Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving Extended

Yesterday wasThanksgiving Day. One of our oldest national holidays. My favorite! A time set aside to thank God for all He has done for us. A time to gather as families and be thankful together. But today...instead of yesterday...was the day that our family was able to gather together. We were just as thankful today as we would have been yesterday. Every day is ...or at least should be...a day of thanksgiving to God!

A few of the things I am thankful for today:

1. Salvation and the Bible. Without them I would have no hope.

2. Family and home. Especially my husband, children and grandchildren who have stood by my side and loved me like nobody else can.

3. Church family and Christian friends. People to worship with and share with.

4. A quiet place to live. We've been blessed with a life in the country.

5. Freedom to go and come as I please. Not having to get a permit to go to church or to hold a meeting.

6. Family who will stand by my side and believe in me when others are trying to tear me down. It's eye-opening when you see people for who they really are. I've sure had my eyes opened wide during the past couple of weeks.

7. Another unexpected treasure found this week that belonged to my Mama who passed away almost 40 years ago. A beautiful piece of green pottery. (see picture)

8. Christian friends that I have met in the blogging community. How could I have known when I started blogging that I would gain such supportive, loving, sisters-in-Christ through this media?

I have been blessed so much and in return need to be thankful for much!

"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God." 2 Corinthians 4: 15

May every day be Thanksgiving in the lives of each of us!

Marilyn

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A Tribute

It seems I have been a stranger to my computer for the past couple of weeks! My step-mother, Miss Gertrude, fell week before last and broke her hip. Then last week she had surgery on Tuesday afternoon and seemed to do well. But early on Wednesday morning she passed away. It was very sudden and we were not expecting it. But we know she was a Christian and is now walking and talking with loved ones in Heaven. She would have been 91 years old in three weeks. I miss her. So today I wanted to post something that I wrote almost 10 years ago. Back then I titled it "My Three Mothers" and if you've been my friend for a while you've most likely already read it. This is a tribute to not only Miss Gertrude, but to my mama Wardie, and my mother-in-law Hazel. I hope it will convey to you how special these three Mothers were to me!

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." Proverbs 31: 10

I'd like to tell you about my three mothers.



The Mother that birthed me into the world was with me for only sixteen years. Then she went home to be with the Lord. But during the years she was with me, she taught me many things about the Christian life. She was the best Christian woman I ever knew. In fact, I believe that many of the blessings I enjoy today as an adult are the direct result of some of the prayers she prayed for me. Her name was Wardie, which I always thought was very old fashioned. But it suited her. She was an old-fashioned person. She had old-fashioned values and an old-fashioned faith in God. She was always telling me things like, "Pretty is as pretty does." and "Two wrongs don't make a right". She taught me by example to be honest, thrifty, and kind.
She taught me how to sew Barbie clothes and eventually my own clothes. My Mama was the anchor in my life and when she died in March of the year when I was sixteen, I didn't know how I could go on with my life. Only by the grace of God did I struggle through the next few years. "She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness." Proverbs 31: 26





When I was nineteen, I got married. Mrs. Hazel, my new mother-in-law, became my "second mama". Mrs. Hazel taught me to garden and can vegetables. I had never done any of this before because I grew up in town. She was one of the very best cooks I have ever known. We would get together when the garden came in and can two or three canners full of vegetable soup. Then she would give me half of all we had canned and keep the other half for her and Mr. Jewell. But the funny thing was that I always got the half that was just not quite as good as the half she kept. We could eat it at her house and it was the most delicious soup I had ever put in my mouth...I could eat some of the same batch that I had taken home and for some reason it just didn't taste the same. She just had that special touch. "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31: 27




The year after I married, my widowed Daddy married a lady named Gertrude. She became my "third Mama". I figured since I was already married myself, I was too old to start calling her Mama so I have always called her "Miss Gertrude". She has been such a blessing to me over the years. God surely must have wanted to give my Daddy a special blessing when he gave him "Miss Gertrude" for a helpmeet. She has shown me how to enjoy life. Whether cooking for a crowd, fishing for crappie, taking a walk or pulling weeds in the flowerbed, she enjoyed every minute of it. "Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." Proberbs 31: 28

I truly count myself as blessed for having three of the best Mothers a person could have. Each one of them had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and because of that I know I will have a joyous reunion with them someday.

"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised." Proverbs 31: 30

Marilyn

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The Battle With the Ladybugs

They're back! The yearly fall pilgrimage of ladybugs has begun! Yesterday afternoon I looked outside my kitchen window and saw what looked like hundreds or maybe thousands of ladybugs swarming around in the sunshine. Then I noticed that many of them had made it inside my kitchen which is on the west side of the house and gets the most sunshine of the day.

They were crawling on the ceiling fan, on the lights,


on the curtains, on the windows, etc.

And everywhere they crawl they leave a little slimy brown trail. Nasty! I will probably just wait until they run their course and go away again before trying to clean things up very much. How I hate them!

On the other hand, people who don't have to deal with these ladybugs on the enormous scale that I do seem to love the little critters! My granddaughter loves ladybugs! But mostly I think she loves the cute little cartoons of ladybugs. The real-life ones are stinky, nasty little things! I'm sorry if I offend some of you ladybug lovers. I will gladly send you a few hundred of mine as a starter if you want to raise some of your own! (smile)

I know some of you are already thinking...doesn't she know ladybugs are good? And I will admit, they do have their benefits. They have their place. Outside ! Ladybugs are very beneficial insects that eat all kinds of bad bugs. For that I'm glad. I just wish they'd stay outside where they belong! I also read that in many countries people believe ladybugs bring good luck, good weather, or can make your wishes come true. As a Christian I know that all good things come to us from God....not the ladybugs!

Sometimes sin is like the ladybug. It looks very pretty. It has a certain glamorous mystery about it. But, like the ladybugs now calling my kitchen home, when you get up close and personal with sin it has a stink to it and always leaves a messy trail behind!

"Lord, help me to remember when I am tempted by a seemingly harmless or beautiful sin, that it will take me farther from You than I want to go , and will keep me away from You longer than I ever meant to stay! Help me to say as the psalmist in Psalm 73: 28... 'But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.' Amen."

Marilyn