I was idly noticing as we went into Walmart how varied the dress was among the customers. One woman who just came out was dressed to the nines, while others couldn't have been more casual (to put it mildly). Then I saw an older woman striding briskly along in a coordinated cropped pants outfit and thought how attractive she looked.
We were only in the store a few minutes, and when we came out, I saw the same lady, windblown and harried looking, rushing in and out between the rows of parked vehicles. "Howard, that lady can't find her car!" I nudged my husband. "Say something to her!"
"How are you, Ma'am?" he spoke as we approached her, to which she replied, running her hand distractedly through her short, white bob, "Not very good right now. I can't find my car!" She said she thought she remembered parking it right there. I could thoroughly sympathize, as that had happened to us many times.
"What color is it? We'll help you find it," my husband assured her. She told us it was a silver Buick, and it seemed every other car in the parking lot was silver. After a few minutes, he asked if she could sound her car alarm on her key holder. By this time we were several rows over, and about the time the alarm sounded, she spotted it. Evidently it had been too far away to connect before. She thanked us and hurried across the parking lot toward it.
My heart went out to the woman, imagining the panic and confusion she must have felt. When I thought about it later, I realized we were at the right place at the right time once again. (One day last summer I had helped a lost child wandering confused outside Walmart find her grandmother.) How strange that today we would walk into the store, go directly to the items we wanted, and go through the check-out, all in 10 minutes or less? I don't think I have ever come out of Walmart in less than half an hour!
And why was I taking note of people I observed as we went in? Normally, I might not even notice, intent on my shopping purposes. Thankfully, no unscrupulous person took advantage of the senior citizen in her distress, thinking her an easy prey with car keys to a Buick in her hand. One can only imagine a different scenario. Evidently, the lady had gone into one entrance of the store and came out the other exit (we've done that, too!).
I believe the Holy Spirit gives us these nudges, makes us alert at the right time, and uses us to be a neighbor to a total stranger.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Majoring on Minors
Breakfast looked so good! I was hungry! I had gone to special effort to make the biscuits Howard wanted and the grits I was in the mood for; the eggs and turkey bacon were finished just as everything was ready. I had even put a handful of blueberries in a dish and placed a small bowl of rounded orbs of juicy, glistening watermelon on the table.
I sighed with satisfaction as I surveyed the quaint little breakfast table we'd found that just fit into our kitchen. After the blessing, I reached for the pepper to sprinkle my eggs, when suddenly I was looking down at a thick black mass over everything! The top had come off the shaker! "Why does everything happen to me when I try so hard!" I couldn't help exclaiming.
Just two days before, we had scheduled the cable man out to hook up our services after our recent move. I was so excited to be back on internet and connected to the world again I could hardly wait for the appointment. I was awake bright and early and had all the chores finished in preparation for the service call to be between 8:00 a.m. and noon. He seemed to be taking his time, though, I thought, when Howard remarked, "Who was that call from when the phone rang so long awhile ago?"
"What call? Why didn't you answer it? It was probably the cable man!" I cried. I called back the number and got the recording that since we hadn't answered, they would have to reschedule. So, complaining profusely, I had to wait another day (which I was afraid would be even longer).
Well, I was able to salvage my breakfast, our living room is now alive with sound and color, and I am back online. It had been an intense couple of weeks as I tried to reconstitute our house after moving our belongings back in, hanging pictures (the nails were still in the right places), unpacking and searching for lost items. Where had I packed our stainless tableware? We'd been using three forks and two spoons and sharing a knife for days! I knew I had sorted it neatly into its tray, wrapped and tied a dishtowel around it and put it...where? Into a basket, I thought. But unpacking some miscellaneous items yesterday, I spied the familiar bundle at the bottom of a box! Praise God!
It wasn't the first time I had prayed and found something. Retrieving things from storage, I searched high and low for my pot rack. After several forays, I prayed once again, "God please let me find my pot rack." I raised my eyes and there it was, leaning against the wall beside a full-length mirror!
The house is beautiful again, and now I can reflect and thank God for my blessings. He was there all the time!
I sighed with satisfaction as I surveyed the quaint little breakfast table we'd found that just fit into our kitchen. After the blessing, I reached for the pepper to sprinkle my eggs, when suddenly I was looking down at a thick black mass over everything! The top had come off the shaker! "Why does everything happen to me when I try so hard!" I couldn't help exclaiming.
Just two days before, we had scheduled the cable man out to hook up our services after our recent move. I was so excited to be back on internet and connected to the world again I could hardly wait for the appointment. I was awake bright and early and had all the chores finished in preparation for the service call to be between 8:00 a.m. and noon. He seemed to be taking his time, though, I thought, when Howard remarked, "Who was that call from when the phone rang so long awhile ago?"
"What call? Why didn't you answer it? It was probably the cable man!" I cried. I called back the number and got the recording that since we hadn't answered, they would have to reschedule. So, complaining profusely, I had to wait another day (which I was afraid would be even longer).
Well, I was able to salvage my breakfast, our living room is now alive with sound and color, and I am back online. It had been an intense couple of weeks as I tried to reconstitute our house after moving our belongings back in, hanging pictures (the nails were still in the right places), unpacking and searching for lost items. Where had I packed our stainless tableware? We'd been using three forks and two spoons and sharing a knife for days! I knew I had sorted it neatly into its tray, wrapped and tied a dishtowel around it and put it...where? Into a basket, I thought. But unpacking some miscellaneous items yesterday, I spied the familiar bundle at the bottom of a box! Praise God!
It wasn't the first time I had prayed and found something. Retrieving things from storage, I searched high and low for my pot rack. After several forays, I prayed once again, "God please let me find my pot rack." I raised my eyes and there it was, leaning against the wall beside a full-length mirror!
The house is beautiful again, and now I can reflect and thank God for my blessings. He was there all the time!
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Don't Skip!
My husband's dream has come true! Literally! The other night he dreamed he was drinking raw milk like in the old days, and now he has found a place to get it! At church last Sunday, Howard was talking to a friend we had not seen in a long time, and she mentioned she has a cow--a Brown Swiss/Jersey mix that gives 5 gallons of rich milk a day! He found out she sells the millk, and we have our first gallon in the refrigerator.
I was so surprised to see the deep band of cream at the top (our friend said she gets a pound of butter from two gallons). I tried a little of the cream on my oatmeal this morning (with blueberries and strawberries to make it healthier) and I had a treat to rival a Macdonald's breakfast!
Howard has always been a milk drinker, and our kids loved it growing up. With six of them, we often used two gallons a day! Ads wear a milk mustache, adults love it, and babies need it. It is good for bones and teeth, and it is used as a metaphor for health (physical and spiritual) and wealth in the Bible. A land of milk and honey is pictured as a place of plenty and blessings for God's people. I Peter 2:2 admonishes, "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby."
The perfect food for newborns is mother's milk, as has been proven by many scientific studies as a protection against certain diseases and infections. I read somewhere that there are over a 100 listed beneficial components of mother's milk. Yet there comes a time when a baby needs solid food. Paul says in I Corinthians 3:1-2, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. (2) I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither now are ye able."
He seems to be saying that those teeth you grew on milk should have by now enabled you to eat meat and digest deeper meanings and stronger teachings. It made me think of something I read the other day about the new "narrative" Bibles. Evidently, they are very popular, as they attempt to condense the Bible into one storyline, often with the removal or abridgment of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, genealogies and laws.
I can't imagine the Bible without these beautiful, or even preponderant and difficult portions. God had everything in there for a reason, and the divinely-inspired writers did not sugar-coat anything. There are the unlikely heroes, the letters, visions, prophecies, battles and victories that take our breath away. Surely we are not babes who must have our scriptural diets pre-digested and fed to us in a bottle of mediocrity, but rather mature Christians who relish the whole grand, glorious, scope and language of the Bible, the Word of God!
Monday, July 23, 2012
The Sower
"Would you like these?" a friend at church extended a small, zip-loc package to me containing something that at first looked like popcorn from a Crackerjacks box. "They're hollyhock seeds," he explained. "I don't grow them, but these blow from my neighbor's yard, and I thought I'd pick them up."
Oh! Now I could see the black seeds that had fallen from the dried flower pods. "I love hollyhocks!" I exclaimed in delight. Then I couldn't resist telling him I had read that hollyhocks used to be used as a camouflage for outhouses! The tall, colorful flowers were a screen hiding a humble necessity of yesteryear, disguising an eyesore by a pleasant view. (One variety is even known as Outhouse Hollyhocks!)
I read a little about how to plant the seeds, and I learned that, even though it is late in the season, I can plant them by September and they can establish a root system for next year and may bloom next summer. They usually don't bloom until the second season.
We had scriptures in church yesterday about the parable of the sower. Jesus used this illustration of sowing on stony ground; by the wayside; in shallow soil; and thorny ground--and reaping no harvest, to contrast to the seed sown in good ground. The good soil returned 100 fold, sixty fold and thirty fold.
Our evangelist/speaker was emphasizing the importance of the Word of God. "I was called to the hospital to see a patient who was about to pass away. Her friend said he didn't know if she was a Christian or not, so he wanted me to visit her." He went on, "I asked why he didn't think she was a Christian, and he said, 'Because she's mean!'"
On the way into the hospital, as he was hurrying carrying his Bible, a man sitting on a bench pointed and said, "Is that the Book?" Puzzled as to what he meant, the preacher said, "What?" The man answered, "The Word of God!"
Then on entering the elevator, he met two attendants pushing a gurney carrying a patient hooked up to IV fluids. "Is that the Bible?" they cried. The minister told them yes, and that he was on his way to pray for a lady who was about to die. "We believe in that Book!" they said.
Finally he arrived at the room of the "mean" lady. She had been thrashing about in pain and terror, unable to speak. "Even though you can't talk, I'm going to pray for you and lead you to Jesus," the evangelist said. He prayed for her to receive Jesus, and immediately she became peaceful and quiet. Her friend in the room, a backslidden Christian himself, saw the change in her, and wiping tears from his eyes, said he was going to start back to church.
"What would have happened if I had not had the Bible with me and the Word of God in my heart? I would not have been a witness to those people nor have kept a soul from Hell!"
The seed is the Word of God. Though it was planted late in her season of life, the woman received it in good ground, and she would bloom in Heaven in that eternal Spring.
Oh! Now I could see the black seeds that had fallen from the dried flower pods. "I love hollyhocks!" I exclaimed in delight. Then I couldn't resist telling him I had read that hollyhocks used to be used as a camouflage for outhouses! The tall, colorful flowers were a screen hiding a humble necessity of yesteryear, disguising an eyesore by a pleasant view. (One variety is even known as Outhouse Hollyhocks!)
I read a little about how to plant the seeds, and I learned that, even though it is late in the season, I can plant them by September and they can establish a root system for next year and may bloom next summer. They usually don't bloom until the second season.
We had scriptures in church yesterday about the parable of the sower. Jesus used this illustration of sowing on stony ground; by the wayside; in shallow soil; and thorny ground--and reaping no harvest, to contrast to the seed sown in good ground. The good soil returned 100 fold, sixty fold and thirty fold.
Our evangelist/speaker was emphasizing the importance of the Word of God. "I was called to the hospital to see a patient who was about to pass away. Her friend said he didn't know if she was a Christian or not, so he wanted me to visit her." He went on, "I asked why he didn't think she was a Christian, and he said, 'Because she's mean!'"
On the way into the hospital, as he was hurrying carrying his Bible, a man sitting on a bench pointed and said, "Is that the Book?" Puzzled as to what he meant, the preacher said, "What?" The man answered, "The Word of God!"
Then on entering the elevator, he met two attendants pushing a gurney carrying a patient hooked up to IV fluids. "Is that the Bible?" they cried. The minister told them yes, and that he was on his way to pray for a lady who was about to die. "We believe in that Book!" they said.
Finally he arrived at the room of the "mean" lady. She had been thrashing about in pain and terror, unable to speak. "Even though you can't talk, I'm going to pray for you and lead you to Jesus," the evangelist said. He prayed for her to receive Jesus, and immediately she became peaceful and quiet. Her friend in the room, a backslidden Christian himself, saw the change in her, and wiping tears from his eyes, said he was going to start back to church.
"What would have happened if I had not had the Bible with me and the Word of God in my heart? I would not have been a witness to those people nor have kept a soul from Hell!"
The seed is the Word of God. Though it was planted late in her season of life, the woman received it in good ground, and she would bloom in Heaven in that eternal Spring.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Perfect Fit!
"TJMaxx," I read absently on a sign as we were leaving Stillwater the other day. Then, doing a double-take, I said to Howard, "Did that say TJMaxx? I didn't know they had a store here!" Just then I spotted another sign on a building, "TJMaxx, Opening Soon." I was elated! My favorite store, now to be only half as far as the closest one in Wichita! I think I smiled all the way home!
It's funny how little things can brighten your day. Besides that, I have a new hobby! Well, not new, but expanded. I have always loved Scrabble. I even got a beautiful, deluxe set for Christmas, but the giant board doesn't come out of its box very often. Everyone is so busy. But while I was at my daughter, Julie's, house recently, she introduced me to playing it on the internet! Now I have several friends playing with me online! It's strictly at our convenience, so playing time is flexible.
There is only one problem. Many words I play are not accepted as words, even though they are in the dictionary! And many strange ones my opponents play that are not in the dictionary are accepted! Frustrating! Another drawback is that it is not easy to align the letters to attempt words as it is with a physical letter tray. But despite the drawbacks, it is very addictive (a drawback?) and fun! The high I get from making a great word makes up for the agony of defeat.
The intrigue of playing a word game (or any other game, I suppose), is that you have to work with what you have been given, then take the time to try to figure out how to use it to your best advantage. Sometimes it seems we have nothing to work with. Those letters couldn't possibly make a word. But then there is the unknown factor of what the other person will play, making available a whole new set of possibilities! Or something will pop into your head seemingly out of nowhere that makes perfect sense of the jumble of letters before you!
Just like life. We all have our limitations. (Or do we?) Yet there is something worthwhile within each of us if we just take the time to look for it, recognize it, and develop it! There is a saying that God doesn't make junk! We may not act, look, or think like any another person, but that is because we are unique. God says he knew us before we were ever born, has determined where we would live, and how long we would live and has good plans for us! (Jeremiah 29:11, Psalm 139:16, Acts 17:26.) Our unknown factor is what God will do when we make ourselves available to Him!
I can't wait for the new store to open! It opens up a whole new set of possibilities in my wardrobe!
It's funny how little things can brighten your day. Besides that, I have a new hobby! Well, not new, but expanded. I have always loved Scrabble. I even got a beautiful, deluxe set for Christmas, but the giant board doesn't come out of its box very often. Everyone is so busy. But while I was at my daughter, Julie's, house recently, she introduced me to playing it on the internet! Now I have several friends playing with me online! It's strictly at our convenience, so playing time is flexible.
There is only one problem. Many words I play are not accepted as words, even though they are in the dictionary! And many strange ones my opponents play that are not in the dictionary are accepted! Frustrating! Another drawback is that it is not easy to align the letters to attempt words as it is with a physical letter tray. But despite the drawbacks, it is very addictive (a drawback?) and fun! The high I get from making a great word makes up for the agony of defeat.
The intrigue of playing a word game (or any other game, I suppose), is that you have to work with what you have been given, then take the time to try to figure out how to use it to your best advantage. Sometimes it seems we have nothing to work with. Those letters couldn't possibly make a word. But then there is the unknown factor of what the other person will play, making available a whole new set of possibilities! Or something will pop into your head seemingly out of nowhere that makes perfect sense of the jumble of letters before you!
Just like life. We all have our limitations. (Or do we?) Yet there is something worthwhile within each of us if we just take the time to look for it, recognize it, and develop it! There is a saying that God doesn't make junk! We may not act, look, or think like any another person, but that is because we are unique. God says he knew us before we were ever born, has determined where we would live, and how long we would live and has good plans for us! (Jeremiah 29:11, Psalm 139:16, Acts 17:26.) Our unknown factor is what God will do when we make ourselves available to Him!
I can't wait for the new store to open! It opens up a whole new set of possibilities in my wardrobe!
Monday, July 16, 2012
Track Record
I was talking to my son, Trevor, on the phone the other day as he sat on his patio in Texas. Just then I heard a voice calling in the background and Trevor was responding and laughing. "That was my neighbor," he chuckled. "I told him I was talking to my mom, and he said to tell you that you raised a great son!" I heard something else, and he continued, "Now he said I am the best church member he has!" (His neighbor is also his pastor, whom we had met several times.)
What a nice thing to say! I felt a warm glow of appreciation and motherly pride in our son. It is always gratifying when others remark positively about your children, even if they are now adults! It reminded me of something I read on Facebook the other day (which happened to be a post by another son, Jamie.) He said something like, "I wonder what God hears about you in Heaven when your name is mentioned in others' prayers?"
It was thought provoking, even though he used humorous scenarios such as "Lord, please chastise so-and-so because he is such a big insensitive jerk," or "Please bless so-and-so because she was so nice to me today." Then I noticed that he had cited two scripture references, II Corinthians 9:12-14 and Genesis 18:20-21.
The first reference is when Paul was thanking God for the church at Corinth and their help in ministering to the saints there: "For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but it is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God," II Cor. 9:12.
The second scripture says, "And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; (21) I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which has come unto me; and if not, I will know."
It's a good thing I'm not in charge of judging others. I think it would be humanly impossible to be impartial. The Bible questions in Romans 14:4, "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?" In the matter of taking communion, I Corinthians 11:28 tells us to examine ourselves. Verse 31 says that if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
Trevor has been joining his wife in 5k runs recently. They have been exceeding their own personal records, much to their satisfaction. That is the best way to judge--not comparing ourselves to others, but in improving our own personal best!
What a nice thing to say! I felt a warm glow of appreciation and motherly pride in our son. It is always gratifying when others remark positively about your children, even if they are now adults! It reminded me of something I read on Facebook the other day (which happened to be a post by another son, Jamie.) He said something like, "I wonder what God hears about you in Heaven when your name is mentioned in others' prayers?"
It was thought provoking, even though he used humorous scenarios such as "Lord, please chastise so-and-so because he is such a big insensitive jerk," or "Please bless so-and-so because she was so nice to me today." Then I noticed that he had cited two scripture references, II Corinthians 9:12-14 and Genesis 18:20-21.
The first reference is when Paul was thanking God for the church at Corinth and their help in ministering to the saints there: "For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but it is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God," II Cor. 9:12.
The second scripture says, "And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; (21) I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which has come unto me; and if not, I will know."
It's a good thing I'm not in charge of judging others. I think it would be humanly impossible to be impartial. The Bible questions in Romans 14:4, "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?" In the matter of taking communion, I Corinthians 11:28 tells us to examine ourselves. Verse 31 says that if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
Trevor has been joining his wife in 5k runs recently. They have been exceeding their own personal records, much to their satisfaction. That is the best way to judge--not comparing ourselves to others, but in improving our own personal best!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Lessons from the Sewing Box
"Why don't you wear this?" I said to my husband as we were getting ready for church, holding out this blue-and-white striped seersucker jacket. It was to be around 100 degree temps today, and the cotton jacket would be cool. "Wait! What happened to the button?" I cried, seeing only the coarse, heavy thread hanging from where a large button should have been.
I had no idea where another button was, and Howard had no clue, but I searched in the pockets, and wonder of wonders, a small plastic packet held both a small sleeve button and a big front button! It must have come with the coat! I could put it on in a jiffy, I thought.
Taking a small sewing kit from the drawer, I prepared to thread the needle. This might be a time consuming problem, I realized, as I squinted at the tiny eye. I could identify with Jesus' illustration of trying to put a camel through the eye of a needle.
Then I spied a needle threader in the kit, and put the thread through it. Something was not right. How did this thing work, anyway? I would push the wire holding the thread through the eye, but the thread just fell out without going through. Then I had a flashback. Oh! You were supposed to push the collapsible, folded wire through, then put the needle into the wire opening, pull it back, and presto! the needle was threaded!
I had the button sewn on in no time. Then the thought occured to me that our lives are like the thread. We are always trying to push through our problems in our own strength, just as I was trying to push the thread through the eye of the needle. But when I put the thread into the threader, it pulled it right through. Just as when we flounder through a rough patch in life, if we place our faith in Jesus, He pulls us through!
In Matthew 19:24, Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. To the disciples' amazed question of "Who then can be saved?", He tells them, "With men this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible."
In Matthew 17:20, in teaching about having faith as a mustard seed, Jesus says, "Nothing will be impossible for you." How many times have we looked at a situation and said, "That's impossible." But Jesus says we no longer have to view it as impossible or consider it impossible! Through Him, all things are possible. We will find He was there all the time. Just like the button in Howard's coat pocket. The solution to the problem had already been provided!
I had no idea where another button was, and Howard had no clue, but I searched in the pockets, and wonder of wonders, a small plastic packet held both a small sleeve button and a big front button! It must have come with the coat! I could put it on in a jiffy, I thought.
Taking a small sewing kit from the drawer, I prepared to thread the needle. This might be a time consuming problem, I realized, as I squinted at the tiny eye. I could identify with Jesus' illustration of trying to put a camel through the eye of a needle.
Then I spied a needle threader in the kit, and put the thread through it. Something was not right. How did this thing work, anyway? I would push the wire holding the thread through the eye, but the thread just fell out without going through. Then I had a flashback. Oh! You were supposed to push the collapsible, folded wire through, then put the needle into the wire opening, pull it back, and presto! the needle was threaded!
I had the button sewn on in no time. Then the thought occured to me that our lives are like the thread. We are always trying to push through our problems in our own strength, just as I was trying to push the thread through the eye of the needle. But when I put the thread into the threader, it pulled it right through. Just as when we flounder through a rough patch in life, if we place our faith in Jesus, He pulls us through!
In Matthew 19:24, Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. To the disciples' amazed question of "Who then can be saved?", He tells them, "With men this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible."
In Matthew 17:20, in teaching about having faith as a mustard seed, Jesus says, "Nothing will be impossible for you." How many times have we looked at a situation and said, "That's impossible." But Jesus says we no longer have to view it as impossible or consider it impossible! Through Him, all things are possible. We will find He was there all the time. Just like the button in Howard's coat pocket. The solution to the problem had already been provided!
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