A HIgh School Reunion and Seasons of Life

June 29, 5:15 a.m. I open my eyes to see a robin-egg, blue sky through the bedroom window. Birds twitter and banter in wild conversations. Nestling back in the pillows, I hear the sound of wind through the trees and then, stillness. Thunder rumbles in the distance as lightening streaks across the sky, splitting it in two. I smell the rain before I hear it. I hear the rain before I see it. When I see it, I want to feel it. So, I leave the warm softness of night-time sleep and head to the front door. Opening it, the wind and rain rush in, and I feel showered with blessings of nature.

June 27: 12:00 noon: I attend our 50-year class reunion. Name tags are helpful. Although each person resembles his or her senior picture, we are each changed. Experiences, relationships, sickness, and time, itself, shapes us into someone new--or someone old?  Underlying the smiles and chatter are issues of broken relationships, disease and sickness, retirement adjustments, along with the lighter side: high school memories, grandchildren, special trips, the "bucket list."

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, ...a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, ...Ecclesiastes 3: 1-6


With the reunion behind me (since I think the way I think), I wonder, what am I supposed to do with this experience? When I graduated, at 17 years of age, I could not even imagine what my life would be 50 years later.



For today, I'm going to reflect on the thought that there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven..., enjoy each day, and, yet, plan on a future. What is next? Life is full of change. Sometimes, we may need to nestle back into our pillows; sometime, we may want to rush to the front door for that new experience or opportunity. Through it all, may we embrace life and go forward with the knowledge that God's finger is on everything.

 

Live life with the love of God.

What Do You Fear?

What do you fear? Is it war and terrorism, climate change, disease? If you've listened to the news recently, you know that these are topic headlines along with issues of poverty and political and economic instability.

Perhaps and more than likely, your fears are closer to home. Physical illnesses, emotional turmoil, worries over loved ones safety, financial stress.

Are you praying for a miracle?

Remember the miracle of Jesus walking on the water in the midst of a stormy sea while his disciples sat terrified in their small fishing boat?

Let's look at it in a different way. Perhaps we should be more impressed
by the fact that the miracle is not the walking on the water
but rather that Jesus seemed so calm by the possibility
 of catastrophe--the winds, the waves, the depths of the sea
and whatever lay beneath.


Jesus is an example for us. The storms of life are and will always be with us as long as we are earthly creatures. The next time you find yourself in a stormy situation, think about Jesus walking on the water...

Peter W. Marty wrote, Miracles are not the answer to the suffering that you and I do not want to experience. They're more like unanticipated signs that God is alive, Christ is Lord and suffering does not have the last word...

Faith is trusting that God is in charge.

... so while many followed Jesus to see what they could get from him, he seemed more interested in who they might become through him.
The Lutheran, April, 2015. Peter W. Marty

 

How I Learned I Was Neanderthal and Why It Doesn't Matter...

When in high school, I learned about the "melting pot." It was a metaphor for a society made up of English, Dutch, Irish, Swedes, Germans, etc. Cultures and nationalities fused to become America, where one could become a "new man" in the Land of the Free. Ancient prejudices and manners were supposedly left behind.

 If you google the term, melting pot, fondue comes up!

How things have changed.

Although we call ourselves Americans, most of us know where our ancestors came from and are proud of it. I knew my father's side was predominantly German and my mother was also German with a mix of Norwegian, etc. I believed this for over 50 years until something called DNA Ancestry Testing told me the truth.

Ready for this? I am predominantly Scandinavian with a little British, German, Irish, and French. I told my husband I was tired of being German anyway. Okay, there is more. The results also said my family was 3% Neanderthal. Excuse me, I thought, everyone has to have a little caveman in them. However, I read the footnote below which stated, "3% is actually quite high."

I am somewhat amused by all of this in that
1) Things that I am so sure of, just might not be so.
2) Our family now knows why my youngest brother loved to do the "ape act" as a kid.

The really cool part of all of this is that with time, none of this really matters. The Great Melting Pot will occur one day when everything on Earth as we know it now, ends, and....

 Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
 Isaiah 65:17 and Revelations 21:1

God's holy plan and promise is to draw all of us into one love, the love of Christ. It's not going to matter what race you are, what political party you belong to, where you place yourself on the social-economic scale. God created the world to be one holy communion in His love united with the triumphant love of  Christ.

What a celebration that will be!

 

Love Life With the Love of God

A few years back, Christians were wearing little plastic braces with WWJD letters--standing for "What Would Jesus Do?"

I'm thinking a bracelet should be made with LLWTLOG--standing for "Live Life With the Love of God."

If I let this phrase shape my day at home, at work, out in the community, I could see and understand things differently. It would serve as a challenge in situations that could be confrontational, it could serve as a prayer, it would encourage me to pay attention to everything, it could motivate me to acts of love and compassion, provide peace and contentment when I am anxious.

Love...life...God.

Interchangeably....
 love + life = God
or
God + life = love.

or
God + love = Life.

It all works because GOD IS LOVE.

 

 

 

 

 

Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1

 

My Birthday Suit

If I knew now what I didn't know then, I would have taken better care of my birthday suit. The label should have read:  do not bleach, do not tumble dry, handle with care (this is not stain resistant).

Think of all the things we do to try to look and feel as young as possible--most dealing with what we wear, how we fix our hair, makeup. Think of all the things we do that hurry the aging process--poor eating and drinking habits, lack of rest, reacting to stressful situations in a negative way, too little exercise....

Aging is inevitable.
Generally, everything inside and outside of our physical self starts to collapse and fade away. We see it every morning (if we have the courage to look) as we discover the new wrinkle, the sagging of skin in various places, a loss of brightness in the eyes, the graying of hair, a sallowness of skin.

It's potentially depressing.
However, we were created in His image.
Let's care for ourselves knowing this and remembering that while our earthly bodies are diminishing, our spiritual selves are evolving into something new and glorious each day as long as we stay connected to our Creator King.

 Erich From wrote, "The whole of life of the individual is nothing but the process of giving birth to himself; indeed we should be fully born when we die."

In spite of the fact that my birthday suit isn't what it used to be, I am prayerfully on my way to being "fully born" in Christ.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new!
   2 Corinthians 5: 16-17

Can't Get No Satisfaction?

In June, 1965, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" was released to the world by The Rolling Stones. It is considered by some to be one of the greatest rock songs ever recorded. Its lyrics refer to sexual frustration and commercialism.

Although some of the lyrics are a little too much for my mind, Mick Jagger makes a similar point as did Solomon in Ecclesiastes when Solomon writes that everything is meaningless--including wisdom, pleasures, toil, advancement, and riches.

Meaningless! Meaningless!

says the Teacher.

Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaningless!

   Ecclesiastes 1..

Solomon seemingly had everything: wealth, riches, wisdom, and, yet, he felt he had nothing. It was all meaningless to him. It seems that we, too, are searching, searching, searching for love, joy, wealth, and/or some kind of validity for what we do on a day to day basis as life wearily repeats itself. Why? The true meaning of life has been hidden from us when God is not a part of our lives.

For those in Christ, a day should never be same-old, same-old.

...but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

  Isaiah 40: 31

 

... and Revelations 21:5: He who is seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"

 

Solomon, considered to be one of the wisest men ever, ends his lamenting with, Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
 

Can't get no satisfaction? Try God.

Life-long Learning

Although the term "life-long-learning" wasn't used until the 1970's, the concept has been around since the beginning of time. Consider Adam and Eve in the garden.... Consider aged Abraham and Sarah when baby Isaac came into their lives.... John, in his later years, wrote Revelations where God revealed the end of human history. Each one experienced a "revelation"--a learning experience of huge proportions.

As we age, we change and adjust to be able to keep up with the times. We listen to the news, we travel, experience grandchildren, and learn new ways to do things and new ways to understand. The learning may be informal and outside a classroom; nevertheless, it's taking place. For example, two of my high school classmates recently reupholstered their patio cushions. This had to be a "learning" experience.

I'd like to think that the little epiphanies, or ah-ah moments, in life could be part of my lifelong learning experiences. For example, in the last few days I have learned how to use the video button on my two year-old phone. I have learned that my exercise machine at the wellness center is not a stair-master (as I have been calling it), but it is an elliptical. A scary crack in a grandson's head can be glued instead of stitched. Animated movies are best seen with grandchildren.

I have learned ALL of this in a matter of a few days.
Amazing!... You can teach an old dog new tricks!

Another amazing thing is that GOD is constantly at work in us. Because of his grace, we can be life-long learners in His kingdom and for His kingdom.

Proverbs 2: 1-5 tells us My son if you accept my words, and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

In all of the above experiences, human will power was involved. Decisions were made, questions were asked. Do you suppose the upholsterers took a class? Looked it up on the internet? I learned how to use the video on my phone because I asked. I realized animated movies are best seen with grandchildren because Grandma and Grandpa tried watching HOME together and discovered we didn't much enjoy it. Taking a huge segue, Abraham and Sarah pleaded for a son, and John was open to God's plan for him as he wrote the book of Revelations while in prison.

In the same way, Proverbs reads ... if you accept....if you call out, cry aloud,...if you look for it and search for it....

A lot of "if yous"....God is giving us a choice.
May your life journey be filled with the little ah-ah moments as well as spiritual epiphanies as you prepare for an eternal life in a heavenly Kingdom.
Now, that's loving life with the love of God.

Wanted: Your Undivided Attention.

When Daughter Jennifer wanted my attention, she would climb up on my lap, place her hands on my face, and turn it towards her. With two older sisters, she used this way to get my undivided attention, and it worked!   

 

Do you ever feel like you're not getting God's attention? You hurt, you're emotionally distraught, nothing is going as you would like. You've been pleading with God, but He seems far away. Perhaps, you could take some advice from my little girl and take the steps needed to get His attention. We can't literally climb on his lap, but we can wrap our hands and hearts around his Holy Word and go at it. Afterall, the Bible is His love letter to us. He wants us to read it and understand it. Sometimes, that means digging deep and giving it time.

Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.

1 Chronicles 16:11

 

Our son had a poster in his room during his growing up years which read:

 

You will never change your life

until you change something you do

daily.

 

This statement has probably impacted my life as much as it may have his. In that, I realized that if I wanted to really know scripture, I had to study it--daily. So, breakfast no longer was a first priority in the morning. It came after Bible study--daily. No excuses.

 

And I have learned that I always have God's undivided attention.
The question was: did He have mine?

 

 

        The LORD make His face shine on you,

 And be gracious to you;

The LORD lift up His countenance on you,

And give you peace.

Numbers 6:25-26