A Treasure in Heaven

Joel Stockstill's young wife died last night. My heart is broken even though didn't know her. I remember Joel as a school boy. When I heard he was married, I remember thinking that his young wife must have had to consider his medical problems and deal with fear that she would lose him. It brings home that we just never know how many years we are given on the earth or who will go to heaven first.

I hurt for Larry and Melanie, too, because, not only did they lose a precious daughter, they also have to watch their son suffer. I pray for Amy's parents as well.

I certainly don't understand. I don't believe that the devil can do anything that God does not allow. The Bible says that it was ordained before the foundation of the world how many years each person will live--Psalm 139:16 "In Your book were written all the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them." On the other hand, we are told to fight the devil--he comes to steal, kill and destroy, and we know God does heal physical bodies. How it all fits together--I don't know. I don't quess anyone does. I do know that I need to learn more and more to live my life in light of eternity.

I remember hearing that when a person goes before us to heaven, they become a "treasure in heaven" waiting for us.

We've Moved!

We've been in our new house for a month now and are gradually getting things in order. When we were in the apartment, I wrote about how I missed the wind chimes that hung on the back of my two other houses. Well, look here...and, in this one month, we've had lots of weather changes--from 80 degrees to freezing and back again several times. I've often heard the sound of the chimes, and, not only do they tell me the weather's changing, they also whisper, "You're home!"

And, look who's hiding out in her cozy spot. Our house came with a dog! We bought my daughter's house, and Brittany, my son-in-law's hunting dog and the boys' pet, stayed behind. Their new house isn't set up for a dog yet, so we have joint custody. Brittany loves to run the three acres here, pointing at squirrels and birds, that is, in sunny weather. When I hear the tinkling of the wind chimes, the next sound I expect to hear is her scratching nervously at the door. She's terrified of thunder and bad weather--post-traumatic stress as a result of the house fire she survived two years ago. As you can see, she has it made when I'm home on cold, rainy afternoons.

This is our house. Living in the country has a different feel. Of course, I go to "town" a few times a week--it has always aggravated me when people say they go to "town" when "town" is one interstate exit away!

I had hoped the picture wouldn't show that the dormers haven't yet been painted, but it does. Nonetheless, we're making progress!

January's Over!

January has always been my least favorite month. The after-Christmas letdown blues hit. Christmas bills flood in. Days are short, cold and dreary. As a young mother, I thought we'd never get back outdoors! One child would get sick and pass it around to the others. One year it was the flu. The next, chicken pox grounded us for weeks. When I was a teacher, January meant indoor recesses with crazed four year olds. During my paralegal years, I rushed out of the office at five o'clock, hoping to reach the downtown parking lot before darkness fell. It seemed I never saw daylight.

But January has redeemed itself for me! Last January 25, our youngest grandchild was born, making January the most exciting month of 2007. This year we celebrated his first birthday. I'm still glad January is over. In the South, that means that spring is near, but January looks much brighter to me now. Happy Birthday, Rylan! Thanks for redeeming January for me!

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!

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

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.

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!