An Amazing ANNIVERSARY

Anniversaries have been on my mind a lot of late.

Today I’m celebrating the one-year anniversary of friendships I made during last year’s Blogging from A to Z Challenge. (Special thanks to Challenge founder ARLEE BIRD for all the fun of the annual April event!) A few days ago marked the 8-year anniversary of the day I started working at my current job. And just recently my in-laws celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.

65 years. Can you imagine?

They celebrated the day in a big way, of course. My mother-in-law brought cakes to the coffee hour after the Sunday morning service at their church that week to share the moment with the many people who love them in their congregation and to acknowledge God’s presence in their pairing. A huge bouquet of roses, lilies, and other blooms graced the main table in the fellowship hall, a surprise delivery from their children. Those family members who live in the area joined them for the day, in service and in celebration. And all week long in rainy Oregon they were drenched with love in a card shower that brought greetings from people all over the nation who knew them and wanted a chance to wish them well.

But 65 years!

Their accomplishment takes the breath away from those of us who sometimes have a hard time being in a room with the same person for more than 10 minutes at a stretch! Surely there was a lot of give and take in those years, a lot of letting go of little things and holding on tightly to the things that gave their marriage its life and vitality - their faith, their family, and their many friends.

Surely theirs is a forever love.

About the same time they were celebrating their anniversary, I began using the latest in a long string of “love” stamps from the post office. This year’s version of the “forever” stamp (one whose use is valid after purchase no matter how postage rates may have risen in the intervening time) sported a drawing of the back of an envelope that was sealed in a glob of red wax pressed in the shape of a heart.

What a fitting picture of this couple’s relationship, one that retained its value despite the changing times in the decades through which it’s traveled, each day a love letter to the other under a covenant that remained unbroken before the God who has only forever love for us - a promise written in His Word, kept in His heart, and sealed by His Blood.

“Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.” 

(Malachi 2:15)

A New Beginnng, a Fresh Start

One gift from Christmas of 1997 changed my life forever. A small journal with a soft, red cover, I remember flipping through the yet empty pages and thinking it would likely be in the same condition at the end of the coming year as it would be on January 1st.

My prayer life at that point in my existence was nothing to write home about, or to document in a journal of any sort for that matter, either. For the preceding six months I had deliberately been setting aside a half hour a day to pray and listen to what God had to say. The results were disappointing at best. Those thirty minutes were dry and boring…lifeless…and I continued the practice only because I couldn’t say I had a relationship with God if I never spent any time with Him. But it wasn’t a half hour I enjoyed in any sense of the word.

On a whim on that following New Year’s Day I opened the new journal to the first blank page and set it open on the table before me as I began to pray. Amazingly, a few short minutes into my prayer time, some thoughts occurred to me and I enjoyed the mental discussion that followed so much that I wrote it down on the pages before me.

The next day I approached my prayer time with something new in my attitude: hope that He would speak to me again. Sure enough, once more there was an amazing new line of thinking that I documented as eagerly as I had the day before. And so the trend continued, not every day, of course, but regularly enough that I began to approach my morning prayer times with anticipation rather than dread.

The results were amazing. By the end of the year the little book was filled, not just with my scribblings, but stuffed as well with notes and pictures and anything that came my way that reminded me of something God had had to say. My prayer life was in a similar state, overflowing with life and joy as a result. To this day I have no explanation for what caused the change, unless my opening the prayer journal was a signal to God that I was serious about listening for the sound of His voice.

And so on New Year’s morning this year I opened the brand new journal for the coming year. Excitedly I inhaled deeply of its freshness and flipped through the yet empty pages a few times, thanking God in advance for all the amazing things He is going to do in our lives this year, the details of which I’ll record on those blank sheets. Just as the book was a gift, so this new year is as well, and I loved those first moments in which I eagerly opened it, thanking God for all the goodness I know He’s packed into it.

As I watched the Rose Parade on TV later in the day, the theme seemed especially appropriate, based on the Dr.Seuss’ book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go. I can‘t wait to see where God takes me…and am sure I will write about it, every step of the way!

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” 

 (Jeremiah 29:13 NIV)

The Horror of Sandy Hook

For days I’ve watched the news coverage about the Sandy Hook massacre, reading story after story about those moments of fear, and wondering what was wrong with me that although I am horrified over the events and heartbroken for everyone involved, none of the stories had yet made me cry.

Something changed that for me today.

I was again reading news reports, this time about the funerals that are now taking place, and I read a quote from the mother of one of the little girls who was gunned down. She said, “It’s still not real that my little girl who was so full of life and who wants a horse so badly and who’s going to get cowgirl boots for Christmas isn’t coming home.”

That’s the one that got to me, because I know a girl…a grown-up girl…but one who is likewise so full of life and wants (another!) horse so badly and who will most likely wear her cowgirl boots on Christmas. And though she’s not my daughter in real life, she is in my heart where it counts, and I am so thankful today that I still have the chance to tell her that she makes me laugh and fills my days with joy and to wish her a Merry Christmas and a life filled with many, many more of the same.
 
There’s no greater gift we can receive this Christmas than a fresh realization of how much the people around us truly mean to us, and to still have the chance to tell them so. Sandy Hook has given us that, and it would be a further crime to let that opportunity die with those kids.

It was with joy that I wrote her a Christmas card today with that message inside. I wished her luck on getting (another!) pony for Christmas, but told her regardless of how that turned out, to wear her cowgirl boots to the table with pride.

"Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law."

(Romans 13:8 NKJV)

Believer Boot Camp

By now you’ve likely seen the picture and heard the story of New York Police Officer Lawrence DePrimo’s act of kindness to a barefoot homeless man for whom he purchased a pair of thermal socks and all-weather boots on a bitterly cold night in November. The story has touched hearts all around the globe after the photo was posted on Facebook and became an instant internet sensation.

What struck me most about the incident was that the officer said he hadn’t given a thought to spending the money on the man; he simply saw a need and met it, considering it part of his job.

Part of his job. Oh, that we would catch that, and remember that as believers we, too, are here to be a blessing, to give rather than receive, to put others’ cold feet and hungry bellies ahead of our own financial bottom line. Living generously ought likewise to be the natural outflow of our grateful hearts, a way of life that doesn’t require conscious thought but becomes as natural as breathing; we take His love in, and we give it back out, repeatedly, perpetually, endlessly, in any way we can.

Without giving it a thought. Sadly, too many of us live life the other way, so focused on keeping our own heads above water that it simply doesn’t occur to us to throw a life ring to those struggling along beside us. Stories like this one are important because they remind us of our purpose and inspire us to be living outwardly instead of thinking only of ourselves. Perhaps that’s why the Bible tells us to fix our eyes on the good things around us and to think on those things. What we see before us continually is recreated in our lives.

More recent news stories reveal that the boot beneficiary’s actions after the fact have been less than stellar, but they in no way negate the goodness of the policeman’s actions or devalue the choice that he made. Our actions stand on their merit alone and will eventually be judged accordingly.

Perhaps we’d be wise to give them some thought after all.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.”
(Philippians 4:8)

Nook, Book, Look

To add to the fun of being in Orlando for a couple of days to see my youngest boy graduate, my husband booked us rooms in an Embassy Suites Hotel, a family favorite. When the kids were little they considered this place hide-and-seek heaven, with all the rooms on the multiple floors overlooking a beautiful enclosed atrium. The glass elevators were perfect for spotting siblings hiding behind posts on various floors or dashing in-between tables and wingback chairs. For me, the attraction has always been the beauty of the place, the sound of the constantly running water, and palm trees rising out of the mass of vegetation, ever reaching for the blue sky visible through the sun roof above. The first thing I did after dropping our bags in our room was to lean over the railing and start looking for my morning nook…that special chair or bench tucked away in a corner where I could enjoy the early morning hours with my first cup of coffee of the day while my family slept them away. I found it in a long, padded bench that I’m sitting on sideways with my back against a post, facing a particularly lovely view of a little waterfall, my coffee on the ledge beside me within easy reach. Perfect!

My favorite author, John Grisham, is a prolific writer who seems to put out a new literary treasure every time we’re thinking of leaving town. True to form, Calico Joe, a baseball story this time, appeared on the store shelves just as I was starting to think about packing my bags. I quickly grabbed a copy and put it aside, the first item to later go in the suitcase. Once purchased, the cover of the vacation read of choice is never cracked until the holiday is actually underway, the anticipation a big part of the enjoyment. I love the paradox of being sucked into a good book just when most of the minutes of my day are scheduled with vacation activities and reading time is scarce. Then even the idle moments of the day are filled with delight as I use them to get a few pages farther into the story. Today I’m three-fifths of the way through the vacation and two-thirds of the way through the book, enjoying both immensely and trying to slow the passage of time any way I can.

There‘s plenty to look at while in town. We attended a showing of the projects the students have been working on in the time they’ve spent at the school. Not one to get lost in nostalgia, however, my son is focused instead on the start of the next stage of his life. It’s a time of looking ahead with great expectation and joy.

When you’re as happy at the end of a vacation as you are when it starts it could be that your joy springs not just from the trip itself but rather what you find in your heart…through a habit of spending time in a cozy nook with the best of Books, and looking For God every step of life along the way.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life”
(1 John 1:1 NKJV)

Road Trip!

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Now that my vacations are no longer so tied to school schedules, I can leave town whenever I can get the time off of work. But there’s something special about heading out in the car during the summer months that make those expeditions extra special.

Yesterday it was my husband and my two grown sons who jumped into the vehicle with me, embarking on a journey to see the youngest in the family graduate from college in Florida. An all day drive from Ohio, I had plenty of time to think about the first time I made this trip a couple of years earlier, when it was my responsibility to deposit the third child on his college’s doorstep and get him ready for the term ahead.

I remember how impacted my life was by “change” at that moment in time. My older two sons had attended local universities for much of their college careers and had simply continued to live at home to save whatever money they could. Having been blessed with an intact family for longer than most mothers could imagine, it was almost more than I could bear to have the youngest two leave the nest within two months of each other. With as willing a spirit as I could muster I prepared to settle in to a life in which I heard their voices only on the phone or through text messages, rather than hollering at me from just down the hall. I thought life would never be the same.

Yesterday as I looked out the window at the miles passing by I thought about how wrong I had been and laughed at the many things that were remarkably the same. The scenery was familiar, for one thing, certain checkpoints inspiring the same corny jokes that they did the first time down the road. The camaraderie between us that makes the members of my family my traveling companions of choice was as close as ever, as each tried to outdo the others in consideration and accommodation. And though he wasn’t with us yet as we drove south to see him, the same excitement in my youngest boy’s heart over the upcoming next stage in his life filled the thoughts and minds of all of us traveling in the car together.

The most welcome change I noted in this trip was that overwhelming fear had been replaced by incredible joy. The first time down this road anxiety had gripped me so fully that I could barely eat and struggled to fulfill the duties of the few days we had available to us to get him settled in. This time, spiritually even more than physically, I knew beyond doubt I wasn’t traveling alone, and that I could trust God to continue to lead and direct this young man as He had proven to me repeatedly that He could and would do.

The more things change in my life, the more I realize and appreciate the fact that God forever remains the same.

“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.”
(Hebrews 13:8 LITV)

An Honorable Life

I’m still A-to-Zing in  this, my writing-exercise blog. Today is the eighth of May, which means the letter-of-the-day is H. I looked up the verse-of-the-day on my phone’s Bible app, and found my subject in Romans 12:10, which instructs me to honor others above myself.

Quite simply, that means to treat one another with respect. Clearly that should be easy enough to do. We treat others as we would like to be treated, and surely all of us want people to be polite and respectful towards us; thus we should act that way towards them.

It’s one thing to be nice to people who are nice to us. But then arises the issue of those whom we deem to be unworthy of our respect. Yet the Bible doesn’t differentiate in it’s instruction, and thus, neither can we in the way we treat people. When that is difficult we need to remember that Jesus put our welfare above His own when we were not worthy of His consideration. He simply expects us to do the same.

Another version of the Scripture seems to take the instruction a step further when it says, “in honor giving preference to one another.” That’s a little more difficult.  It’s hard enough to let someone go ahead of us in line somewhere, but to consistently step back so another may go ahead of us in life goes totally against the “me first” attitude that we struggle so against in our mind and hearts.

I think sometimes of the extreme examples of this, as when someone risks his own life so another may live, as happens often in combat situations, in rescue operations of one type or another, or even spontaneously in everyday life, such as when someone jumps in front of an oncoming car or train to push someone else out of it’s path. What strikes me about actions such as these is that they are split-second decisions that spring from the heart rather than a conscious decision of the mind.

Clearly I don’t have that much love in mine.

God comforts me with the reminder that we really don’t know what we have in our hearts until we’re tested, and we might be surprised at what we find. He does give us little glimpses, however, in the many opportunities we have each day to die to self in little ways in our interactions with those He sends across our path. When those “exams” show that we’re lacking in love, at least we know where to go to get more. Jesus is the ultimate example of One who died that others may live, and the more of Him we take in, the more love and honor we’ll be able to dish out.

The honor we bestow in life, we reap in the afterlife. I think it’s a good trade.

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
(Romans 12:10 NIV, emphasis mine)