I love listening to my little six year old play in her bedroom. The way she transforms her room into a wonder land of unicorns, mermaids, and fairies filled with magical and mystical powers, makes my heart smile. In her own little world, these imaginary beings come alive through play.
The Lord blessed me with my best friend, Misti, for over 30 years. We met each other in the 4th grade and instantly became friends. We shared many memories together such as braces, pimples, boyfriends, weddings, and childbirth. We also experienced very difficult times together, such as teenage arguments, death of loved ones, and moving away from each other. All through these transitions our friendship stayed strong. I knew that Misti was a friend I could trust, who would listen, and always provide the encouragement I needed.
Valentine’s Day was just a week away and it was time to make cards expressing our love and appreciation to those close to us. Another fun event that we also participated in during this holiday was partnering with our local Chrisitan radio station and making Valentine cards for the children and seniors in the hospitals.
No matter who you are, where you live or what you do, you have something in common with everyone else on this planet. Tomorrow at this time, you will be one day older. No matter how you spend them—reading in bed, planting a garden or working on a cure for cancer—everyone lives life one day at a time. We can’t slow down, much less stop, time. We cannot bring back the past or reach forward into the future.
Many years ago, I was given a copy of a talk by one of my favorite Bible teachers. In it she spoke about her husband’s sudden illness and passing from an incurable cancer. This woman, a gifted teacher and writer, and her husband had long planned to get their three boys reared and on their own, then work together to expand her ministry. It was at this point that he became ill.
I was reared by two terrific parents, but shaped by two very special ladies: my mother and my aunt. They were good cooks, immaculate housekeepers, active churchwomen, popular with their friends, kind to neighbors and stylish dressers whose hair and make-up were always in place before they stepped out the door.
The healing of the man born blind in John 9 is an amazing example of how our perspective colors how we see everything else. Was it an act of healing performed with the lowliest of elements in plain view of all or was it an act of blasphemy (performed on the Sabbath, yet)? Was a man who had spent his life in darkness and poverty an irredeemable sinner who somehow deserved his fate or was his misfortune the staging ground for a work that only God could do? Does God only heal and bless the pious or does He—will He—transform the sorrow of this fallen world for His glory?
I have never heard a sermon preached on it. I’ve never taken a Bjble study built around the subject. Yet with age and experience, I am realizing that our perspective is a crucial factor in both our thoughts and our actions.
Yesterday, we marveled at Abraham’s trust and immediate obedience when God commanded him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Today, let’s study, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story.”
On the way up the mountain, Isaac asked his father about the absence of the lamb for the offering. Abraham replied, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” (Gen. 22:8).
Abraham was living a mountaintop experience. God had given him peace in his home (Hagar and Ishmael moved away).He had provided peace in the land (covenant with Abimelech regarding a well), and had fulfilled the promise of giving him an heir. But then scripture says, God tested Abraham (Genesis 22:1a).
I wrote “no” on the slip of paper, folded it up, and handed it to Mrs. Byerly. Our cheerleader sponsor asked if we wanted to compete in the upcoming season.
Tears pricked my eyes as she read the answers from the folded pieces of paper. We were going.
If you could choose a superpower, what would it be? Many of my students pick invisibility, saying it is “the ultimate” to exist without others knowing. While I smile at their answers, I remember feeling invisible on more than one occasion, and it isn’t an enjoyable feeling.
Strife and frustration describe my state of mind the year we tried to move to Lindale. We lived in Chandler. I taught in Lindale and had after school commitments in Tyler. This meant 30 minutes to work, 30 to activities, and 30 back home. My heart’s desire was for more family time in the evenings.
My daughter pulled a tangled mass of necklaces from her jewelry box. The intertwined chains resisted her attempts to untangle them. Not to be defeated, my daughter retrieved some wire cutters and began snipping some of the chains. She chose the necklaces she really wanted and cut away the ones that were less important to her. As she cut and extracted, the valued chains remained intact.
An idea - that’s how it all began.
A friend wanted to bring a little cheer into the lives of girls at a local temporary shelter. She took them to the park, played games and just had fun hanging out with them. Some of her friends joined her and a weekly Bible study began with the girls. A church class jumped on board and an activity night was added. Fast forward to today. In a few months a more permanent home for girls like these will open, providing much needed stability and love.
I am a wannabe gardener. I love all kinds of plants, flowers and trees. However, gardening doesn’t come naturally to me. I am so excited when something grows that I can’t stand the thought of cutting it back.
Yesterday, a sweet friend presented me with a lovely figurine of a little hummingbird drinking from the throat of a tiny orange trumpet flower. I was transported back to a time several years before.
I gazed at the magnificent creature before me. Huge talons, sharp, curved beak, the characteristic white head. I have seen bald eagles in the zoo but not out in the open and certainly not a few feet away.
Eme had outgrown her dance shoes. But it was just two weeks before her recital and the end of the season.
And really, Eme only needed one shoe. She has one foot larger than the other. They buy shoes to fit the larger foot. Unfortunately, the larger foot was growing quickly.
I remember getting some parenting advice as a newlywed — four years before we would have children.
We talked with a Christian family raising five kids. After praying and reading many parenting books, they decided to do church differently from their friends.
