PRECIOUS

Precious in the sight of

the Lord is the death

of His saints.

Psalm 116:15

At our house, it was a REALLY big weekend...some called it Memorial Day but for my family and others among our friends and family, it was Decoration Day. My Mother had saved up tomato juice cans mostly from friends. We had some flower bushes in our yard. Mother went to the local greenhouse to purchase other flowers to make up the difference.

As a little girl, I remember going to three different cemeteries on Memorial Day. The last one we went to was where my Dad's family is buried. In fact, there on that day was also a huge dinner on the grounds after all the decorating was finished. The men had used their saw horses and planks to make the longest table ever. The women put out all of their country cooking. Coffee and sweet iced tea were both in abundance. We all ate, the adults sat around and talked while all of us kids ran around, just goofing off. We had been to three cemeteries, ate good food until we were about to pop and then returned home.

Today in most places, Memorial Day is just another day off of work. People decorate the graves of loved ones and may have family gatherings, but for me, for some reason, it it has always seemed lacking.

In one of my Bibles beside the above verse, I have names listed. At my age, there are many who have passed away but the ones I have listed are really dear saints who had an influence in my life. That list covers a lot of times and places. I've had to curtail the list though. When I look at that list, sometimes I've become teary, but most of the time, I smile.

This year is different. I can't even bring myself to add Brian's name to the list. As precious as all those folks are, it's just different now. I used to watch “old folks” put flowers on spouses graves, step back and dab their eyes with a wrinkled handkerchief. I didn't get that part of it back then, but this year is different. My precious one lies in a grave by a small town church in a mountain cemetery. It was his choices...the plot and even much of the stone/engravings. When I go to put my flowers on his grave, there may be families there doing the same thing but maybe there will be a little girl, curious about all of the goings on. That was me at one time but now it's her.

In a book I came across the neatest saying, that is designated as being from an unknown contributor. It says:

“How blessed I am to have known someone

who was so hard to say goodbye to.”

That's precious no matter how you look at it and just so very true. Take time to remember with fondness and perhaps even a big smile when someone's face comes to mind who has gone on before you. Don't forget the Jesus who always remains with us to whom we never have to say goodbye to. It's all precious...just so precious.

Thank You dear God for the memories of so many who have given to us in so many ways. Help us to be a grateful people by maintaining the faith, standards and generosity they left behind for us. In Jesus' precious name....Amen

 

AND WE KNOW

And we know that all

things work together for

good to them that love

God, to them who are the

called according to His

purpose.

Romans 8:28

My first acquaintance with the above verse was when I was in college. It was a Christian school which meant we had a few male students, walking around campus with their Bibles under arm, ready to pontificate on the Scriptures at any given moment. A favorite verse some liked to toss about was this one from Romans 8. Talk about translations ,,, there weren't that many back then, but usually those guys had own view as to how that verse was to be approached and used.

Low these many, many years to the present, I'm afraid the same thing often happens when well meaning folks wants to be an encouragement to one who is going through a negative episode in his or her life. This verse has often been misused and misunderstood.

Very often, the verse is reduced to just “now remember...all things work together for good.” The verse begins with “and we know...” that is questionable in itself because many people using the verse really don't KNOW much of anything about the verse. Most people have no idea about how things work for good in God's realm. No one knows how God does it all, but we sure are glad He works like He does.

In these past weeks, I haven't had anyone beating me over the head with this verse. I am sure that Brian's passing has certainly worked well for him. So happy for him to be breathing Heaven's air. Although dealing with bouts of loneliness, I know that the Lord is going to open up new avenues in my life for growth in Himself. I've learned how God can make something out of nothing as well as abundance from need. He loves His children and always has our best interest at heart. He continually works good on our behalf.

What an honor for we believers to have the privilege of “being called according to God's purpose” knowing He does all things well.

Thank You Father for taking such an interest in our lives. You know all of the ups and downs of our beings and You bring blessing into our lives despite it all. We love You and are so privileged to be Your children. In Jesus sweet name....Amen 

IN THE HALLWAY

I will instruct thee and teach

thee in the way which thou

shalt go: I will guide thee

with mine eye.

Psalm 32:8

Perhaps you are different from me,and I hope you are, in that I'm not very good at waiting. I don't like grocery store lines, waiting for the day of my wedding, expecting a baby that goes a full ten months or as simple as waiting for grass to grow in the mud that encircled our new house.

For some, waiting builds character. Many times for me, it has meant chewed off fingernails, restless sleep at night and wanting to eat anything that isn't nailed down.

However, there is much to be said about waiting and God's promises attached to those times of waiting. There are many listed in Scripture who were made to wait. I can't imagine sitting in a lions den for any length of time as was Daniel. Then there is Jonah, three days inside a fish...waiting in the smell and trash of his disobedience. There was a gathering of people waiting in the Jerusalem temple for the coming of the Holy Spirit. All of these and others we can read of were called on to wait. It took a faith beyond even their own understanding for God to open a door in their lives.

Has God ever called on you to wait? You may have known what you were waiting for or perhaps it was something quite vague in your eyes. Sometimes, change in our lives will cause us for a time to come in contact with a closed door. The door has no handle on the outside. It has to be opened from the inside. It is from the inside, only God can open that door. Our calling for the moment is to wait...wait in faith, knowing that God does all things well.

While we wait, what then....

UNTIL GOD OPENS THE NEXT

DOOR, PRAISE HIM IN

THE HALLWAY.

Doesn't sound logical, does it, but what better way to spend those times of waiting than to praise Jesus, the door opener, who always knows what He's doing.

Father, we are so grateful that You always know what You're doing in our lives. Give us the faith and patience we need out in the hallway. We love and praise You today. In Jesus name...Amen

“SOMETHING STINKS”

Now thanks be unto God, which always

causeth us to triumph in Christ, and

maketh manifest the savor of His

knowledge by us in every place.

For we are unto God a sweet savor of

Christ, in them that are saved, and

in them that perish.

II Corinthians 2:14,15

The human body is so full of miraculous wonders that most of them we can't even name. Most of us have learned what our seven senses are: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell and oh yes, as society would feel a further need of improvement, we have two others I didn't even know about until now....vestibulary (in short, balance) and proprioception (having to do with body movement). Now you have had your education in our physical senses for the week. For now, I am interested in only one of those senses mentioned.

Brian and I had been married only a short time when I got word that my Mother had been in a car accident. Mother only sustained a bump on her head. However, my Mother soon learned that she had something disturbing as a result of the bump...her senses of smell and taste had been affected. For a long time everything tasted like burnt coffee and she had little sense of smell. She felt terribly disabled. Eventually things came back to some normalcy.

When I was quite young, I caught on quickly that my Mother had a very strong sense of smell. She could pass a woman in church and some steps later could name the perfume the lady was wearing. She could walk into any kind of building and say immediately what it smelled like. She could smell a dirty diaper even at some distance. I've been with her when we would walk into our house together and she would say, “Something stinks” and she usually found the problem right away.

I love our verses above regarding God's expectations of us. Both verses refer to sweet smells....the sweet aroma of Christ. That's what you and I are supposed to be, for God's glory. I've been around the sweetest of Christians and am blessed and encouraged. God is glorified because of their lives lived for Him. I also have to say that I've been around some “stinkin' Christians.” They may or may not be believers but their conversations and life styles do not exude the sweet aroma of Christ.

Have you noticed how smells can rub off on you. I've been around ladies who I knew just came out of a kitchen after frying up some chicken. They reeked with that wonderful aroma of lovingly prepared food. Some ladies perfumes rub off on us. The most important scent that can rub off on us is that sweet aroma of Jesus we get when we consistently spend time with Him in His Word and in prayer. Spiritually speaking, what do we smell like to other people we meet? Do we give off a wonderful aroma just being one of God's children. I hope so. We live in a world that needs Jesus any way He can get to them and not that of a godless culture that out and out “stinks.”

Dear Father, how I enjoy the sweetness of Your presence and special touches in my life. May I be quick to express my gratitude for Your influence in my life that You desire to rub off into the lives of me and others. In Jesus' precious name...Amen 

THE LITTLE GLASS JAR

Every good gift and every perfect

gift is from above, and cometh

down from the Father of lights,

with whom is no variableness,

neither shadow of turning.

James 1:17

Through the years, I have learned that our acts of kindness don't have to be big and huge events. We often think what we do for others has no meaning unless we buy something fancy, or something that is very costly. I'm sure there is a place and time for those things, but for the most part, it's the smaller things that seem to make the bigger difference.

I recall those things our children made for us in elementary school for appropriate occasions. They were so excited to bring those things home to us. Many of those things were cards while some were items with magnets for my refrigerator. I still have a couple of Christmas decorations with children's pictures on them. I've always loved things that make memories and that warm the heart.

As adults, we are more in a position of giving rather than receiving. I find it so much fun surprising someone with a little piece of meaningful, loving...almost nothingness. There are times when we have no idea what comes of those things, especially when given in secrecy.

Since Brian's Home going, for some reason, my Tuesdays and Thursdays are tougher than the rest of the week days. In the hospital it was on a Tuesday Brian turned critical and then on Thursday morning, went to Heaven. This morning, as I write, is a Thursday, and has seemed to be off in a bit of a negative way in that I couldn't even decide what to eat for breakfast.

I decided for breakfast, to fall back on the old familiar scrambled eggs and toast. Half-heartedly, I went through the motions. I went to the refrigerator for a familiar Smoky Mountain jar of jelly. In the process of shuffling some things around in the door, there in the back was a small glass jar, the kind often used for canning. It had a brown substance in it and then it dawned on me that in recent months, our daugher-in-love, Jenna, had brought apple butter to us from a batch she had recently made. Brian didn't much care for apple butter like I do but, there it was...my personal jar of apple butter, made and then later delivered with love and now, on this Thursday morning, just as I needed an apple butter hug.

The gift wasn't costly, but helped and I knew that God had seen it all, looking down the road to this Thursday morning in my kitchen. His leading was in it all the way, whether Jenna was aware of being used by God to be an encourager or not. That's how He works, behind the scenes, but directing things all the way from the giver to the receiver. How great is that? By the way, I wonder if God likes apple butter as much as I do.

Thank You Father, for the opportunities we have to work with You in being a blessing in the lives of others. We may never know results, but You do and that's what counts. May we be alert when You prompt us to touch another life on Your behalf.. In Jesus' precious name...Amen