More Mothers Day Thoughts From My Sister

My sister, Holly, has her own blog and wrote a follow up piece to my blog post from yesterday.  Since I haven't introduced you to her blog yet, I thought now would be the perfect time!  Holly's follow up to "Mommy Badges" To All the Moms Out There

Enjoy!

Mommy Badges

Me and some of my children who helped make this blog post possible!

This Sunday is Mothers Day.  There will be many wonderful and moving tributes written in honor of mothers.  This is not one of them!  I’ll leave the “waxing eloquent” to others.  No, I write this piece for all of the mothers out there who will read this with wise eyes, a sense of humor and know exactly what I’m talking about!  I write this for new mothers who feel that they have lost their minds and gotten in way over their heads!  Fear not young mothers!  Take heart!  These things that you are experiencing are not lapses into insanity or flukes of nature.  No, darling young mothers, you have simply begun the process of earning your numerous Mommy Badges!  Read on and allow me to introduce you to some of the various badges that you have just begun to earn!  This list is not all inclusive, there are many ways to earn various Mommy Badges.  Just know that you are made of sturdy stuff and yes, this too shall pass, and you will be all the better for having gone through it!

1)  The first one that you are likely to encounter is the “lack of sleep yet still need to function” badge.  This really kicks in about the same time that your child starts teething, although it can also happen before.  You discover that you suddenly have a knack for multi-tasking, such as folding laundry one handed while rocking the baby.  You also discover that you have done certain things and don’t actually remember doing them.  Along with this you may experience “don’t know what day it is let alone time of day” unless you actually look at a calendar or a clock and even then it may not actually register.  Basically, you could care less what day it is!  Your great triumph is the fact that you remembered to brush your teeth.  Congratulations, you have just earned your first Mommy Badge!

2)  The next badge that you are likely to encounter is the “spit up stain on every outfit” badge.  This occurs because you have earned the “lack of sleep” badge and you have forgotten to take off your “good outfit”.  Or, this occurs when you are out of the house for a special occasion such as a family reunion or a church service.  Somehow, in some way the spit up rags did not make it into the diaper bag.  Your darling little angel deposits some lunch upon your shoulder which you then try to clean off as best you can.  Eventually, every outfit you own has some sort of stain and the task then becomes to pick the one that is the least stained.  Yes, darling young mother, this does happen and you will have earned this second badge.   Wear it proud, sister soldier!  Wear it proud!

3)  Closely related to the previous badge is the “nothing can disgust you now” badge.  This occurs around the time that your precious darling starts on solid food.  At first, you think that you can not possibly toughen up and tolerate this, but eventually you develop a supernatural immunity to smell and begin ranking such odors on a rating scale.  You will know that you have fully earned this badge when you start using phrases such as “whew!  That’s a good one!”   This ability will come in handy for a badge that I will mention further down the list.

4)  This next one occurs about the time your child becomes mobile.  It is the coveted “I thought I baby-proofed everything” badge.  As a good responsible parent you have diligently followed all of the advice in the expert baby books, however, your child is turning into Houdini!  Completion of this badge occurs when you have to take your child to the doctor in order to get assistance in removing the object that your child managed to stuff up his or her nose!

5)  Number five follows closely on the heels of number four.  It is the “it’s too quiet” badge.  As a mother, you will soon learn the difference between blissful peace and quiet and the “it’s too quiet, what is my child up to?”  type of quiet that comes with earning this badge.  Usually, the result of this type of quiet is new artwork on the wall using the latest tube of lipstick you bought (but don‘t remember buying-refer back to badge one on the list), or the new haircut that has occurred with the childproof scissors!  Take pictures because this will provide you with a wonderful story to share with your future son or daughter in law in the years to come, particularly after your son or daughter has children of their own!

6)  Next on the list is the “child translator” badge.  This occurs around the time that your child starts speaking.  You can understand his or her conversation perfectly.  Other adults are not so adept and you suddenly find yourself having to “translate” for Great Aunt Mimi so she can understand the conversation that your child is trying to carry on with her.  Congratulations!  You have become multi-lingual!

7)  You’ve mastered the art of parenting!  You have chosen to have another child.  You have thrown out the expert baby books and have adopted the three second rule for items dropped on the floor.  The next badge on the list is the “3:00 in the morning laundry run” which occurs when you have two children ill at the same time, vomiting in stereo.  This is the moment when you appreciate having earned the first and third badges on the list!

8)  Next is the “I can spell” badge.  This occurs around the time that your children clearly understand what you are saying, so you and your spouse resort to conversations where you have to spell a lot of words, in order to maintain a level of sanity and secrecy.  This type of conversation is used quite frequently around Christmas and birthdays but eventually drifts into everyday conversations.  You will know that you have earned this badge when you hear yourself having a conversation such as “how about we g-o to the p-a-r-k?” or, “did you H-I-D-E the p-r-e-s-e-n-t-s like I told you to?”  Eventually this manner of conversation becomes ineffective so think ahead and develop code words for various items!

9)  Number 9 on the list is the “rule of 3” badge.  You discover that you can not say something just once.  You must say it three times with increasing volume and insistence.  In the younger years it starts out as “let it go” “Let it Go” ‘LET IT GO”.  Later in life, when your child receives his or her newly minted learners permit, you will find yourself in the passenger seat of the family car saying phrases such as “slow down” “Slow Down” “SLOW DOWN” and “brake” “Brake” “BRAKE” or “turn” “Turn” “TURN NOW” all while having to grab hold of the steering wheel from the passenger side of the car in order to avoid running into a tree.  Although this badge is earned in your child’s formative years, it will keep you in good stead as they venture ever closer to adulthood!

10)  When you achieve number 10 on the list, you know that you have arrived in the world of parenting!  Number 10 is the one that you least covet, yet is the one that you will most appreciate with a wry sense of irony!  It is the “I am channeling my parents” badge!  Remember all the things that you swore you would never say to your children?  This badge creeps up on you unawares.  One day, out of nowhere, words will utter forth out of your mouth and you suddenly stop and think “oh my word, I sound just like my mother!”  Now you understand!  Now you truly appreciate what it means to be a parent!  Congratulations!  You have now come full circle!  You have earned the ultimate Mommy Badge!

Happy Mother’s Day!  Enjoy your day-you’ve earned it!

An Ounce of Prevention

According to my husband, I am a big sigher.  Apparently I sigh a lot and when I do, I sigh with meaning.  Happy contented sighs.  Or, the “loaded sigh”-they apparently show signs of frustration, discontent and general disapproval.  I am capable of communicating quite a bit of information in the simple act of sighing.  After 12 years of marriage my husband has become an expert sigh reader!

I thought about this as I read Jeremiah 25:3-4.  He starts off by saying “For twenty-three years…”  I wonder if he started off with a loaded sigh before the words ever left his mouth.?  Also, in my head I hear him saying these words in the old Vermonter accent (which is very different from Boston by the way).  It gives his words a sense of wry irony, glum humor and utter disgust that he’s having to tell them the same thing yet AGAIN!  He goes on:

“the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.  And though the Lord persistently sent you all his servants the prophets, you have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear…”

It’s a serious message that he’s giving them-turn from your ways so the Lord doesn’t have to punish you.  I can see in my minds eye the members of the royal court, rolling their eyes thinking “here we go again!  The crackpot is back!”  On the other side I can picture Jeremiah thinking “here we go again!  How many times do I have to tell you the same thing???”  I’m thinking that Jeremiah and the other Prophets did a lot of sighing over the years!

Same thing happens today, doesn’t it?  Your children are proposing to do something that you know is going to end in disaster and you try to reason with them and they look at you as if you have suddenly grown three heads!  “Don’t worry” they say “it’s all under control!”  Then, they are stunned when things don’t work out and you, as the parent, are stunned as to why they couldn’t see the obvious!  And you have to hold back the urge to say “I told you so!”  (In all honesty, sometimes we parents don’t hold back on the “I told you so” response but we do try to be diplomatic.)  Our hope is that they learned a valuable lesson from the experience, but there is frustration with the fact that they had to learn the lesson the hard way!

Life is like that.  Sometimes we listen to wise counsel and avert disaster.  Other times, we plunge head long into doing the same things expecting a different result and all we end up with is disaster and frustration on the other end.  The lesson from Jeremiah should be a reminder to all of us!  Whether it is family or friends or church, sometimes we need to stop and truly listen to what another person is saying.  It is too easy to dismiss the words of others, particularly if they do not line up with the scenario that we have hatched in our head!  Granted, there are individuals in the world who criticize anything and everything-they are usually pretty easy to spot.  They are the ones who, on a sunny day, will tell you that it’s only temporary cause clouds will soon be on the way.  Their message is neither helpful nor hopeful, so take what they have to say with a grain of salt.  The people you need to heed are the folks who have your best interest at heart.  They are not out to hurt you and you need to recognize that fact!  God doesn’t always send “whoa wait” messages in flashy symbols, generally he sends the message through people.  If the person is someone who truly cares about you and only wants the best for you then it is important to pause and listen to what they have to say.  Then take it to the Lord and ask for discernment.  Are their words spoken because they are afraid that you will get hurt?  Or, are the words spoken because they are trying to help you avert disaster?  There are points in life when a critic can be your very best friend if you listen carefully and wisely to their words.

The lesson for today is listen now so you don’t have to listen to someone say “I told you so” later on!  Or as the old sage saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Guess Who Is Still In Charge?

Once upon a time….

In a parallel universe far far away, there existed a planet, that the inhabitants called Earth.  On the planet, were many continents.  On each continent were many countries.  And in many countries there were states and provinces and parishes.  In each place, there were many churches and denominations.  

Then, one day, there appeared in the sky, ships that came from very far away, that carried beings that were alien to the humans that lived on earth.  The aliens were very advanced and capable of wiping out the human race.  However, they were clear, that they had no desire to invade or conquer, but they did have one request.  The leaders of earth were so overjoyed that they gladly agreed to the one request.  The aliens wanted to perform an experiment-one designated area of the world would have to give up the trappings of  their designated denomination.  They wanted to see what would happen and how individuals would react if their denomination suddenly ceased to exist.  So it was decided, that the only fair way to do this was by lottery.   The permanently inhabited continents were placed in a basket and North America was picked.   The countries of North America were placed in a basket, and the United States was picked.  Then the fifty states of the country were placed in a basket and Missouri was picked.  Then all of the various denominations in the state were placed in a basket and Methodist was picked.  On that day, at that time, the United Methodist Church was no longer allowed to exist in that state.  All the churches were closed, the assets sold, and there was no longer an official Methodist presence in the state of Missouri.

At first there was sadness and anger and grief.  Some simply chose to give up.  Some chose to go to other denominations.  But some realized that this might not be such a bad thing.  They could still see their friends and get together with them.  They could still converse on the phone or via the internet using Facebook and Twitter.  They could still gather together-in individual homes, or parks or various other gathering places.  They could still pray for and with each other, they could still sing songs of praise.  They could still study the Bible together and compare thoughts and notes.  They could still teach their children about God and Jesus and the Methodist traditions.  They could still work on projects in the community together.  They could still share their faith and beliefs with others.

 So, small groups of friends started to gather together in their local towns and communities.  They invited their friends, who invited their friends, who in turn invited their friends.  They began to network with friends in other communities and they would gather together at various times as one large group to sing, study, share stories of hope, pray and encourage each other.  The various community groups would work together on big projects, such as building homes or to raise money to send to the churches in other areas around the world to support their efforts.  The only thing these groups could not do was participate in the official United Methodist hierarchy.  There could be no Ministers, Superintendents or Bishops.  They could not have any designated church buildings.  They could not participate in any Methodist designated meetings such as Annual Conference or General Conference.

To the astonishment of the aliens, their faith did not cease to exist!  Rather, their faith grew and became even more effective in changing the lives of others around them!  The aliens discovered what many lifelong Methodists had known for years!  The church is not a building or steeple or resting place.  The church is the people!  The Methodists even had a song that said these very words in their hymnal!  The song, written by Richard K. Avery and Donald S. Marsh was called  “We Are The Church”  and that song had been sung for many years in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and even in the church buildings themselves.  The “trappings and fixings” of the church may have been taken away, but the faith, the “church universal” carried on!

God in His wonderful love and wisdom proved, once again, that He is still large and in charge!

The End.  For now….

The More Things Change

For those of you who long for the “good-ole-days” allow me to share a little dose of reality with you.  Awhile back, I went to the library and borrowed a copy of E.B. White’s collection of essays called One Man’s Meat.  For those of you who are saying to yourself “the name sounds familiar,” E.B. White is best known as the author of Charlotte’s Web.  He also wrote for the New Yorker magazine for many years.  The essays were written just prior to the start of World War II and they were published in book form in 1942.  Mr. White chronicles the journey of his move to a farmstead in Maine and what life was like, with some observations about the world at large, thrown in for good measure.  Reading through the book, I am reminded, once again, of the old saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

In an essay titled “Sabbath Morn,” written in February, 1939, Mr. White made the following observations:

“In this house we cling to a few relics of religious observance, but there is no heart in it.  If we possess faith (and I guess we do) it is of a secret and unconsecrated sort ill at ease in church….The church sometimes seems painfully unimaginative in its attempt to perpetuate a faith which has been gutted by so many fires.  Whether or not people are essentially less religious than they used to be, I don’t know, but it is obvious that something has happened….I go to church once in a while and sing the hymns very loud; it clears the blood, and I love the gush of holiness when the old bone-shaking anthems ripple up and down my spine and crackle in my larynx.  But for the most part, religion is tucked away in a bottom drawer among things we love but never use.  In two generations there has been a great falling off.  When I was a child, I could feel heaven slipping…By the standards of a hundred years ago, my family to-day is a group of misguided agnostics, seeking after an illusive beauty and fumbling for grace…”

What a familiar tale, I think to myself!  How similar and relevant are Mr. White’s words today?!  The great angst that we possess as the United Methodist Church over decline in attendance is the same thing that was going on back in “the good old days” that we fondly talk about.  The rosy days of “back yonder” were not quite as rosy as we would like to believe.  The reality, the truth of the matter is this-we struggle with the same issues that previous generations struggled with.  That doesn’t mean that we choose to just accept this as a fact of life, we can choose to try to change the outcome.  But if we intend to change, we had better make sure that we have thought things through carefully.  “Change for change sake” is not true change at all.  Learning from the past, taking off the rose colored glasses and seeing things as they really were, rather than how we imagine-that is the lens that we need to use when we decide what to change and how we go about changing things!  Until we can do that, until we can accept the fact that there is nothing new under the sun, all of our best laid plans will be nothing more than just another plan.

Let’s be honest with ourselves and recognize the fact that the more things change-the more they stay the same, if we choose to ignore the truth of the past.  We will not change the course if we do not learn the lessons of yesterday.  In my humble opinion, this is indeed a valuable and timely lesson in light of General Conference.  A voice from the past holds an important reminder, to us all, for today!

Joyous Days

Oh my darling readers, where to begin?!  These are the days that the Lord has made.  I will rejoice, and be glad!  Here it is, the last day of January, and I am busily doing laundry to hang out on the clothes line.  The smell of laundry fresh in from the line is utter bliss, in my opinion!  The weather over the last few days has been gorgeous here in Missouri!  Yesterday, we tied a record high that has been in place since the late 1800's!  I bravely decided to start some seeds for an early spring garden, my optimism running high.  Yesterday afternoon, after finishing up schoolwork, the children and I went outside for a raucous game of red light, green light and their favorite-Captain Midnight!  We took turns launching their Nerf Rocket into the blue sky (Kenny was home in time to join in on that fun) and Elizabeth and I took a walk in the woods on our property!  The birds have been happily cavorting around the bird feeders on the front porch.  The dogs have been joyously frolicking around the yard as though they had discovered childhood all over again!  These are the days when the soul and body sing joyously with creation, enveloped by the beauty that it has to offer. It has been a fabulous stretch of days!

The mail brought a pleasant surprise as well!  On Friday night, I had ordered a used copy of Leslie Weatherhead's book "A Private House of Prayer" and it came in the mail yesterday afternoon!  The book is even more amazing than the excerpt that I posted the other day from the book!  I'll be writing more about the book later on, but for now, allow me to highly recommend that you get your hands on a copy of the book, if at all possible!  It is a GEM!  I can not believe that Abingdon let the book go out of print years ago!

Sunday brought some wonderful surprises as well.  My friend Diana (who also happens to be our church secretary) mentioned that there were some old books in the basement that were up for grabs, so I went down to take a look, after Sunday School.  It was like finding the pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow!  I walked out of there with as many books as I could possibly carry.  I didn't even get through half of the collection that was down there!  One of the books is "The Other Side of Silence-A Guide to Christian Meditation" by Morton T. Kelsey and it has been a wonderful read so far.  I've already made it to chapter 4 and just in those few chapters, I have found some gems of insight worth writing about.  I also found a collection of Great Devotional Classics that Upper Room Ministries put together back in the 60's and although I haven't had a chance to read through them all, I have already found a gem to write about there, as well!  Add to that my daily Bible reading, which has produced some new insights and "ah-ha" moments, and I have about a months worth of blog posts floating around in my head!

Prayers, meditation, mystics, insights and joyous ordinary moments-it has been a splendid few days!  It's like somebody turned the tap from a trickle to a full blown gush!  I am breathless trying to keep up, and enjoying every minute!

Stay tuned, darling readers.  May you have a joyous day!

Snow Day!

To every day, there is a season.  Yesterday, here in Missouri, it was like an early spring day and the kids were outside in light jackets and sneakers swinging on the swings.  What a difference 24 hours can make!

Today, the season is most definitely WINTER!  We haven't gotten a lot of snow but what we did get was enough to cause accidents and road closures all around the St. Louis area!  Schools canceled, and some folks trying to get in to work, literally turned around and headed back home!  There is a lot of black ice on the roads around the area so most folks have hunkered down at home.  The wind is howling and the birds are having a blast trying to land on the bird feeder just outside my front window!  The actual temperature outside is like 8 degrees, but factor in the windchill and it is about 0!  Just a tad bit of a shock to go from almost 60 to this!  Invigorating?  You betcha!

Elizabeth and I decided to brave the cold and head outside to check on the living lawn ornament (also called Jake the Great horse).  We gave him extra grain and made sure the water heater was on.  Then Elizabeth decided she just had to try sledding down our hilly yard.  Even with the grass sticking up through the snow, it is slick enough that she made quite a few successful runs!  Victory!  She came back in to the house smiling and rosy cheeked!

I just want to feel my toes again!

Oh and the forecast for the weekend?  Highs back up in the 50's.  Welcome to Missouri.  The seasons are suffering from identity crisis!  Hee hee hee!

Situation Normal! Not Exactly as Planned

Ever have one of those days when things don’t go exactly as planned?  I managed to get a minor infection last week and grudgingly went to the doctor for a prescription.  (Side note here:  I like doctors personally, I don’t care for being a human pin cushion or test subject, which is what happens prior to being diagnosed with a chronic illness.)  I dutifully took the prescribed medicine and started to feel worse for the next couple of days.  Tuesday, I was finally starting to feel better and ready to be in touch with the outside world again!

Well, my wireless provider had other plans.  The internet would not work.  Not unusual for that to happen some of the time but this went on for hours.  So I tried sending a text message to my husband (which always works.)  No dice, sending failure.  So I tried calling.  He and I managed to have conversations twice yesterday, one of which was cut off in the middle by a loud beeping sound!  It wasn’t until 7:20 last night that the company issued a statement to the media that the system had been experiencing “technical difficulties” but that they had repaired the problem!  This had been going on since some time on Monday and they couldn’t issue a statement until Tuesday night????  Are you kidding me????

So things did not go exactly as planned yesterday (or the last few days for that matter) and I had to change things around a bit!  In other words that is situation normal at my house!  The best laid plans needed a little tweaking!

I was reminded of the fact that this sort of thing happens to everyone.  I was reading, again, in Joshua and he had some unexpected things that he had to deal with, as well.  In chapter 6 it looks like everything is going exactly as planned.  The Israelites march around Jericho seven times and then the trumpet blows and the walls fall down and they take the city.  Rahab and her family are taken out safely, the plunder is taken for the treasury of the Lord and the city is reduced to rubble.  So far, so good.  Then we get to Ai.

In chapter 7, Joshua sends out spies again.  They come back and say it will be no problem to take Ai and they will only need a couple thousand men.  The fighting men go up and then the Israelites have to turn back because they are getting routed!  Wait!  That wasn’t the plan!  And that’s the point where Joshua finds out from God that Achan took some of the gold and silver meant for the Lord’s treasury, which means Israel broke the covenant.  So Israel repents and regroups and tries again and the next round is successful.  So successful, that other kings and tribes in the area start paying very close attention.  Some of the kings decide to band together to fight Israel.  But one group, the Gibeonites, decide that they are going to try to save themselves.  They decided to trick Israel into making a treaty of peace with them.  So, they found the rattiest clothes, the oldest patched wine skins,  and the moldiest food and then loaded up donkeys and headed toward the Israel encampment.  It is an interesting exchange in chapter 9 between the Gibeonites and the Israelites at first Joshua is suspicious but in the end they made a treaty with them.  Verse 14 says:

“So the leaders partook of their provisions and did not ask direction from the Lord.”

Three days later, they discover that the Gibeonites live in the land that they are about to conquer and that puts them in a dilemma.  If they kill them, they break their oath.  If they spare them, they break a commandment.   This is not going exactly as planned!

In the end, they do spare them but they put them to work as “hewers of wood and drawers of water” and the Lord does not condemn Israel but continues to lead them.  Here’s an interesting point, not to be missed.  In the notes for the Wesley Study Bible it refers us back to the covenant renewal ceremony that Moses led in Deuteronomy.  Here is what it says in Deuteronomy 29 verse 11:

“…and the aliens who are in your camp, both those who cut your wood and those who draw your water-”

The moral of the story?  Joshua may not have anticipated this dilemma.  It may not have been part of his plan, but it was a part of God’s plan!  Huh!  Didn’t see that coming!

There is a lesson in this for all of us, a gentle reminder.  Our plans are not always God’s plans and sometimes a change of plan is just what is needed to get back on track.  I discovered that particular lesson first hand, yesterday.  Without the phone or the internet I managed to catch up on some reading and I took a long walk in the woods with the children and got reacquainted with nature.  And as much as I want to think that I can go at top speed, truth is, I’m not 100 percent recovered.  I still need a little more rest.  So yesterday was a productive day, it was just at a slower pace.  It turned out to be a pretty good day!  It just didn’t go exactly as I planned but I think it went as God planned!  Situation normal, once again!

Go-Carts in Heaven and Goulash too!

Last night our church held a “Blue Christmas” service.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a Blue Christmas service is, it is designed to be a special service for individuals who may find celebrating Christmas difficult due to a loss of a family member or perhaps they are just struggling with various issues in their personal lives.  I was the liturgist for the service.  The attendance was intimate, but it was a beautiful service and Jeff preached one of his best sermons, in my opinion.  It was something worth doing regardless of how many people showed up for the service.  Great things can come out of small beginnings!  And it isn’t about the numbers, it is about the meaning!

Like I said, Jeff had asked me to be the liturgist for the service, which I agreed to do, even though I knew it was going to be hard for me to be a participant.  This is the first Christmas without dad for me.  Add to that, the fact that the children just got word recently that their Omi had died.  Omi is my ex husband’s mother and Monica and Robert’s grandmother.  Wally, as she was called, was larger than life!  She was a very strong, opinionated German woman with a huge heart to match!  I have a soft spot in my heart for her, even after all these years and although the news was not unexpected, it was still hard to hear.  So needless to say, it’s been a tough year and Christmas will be celebrated in our house with a ting of sadness.

So short little me stood up behind the podium, with my head barely poking out over the top, and led the responsive readings and read the scripture.  My friends, Jill and Gail were in attendance and I had to make sure that I didn’t look at them because I knew if I did I would start crying with them.  Both of them had a similar loss this year.  I lost my father, they lost their mothers.  This service had special meaning to all three of us!

After the service was over, we exchanged hugs and conversation with each other and with Jeff’s wife, Patti.  As we were talking, I mentioned the fact that I had had a thought earlier in the day where I wondered what dad was up to up in heaven.  Patti said that she could see her mom and Gail’s mom chatting and exchanging recipes.  I thought of Wally and I could see her being in on such a conversation.  It reminded me of spending Christmas Eve at her house when she made her special Hungarian Goulash.  And I could see her saying in her German accent “you can’t use American Paprika because it’s no good!  German Paprika, it’s better!“  Wally’s Hungarian Goulash was the best!  I’m not sure what exactly was in it-I can tell you that it was a meat dish in a spicy gravy and she always served it with potato balls and egg noodles.  It was even better the next day because it had more time to meld the flavors.  And I guarantee you, if you had clogged sinuses-by the time you were done eating the goulash, you no  longer had that problem because it cleared out your nose and made your eyes water-in a good way!  I wish I had gotten the recipe from her but hindsight is 20/20 and I doubt I will ever have the chance to experience Hungarian Goulash again.  It is a treasured memory for me.

During the conversation and my walk down memory lane, I  suddenly had a  flash of dad riding around on a Go-cart.  Green grass, blue sky all around and there he was with a big grin on his face!  Years ago, dad had built a go-cart for the boys out of tubing and metal and he had put a lawn mower engine on the back.  Someone, I’m guessing mom, snapped a picture of my dad as he took it for a test drive spin in our yard.  There was this big adult man, on this little piece of metal, with the wind blowing through his hair and a little boy grin.  It is one of my absolute favorite pictures of dad!  For just a moment, that little boy that lived inside of him escaped from his big boy frame and he was having the time of his life riding that thing around the yard!  That image is what flashed in my mind as I wondered about what dad was doing in heaven and it delighted me to no end!  I could very easily see my dad doing just such a thing, riding a Go-cart, doing laps on the streets of gold and having the time of his life!

I felt very peaceful afterwards.  It was like dad was saying to me “I know you miss me but I’m okay.  And look, honey, there are Go-carts in heaven!  Isn’t that great?!”

Go-carts in heaven, how cool is that?  I miss you dad, but I’m glad you’re having fun!  Save a ride for me!  And ask Wally if she’d make some Hungarian Goulash when I get there, please.  And I’ll do my best to muddle on down here.  Merry Christmas Daddy!  I love you and I miss but I am so glad that you’re okay!

Lord, Give me Strength to be Gracious!

Has anyone else had to deal with this issue?  I say "the sky is blue."  The next person points out to me that actually, there are shades of gray.  In other words, no matter what I say, it is never right and the other person must go out of their way to correct my "error".  I can say something positive, and they will do their very best to tear it apart.  And it takes every fiber in my being to bite my tongue!  Is it really that hard to just say it's going to be a nice day?  Would it be the end of the world if, just for once, instead of saying something negative, something positive comes out of your mouth?

Logically, I know that the second greatest command is "love your neighbor as yourself", which means being gracious.  I'm having a hard time with that one as of late!  Wanting to reply back in a snarky manner is overwhelming!  I want to ask "do you engage your brain before you open your mouth or do you just like hearing yourself talk?"  I think it, I oh so desperately want to say it, but I don't, because in the whole scheme of things I know that it's not nice and it won't help further the conversation!

Needless to say, my prayer as of late is "Lord, give me the strength to be gracious" because right now I am feeling anything but gracious!  I'm feeling cranky!  Forgive me Lord, but it's true!  The favored definition of insanity these days is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  That's what is going on, and I see it!  Do you confront that reality head on or do you try to be gracious and gently turn the direction?  Personally, I favor the gentle approach.  It doesn't seem to be working!

Forgive me my crankiness Lord and give me strength, patience and wisdom to be gracious even on days like this!  It's a beautiful day!  The sky is blue, the leaves are turning, the breeze is gentle!  I will rejoice and be glad!  I'll acknowledge the gray and say "yup, it's a bit hazy!"   Mama said some days would be like this, I just didn't realize that there would be so many in a row!  Lord oh Lord, give me strength!

I'd Like a Little Cheese to go With my WHINE!

Darling readers, pray for little ole me cause I'm a wretched miserable mess!  Fall, one of the most beautiful glorious times of the year in Missouri is a wretched time for me until a hard frost hits!  Fall allergies-bane of my existence!  I sneeze-my head feels like it's going to explode.  I sniffle, snort and blow my nose-my head feels like it's going to explode.  Even my ears itch!  Allergy meds you say?  Well, that's complicated.  You see, I live in an area where there is an active methamphetamine producing culture, so in order to try and stop the production of meth, the county passed a law whereby you must have a prescription-which means a visit to the doctor-which means I have to have a car and a co-pay.  We're down to one vehicle (mine) and since my husband going to work in order to have money to, oh I don't know, pay the bills is rather important...you get the picture.  Pass the cheese please.  There you have it, my sad little whine.

Oh if only someone could lay hands on me and heal me like Peter did in Acts 3:6 when he healed the crippled man at the gate!

"...I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk."

Miracles, healing, do they exist today in our modern world?  If you watch religious television with the mega tele-evangelists you would have to think yes.  But, I also know some of those "miracles" have been called in to question.  With modern medicine and technological advances things that seemed "miraculous" before seem rather common place now.  We have become somewhat jaded methinks in regards to miracles-we take an awful lot for granted.

What would it be like to experience that wonder and excitement again of being awed by a miracle?  Better yet, what would it be like to count our blessings and be thankful for what we have?  Think about it.  The discovery of Penicillin was huge!  Something that would kill a person before could now suddenly be cured!  The Polio vaccine was miraculous.  Advancements in imaging technology allow doctors to see tumors much earlier than before.  Organ transplants, reconstructive surgery for our veterans, advances in cancer treatment-it wasn't all that long ago that these things were not even possible!  Add to that the doctors who volunteer to go to places that do not have these technologies in order to help others who would not otherwise get help and the fact that they can actually get to these places-that's miraculous!  Can you imagine what Luke would have done if he had these resources at his disposal?  A faithful follower of Christ giving what he had to heal and help those who could least afford it-WOW!  How cool is that to imagine?!

Healing taking place right in front of our eyes-miracles do still happen.  We just need to open our eyes to see them!  What an amazing world we live in!

A Couple of Good Videos to Share today

My cousin Tamzen posted this video on my Face Book wall yesterday.  You want to be inspired?  Watch this:
Look at yourself after watching this.

My friend Ted, posted this on my Face Book page as well.  I've seen it floating around on other Methodist blogs and it's just plain funny!  Keep in mind, I used to plan the Contemporary service at my church so I get what they're trying to say about meaningful worship versus performance worship.  Satire with a point!
Worship Gone Wrong

I have been studying the Social Principles in detail (getting back to my blog post earlier in the week) in the hope of trying to either figure them out or come up with an alternative.  There's an awful lot of baggage to unpack!  I hope to post my thoughts in more detail but right now, it's a lot of study time!  Stay tuned....

Let me close with a gem from Proverbs 22 that I found this morning in The Message paraphrase:

"Generous hands are blessed hands because they give bread to the poor."

Food for thought.  How can we each bless others with our generous hands?  What can we do to sow those seeds of kindness?

Have a great day everyone!