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Breakfast is a fantastic time of day.
Good conversation with good food starts my day like nothing else, especially when you don’t know who you are going to have breakfast with, nor what will be discussed.
We have a family custom, which goes back to the days when my daughters were very young. Whatever I read that I felt I wanted to keep and remember, I would put on three by five cards and serve them up with dinner.
It was impossible to get my daughters to bless the table before dinner so I would put a card at everyone’s place and they would read their cards. That was fine as long as we didn’t have guests who were their age. Then it would be horribly embarrassing for them and they would apologize to their guests for this horrific habit of their mother’s.
I have continued this practice, even though they are grown and gone. Without children to indoctrinate, I now use the cards for our breakfast guests. They get these cards periodically although they are not required to read them. Sometimes, we are happily surprised when guests read their cards out loud before eating.
This one morning, one card said “We Live by Faith not by Sight”. A quote from 2 Corinthians 5-7. That is a verse from the Bible that my grandmother used to quote to me when I was about 3 years old and would go inside to get her because there was someone under our house talking to me. She would come outside, see nothing and assure me everything was fine and remind me that ‘we live by faith, not by sight’ and I should talk to whoever I was seeing at the time. If it was important enough for them to come to talk to me, I should be polite enough to respond.
This particular breakfast one of our guests read that card, which was at her spot at the table and she was delighted . That started a conversation on what this world is truly about and how handicapped we are, if we will only live with what we can see. It was the first such conversation in which I had participated and it was fascinating. For once, those who can’t ‘see’ were in the minority and those who recognized that faith takes you strange places were in the majority.
The woman who read her card out loud talked about what life was like for her. She talked to dead people, knew things like when the phone would ring and it did, etc. It was an incredible conversation. She mostly talked about how, as she grew older, she realized there were many people like her although they did not share or talk about this gift because it is one that can make others look at you rather strangely and give you lots of room.
As we talked, I realized how deep one can go into ‘seeing’ by Faith and recognizing others who do the same. It is a wonderful world of people who understand and know things just because……… and for whom Faith is a big issue. Many people who have a deep, real, abiding faith generally don’t know where it came from, why or how they live on such a level. Those who don’t have such faith live a very intellectual life or just life from day to day. Some live saddled with great anxiety for reasons they don’t realize, recognize, can’t deal with, so they escape in some form or other.
Have you ever thought how some people can go through horrendous experiences in life and come out still loving, smiling, living and moving along in life and some go through less and are bitter, feel sorry for themselves, become victims and sometimes not very nice people? Faith and lack of faith seems to be the difference.
It was a joyous breakfast. One woman told a couple of us about our lives, – past present and future; another woman talked about her visions; another about helping those around her with what she could ‘see’ without saying anything to the people she helped. I would love to live in such a community, but there is none that I have ever found. It was an extremely spiritual breakfast where God seemed to be the one who brought all of us together to share that moment in time – and we are deeply grateful.
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
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Bettina Network Estate Sales
Tuesday, June 10th, 2014I had to send in this blog and hope you will publish it. I really had second thoughts about sending it because I don’t want too many people to know what I have discovered – don’t like the competition, but you have an openness that I have seldom found in this world so I will depend upon your wisdom because of the many benefits I am receiving from being a part of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community.
We recently asked you to manage our parents’ estate sale because we have inherited a houseful of furnishings and I thought you would be the best person for the job. When we asked you I was a little taken aback by your ending requirement that what is left over after the sale be given away, first to those who are members of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community and then to those who purchased at the sale. My natural instinct is to want all of what is mine and give away very little to others. In addition, I want others to give to me. I don’t know how else to put it. That makes me sound pretty bad, but it is true and clearly my sentiment is shared by many.
My wife and I talked about this and we realized that we have benefited from your ‘give away’ policy. There are several items we needed to furnish our apartment when we had very little. I went to one of your sales with $5 to spend looking for a birthday present for my wife. I bought a pocketbook. You wrapped it beautifully in the wrapping paper that you gave me and my wife was delighted. More recently, we wanted a microwave. When we received the invitation to come back for the free part of your sale, there was a microwave and we brought it home. That is when we realized the genius of what you are doing and we want to be a part of your business so I called this morning to ask you to take on the management of our estate sale for my deceased parents and whatever is left over at the end of the sale we will gladly give to whoever comes along who needs or wants some of those items that did not sell. At first, we wanted to limit you to only giving away small items and you would not accept the sale under those circumstances. We realized we would not have our microwave oven if that were the case so yes, we want you to go ahead under your terms and just drag us along albeit kicking and screaming all the way.
We were also at your sale when a couple came along looking at the rosary beads you had on the table with other things for sale. They were not priced. When the woman eyed the rosaries, picked up one and asked for the price we were floored when you said you would not sell a rosary, but she was welcome to accept it as a gift from the owner.
What do I know now? I will be more giving and I know when I need something I will look for one of your sales, bring my Bettina password and just maybe there will be what I need waiting for me when my money is short and my need is large. It takes a lot to survive this life to the end. It takes even more to thrive. With a little help from my friends I will get through. I certainly didn’t expect genuine help to come from a commercial business.
I think I will just hang-out at your next sale. I loved those moments. Keep up the good work and may God bless what you are doing.
A fan and now a follower – Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ed. Note: We removed the persons name because we are hyper about privacy and would like to respect the privacy of others.
Thank you very much for those kind words. It is nice to know someone gets what we are doing and not only approves, but enjoys the process. We will do our best to continue to earn your respect and will work very hard for you with the distribution of your parents lifetime collections.
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.
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Tags: bed & breakfast, Bettina Network Information, Bettina Scattering Sale, estate sale, Making Connections, Moving Sale
Posted in A Scattering Sale, An Estate Sale, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Estate Sale Analysis and Info, Guest comments, Moving Sale, Spiritual Reflection | Comments Off on Bettina Network Estate Sales