Perhaps Wednesdays

  I think I am going to have to post my blog on Wednesdays instead of Tuesdays.  We watch grandchildren on Tuesdays.  They keep us busy and preoccupied.  By days end,we are both pretty tired.  It helps me to see the great wisdom of God when babies come to the young.  The energy I had during my childbearing days is profoundly different than what I have now.

  But I can still love and enjoy.  And I do.

  A former pastor once said that each of your children should be passionately loved by someone at all times.When the children rattled my nerves, I remembered that, and it helped me see their need.  It also helped me to know Christs presence and strength in me.  He was always there filling in my deficiencies and making me a better mom than I was.

  How can anyone parent without Him?
How can anyone grandparent without Him?


1 Corinth 13:4a  Love suffers long and is kind.....

Annoying Crash

   We were without a computer last week.  It cramped us up a bit.  My husband spent a lot of time trying to get it to work again, both on his own, and on the phone to the experts.  It was all to no avail.
He finally decided to talk to our son-in-law, who suggested he hit a certain keystroke.  Voila!
  We now have a sure and certain relief from the computer constipation of last week.  We are moving again.  How dependent on technology we've become!  I believe it has both helped and hog-tied us.  The really tricky thing is to know when it actually is a tool to help and to discern when it is just mind tickling entertainment.  It can be very mind numbing.
  The church of Laodicea became revolting to God by becoming lukewarm.  Let us stay alert so the vast opportunities of the present don't numb our minds to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Daniel 12:4  But you, Daniel, shut up the words
And seal the book until the time of the end;
Many shall run to and fro,
And knowledge shall increase.

1 Corinth 8:1 Now concerning things offered to idols:
We know that we all have knowledge.
Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.

Freedom

  Years ago our family attended a church that met in the lower level of a motel.  One evening I went to church alone and was particularly burdened and run down with some of the circumstances in my life.  Much to my surprise, someone had placed a large wooden cross outside the door.

  There were some chairs in the lobby so I sat for a few minutes to collect my thoughts for a time of worship and praise.  As I gazed at that cross, the Lord spoke to my heart.  He told me to hang my burdens on the cross, and when the service was over, I could pick them up on the way out. 

  I did hang my burdens on the cross that night.  The time of praise and worship was glorious.  When I left and saw that dear wooden cross, and the One who died to set me free, I had no desire nor inclination to pick up my burdens again. 

  They died with Him there that night.


1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your cares on Him
For He cares for you.

A Kiss and a Band-aide

  Our grandchildren are an excellent study in helping me hold on to childlike faith.  Theirs is an uncomplicated faith.  They receive good gifts with such open-faced joy.  Even after coming with such crushing troubles on their hearts, they unleash them, and skip on their way without burden or concern. They bounce back from falling with a kiss and a band-aide.

  I do not skip so easily anymore, and I certainly do not bounce like the kids do.  But, I can, with my heart set on learning,become like a child receiving all I can from a generous and loving Father.


Mark 10:15
Assuredly I say to you
Whoever does not receive
The Kingdom of God
As a little child
Will by no means enter it.

Present in the Here

  I had my wrist cast removed last week and replaced with a splint. 
I thought by this time I would be healed.  The x-rays showed otherwise and there is still a painful stretch of healing ahead.  I was pretty disappointed.  How often have I placed expectations on the outcome of a situation only to be disappointed that it turned out differently than I expected? 
  Father calls Himself "I AM."  He is the Unchangeable God who is always in the present.  I think He wants us to be like Him and live in the now; to be present in the here; to live in the moment.
  We need to be obedient knowing He is in charge and responsible for every outcome.  We can rest securely in His faithful arms. 


Ex.3:14  And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM."  And He said to the children of Israel,I AM has sent me to you."

Math.6:27 "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"

 Rev.22:13  "I AM the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."

The Face of God

  Last week was a hard one for me.  The cast on my wrist became almost unbearably uncomfortable.  Jim suggested that I call the Orthopedics Department, so I did.  I went in and ended up with a new cast and some degree of immediate relief.  This week is finally the six week mark.  I will see via
x-ray how well healed it is. 
  How thankful I am for the people that serve; the folks that are skilled in their profession; the gal who cleans my house; for Jim's constant, surrounding help. 
  In them I see the face of God.



John 12:2a  There they made a supper for Him
                    And Martha served

Forty-Five Years

  There is something about love that passes understanding.  If love is engaged only in the mind it is weak and undeserving of being called love.  Our minds might hold on to love for a time, but they are equally good at reasoning why not to love.  Love must pass the mind to penetrate the heart.  There is no reasoning that can explain why Jim and I have remained married and in love for these past forty-five years. 

  We are opposites in nearly everything and both of us are rather stubborn about it.We have learned to embrace and encourage each others differences; to yield our own desires for the sake of the other; to laugh at ourselves and with each other; to remain determined to see our marriage vows through to the end.

Love is strange.  There are times of tenderness that are heartwarming beyond description  And times also when we were just too stubborn to give up.  I still think it was worthwhile.  I am willing to go another day with this man.

If he asked me to marry him again and I could look back over all these years, I would still say yes.

Proverbs 30:18-19d  There are three things which are too wonderful to me.  Yes, four that I do not understand....The way of a man with a virgin.

Ephesians 3:19a ....to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.