I wrote a book.It is titled “He Leadeth Me, A grandmother’s story”. That name tells it all. God has led me through these 80 plus years. And I tell the whole story, from the depression years to the high tech time we have today. I hope all of you will read it when it comes out an e-book from Amazon.

However, it was difficult to write who the author was. Oh, it was me all right, but you see I have been married twice. Once I was E. Yvonne Thompson, and Edward Thompson died when he was still in his 30’s. Later, my name was E. Yvonne Hood when I married Frank Hood. He died five years ago. Now Eddie and I had five children and I had one with Frank. The early part of my book, when I was a little and big girl,I was Estelle Yvonne Redal. I figured I am still me and I might just as well use the name which I was given when I came into the world. I surely didn’t want to leave either of my husbands out and I surely didn’t in the pages of my book.

So, I wondered what’s in a name? Just think. A girl marries five times and is divorced all five times. She must have a tough time keeping track of her name! She is still the girl she was born to be and inside she hasn’t changed, has she? I still think more of my parents, sister and brother, grandparents and aunts and uncles than I do of either Eddie’s or Frank’s families even though I care a great deal for both. I truly am E. Yvonne Redal so my decision was made.

God is certainly one who used many names in the Bible. He calls himself Jehovah Yirei, my provider, Jehovah Rophi, my healer, Jehovah Nissi, My banner, Jehovah Shlomi, my peace, Jehovah Roi, my shepherd, and Jehovah Tsidkeini, my righteousness. But he is still God, isn’t he? The name he uses and I admit I don’t really understand is I Am what I Am but he has the right to use it and he certainly is what he is, the great God.

What’s in a name anyway? Our parents were proud when we were born and they gave us a name they loved. That person had the same talents, intelligence and physical appearance all throughout his or her life no matter what name is used.

I always stop and look whenever I see a picture of a Victorian lady sitting in a rose garden. She is wearing a dress which is ruffled and carrying an umbrella which is also ruffled. I don’t know why but it always brings peace to me. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t look like she is bothered by the many things we face today. All she is interested in is keeping the sun away from her face and her thoughts on the roses all around her. She is smart you know, filtering the sun off her face with the fancy umbrella. We use sun lotion which is not nearly so romantic.

The first thing we should filter out is our mail. It might be a good idea if we put a garbage pail near our mail box. Maybe all the junk we get in the mail is the reason the postal service is still around! At least, it keeps them in business. My son always tells me I should throw most of my mail away except the bills. He is right, you know. The other day I got a letter from Publishers Clearing house telling me I had won $7000 a week for life and that I would be receiving it in two days! I found out that Publishers Clearing House never sends letters to winners and that the $7000 wouldn’t be given out until November 29th. I did receive a letter in two days but all it told me was that I had to purchase some of the items they had listed and I would be eligible to receive the money. I don’t know how they get by with calling themselves Publishers Clearing House, but I guess I’ll leave that up to them.

Another thing we should filter out is television. Last night I was watching The Voice and the commercials were terrible. Some were of shows that would be coming up. These had scenes in them that were downright scary and some were of movies that would be soon on our screens. These were so violent that I would think no one would ever pay money to see. And Children were watching The Voice too! I found a way I could filter out those commercials. I just closed my eyes and put my hands over my ears!

However there are other things that should be filtered out on television. Of course we should watch the news. We should know what is going on in our government. How else would we know who to elect to run things. We don’t need to know everything about every killing in the world, do we? Sometimes we hear of a murder for days. They go on and on talking about it. I suppose they need to fill up the time, but why not fill it with good news. There is a lot of it going on but we don’t hear about that.

Many of the things we look at, read or listen to or even what we say or think needs to be filtered. Unfortunately the sights and sounds that surround us leave us stressed, anxious and overwhelmed. We must filter them if we want peace and joy to invade the spaces that we have allowed inside. We will find our lives will be more relaxed as peace and joy take over. Who knows, maybe we’ll have time to read God’s letter once in awhile