All lives matter!

    

     Today I have decided not to post about my It Works business. My heart is heavy with the way our country is going. There is so much hate and anger in the world.
     I don't understand why this is happening? For years there have been so many fights, and wars based on the differences of humans. These differences range from religious choices to the color of our skin. I can go back at least a 200 years with examples. We have the Native Americans who were forced off of their land,  the Civil War and the fight against slavery, WWII and Hitler and  his opinion of the Jewish people, the Japanese Americans who were citizens of the United States and forced into camps, and so many other examples. 

     What have we learned from our past? Apparently nothing. We are still trying to pick one religion that is better than the other. Why can't we be ok with just letting everyone having their own beliefs? None of us really know who or what God is, isn't it enough that we have something to believe in. To pray to when times are hard. Be it Buddha, a sun god, Jehovah, or the Virgin Mary, this is something that gives us hope.
     Now the focus is on skin color. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, or whatever your heritage, the color of your skin does not define which race is better than the other. It is great to have pride in your heritage, to celebrate what makes you who you are! But underneath that skin we all are made up of the same thing, we all bleed red.
     Why are we all of the sudden hating cops and shooting everyone? What is this solving? I am not saying that a few all cops are good, there are enough reports in history that prove this. But to the person who refused to set next to a cop at a restaurant, what if that is the cop that is called to your home in an emergency? To the surgeon who had to put aside his prejudice to operate on victims, shame on you! You took an oath as a doctor to save lives and it doesn't matter who it is. That is the job you chose. I am so sad that people are acting like this.
     I wish history would stop repeating itself and that people would see the negative message we are sending our kids, the world we are leaving our kids. From one of the greatest speeches ---Martin Luther King Jr.

"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

 will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. This is our hope. "
 

"And if America is to be a great nation this must become true....

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

        
    

Sunday..let's make it about family!!

     Happy Sunday, I hope this day finds you full of blessings! Sunday used to be the day of rest, a day to give rejoice to God, and a day to unwind with friends and family. Now it is like every other day in many households! I do not go to church very often but I do take a few moments each day to read a quick verse and say a prayer. Also during football season Sunday is spent watching NFL games, Saturdays are devoted to my college teams! Go K-state...I may be in Iowa but I am a Wildcat by heart! We our a house divided team--I love the Packers and can you believe it I fell in love with a Vikings fan! Never a dull moment in our house during these games!!

     Now that I am off track and apparently ready for football season-I wanted to take a few minutes to discuss why we should take care of ourselves! I am a mom and I spend around 90% of my day focusing on my family, I spend another 9-10 hours a day at work, and then maybe 1-2 hours a day on my It Works business. That doesn't leave me enough time to do the things I love to do, but time to do the things I have to do. I love my family, and both of my jobs, in fact I wouldn't change a thing. We do though all need time to unwind! This goes for men, women, and children. Spend some time doing things you love, reading a book, walking, fishing, taking the family to the beach or lake. This is so important in the world we live in. To unplug from the internet, and our phones, and really focus on our families.

     I also believe in spa days, we also have pajama days! No, this isn't just for women! I found an article this morning that really describes this well! Visit http://rhagan.itworks.com/or send me a message for more information about facials and skin care products.

Read the article here-- http://beautysouthafrica.com/healthy-living/why-you-should-pamper-yourself

"Do you take as much care of yourself as you do of others? If you don’t, you could be heading for burn-out. Chances are, at the very least, you’re not experiencing much abundance and joy in your life.
So why is it so hard to pamper ourselves? Do we think of pampering as indulgent, selfish, or narcissistic? Do we feel guilty because it’s a ‘luxury’? Many of us, consciously or subconsciously, believe it’s a waste of time and money, that we should be doing something useful instead, that being stressed is ‘normal’, or – most insidious of all – that we somehow don’t quite deserve to be pampered.
Yet taking proper care of ourselves is essential for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. The better we feel, the more we’re able to engage fully with our lives and the richer our relationships with other people become. A good pampering session can balance us from the inside out, refreshing, relaxing and rejuvenating us, making us happier and saner, all of which we’ll carry with us into our dealings with the wider world.
The demands of our fast-paced lives take a toll on our bodies in many ways. Stress increases the risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, gastrointestinal disorders, and cancer. When we’re stressed we don’t sleep well, we don’t eat sensibly, and we certainly don’t take the time to stop and smell the roses. We begin to feel exhausted, discouraged, bored, resentful and frustrated. Our relationships suffer, creativity dries up, productivity falls, and quality of life becomes a distant memory. We need all our energy just to get through the day, we have little left to give to anyone else, and taking care of ourselves comes last on the list."

A Christian Prayer to end gun violence - PICO National Network

     My heart is heavy for the continued violence that has been affecting our country. This prayer is wonderful and I wanted to share it with my readers-it is a bit behind the current situations but it has a very powerful message .

"Merciful Lord, we come to you heavy hearted, for we have heard the cries of the slain calling to us from the ground. We come remembering all the lives lost to the weapons of war that have flooded our communities. We come reminded of the many bodies locked in jails and prisons all across this country.  And we ask for your mercy.
Although we find ourselves in a broken world – a world in which hurting people hurt other people, it is no mystery that you are a God capable of healing our world through justice and fairness.  Your own revelation has shown us that you stand firmly with those people whose backs are against the wall. Your own life demonstrates how you came from heaven to earth to redeem creation, our communities and our own lives. So we ask for this same redemptive power to be unleashed among us as it was on the day of Pentecost. May we be empowered by your Spirit to reverse the conditions that produce young men and women who are driven to resort to violence and destructive behavior in their fight to stay alive and struggle to remain free."


A Christian Prayer to end gun violence - PICO National Network