Top Ten Christmas Gifts:
10. Boundaries. Telling a child where they can and cannot go sets a
foundation of security. "Someone cares enough about me to not want me to
get hurt, even though I'm going to grumble and whine about them being
'bossy'." They will get over the bossiness, but they won't get over the
fact that you care.
9. Questions. "Who will you be with, where will you be, and what time will
you be home?" Nothing wrong with them, and nothing like having to be
accountable to mom and dad to teach them that they must be accountable
ALL their lives and not shove things off on someone else.
8.
Bed times. Ever been to the store with a self-absorbed mother and a
whining child after 10:00 p.m. at night? Crying, whining, rubbing eyes
and blubbering--they are TIRED. Their little bodies and minds NEED rest.
A quiet dark room with a bed and covers and security surrounding them.
To hell with the latest sale. If it's not there in the morning chances
are you didn't need it to begin with.
7. Good hygiene
guidelines. I distinctly remember a little girl in the second grade that
smelled like soiled underwear and body odor. At age six, Alison was
wearing deodorant because she needed it. As long as you can find running
water and can buy a bar of soap, you can be clean. It's up to you to
teach them how.
6. Good grammar. You can be beautiful and well
dressed, but if you want to “axe” a question ‘cause you "seen" something
and are "orientated" with the neighborhood, hang it up. You sound
Walmart and your children don't need to sound like you. Read a book and
learn to speak properly.
5. Don't gossip. I grew up with a
mother that gossiped about everyone in the family, neighborhood, street,
town, county--you get the picture. Thank God for my husband that taught
me that it cheapens me to talk about others and God's not too happy
with gossips either. Don't believe me? Check it out in the Bible. It's
right there, and it's a really crappy way for adults to behave. I quit,
she hasn't. I'm happy, she's not.
4. Pay attention to your
kids. I'm willing to bet if you asked your daughter if she wanted a
trip to the toy store or an afternoon with mom pretending you're at a
spa doing nails and hair she'd opt for the latter and not the former.
Toys end up in a a heap, eventually not looked at. Memories are
treasured and taken out over a lifetime, looked over, and cherished.
3. Parent vs. Friend. I have told both my girls, "I am your parent, not
your friend. If we survive your childhood, I'm sure we will be good
friends one day." They don't want a friend. They want a parent. There is
security there, for both of you.
2. Things vs. Love. There is
no store-bought item that can say "I Love You" but you can. And mean it.
Look your kid in the eye, even if it embarrasses them, and say, "I love
you." They will never forget it.
1. Listen. You can't
gift-wrap your ear, but that is a huge gift. Just sitting down and
listening to them. Turn off the television, cell phone, stereo,
computer, everything. Just have a conversation and really LISTEN to
them. Sometimes without even coming out and saying anything they can be
asking for help, attention, direction, anything--but you don't hear it
if you don't LISTEN.
So if you're worried about what to get
your kids for Christmas, look list over. It's all free. One size fits
all. No return line. No duplication worries. And they're good 365 days
out of the year.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Fresh Start
December 6: You
all know how I love to give God the glory when He blesses us! Today we
woke up chilly and wondering what was happening with getting a new
furnace, we faced snow outside and COLD temperatures, yet we all slept
well, stayed warm, and were alive for another day! We will be getting a
brand new furnace at noon tomorrow and I do believe that God allowed
this short delay so as to bring my attention to all the goodness He can give you if you are willing to wait on Him.
A client of mine paid me this morning and I was a woman on a mission. We have a beautiful fireplace and no wood, so as I drove off to get some groceries, I called a local tree service that sells cords of wood from trees they cut down. They had no seasoned cords but was I aware that Marion County Juvenile Department had firewood for sale? I wasn't but now I am and I am here to toot a horn for Fresh Start Market and Espresso.
Located on Center Street in Salem just down a block or so from Oregon State Hospital (where One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was filmed 40+ years ago), Fresh Start is in a darling little building next door to a juvenile correctional facility. R&R Tree Service, the company I'd originally called for firewood, donates some of their wood to this business to sell either in cords or by cart. Carts are four feet long, three feet high, and a foot deep for $35; I bought two carts of wood. A young man named Jacob loaded the wood into the back of the Dodge for me. Inside Fresh Start is a little cafe/coffee shop. All the workers there are juvenile offenders that are on probation. Everything they earn working there goes to pay restitution for their crimes until it's paid in full. Jacob was SO polite, very hard working, very pleasant. I told him I was really proud of him, and that I didn't mind patronizing this business if it meant encouraging him and other juvenile offenders to stay on the straight path and not end up at the prison. I told him about Mike and that he'd worked in four max prisons and would do anything to see kids get going down the right path and leaving a life of crime. Some other business has donated Christmas trees and they range in price from $5-$40 and Jacob was only too happy to show me a few of them. The menu for the cafe is small and simple, just enough to create the basics but excellent prices and all made by the kids. This entire operation is overseen by adults. The cafe was clean, organized, and full of customers, which was nice to see. They sell seasonal produce which is either grown in their gardens or purchased from local farmers. They have a summer plant sale including large hanging baskets, as well as cedar planters, garden art, holiday gifts, and recycled wood and metal art made by the youth there. Their address is 3020 Center Street, Salem, 503.585.4956.
One of the sweetest compliments my husband has ever given me was that I'm his ideal of the Proverbs 31 woman. High praise from a man that has hated women most of his life because of his childhood and first marriage. It was such a wonderful feeling to get paid by a client and be able to go find the firewood, on my own and bring it home to warm up the house. Groceries purchased, firewood stacked (Alison--what a little trooper, helping me unload and stack in 25 degree weather. Couldn't have done it without her.) Tonight, the house is toasty, a beautiful fire going, husband showered, leg, dressed and bandaged, you'd never know the furnace is dead, it's so warm in here thanks to Him leading me to Fresh Start. His provision is always just PERFECT for what we need.
A client of mine paid me this morning and I was a woman on a mission. We have a beautiful fireplace and no wood, so as I drove off to get some groceries, I called a local tree service that sells cords of wood from trees they cut down. They had no seasoned cords but was I aware that Marion County Juvenile Department had firewood for sale? I wasn't but now I am and I am here to toot a horn for Fresh Start Market and Espresso.
Located on Center Street in Salem just down a block or so from Oregon State Hospital (where One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was filmed 40+ years ago), Fresh Start is in a darling little building next door to a juvenile correctional facility. R&R Tree Service, the company I'd originally called for firewood, donates some of their wood to this business to sell either in cords or by cart. Carts are four feet long, three feet high, and a foot deep for $35; I bought two carts of wood. A young man named Jacob loaded the wood into the back of the Dodge for me. Inside Fresh Start is a little cafe/coffee shop. All the workers there are juvenile offenders that are on probation. Everything they earn working there goes to pay restitution for their crimes until it's paid in full. Jacob was SO polite, very hard working, very pleasant. I told him I was really proud of him, and that I didn't mind patronizing this business if it meant encouraging him and other juvenile offenders to stay on the straight path and not end up at the prison. I told him about Mike and that he'd worked in four max prisons and would do anything to see kids get going down the right path and leaving a life of crime. Some other business has donated Christmas trees and they range in price from $5-$40 and Jacob was only too happy to show me a few of them. The menu for the cafe is small and simple, just enough to create the basics but excellent prices and all made by the kids. This entire operation is overseen by adults. The cafe was clean, organized, and full of customers, which was nice to see. They sell seasonal produce which is either grown in their gardens or purchased from local farmers. They have a summer plant sale including large hanging baskets, as well as cedar planters, garden art, holiday gifts, and recycled wood and metal art made by the youth there. Their address is 3020 Center Street, Salem, 503.585.4956.
One of the sweetest compliments my husband has ever given me was that I'm his ideal of the Proverbs 31 woman. High praise from a man that has hated women most of his life because of his childhood and first marriage. It was such a wonderful feeling to get paid by a client and be able to go find the firewood, on my own and bring it home to warm up the house. Groceries purchased, firewood stacked (Alison--what a little trooper, helping me unload and stack in 25 degree weather. Couldn't have done it without her.) Tonight, the house is toasty, a beautiful fire going, husband showered, leg, dressed and bandaged, you'd never know the furnace is dead, it's so warm in here thanks to Him leading me to Fresh Start. His provision is always just PERFECT for what we need.
Stupid n****r
One of my sweet co-workers experienced firsthand the beauty of the holidays and the gentle heart of the American consumer on Sunday.
He was working the register and had a really mouthy, awful young woman, about early 20's or so, and she apparently was with her mother who'd been rude to Eric before on another trip to Michaels. Mom was roaming the store while her daughter was paying for her items. This young lady was giving Eric an attitude about a part of her purchase and he apologized. She was mouthy, telling him to shut up, quit saying you're sorry you're just sounding stupid, to which he apologized AGAIN, this went on a couple of times, he's a really sweet kid and was totally blown away by her rudeness. Her mom walks up to the register and asks her daughter if she was having trouble.
"I wouldn't be but this stupid n****r is pissing me off."
Out. Loud. Eric is black. One of the SWEETEST guys you will ever meet. We get along fabulously, he's a hard worker, studying to be a nurse to work with the elderly. And he was absolutely crushed. We had a chat about this last night. I told him that there are ugly people everywhere, she was ugly before she walked in the store, you just happened to see the side that day and you can't take it personally, she probably treats everyone she encounters this way. Just look at people like that right in the eye and tell them, "Well, God bless you! He loves you, too!" They won't know how to handle it and you will totally knock them off course.
Last evening one of the girls in the floral department had to get on the speaker and kindly ask people to NOT let their children race around the store with merchandise in their hands and PLEASE do not let them lay on the floor and roll round and LICK the floor. Honest to Pete, you have to ask people to not let their kids LICK the floor. I found three carts of merchandise last night, packed to the gills and overflowing with items that people had picked up through the store and then DITCHED. I often wonder how they'd feel if we showed up at their door, helped ourselves inside, and then went room-to-room picking up their belongings in one room and leaving it in another, dumping it on the floor, tossing it in a corner--destruction is always easy when you don't have to clean it up.
If you want to see the worst of mankind, go to a store during the holidays. If you want to see the best of mankind, go to a store during the holidays. You see and hear things you never thought possible. There are some people that you just want to toss a slab of raw meat to and hope you pull back all your fingers. Then there are those, like the ragged biker and his girlfriend, that cried while telling me about their biker club president who'd died at the age of 33 from heart disease and "I looked at his face after he died and I saw the face of a man that had seen the face of Jesus when he went Home!" It blows your mind--the vastness of personalities and attitudes, the ugly and beautiful, every letter of the alphabet from A-Z that describes the human race walks through those doors.
To hurl a racial epithet at a young man that is putting himself through college and working his tail off like the rest of us is to crawl on the elevator of attitude and descend three floors below human. For every jerk that comes in the store there are 10 lovely people and I'm sure escorts would have been climbing over each other to escort her out the doors. Eric was absolutely crestfallen but I told him this won't be the last time someone looks at the color of your skin and says something horrible to you, sad as it is, but you have to pull yourself together, hold your head high, and not let their ignorance dictate how you face life.
Festering jackasses have been around since the dawn of man. Look at Cain. We have gone from a man killing his brother in a field over a fit of jealousy to black kids racing up to people and slamming them in the head so hard they pass out, or in some cases, die of their injuries, and I'm not being racist, every episode of this behavior caught on camera shows the perps to be black and the victims to be white. Just the facts, ma'am, and video doesn't lie. Does a white woman calling a black man a stupid n****r trump a black kid hitting a white woman so hard she dies of brain injuries? No. The enemy walks among us like a roaring lion looking to destroy us, whether with words or fists irregardless of color. When you walk through life with a moral ambiguity, afraid to take a stand lest you offend someone you will be a target, behavior like this will continue. If you see behavior like this, do you take a stand and call that person out? Or do you swallow yourself and walk away, knowing someone else will have to wade through the carnage of someone's feelings crushed by words or property being destroyed or people being put out by a child's behavior? I would hope I have the moral conviction if that should happen again to grab the phone, activate the store loud speaker, and inform the buying public there is an ignorant young woman at register five that has called my co-worker a racial epithet and would anyone volunteer to show this young woman the door and make it clear she is to never return again? Do you say something to a parent who's letting their child destroy public property or hinder someone walking down an aisle because the child is throwing store merchandise across the aisles or running dangerously around corners and could bump an older person and knock them over? Does this behavior stop when we stop crawling inside our safe place to hide and start standing up and saying and doing what's right? To not say anything is to endorse such behavior.
Now, what are you willing to do?
He was working the register and had a really mouthy, awful young woman, about early 20's or so, and she apparently was with her mother who'd been rude to Eric before on another trip to Michaels. Mom was roaming the store while her daughter was paying for her items. This young lady was giving Eric an attitude about a part of her purchase and he apologized. She was mouthy, telling him to shut up, quit saying you're sorry you're just sounding stupid, to which he apologized AGAIN, this went on a couple of times, he's a really sweet kid and was totally blown away by her rudeness. Her mom walks up to the register and asks her daughter if she was having trouble.
"I wouldn't be but this stupid n****r is pissing me off."
Out. Loud. Eric is black. One of the SWEETEST guys you will ever meet. We get along fabulously, he's a hard worker, studying to be a nurse to work with the elderly. And he was absolutely crushed. We had a chat about this last night. I told him that there are ugly people everywhere, she was ugly before she walked in the store, you just happened to see the side that day and you can't take it personally, she probably treats everyone she encounters this way. Just look at people like that right in the eye and tell them, "Well, God bless you! He loves you, too!" They won't know how to handle it and you will totally knock them off course.
Last evening one of the girls in the floral department had to get on the speaker and kindly ask people to NOT let their children race around the store with merchandise in their hands and PLEASE do not let them lay on the floor and roll round and LICK the floor. Honest to Pete, you have to ask people to not let their kids LICK the floor. I found three carts of merchandise last night, packed to the gills and overflowing with items that people had picked up through the store and then DITCHED. I often wonder how they'd feel if we showed up at their door, helped ourselves inside, and then went room-to-room picking up their belongings in one room and leaving it in another, dumping it on the floor, tossing it in a corner--destruction is always easy when you don't have to clean it up.
If you want to see the worst of mankind, go to a store during the holidays. If you want to see the best of mankind, go to a store during the holidays. You see and hear things you never thought possible. There are some people that you just want to toss a slab of raw meat to and hope you pull back all your fingers. Then there are those, like the ragged biker and his girlfriend, that cried while telling me about their biker club president who'd died at the age of 33 from heart disease and "I looked at his face after he died and I saw the face of a man that had seen the face of Jesus when he went Home!" It blows your mind--the vastness of personalities and attitudes, the ugly and beautiful, every letter of the alphabet from A-Z that describes the human race walks through those doors.
To hurl a racial epithet at a young man that is putting himself through college and working his tail off like the rest of us is to crawl on the elevator of attitude and descend three floors below human. For every jerk that comes in the store there are 10 lovely people and I'm sure escorts would have been climbing over each other to escort her out the doors. Eric was absolutely crestfallen but I told him this won't be the last time someone looks at the color of your skin and says something horrible to you, sad as it is, but you have to pull yourself together, hold your head high, and not let their ignorance dictate how you face life.
Festering jackasses have been around since the dawn of man. Look at Cain. We have gone from a man killing his brother in a field over a fit of jealousy to black kids racing up to people and slamming them in the head so hard they pass out, or in some cases, die of their injuries, and I'm not being racist, every episode of this behavior caught on camera shows the perps to be black and the victims to be white. Just the facts, ma'am, and video doesn't lie. Does a white woman calling a black man a stupid n****r trump a black kid hitting a white woman so hard she dies of brain injuries? No. The enemy walks among us like a roaring lion looking to destroy us, whether with words or fists irregardless of color. When you walk through life with a moral ambiguity, afraid to take a stand lest you offend someone you will be a target, behavior like this will continue. If you see behavior like this, do you take a stand and call that person out? Or do you swallow yourself and walk away, knowing someone else will have to wade through the carnage of someone's feelings crushed by words or property being destroyed or people being put out by a child's behavior? I would hope I have the moral conviction if that should happen again to grab the phone, activate the store loud speaker, and inform the buying public there is an ignorant young woman at register five that has called my co-worker a racial epithet and would anyone volunteer to show this young woman the door and make it clear she is to never return again? Do you say something to a parent who's letting their child destroy public property or hinder someone walking down an aisle because the child is throwing store merchandise across the aisles or running dangerously around corners and could bump an older person and knock them over? Does this behavior stop when we stop crawling inside our safe place to hide and start standing up and saying and doing what's right? To not say anything is to endorse such behavior.
Now, what are you willing to do?
Sunday, December 1, 2013
To be a storm in Oregon...
This weather--has Oregon weather become like Oregon residents?
"I don't know what I want to do! Do I want to rage through here and bring 100 mph winds and blow leaves and limbs everywhere? Do I want to be politically correct and blow up to an intersection and hem and haw and not insult the other winds and wait until someone motions me to blow through so I don't look like I actually WANT to blow through? Do I blow over and rain on conservatives to appease the flaming libs? Or do I want to blow over and rain on libs and make the conservatives happy? Do I want to unleash total destruction and cause the state government to spend tax payer dollars on something besides the failed Cover Oregon plan and giving illegal aliens driver permits, or do I just blow ENOUGH destruction so that all those horrible, piggish Obama haters have to leave the comfort of their homes and go rake leaves out of their neighbors yards?
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooh, what do I do? Decisions, decisions, decisions! (Much swirling around in place of hand-wringing....)
In the end I think I'll just gust up like I mean business and then act like an impotent ass and just blow a lot of stuff around. Oh, to be a storm in Oregon......."
"I don't know what I want to do! Do I want to rage through here and bring 100 mph winds and blow leaves and limbs everywhere? Do I want to be politically correct and blow up to an intersection and hem and haw and not insult the other winds and wait until someone motions me to blow through so I don't look like I actually WANT to blow through? Do I blow over and rain on conservatives to appease the flaming libs? Or do I want to blow over and rain on libs and make the conservatives happy? Do I want to unleash total destruction and cause the state government to spend tax payer dollars on something besides the failed Cover Oregon plan and giving illegal aliens driver permits, or do I just blow ENOUGH destruction so that all those horrible, piggish Obama haters have to leave the comfort of their homes and go rake leaves out of their neighbors yards?
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooh, what do I do? Decisions, decisions, decisions! (Much swirling around in place of hand-wringing....)
In the end I think I'll just gust up like I mean business and then act like an impotent ass and just blow a lot of stuff around. Oh, to be a storm in Oregon......."
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Giving Thanks
I am grateful for so much this day.
I woke to Mike in the kitchen making his famous and SO delicious stuffing. I checked a year ago and I don't believe I posted anything about Thanksgiving because Mike was busy falling down in the shower and trying to pass out from weakness just walking through the house. We were a month past the skin graft and still had so many unknowns in our lives. What a difference a year makes. Mike was so excited to be up and mobile this year and began planning his stuffing weeks ago. He's a MUCH better cook than I and I'm so thankful he makes the bulk of Thanksgiving dinner or we would be giving thanks for toilets and Tums after I get done. His stuffing is amazing and only made once a year so we can savor it, but I'm savoring so much more. Just his being alive I am savoring. We have come so far and I am grateful for healing, for God's mighty hand in our lives, transforming people that needed transforming, loving us along the way, teaching--always teaching. He is such a loving and gracious God. Our lives are a testament to that.
I'm grateful for a daughter and son-in-law, Katherine and Chad, that are growing and trying to find their way in the world, blazing their trails however they choose. Both so smart and talented and enjoying building their marriage, coming up on their second anniversary. I am so grateful for her friends that consider me a second mom and bless me with sharing their lives so I can watch them grow as they get older, delight in their victories and joys and try to comfort them in their times of tears.
I am grateful for Alison, the light God gave us that has shone brightly in some very dark years. She's literally kept us going and laughing and marveling and enjoying life through the eyes of this truly remarkable little girl. Just one more bit of proof to me that she is why He's God and I'm not because never in my life would I have dreamed up this surprise we weren't expecting. The past few years would have been so much darker and desperate without this life force we call Alison in our lives. She truly is a life force and brings life and smiles and lots of hugs everywhere she goes.
I am so grateful for the incredible abundance of friends I have. Heidi, my sister from another mister, my sister in Christ, my sister in arms. Love her so much. Amy, Gina, Nikki, Rachel, Michelle, Sherry, Liz, Tracy, Barbara Ann, Nora, Wendy Kimberly,....so many if I named them all here I'd be working through my turkey dinner. Many I have known for years, many I've never met face-to-face, but all have a special place in my life and my heart, and I am blessed to call them all my friends. Heaven is going to be BLISSFUL with my friends to spend eternity with.
I have to work today from 4-8 but I'm not upset because God always, ALWAYS brings someone through my line that either blesses me, or I'm able to bless THEM with a kind word or a praise to God. So what if businesses are open today? Capitalism is still alive and fighting to stay alive in America and if it means that they're open today, God bless America. We keep capitalism alive however we have to. That means there are people working and still able to put food on their family's table.
I am grateful for the flag that flies freely as a symbol of our freedom, and I am grateful for a Constitution that lays the foundation of our freedoms. I am grateful for the many men and women that volunteer to serve our country and die on foreign shores so we may have those freedoms set forth in the Constitution and the hearts of our founding fathers. They pay a price we cannot begin go fathom so we don't have to live a life we cannot begin to fathom. I am grateful for the people that continue to stand up and fight to keep our country free, whatever the cost, for the First Amendment that keeps those voices loud and heard. I am thankful for voices that refuse to be stilled or quieted so evil cannot completely destroy what was begun in the hearts and minds of God-fearing men that saw possibility on our shores over two centuries ago, not the rule and oppression that they fled from.
I am grateful for churches with open doors because God and men won't allow them to be shuttered. I am grateful for the Bible and the gospel that many bravely share, sometimes at the top of their lungs while standing on a box on a street corner, or quietly in a home or pulpit with the faithful gathered around. I am grateful for the men and women that literally give their lives to spread the gospel around the world putting on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6) to take Jesus to the lost and hurting in the darkest and furthest corners of the world. I am grateful for pastors that are sticking true to the word of God and not straying into gospel that tickles the itching ears of the lazy or corrupt. I am grateful for God's word that never changes or returns void to the heart that sent the words out. I am grateful for the faithful and loving that reach out to the lost and lonely to share God's love and pray for them to add their number of saved to the folds of His robe. I am grateful for PRAYER, our conduit to talk to God, our means of lifting people to him for blessing, our line of peace that allows Him to speak to our hearts. More problems and mysteries would disappear if more heads were bowed in prayer and submission than noses pointed haughtily in the air in pride and defiance.
Take the time to today to pray for someone that is enduring a rough time in their life, for love lost, for life stilled, for job taken away, for housing, for a pet that is suffering or gone, for a child that has been sick or strayed or gone Home ahead of a parent, for a marriage that has disintegrated or hit a speed bump. Give freely of your heart, your time, and if you have any spare, your dollars. If you see a Salvation Army bell ringer, buy them a cup of hot chocolate or coffee and say a prayer with them. I've done both and believe me, it sustains them. Give happily with a joyful heart and drop that dollar into the bucket with a prayer that it blesses someone in need.
Enjoy this day and take time to thank Him for what He has given you. Put down your list of "wants" and look over your list of "haves" and you will see, I'm sure, that the list of "haves" is far longer than your list of "wants" and probably much happier, too. I pray you use this day for true "thanksgiving" and take the time to thank Him from whom your blessings flow.
I woke to Mike in the kitchen making his famous and SO delicious stuffing. I checked a year ago and I don't believe I posted anything about Thanksgiving because Mike was busy falling down in the shower and trying to pass out from weakness just walking through the house. We were a month past the skin graft and still had so many unknowns in our lives. What a difference a year makes. Mike was so excited to be up and mobile this year and began planning his stuffing weeks ago. He's a MUCH better cook than I and I'm so thankful he makes the bulk of Thanksgiving dinner or we would be giving thanks for toilets and Tums after I get done. His stuffing is amazing and only made once a year so we can savor it, but I'm savoring so much more. Just his being alive I am savoring. We have come so far and I am grateful for healing, for God's mighty hand in our lives, transforming people that needed transforming, loving us along the way, teaching--always teaching. He is such a loving and gracious God. Our lives are a testament to that.
I'm grateful for a daughter and son-in-law, Katherine and Chad, that are growing and trying to find their way in the world, blazing their trails however they choose. Both so smart and talented and enjoying building their marriage, coming up on their second anniversary. I am so grateful for her friends that consider me a second mom and bless me with sharing their lives so I can watch them grow as they get older, delight in their victories and joys and try to comfort them in their times of tears.
I am grateful for Alison, the light God gave us that has shone brightly in some very dark years. She's literally kept us going and laughing and marveling and enjoying life through the eyes of this truly remarkable little girl. Just one more bit of proof to me that she is why He's God and I'm not because never in my life would I have dreamed up this surprise we weren't expecting. The past few years would have been so much darker and desperate without this life force we call Alison in our lives. She truly is a life force and brings life and smiles and lots of hugs everywhere she goes.
I am so grateful for the incredible abundance of friends I have. Heidi, my sister from another mister, my sister in Christ, my sister in arms. Love her so much. Amy, Gina, Nikki, Rachel, Michelle, Sherry, Liz, Tracy, Barbara Ann, Nora, Wendy Kimberly,....so many if I named them all here I'd be working through my turkey dinner. Many I have known for years, many I've never met face-to-face, but all have a special place in my life and my heart, and I am blessed to call them all my friends. Heaven is going to be BLISSFUL with my friends to spend eternity with.
I have to work today from 4-8 but I'm not upset because God always, ALWAYS brings someone through my line that either blesses me, or I'm able to bless THEM with a kind word or a praise to God. So what if businesses are open today? Capitalism is still alive and fighting to stay alive in America and if it means that they're open today, God bless America. We keep capitalism alive however we have to. That means there are people working and still able to put food on their family's table.
I am grateful for the flag that flies freely as a symbol of our freedom, and I am grateful for a Constitution that lays the foundation of our freedoms. I am grateful for the many men and women that volunteer to serve our country and die on foreign shores so we may have those freedoms set forth in the Constitution and the hearts of our founding fathers. They pay a price we cannot begin go fathom so we don't have to live a life we cannot begin to fathom. I am grateful for the people that continue to stand up and fight to keep our country free, whatever the cost, for the First Amendment that keeps those voices loud and heard. I am thankful for voices that refuse to be stilled or quieted so evil cannot completely destroy what was begun in the hearts and minds of God-fearing men that saw possibility on our shores over two centuries ago, not the rule and oppression that they fled from.
I am grateful for churches with open doors because God and men won't allow them to be shuttered. I am grateful for the Bible and the gospel that many bravely share, sometimes at the top of their lungs while standing on a box on a street corner, or quietly in a home or pulpit with the faithful gathered around. I am grateful for the men and women that literally give their lives to spread the gospel around the world putting on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6) to take Jesus to the lost and hurting in the darkest and furthest corners of the world. I am grateful for pastors that are sticking true to the word of God and not straying into gospel that tickles the itching ears of the lazy or corrupt. I am grateful for God's word that never changes or returns void to the heart that sent the words out. I am grateful for the faithful and loving that reach out to the lost and lonely to share God's love and pray for them to add their number of saved to the folds of His robe. I am grateful for PRAYER, our conduit to talk to God, our means of lifting people to him for blessing, our line of peace that allows Him to speak to our hearts. More problems and mysteries would disappear if more heads were bowed in prayer and submission than noses pointed haughtily in the air in pride and defiance.
Take the time to today to pray for someone that is enduring a rough time in their life, for love lost, for life stilled, for job taken away, for housing, for a pet that is suffering or gone, for a child that has been sick or strayed or gone Home ahead of a parent, for a marriage that has disintegrated or hit a speed bump. Give freely of your heart, your time, and if you have any spare, your dollars. If you see a Salvation Army bell ringer, buy them a cup of hot chocolate or coffee and say a prayer with them. I've done both and believe me, it sustains them. Give happily with a joyful heart and drop that dollar into the bucket with a prayer that it blesses someone in need.
Enjoy this day and take time to thank Him for what He has given you. Put down your list of "wants" and look over your list of "haves" and you will see, I'm sure, that the list of "haves" is far longer than your list of "wants" and probably much happier, too. I pray you use this day for true "thanksgiving" and take the time to thank Him from whom your blessings flow.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Seasons
Today I am grateful for the changing seasons.
Fall is so beautiful here, bright colored leaves, crisp air, apples and pumpkins and the smell of smoke in the air from wood stoves and fireplaces. All the seasons are so symbolic of God's love for us, he loves us so much that He not only gave us His Son, but the seasons are a moving display of His majesty and creation.
Summer is warm and active, we work hard outside and enjoy the evenings as they cool down and we can watch the beauty of the stars. Clear days watching the ocean waters come in and go out, hiking in the mountains, walking alongside cool streams, fishing, swimming, driving along beautiful country roads. It reminds me of Christ walking along the streets of Jerusalem with the disciples, the Sermon on the Mount, feeding the crowds, sailing on the sea with the disciples, touching those that needed to feel the hand of God to be healed and were forgiven of their sins. Summer to me is the fullness of life that Christ had while He walked among the people.
Fall, life is winding down, the trees are shedding the leaves that have kept us cool in breezes, cooled our homes, animals scurry to put food away for the winter, we break down our outdoor lives and put it all away, and if we're smart, we bundle up, strike a fire, and enjoy the cool nights and leaves floating around. Fall is my favorite time. It's like the world is winding down for a long nap. It's that time between putting your child to bed and when they actually go to sleep. The end of fall reminds me of Christ carrying his cross along the Via Dolorosa (Latin,"Way of Grief", "Way of Sorrows", "Way of Suffering" or simply "Painful Way"), then on up to Golgotha, the hill on which his cross was placed as he was crucified. We put the world to rest in the fall, as He prepared to spend three days in the tomb.
Winter is cold. If you live here in the Pacific Northwest, it's dark and rainy, it can be dreary, but that's why I think our falls and springs are so beautiful. We know what was, we know what is coming. In Colorado the days are bright and crisp and the cold sucks the air out of you on really cold days and then with the snap of a finger, you can have 18 inches of snow in the ground. Crystal powdery flakes that shimmer and sparkle, like God dumped millions upon millions of diamonds over everything. Winter for me reminds me of the the three days that Christ lay in the tomb, conquering death and hell and was preparing to rise again.
Spring. Bursting forth with flowers, buds on trees, cool mornings, chilly evenings, rain showers, beautiful billowing clouds and fluffy displays of afternoon sunlight after a rainstorm. April in Oregon is wonderful. The new flowers bursting up and new leaves bursting out on the limbs are symbolic to me of Christ coming out of the tomb and bringing His beauty with Him. The newness of growth is the growth of Christ in us as we celebrate His resurrection and victory over the death of winter.
God gave us the seasons to enjoy His masterful, artful hand, to savor His creation, and to see His Son and life as Christ lived. I'm SO grateful for the beautiful seasons!
Fall is so beautiful here, bright colored leaves, crisp air, apples and pumpkins and the smell of smoke in the air from wood stoves and fireplaces. All the seasons are so symbolic of God's love for us, he loves us so much that He not only gave us His Son, but the seasons are a moving display of His majesty and creation.
Summer is warm and active, we work hard outside and enjoy the evenings as they cool down and we can watch the beauty of the stars. Clear days watching the ocean waters come in and go out, hiking in the mountains, walking alongside cool streams, fishing, swimming, driving along beautiful country roads. It reminds me of Christ walking along the streets of Jerusalem with the disciples, the Sermon on the Mount, feeding the crowds, sailing on the sea with the disciples, touching those that needed to feel the hand of God to be healed and were forgiven of their sins. Summer to me is the fullness of life that Christ had while He walked among the people.
Fall, life is winding down, the trees are shedding the leaves that have kept us cool in breezes, cooled our homes, animals scurry to put food away for the winter, we break down our outdoor lives and put it all away, and if we're smart, we bundle up, strike a fire, and enjoy the cool nights and leaves floating around. Fall is my favorite time. It's like the world is winding down for a long nap. It's that time between putting your child to bed and when they actually go to sleep. The end of fall reminds me of Christ carrying his cross along the Via Dolorosa (Latin,"Way of Grief", "Way of Sorrows", "Way of Suffering" or simply "Painful Way"), then on up to Golgotha, the hill on which his cross was placed as he was crucified. We put the world to rest in the fall, as He prepared to spend three days in the tomb.
Winter is cold. If you live here in the Pacific Northwest, it's dark and rainy, it can be dreary, but that's why I think our falls and springs are so beautiful. We know what was, we know what is coming. In Colorado the days are bright and crisp and the cold sucks the air out of you on really cold days and then with the snap of a finger, you can have 18 inches of snow in the ground. Crystal powdery flakes that shimmer and sparkle, like God dumped millions upon millions of diamonds over everything. Winter for me reminds me of the the three days that Christ lay in the tomb, conquering death and hell and was preparing to rise again.
Spring. Bursting forth with flowers, buds on trees, cool mornings, chilly evenings, rain showers, beautiful billowing clouds and fluffy displays of afternoon sunlight after a rainstorm. April in Oregon is wonderful. The new flowers bursting up and new leaves bursting out on the limbs are symbolic to me of Christ coming out of the tomb and bringing His beauty with Him. The newness of growth is the growth of Christ in us as we celebrate His resurrection and victory over the death of winter.
God gave us the seasons to enjoy His masterful, artful hand, to savor His creation, and to see His Son and life as Christ lived. I'm SO grateful for the beautiful seasons!
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Control
We have a ginormous yard with lots of old trees in the back and two VERY industrious little squirrels in ot. There is a walnut tree in the back neighbor's property and branches from it cover our yard and we get to keep the walnuts that fall from it every year--unless Squirrel 1 and Squirrel 2 beat me to them. It's a race every year.
I'm sitting here at the window working on the book and out of the corner of my eye I see one of them on the patio searching. Always searching. He's always on the lookout for anything he can, pardon the pun, squirrel away for winter. Here it is early November and he's still out looking. At this point hope springs eternal.
Seeing him still searching for provision to keep the family fed I was sadly reminded of a sizable contingent of our society (and don't anyone get panties in a wad because I'm not talking about those that have been laid off or are truly hard workers) that are content to allow others to do the hard work so they can collect a welfare check or add one more child to the food stamp rolls. Even a squirrel in this country is willing to work harder for his food than some Americans. There's no one there to hand him Obamamoney or an Obamaphone or Obamacare.
But they can be trained to become THAT dependent. My great grandmother and great great grandmother lived with my dad as he was growing up and they would sit for hours on the back porch feeding the squirrels peanuts while they sewed by hand the beautiful wedding ring quilt top that I now have. The squirrels became quite tame and never missed a day when all they had to do was show up and peanuts would be tossed their way. Had these two women not been there the squirrels would have had to go out and forage for food to survive. Much like the squirrels that got spoiled by two little old women, that sizable contingent in our society showed up one day and someone began throwing bites their way. Checks. Food stamps. Anything and everything the people could toss their way to keep them coming back. The squirrels were controlled by the peanuts tossed their direction. The people kept coming back and have become controlled by the things someone tosses their direction.
When you get right down to it, control is not hard to create when you have something someone wants but becomes too lazy to go out and work for.
I'm sitting here at the window working on the book and out of the corner of my eye I see one of them on the patio searching. Always searching. He's always on the lookout for anything he can, pardon the pun, squirrel away for winter. Here it is early November and he's still out looking. At this point hope springs eternal.
Seeing him still searching for provision to keep the family fed I was sadly reminded of a sizable contingent of our society (and don't anyone get panties in a wad because I'm not talking about those that have been laid off or are truly hard workers) that are content to allow others to do the hard work so they can collect a welfare check or add one more child to the food stamp rolls. Even a squirrel in this country is willing to work harder for his food than some Americans. There's no one there to hand him Obamamoney or an Obamaphone or Obamacare.
But they can be trained to become THAT dependent. My great grandmother and great great grandmother lived with my dad as he was growing up and they would sit for hours on the back porch feeding the squirrels peanuts while they sewed by hand the beautiful wedding ring quilt top that I now have. The squirrels became quite tame and never missed a day when all they had to do was show up and peanuts would be tossed their way. Had these two women not been there the squirrels would have had to go out and forage for food to survive. Much like the squirrels that got spoiled by two little old women, that sizable contingent in our society showed up one day and someone began throwing bites their way. Checks. Food stamps. Anything and everything the people could toss their way to keep them coming back. The squirrels were controlled by the peanuts tossed their direction. The people kept coming back and have become controlled by the things someone tosses their direction.
When you get right down to it, control is not hard to create when you have something someone wants but becomes too lazy to go out and work for.
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