Monday, October 29, 2007
MySpiritualLegacy.blogspot.com
Well, as you can see, I'm not doing so well in posting regularly. I did start another blog to post the stories I have written in the LifeWriting class I have been taking through LSU Lagniappe which offers classes for retired persons. It is nice for a change to be the youngster in the class. Today I posted the story of my grandson's prayer for my son and his wife to have a baby. I am going to try harder to post!
Friday, October 12, 2007
The Daily Grind
This morning I read Galations 5:16
"Walk by the Spirit."
I had written in the margin of my Bible the definition of the Greek word for "walk"--peripateo. It means to "go on living--used of habitual conduct; signifies the whole round of activities of the individual life."
Most of life is lived in the routine. I tend to get bored with the routine. Housework, grocery shopping, cooking, errands, exercise. Maybe its called the round of activities because they have to be done again...and again...almost as soon as you finish them. I like to see progress--but the routine tasks may actually be the most important of my day--if I do them with a grateful heart. As as if I am doing them for the Lord.
"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Colossians 3:17
"Walk by the Spirit."
I had written in the margin of my Bible the definition of the Greek word for "walk"--peripateo. It means to "go on living--used of habitual conduct; signifies the whole round of activities of the individual life."
Most of life is lived in the routine. I tend to get bored with the routine. Housework, grocery shopping, cooking, errands, exercise. Maybe its called the round of activities because they have to be done again...and again...almost as soon as you finish them. I like to see progress--but the routine tasks may actually be the most important of my day--if I do them with a grateful heart. As as if I am doing them for the Lord.
"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Colossians 3:17
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Growing Up
Six reasons to leave a godly legacy:
I’m taking a class in Lifewriting—Composing Your Life given by LSU Lagniappe for “over-50’s.” It is interesting and fun to hear the childhood stories of classmates, most much older than I am. Yesterday, a retired teacher told a story about inviting soldiers who came through Baton Rouge in World War II to her third floor apartment in the old state capital. Imaging living in that grand old building! Evidently, Baton Rouge was a center of southern hospitality during those years.
Usually the stories lightheartedly describe first days of school, working in vegetable gardens or childhood pranks. One woman has a particularly fun way of storytelling, but yesterday, she said that what she would read was a little “dark” but something she felt she must include in her memoir. She wrote about wanting her family to avoid a family tendency toward self-destruction through addiction. Like my mother, her father had died of alcoholism. I could identify.
The story I read talked about my grandmother Foil and the stories she told. I wrote, “Hearing the same stories year after year made me feel part something solid and lasting. I needed that when I returned home. Because my mother was pregnant when she married my dad--no small thing in 1948--my parents moved to another state, returning home only for a few holidays. I envied people who grew up around family, whose grandparents and parents went to church together and had the same values. People who had family traditions and heard family sayings repeated over and over. Families who got together and told stories and laughed.”
When my mother was dying in 1985, I knew that the Lord told me I should write about that difficult time—the peace I had--the comfort and insight He gave—and the emotional healing I received. Like my classmate, I wanted to warn my children and grandchildren about a family history of alcoholism. Of my grandfather’s eleven brothers and sisters, nine had drinking problems. My grandmother preached and pounded warnings into my mother’s head, but the constant drillings probably pushed her more toward her alcoholism. The alcoholism happened, but warning about it is not why I write.
Writing about my life is fun. It becomes a way to understand, forgive and receive healing. I pray it also becomes a way to mature. Yes, even grandparents need to mature! Especially me. I am reading Extreme Grandparenting by Tim and Marcy Kimmel. They say, “Our children and grandchildren desperately need us to consider it a mandate that we act like grown ups. They need to know that when life is trying to get the best of them, they can look to us and see people they can count on to process everything through years of experiencing God’s grace.” I have certainly experienced God’s grace, but I don’t always act like it. I have let fears from the past hold me back from really trusting God. This is why I am writing about my life—to help me grow up!
No matter how many pages I write, the only real legacy I will leave is a real example of a living, current and active relationship with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. An example of trust.
Usually the stories lightheartedly describe first days of school, working in vegetable gardens or childhood pranks. One woman has a particularly fun way of storytelling, but yesterday, she said that what she would read was a little “dark” but something she felt she must include in her memoir. She wrote about wanting her family to avoid a family tendency toward self-destruction through addiction. Like my mother, her father had died of alcoholism. I could identify.
The story I read talked about my grandmother Foil and the stories she told. I wrote, “Hearing the same stories year after year made me feel part something solid and lasting. I needed that when I returned home. Because my mother was pregnant when she married my dad--no small thing in 1948--my parents moved to another state, returning home only for a few holidays. I envied people who grew up around family, whose grandparents and parents went to church together and had the same values. People who had family traditions and heard family sayings repeated over and over. Families who got together and told stories and laughed.”
When my mother was dying in 1985, I knew that the Lord told me I should write about that difficult time—the peace I had--the comfort and insight He gave—and the emotional healing I received. Like my classmate, I wanted to warn my children and grandchildren about a family history of alcoholism. Of my grandfather’s eleven brothers and sisters, nine had drinking problems. My grandmother preached and pounded warnings into my mother’s head, but the constant drillings probably pushed her more toward her alcoholism. The alcoholism happened, but warning about it is not why I write.
Writing about my life is fun. It becomes a way to understand, forgive and receive healing. I pray it also becomes a way to mature. Yes, even grandparents need to mature! Especially me. I am reading Extreme Grandparenting by Tim and Marcy Kimmel. They say, “Our children and grandchildren desperately need us to consider it a mandate that we act like grown ups. They need to know that when life is trying to get the best of them, they can look to us and see people they can count on to process everything through years of experiencing God’s grace.” I have certainly experienced God’s grace, but I don’t always act like it. I have let fears from the past hold me back from really trusting God. This is why I am writing about my life—to help me grow up!
No matter how many pages I write, the only real legacy I will leave is a real example of a living, current and active relationship with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. An example of trust.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
It's Fall!
It's finally October--my favorite month! Okay, I confess this photo was not taken in Baton Rouge and it's still in the high 80's here, but one can hope!Nothing stirs up feelings of nostalgia more than the first weather change of autumn. At my house, wind chimes have heralded the first change in weather for over thirty years. Both homes we lived in faced south, so the wind chimes in the back caught the north wind's stirring. For some reason, the tinkling filled me with joy and gratitude. In the thirty years, I've had wind chimes, I raised my children, developed a closer relationship with the Lord, became a grandmother... I remember one morning about twenty-five years ago. Excited by the tinkling, I quickly took a walk between taking the children to school and Bible study. As I walked, I thanked God for my family. How grateful I was! He reminded me of the prayers I prayed as a little girl for a husband who took the family to church and for two healthy children (my mother had told me that two were all a family could afford). That was my idea of a perfect family. I realized that, not only had God heard a little girl's prayers, he had given me abundantly above I even dreamed to ask--THREE beautiful children and a husband who not only went to church but loved God and led the family spiritually. Every October, when the chimes tinkle, I remember that walk and how God cared about my childhood desires.
This year I am missing my wind chimes. (of course, the weather hasn't changed yet!) We are in an apartment until about Thanksgiving while waiting to move into a new house. When the wind chimes are hung, the house will become home. I may not catch the first stirrings of fall, but they will still chime in November. I can't wait!
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