Thursday, December 31, 2015

What God can do in the blink of time...... known as 2016.

On the eve of the coming year I sit and contemplate not the day, the night, the week or the month.  I look back across the gulf that was the last year. I recall the excitement of a year ago knowing my goal was to read my Bible through in the year to come. I look and laugh at the innocent mistake of misreading a weekly reading chart as a daily chart and being a week in before I knew I could and would read my Bible through in about 7 weeks with a second reading of the New Testament thrown in for good measure and continuing on thus the rest of the year, with new versions. Yay for me, and the glory of my accomplishment, I was oozing pride and arrogance, I extolled my accomplishment to one and all, whoever would listen was my victim.  I loved having done it and I thrived on the power of it all, MY GLORY, MY GOAL, MY, MY, MY!!! Where was God in my accomplishment was God's glory in it at all?? The more I read the more I wanted to read, was it the pride, was it the glory of just doing it or maybe just maybe was there something more?

I thought, and realized I had actually overcome one of my fears of a long held paralysis of not reading because of an addiction I have had for a long time. I was reading for hours in a book I couldn't put down.  I was reading each new version with the zeal I had once only given to "evil books" novels I no longer had be a victim to. I was embracing my first love, God, and he had given me back one of my first loves, reading.  I literally read for hours again this year reading in all my spare moments, not the moments I had once stolen from someone, who needed me, not the stolen moments I had given to the "evil books"I once read.  I don't even really mean that the books I once read were evil it was what I let them do to me, my life, and my families life that was actually evil.  No, addiction to reading with no regard to the cost of others is an addiction, so no laughing at the thought that reading is an addiction because I am here to tell you it is and it can be devastating just like any other addiction can be.... I digress. I never will go back to the addiction of the "books" but now I can embrace the renewed found passion for reading because I gave it to God, he has blessed my love of reading and has remade it into something for his Glory. I truly don't think I will ever tire of seeing God daily in the reading of his Word.  I have many to read so little time to do it well, maybe not, I might just have all of eternity to enjoy them....

I look back on the many other things this past year brought. Two jobs, I love, that give me back such fulfillment. Both I can see as God will for me. I can see them as jobs that bring me such moments of accomplishment and it matters not what others think of either of them. I am at an age that impressing people matters not to me but doing the Lords work where ever he asks me to serve is a joy untold.  I have at God's bidding made sure to do things of kindness for people, even those who do not like me, because what would be the Glory to God if I only did a kindness for my friends and family, any one does that. God loves all mankind and any one I do a kindness for is someone God loves and made in his image, so anyone deserves my kindness.  Poppy and I made sure to take on a commitment to God in the form of someone we don't know and we honor our vow to God on this matter.

I get to see my littles grow in the light of God, love my grands and get enough from our lives to see that they get a little extra from the income my jobs provide. The funny think about reading, and reading, the Bible is some of the concepts eventually start to become part of my thoughts, and actions. The more I read the more I know God doesn't want me trying to desperately try to figure this thing called life on my own, but he wants me to love him and he wants me to depend on him to take care of me. I think realizing, and really believing and doing it, are really what he wants the most from us. I read and so many, many things jump off the page each time the page has something new of great loving kindness from God to say to me.  I have really tried to really, really read what the Bible says and not what someone says it says.  I can't explain how truly diving  into my Bible has brought out threads that weave through the Bible that I think you can only see if you give God the time to show you where they go and where he wants you to go in his word.....

I have learned that loving God is first and for most, loving your neighbor is second. Hospitality and Mercy are so much more important than the sins that we commit in our failures to God. Because God's mercy is sufficient for all mankind and through him nothing is impossible for him to accomplish.... if we but ask it of him in love, for his desire is for us to love him.

I have changed so very much, inside, this year and God has only just started shaping me to his desire and all I have to do is believe, read, obey and let him show me how he cares for me, where he wants me to go and I can't wait for what is to come...... So here is to a year well spent, a year I will forever embrace and the joy of looking into eternity with awe at just what is to come next, this year, this millennium and what is to come in the beyond... tomorrow.

Monday, December 21, 2015

What a difference a year makes.....

Tonight we went to the annual grade school concert.  It was wonderful.  The teacher, who recently became a new mother, did a wonderful job with the kids.  It was interactive, the grades were mixed together to keep the parents from escaping the building as their little ones finished up.  The crowd was asked at one point to participate and join in with the singing. Kudo's to a job well done by a teacher who loves her job and the kids she serves.

I was excited recently to see that our school came in 10 in the state for district schools, I am assuming, of school of comparable sizes.  I think that it shows, in our kids, that our teachers in the grade school, especially, care for the kids.  I am also excited to see some of our best and brightest kids returning to be the next generations teachers and principal.   It is rewarding to see them coming home and giving back to the community that raised them.

Well tomorrow I work bright and early at one of my jobs and finish up the day at my other job, so a long day ahead so off I go.  I can't wait I have one more reading and I will finish my Bible for the 5th time this year.  Tomorrow I start anew, I will be getting a head start on next years readings so I might actually get to read it six times if I can weave it into my schedule.  I pray that the Lord is in your life if not just find a Bible, pray  even just a little and open it up to a the wonders of God in all his simple,  and completed glory.... tomorrow. 

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Today as I make their recipes I get to remember the love that they gave me and remember their joyous lives.....

I get to make my Grandma Gladys date loaf but once a year.  It is a candy after all and no one needs it on a regular bases.  She made it for her children as they grew and all of them that I have ever spoken to about it know what it was and that it was made with her special love.  Last year I was speaking about making it and her foster daughter in law's mother asked me for the recipe so she could give it to her daughter.  She knew that having the recipe would be a special blessing and memory of our dear Grandma Gladys.  She made it and I don't know if she made it up or if it was a recipe handed down to her.  I do know I have never had anything like it and have never seen a candy that even resembles it.  My Daddy became the holder of the recipe in our branch of the family and for all I know maybe most of the whole family.  He found over the years that sometimes it would sugar faster than it should have as it aged before Christmas so he and my Momma decided to tweak the recipe.  I remember as child my Momma saying that she had added corn syrup to the recipe and that that helped it not sugar as fast.  I was away and a Momma on my own when they tweaked it more here and there.  It now has twice as much of the dates and nuts as it did when I was a kid, and when my Daddy and his sibling were kids.  I do know that it now lasts longer and the date taste is more intense but the love of my Grandma Gladys is still all over it so it is the candy my Grandma Gladys made with such love for her kids, her grands and all the other people she invited into her home and loved with all of her heart.

I am also making my Momma's fudge and the fudge that I always made for my kids, I guess they will call it their Momma's fudge.  They are different but they both share with the next generation the love of a Momma for her wee ones that all to soon become Momma's and Daddy's to their own and even their own grands..... I am making my Momma's English toffee that for the most part I rarely have ever made because it was a dish that my Momma made with one of my Sisters and she made it to share with all of us for many a year but as she can't eat it any more she rarely makes it.  I think that I make it now to remember the love I saw my Sister and my Momma share and it makes my heart happy to embrace that memory as it cooks away.  I will finish up with My Momma's divinity that now may actually be the recipe of my Other Sister's mother in law,  The feeling is the same and the memory in tact but the recipe is just a little better and change and tweaking is a family trait, don't you know.

I don't think the exact recipe is always the most import in the end, but it is the recipe of love shared that is the true secret recipe and the love shared to a new generation.  I pray you are enjoying your family traditions.  I pray that the Lord Jesus is the center of those traditions.  If not he can be and he will gladly embrace you into his family.  The season of Christ's birthday is upon us and you could worship him in love and believe.  He is always there awaiting you with open arms and he awaits with anticipation the day you will come into his arms.  Nothing more wonderful than the arms of a loving parent. We all can remember the love of those arms but the loving arms of Jesus are so much much more. Today you can embrace him and believe, and think of the memories and traditions that would begin for your generations to come .... tomorrow. 

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

I think it so sad when someone pretends to be someone they are not...............

I have spent a great deal of time this year trying to be the person I am to God to my fellow man. I have determined to be honest with myself, with people and try to be the person God sees all the time.  I don't think that I should be three people any more.  I know that people tend to have a person they are to themselves and God, the person they are to their family and the person they are to other people, at a minum and some people are many more.  I want to add that family is the people in your little circle that love you, not the people who share you blood, some can be both but not always.  I digress.  I know that the three, maybe more, are not easily the same.  I think that the three becoming one might just be  my life time accomplishment and the road to God all at once. Maybe that is all God really wants us to be when all is said and done, truly honest and love of our fellowman.

I think that Christian's should love their fellowman and show mercy.  I think that young people have a real struggle in this day and age but I don't think that it is any harder than any other generation they just like to think so.  I think that in each age that the times are each uniquely design by God for the people in that age.  I think saying you have had it harder than any other group that ever lived is a cop out and something of a whining baby attitude for sympathy. I think husbands have an obligation to love their wives, as do they to love their husbands. I think that now that you have heard all my "I thinks" you have enough to buy coffee, only if you have the real price in your pocket as my opinion does really matter to anyone though you are here reading my blog for God only knows what reason...... that being said I would like to vent a little on a piece of gossip, a rumor or just the reality of a young person speaking in a place he should have kept his mouth shut and tried to think of the consequences of what he was saying when you talk about things that should never have been spoken out loud if you thought something like this about you life, your love and your wife.

I heard, in a place I didn't expect to hear such a shocking story, of a young man who is a good Christian, by anyone's standards publicly, shooting his mouth off about his wife.  He was telling any and all that he didn't love her, he was stuck with her and if he had it to do over he would not have taken the advice of his family and married her at all.  This is a young man that always treats his wife with respect and love for all to see.  I would say this couple is a rather loving example of what a good young Christian couple can and should be.  I am aghast that this is something he would ever say out loud if he really thinks this at all.  Why would he abuse his lovely wife in such a manner, in such a despicable way. He said it to a company of young men and more than one of them have repeated it.  It was a young man, that is also a Christian, that was so ashamed to have heard it and can't imagine how the young wife would feel if she knew that she is the but of the joke to so many people, that was speaking about it.  He didn't repeat it so much as gossip but in shear agony of the feelings of this poor girl. The husband went on to say much, much more and I am not going to repeat it other than to say that he said that if he believed in divorce he would already have gotten one but since he can't he has no options he is stuck.  I can't say how sad this is and how this is just not the way a young person, especially a young Christian, should act.  I pray that God speaks to his young man's heart and helps him to love his wife, if he never has, and to help him relove his wife, if he ever did.  I pray mostly that he shuts his mouth and thinks of the horrible devastation that will come to his lovely wife if she ever even begins to find out how abominable he is treating her, the person he pretends to love and should love with all his heart.  If he really loves his wife and this is just his "good ole boy at work persona" he is way out of line and needs help, maybe only God knows and maybe only God can help him, but this is not a joke by anyone's standards.

 Sorry to vent but this is just beyond what is normal and what is acceptable and I had to scream at someone that this is wrong and you are the only ones I could scream at and not be a gossip.  As unlike some one I might talk to, you don't know who they are and you can not ask me who they are. It is really none of our business, any of this, but it is horrible to think that this goes on in our lives, in our generation and in our midst........ I pray that God intercedes for this young girl and this young mans life and gives them the strength to know love, real love, and know that God can and will help them if only they seek him for help.  Maybe first and for most the husband needs to really seek God period and the rest will fix itself..... tomorrow. 

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Off to a day at the Zoo.... dental, shopping and I am sure whining kids.

So we are off to Zootown momentarily, a day at the dentist to check the braces that are once again on Yogie's teeth.  She had a problem with her teeth moving, her lack of actually wearing her retainer and the fact that it didn't fit all that well combined to put her back in braces.  I hope this is a valuable lesson for the little miss.  Booboo whined and now she is going as well, along the Mokie's Bubbles and Dimple, so I am prepared for their to be more whining amoungst the  troops today.  We have to drop off a kitten at Riverbend on the way out of town.  Mokie has a lady thats daughter needs a companion.  The girl has some disabilities and needs company to live on her own,  She is starting with a kitten, funny enough the kitten she chose has a disability of her own. I think that it was lovely she gave the little kitten a chance that others might not.  The kitten is going to the vet to be spayed today.

Well they all are awaiting me in the car and not very patiently I might add so off I go.  I pray that your day is blessed and that the love of God and his son Jesus make your day a blessing to be sure.  I hope that the blessing your receive today is salvation.  Wouldn't that make it a glorious day.... tomorrow. 

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Thanksgiving is gone by........... a Christmas Craft-show and book sale...

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year, got to see all of our kids but one and close to half of the grands.  It was nothing fancy just a simple affair and the older I get the more I appreciate the simple that is just about love and not about impressing anyone.  The day before Thanksgiving we picked up our pig from the butcher and must say that the smoked meat was superb and the pork itself is just lovely.  I can not say enough about the advantages on every level of raising your own meat.

The weekend after Thanksgiving I finished making all the soap I am going to make this year, I ran out of coconut oil so I won't be making soap until next year.  I used 12 gallons of coconut oil this year and that makes a lot of soap.  I think I have gotten my soap to a really nice quality this year and can say I am proud of each and every bar I make.  I spent 12 hours on Saturday wrapping soap, and several hours the day before so I have lots of soap on hand.  I will be selling it at the Friends of the Library's craft show and books sale on Dec 5th.  I have some lovely scented soap, some non-scented soaps for kids and some other items.  Mokie has her lovely goat milk lotions.  We are making cookies tonight and Friday for the cookie sale that the friends have planned.  You get to pick from a plethora of cookies and pay by the pound.  How much fun will it be to choose cookies made by some many lovely ladies and imagine the variety that will be.  There will be chili and books, lots and lots of books, so if you don't have anything else to do Saturday stop by and say hi.

I got to make cookies at work last week and this, well I didn't make them but I cooked them.  720 last week and 480 this week.  I got to bake plain brownies and I get to bake cheesecake brownies next week, along with the pies, and the huck sauce.  I do like my job.  A friend of mine put up a saying, which I don't actually recall to the letter but it basically said to live life as you would like on your own line of living.  I thought that was wonderful.  I am at an age where there are a lot of things I could do and a lot of things I am qualified to do.  I like most that I am at an age where I can do what I enjoy doing and don't care if anyone else thinks it's a "suitable" or "right" kind of job.  I know I could do other jobs but think of the stress and toil I would have to give to so many of those jobs.  I get to, and I truly mean get to, go to a job where I get to make things for people to enjoy.  I can't think of a job that my heart would enjoy more.  I get to be of service to people in a very basic level and I get to enjoy doing it.  I know some think it is a "beneath" me endeavor but beneath something is relative and I do feel beneath anyone doing my job.  I get to do it on my time frame and I am appreciated for my service, nothing better than that.  I also still have time to enjoy my family on my time frame too.

We I hope you enjoy what you are doing in this life if not maybe you need to rethink what you are doing and never be afraid of what someone-else thinks about what you do or how you do it.  Jesus has a simple carpenter and washed his disciples feet, never think that serving others is a waste of time it quite possible one of the most important things you can do for your fellow man.  I pray that you have Jesus in your life and that you know his love in your life.  Jesus is the most important person anyone can have in their life and without him you are lost.... tomorrow.