Sunday, March 28, 2010

"DUH" Day

Ever have a foolish day? I had one yesterday.
Planning to display on a wall some of the exquisite handiwork of my grandbabies , at different stages of their wee lives... pure art which I had found in a trunk that had been long closed and forgotten... I placed a large drawing done by the baby hand of our Bubs, who is now in college, against the wall and pressed in a decorative tack . The pretty blue , 5 cent sized head fell off the tack. So wanting this wall to be perfectly adorable, I climbed down with the tack head in my hand. I dug a new tube of SUPER GLUE out, opened it and squirted my palm full of "glue that will harden instantly and will hold an automobile dangling from a cliff so it doesn't fall! I jumped and rushed to put my hand under hot water! My fingers stuck together. I yelled for Papa to come help me! I ripped my wedding band from its finger just before it became a permanent part of my body.
I spent the next hour rubbing my hand with solutions of peroxide, veggie oil, liquid
soaps with a scrub brush..... while Papa worked on my ring with mysterious workshop potions and then a grinder machine. When he brought the ring back and put it on my finger, he said, "Mom! You should NEVER pour your palm full of SUPER GLUE!" ; )
But he always helps it to "feel all better". I sit now and view the artwork of wee ones whom I love more than life and it does feel all better.
Just one day of a long journey.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

S-L Mode

Sometimes I seem to be clinging to the law of Moses:
Jab for jab, hurt for hurt, silence for silence,
push for push,mean for mean , and so on.

A while ago I decided to quit stressing about becoming perfect..now I'm just trying to be good.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is goodest of them all..?
If its me , don't say anything at all..."

P.S. where have all the front porches gone?

Monday, March 15, 2010

HOMESICK

My friend cried out in pain saying, I know I believe..but each time the unexpected and hard things strike..I lose my faith! I still believe, yet I lose my faith!"
Even Job, happy and full of days (in the end) , died , passing on the cycle of grief and pain to his survivors.
Some times we stake all our faith on a miracle, as if a miracle would eliminate all disappointment with God. It wouldn't. For one thing , all of us die; the ultimate mortality rate is much the same for atheists and saints alike.
Miracles serve as signs pointing on to the future.
They are appetizers that awaken a longing for something more, something permanent.
The good news at the end of Job and the good news of Easter at the end of the Gospels are previews of the good news described at the end of Revelation!
We dare not lose sight of the world God wants..the world He is all the time building.
The world we inherit because of Jesus Christ.
The promise of Job 42 , then, is that God will finally right the wrongs that mark our days.
Some sorrows ...the deaths of Job's children , for example , or the death of my dear friend's son....never completely heal in this life.
BUT ONE DAY IT WILL!
That day my friend will get her son back, remade! and if I did not believe that, did not believe that her son, along with Job's are right now breathing , and dancing, and exploring new worlds, then I would not believe anything....I would "lose my faith " at the lack of seeing miracles.
Paul says, " If only for this life we have hope in Christ , we are to be pitied more than all men".
Believe in all Truth ...what God says , He will do. There is much more ahead!
Take courage , little friend, for God is surely with you.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

TIME FLIES !

Arnie came by way after dark the other night!
Long time-no see , young man.
Thinking back on when we met : years ago. I was still young enough to mow the lawns, prune the shrubs, plant and feed the roses. Loved it!
Arnie was just barely 10 years old then. He lived in the neighborhood, so often rode his bike past our home. He often looked angry...and very alone. Three boys about his age were neighborhood
little bullies and troubled many of the seniors . They threw rocks through windows, etc.
Arnie was a target for them. I could tell he was afraid , even though he tried to cover it by very harsh words and pent up anger.
One summer's day as I knelt in the far corner next to the front fence, planting some more lavender, brown, peach colored IRIS plants...Arnie rode up to the fence and started talking . He was so angry! He called the bully-boys really bad names . He even wished they would die. I asked him a few questions about his school vacation , his teen sister, etc. and he slowly calmed down. Then I asked him, "Arnie, wouldn't it be so much better to be the neighborhood HERO..rather than wanting to be so strong you can hurt those three boys?"
With great disbelief he said " How? That could never happen!"
In the next hour I told Arnie how Jesus had saved my life when I was younger, and how HE could make a neighborhood hero out of him. Arnie was very attentive, yet naturally skeptic.
I gave him cartoon type Christ centered lil' booklets from my apron pocket, and Arnie went away. I prayed , then went back to my work.
Later as I was inside preparing supper, Arnie knocked on the door , something he had never done before...never even entering the yard fence.
With reddened eyes and a soft voice , he said, " I read both those books...and I liked them" .
when asked if he prayed the little prayers at the end of the booklets, Arnie said, "Yes! I did...and
I feel different!"
Oh! I hugged that 10 year old boy and told him many things about Jesus.
Time proved that Arnie met Jesus that day! For the next years he rode his bike with a calm face, greeting and stopping to talk to the old ones in the area. He often stopped by to tell us of his schoolmates making fun of him...then later beginning to believe as they observed the changed Arnie!
When he outgrew that bike, he would walk by. Stopping to tell us of his (now) high school friends.
Of his attending regularly a Christian Young People's group meetings , and all the community helps they were doing together.
He stopped by when he graduated High school. He came again when he was attending his second year at Community college. His family moved , so much time would pass between visits.
The last one had been when he wanted to show us his big and beautiful Pickup truck!
Every time I saw him over the years, at our partings I would ask him, "Are you still taking Jesus with you , Arnie?" He always grinned and said, "Yes! OH, yes."
Then a long time passed and no sight of him...until the other night, way after dark, a knock on the door. As Papa opened it and I heard the voice , I said , "ARNIE! Where have you been , Son!" He said, "on the road", then continued to tell us that he drives big rigs cross country ..and he LOVES IT! He told about what he sees in New York...and how he enjoyed the state of Arkansas, etc. He was so proud and happy that it did our old hearts good . When he had to leave
I asked him , "Arnie , is Jesus still riding with you?" He grinned, a gentle grin, and said, "Yes! HE IS!" And then this tall man with his truck driver's hat and jacket waved and walked into the darkness. A real Neighborhood Hero.
Did I forget to say that Arnie is mildly Autistic?

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I HAVE........

Have you....seen palm trees bowed, crowns to the sand,... before the rage of hurricane winds...
pliant and humbled, even to the edge of destruction...
yet their roots , driven so deeply by other storms, other times...
grip solid rock beyond the sand , anchored ...
and as the furious devastation exhausts itself at last...
waters recede...tidal waves lie down.


THE FAITH THAT CAN"T BE SHAKEN, IS THE FAITH THAT HAS BEEN SHAKEN.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

A WINDY DAY

. Where have my words gone? They used to, many times, flow out of my pen.
These days I can not speak out ...nor write...the words that are still on my human "hard drive". I falter ...mid-sentence.
. Lord, I have loved words all the days of my life...must I lose them in these last miles?
. God have mercy.
. Let my words not
skitter away
like dry leaves on a
windy day.......
.... and, Lord, even though I may never understand all the roads You have destined
us to follow....I KNOW ...that You know our end from the beginning,
and that Your Grace enfolds us every step of the Way. Amen

Thursday, October 15, 2009

....AND EVEN NOW....

JIMMY
What would I do without him?
When I feel as if I'm about to be pushed over the cliff,
he always seems to step between me and the edge and he
nudges me back to the safe ground.
I think he'd say I do the same for him,
though I never see it as such at the time.
(from "MARY's JOURNAL")

Have started reading the life story of Oswald Chambers ( we all know him best by his little book "MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST"...read all over the world , in as many languages, second only to God's Bible.)
He died so young. Never knew that his written words were destined by God to
inspire and encourage (and sometimes reveal hidden sins) to generations of God seeking folk.
Where do people like him, like Mother Theresa,like the Catholic priest who lived and died ministering to lepers( all outcasts on a remote island), ... like present day Heidi and Roland Baker ......where do they come from (God , of course).
What requisite to be one to whom the LORD IS their ALL IN ALL?
Can it be BROKENESS ? Not for a season..but forever?
I wonder. I want. I need.

PS. my sweet Girl is going to teach me how to edit and improve what i write here..when she gets time to : )