Looking for other meaningful Easter quotes to pass along to your loved ones this holy season? Here are some you might enjoy from http://www.findmeagift.co.uk/topics/easter-quotes.

Have a great Easter Weekend filled with All Things Fulfilling. If you missed  Monday’s post, a sample audio chapter called  “Easter Traditions” from  Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, by Sue Batton Leonard is on the About the Book page on this site.  Listen in as many times as you’d like!

 

The Lady in the Choir

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laughing sistersWhy is it that when you have a twin sister, everything is doubly  funny? I swear my sister and I can have more fun laughing at something that might not strike anyone else as being one bit funny.

A good hearty belly laugh is only annoying if it happens in inappropriate places. When we were kids, it always happened in church. My sister and I didn’t dare even glance at each other when the mezzo-soprano in the choir started singing. There was something about her voice that made us listen but we found her inflection hysterical. If we even saw one anothers faces in our peripheral vision, it was all over – we’d lose control and laugh so hard we’d have tears running down our cheeks. Then our little brothers got in on the action.

Somehow our parents always knew exactly what started it and struggled to keep their own joy of hearing us twins laughing together in check and in cheek. Someone had to be the adults and keep order in the family. Week after week we vowed to our parents that it would never happen again, but oh, how we were telling a story.

Since I have been taught that God is love, I knew I’d be forgiven and not be struck down by the devil. Our scolding often came from someone else who you’ll learn more about in my memoir. Whenever she got word of our childish antics, her words had a more powerful effect than anything our parents could have ever uttered.

“Lord a Mercy,” she’d say “What is you? A bunch a heathens, laughin’ in da Lord’s house?” Have you ever noticed how carefully one listens to someone who is speaking a different dialect?

“It was the funny lady in the choir’s fault,” my sister and I’d say, taking no responsibility for our inability to control ourselves. After all, we were just children.

That’s another family story that wasn’t included in my memoir from All Things Fulfilling. This blog is brought to you by www.CornestoneFulfillmentService.com.

Telling Family Secrets

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“I take pleasure in my transformations. I look quiet and consistent, but few know how many women there are in me.” ~ Anaïs Nin

It’s family secret day on All Things Fulfilling and I have a confession to make about one of my siblings~

I swear my little brother chose his friends according to who’d step in and clean his room for him. He is not generally known as a people user but, he always got his friends to help him out in  “clean the room department.” And he never had to do anything to correct his shortcomings because of it.

When my sister or I, or one of his friends, felt sorry for him because he was grounded once again due to his messy bedroom, we’d pitch in and help him clean up the mess. Then guess who got praised and lauded?  Yep – you guessed it, my little brother, for having fulfilled his chores list! Not the ones who helped him out of the dog house.

One day, I got caught standing in for my brother while I was cleaning up his mess. The stellar character that you will learn about in my memoir, who taught me some very useful and wonderful lessons about life, scolded me and said:

“You and yo’ brother needs ta have a come to jesus meetin’ over you always having ta do his chores. He aint doin’ doodlie squat. That ain’t right. You ain’t doin’ him no favors by helpin’ him out neither. He’s gots ta learn all by his self.”  

 I had never heard that expression “have a come to Jesus meeting” until she used it. It delighted me, made me giggle. Every time I hear the expression now, as an adult, it tickles my funny bone all over again. 

girls telling secretsPerhaps if you have brothers or sisters, you can relate to having to do their chores. Was there someone in your family who always pulled the weight?

Have you ever been caught in a difficult position by sharing a family secret?

Listen Up! Tomorrow is Holy Experiment Day. You don’t believe me? Google it! Come back tomorrow because we will announcing a contest that will give you a chance of winning a free copy of my upcoming publication, Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. My prayer is that just the right person wins it! Don’t miss out.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

A Mother Letting Go

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Holding on is believing that there’s only a past; letting go is knowing that there’s a future. – Daphne Rose Kingma

I clearly remember my husband and me standing and waiting for the bus with our son on his first day of school. My mother-in-law was visiting. She was part of the big send off.  Surprisingly, my son had door to door service, the school bus stopped at nearly every student’s  house since we lived in a rural area in Vermont.

I remember the excitement my son exuded as he stood waiting. There didn’t seem to be a bit of nervousness or anxiety on his part, only on mine. I was a mother letting go,  reflecting on my own first day of school standing at the bus stop with my twin sister and my mother, who was probably a lot more anxious than I was when letting go.

When I think of my first day of elementary school, I think of this image. Did anyone else from the baby boomer generation have a plaid book bag like the one pictured? Sure brings back memories, doesn’t it?

red plaid bookbag 1950s

Do you like looking back on your childhood? There is a magazine you can subscribe to that will delight you. It’s called Good Old Days “The Magazine that Remembers the Best.” Here is how to subscribe. http://www.goodolddaysmagazine.com/stories/list.html?cat_id=52

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. See you tomorrow and Heads Up!  On Friday there will be an important revelation on All Things Fulfilling. Don’t miss out! I can hardly wait myself!

Road to Providence

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“All that I know of tomorrow is that providence will rise before the sunrise.” ~ Jean Baptiste Lacordaire

If you know me, you know I feel very fortunate. Some of my pre-publication readers have remarked that my life must have been very difficult as a young child. Yes, I suppose it was but it’s all about how you look at it. I’ve learned all kinds of life lessons from my past experiences that I will share in my book.

providence roadMany people write memoirs for cathartic reasons. A cleansing of the emotions, if you will. Often stories attract interest because they are filled with regrets, grit and grime. Mine is vastly different – it’s about healthy attitudes, influences and outcomes. Not a “whine-fest.” Writing about our past is not always safe or pretty, however, some people write for a release and admission of gratitude. According to Jerry Waxler, M.S. memoirs have become a more popular form of non-fiction for readers in recent years. http://bit.ly/LnTUGP.

When writing about my life memories, everything fulfilling or not got stirred up. I began recalling songs, hairstyles,  our family’s automobile travels and school yard activities. Even conversations with significant others that influenced my life and things I learned about human relationships came out throughout the writing process. I remembered an awful lot, yet the things that brought me faith and joy  were more enduring than any of the bad stuff. Thank God for that!

johns hopkins

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. Come on back tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling.

Big and Small Successes

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Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe. -Gail Devers quotes

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention on All Things Fulfilling the upcoming Olympics and the athletes who are fulfilling their dreams by representing their countries in Sochi next week. We are “hometown proud” here in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. “Ski TownUSA”® holds the record of having sent more winter athletes over the course of Olympic history than any other city in the U.S. (I believe 76 athletes not including 5 in this year’s games).

On Saturday, our local athletes were given a send off celebration by fellow residents who will be avidly watching all the Olympians from participating countries. Brother and sister Taylor and Arielle Gold (snowboarders), brothers Taylor and Brian Fletcher (nordic combined) and Todd Lodwick (ski jumping) will be participating from this city. This will be Lodwick’s sixth Olympic games. The evening of the gala there were fireworks, photos and even a flash mob dance to “Treasure” by Bruno Mars. Here is a video clip of the community practicing the flash dance at last year’s Winter Carnival. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhdRmI3u278. The town of Steamboat Springs has Olympic spirit in everything they do!

marching band on skis in steamboatAn athlete who finally reaches the goal of obtaining a coveted spot on an Olympic team represents the same elevation of spirit that comes to every individual who has ever worked hard to reach their objectives – whether it is reaching the top of a corporate ladder, the inventor who receives a patent, the “creative” who after years of practice and learning makes his work public, the struggling child who finally realizes that when they have given all they’ve got there is great personal reward in their efforts or the spiritual counselor who has led an individual to see “what faith has to do with it.”  Dreams are fulfilled.

God speed to all the athletes, their coaches and parents who will be traveling to Sochi! May you have a safe and joy-filled experience. We wrap our arms around you in pride, for you represent us Americans, one and all.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Forget the Soap?

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“Life is good” represents the most beautiful, dramatic and heavy moments in life.” ~ Nas

bathtub3Please don’t disturb me, I’m scrubbin’! I’m getting rid of all negative thoughts left over from last year.  I have received the year end blog report and know just how many readers we had  and I am feeling very happy. Now – a clean slate and moving forward. A New Year always brings new possibilities and fresh opportunities. All the ingredients necessary for creating a fulfilling experience.

If you are you a person who hangs on to bad memories longer than you ought to, please don’t do it!  It’s not good for your health. http://mayocl.in/1dPJmYZ . Wash those pessimistic and detrimental thoughts right out of your head, right now, while the year is young and history has yet to be made in 2014.

Jump in a tub of warm water, relax, inhale deeply and slowly exhale releasing stress, anxiety and discontent. Go on, now,  breathe again and let your troubles from last year go down the drain. Don’t forget to rinse off well. Bad memories, like soap leaves residue that makes you itchy.

Repeat after me …..”Life is good.” And believe it.