On Saturday evening I was finishing up the preparations for supper when I learned two good lessons. I was finishing up my Rosemary/lemon potatoes. Everything was done except throwing in the fresh chopped rosemary. I pulled out my nice sharp chopping knife and began making my way through the pile of rosemary when my finger got chopped quickly and precisely. The cut went down into my fingernail cutting a “V” out of the nail below the white (sorry if this is too much information). I got it wrapped up and was able to finish supper preparations, but all night long that finger reminded me of that incident. If I bumped it it hurt. If I tried to use it the other fingers had to help to compensate for its uselessness. I’ve spent the hours since then holding my index finger out away from the rest of my hand. Lesson #1 – Curl your fingers up tightly when chopping food!
As I’ve dealt with my cut finger I couldn’t help but think about what the Bible says about each of us being members of the body. 1 Corinthians 12:14-16 For the body is not one member, but many. 15If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
Each member has a unique function in the body, so we each have a unique ministry to fulfill. However, if a member doesn’t take care of the ministry they’ve been given by the Lord, another member will have to step in to make up the deficiencies. If a member doesn’t show up they assume that someone else will take up the slack. While that’s often true, it’s just like when the rest of my hand is trying to make up for what the index finger should be doing – the job gets done eventually, but with much more difficulty and strain, and a little slower than the needed member could’ve done it. Lesson #2 – Each member of the body is necessary and will do their ministry best when they are present to do it.
Where has the Lord placed you as a member? Are you faithfully using your abilities and your presence to serve Him there, or is someone else having to make up for you? Jim Elliot said, “Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.” Since the Lord led you to your church then be faithful. Don’t be touchy and “hurt” so you can’t be effective. Don’t doubt your importance. My knife is tool that wounded me. Satan knows what tools to use to wound the body so they’re useless. You are a needed member. Believe the Truth and be used of God effectively this week.
Memory-making Days
Last night while walking on my treadmill I had the joy of watching an old family video. Who was that young married couple? I saw our family as it was in the early days. My husband, watching with me said, “We didn’t have much, but the Lord was sure good to us, wasn’t He?” True on both accounts. We had just what we needed, and God proved Himself faithful.
As I watched the taping of our simple little Christmas and also of some ordinary days doing ordinary things I was so thankful that we had this chronicle of our lives on tape.
I would have remembered that we had Christmas that year, but I wouldn’t have remembered all the details of the day as they were recorded for us on that tape. I was encouraged as I sat there to be sure to continue to take pictures of the little things we do. It’s good to video tape the special days and the ordinary ones. It’s fun for me to look back on our daily lives on video and recall the simplicity, the early training days in our girls lives, (my young skin) …so special.
Not every day is Christmas, most days are pretty normal, but I think we should try to add something special to the day. Perhaps do something out of the ordinary at suppertime like making everyone pretend they’re another member of the family while you’re eating your meal. Dad may have to act like he’s mommy. Brother may have to pretend he’s his little sister, and so on. Then record it on tape, if you can. Perhaps you and your children could go visit the library for story time this week. Take a picture of the kids in the circle of children. Take pictures of the children outside in the kiddie pool.
As I relived those early years last night I thought, “We spend our early years making memories and our later years reliving them.” Some day when I’m feeble and not able to get around, my memories will replay over and over in my mind.
Make some memories today.
The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.– Thomas Jefferson
Father’s Day Blessings
This weekend was special because of getting to celebrate the two greatest men in my life – my husband and my dad.
How blessed I am to have had a father that loved me with God’s love. Because of his example I learned of my heavenly Father’s love for me. I learned that I could trust God. I knew that He wanted the best for my life. I knew that He was for me…and I learned these things at my father’s knee. I had high expectations in my husband because of what I saw in my dad. He loved my mom with tenderness, kindness and sweet expressions displayed in everyday life. My dad is one of the most unselfish people I know – always looking to do something for someone else, and desiring never to be a burden to others.
One example of his unselfish spirit was displayed so sweetly this weekend. I got a Father’s Day card in the mail from him! It was a card wishing me all the adventures and happiness I long for. Inside the card was a letter to me from my dad. It was a letter expressing his pride in me as his daughter. It was also a letter of encouragement for a thing he’d like to see me do and expressing his love for me. I cried. What dad would think to send his daughter a letter on Father’s Day? One like my dad. Instead of sitting in his recliner waiting to be served, he got up and served me. That is so like him, and one of many reasons that I love him dearly.
Then the Lord blessed me with a husband that has been an incredible father to our daughters. How many times I’ve seen him cuddle our girls – from the time they were infants and fit into the palm of his hand. Even today when he leaves them it’s with hugs and butterfly kisses. When they were little he’d lie down next to them at bedtime and read to them, often falling asleep before they did. He prays for our girls. How it touches my heart to see him sitting out on the deck in the early morning hours, facing an empty chair in which he sees Christ sitting in front of him. I see his lips moving, I see the tears stream from his eyes as he prays. It’s there that he presents to the Lord his wife and his daughters each day. What more could a wife or daughter want from the head of their home? Absolutely nothing, though I could tell you much more.
I praise the Lord for these men – my father and my husband, and know that I am so very blessed. I pray for men like these for my daughters, and I know that “God is able to do to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” Ephesians 3:20
Mature Love
What a special weekend this has been. On Saturday my husband and I celebrated our 28th anniversary and on Sunday we celebrated Father’s Day. Those are two very special days in my book, celebrating two of the greatest men I have ever known.
Last week my sister told me she’d written in her praise journal that she was thankful for:
- Young love
- Mature love
- Everlasting love
I couldn’t agree more. When my relationship with my husband was new, it was all squishy, full of sighs and emotions. As the years have passed that love has become steady and strong. No longer is it the uphill climb and full of wondering that a new relationship holds. It’s solid. It’s sure. It’s based on God’s everlasting love. Don’t get me wrong – my hubby can make my heart flip in a minute with one of his looks. Emotions are still involved – they’re just not up and down!
I love that now as an “old married couple” we can finish one another’s sentences, or tell what the other is thinking by the look on their face. I love that we can enjoy doing simple things together. On Saturday we enjoyed a cup of coffee and a muffin while listening to some of our favorite songs. That was as much fun (maybe more) than going out. There’s something really special about mature love that we didn’t know existed in our early days, and we realize that if the Lord allows, we will come to understand that in a greater way in the years ahead. When difficulties arise (and they come for every couple), it is so worth it to hang in there, running to the Lord for His help to work through it, rather than bailing out.
Ministry couples don’t have an automatic guarantee on their marriage. We have to work at it just as hard as any other couple. The busyness of ministry can crowd out a close relationship. Children are always a demand on a marriage. Life pushes its way into our schedule and our sinful flesh rises up against us. There has to be a cry to the Lord each day to stay true and faithful, making the relationship strong enough to last the long haul.
It’s also very obvious to me that marriage has to be worked on all through the years. It doesn’t just become set for life after ten years or so. Changes that come cause the need for adjustments to be made. The empty nest adds a new dimension, and adjustment is necessary in order to sail through this phase more in love. I’ve watched couples and I’ve seen that just the natural aging process can put a strain on a marriage. The inability to hear creates a frustration. The fact that after retirement the husband is now home in the middle of what his wife has been doing alone all those years can add some tension. Failing health and the presence of medical bills can add financial strain after living comfortably on their retirement.
What’s the answer? I believe it’s thinking biblically – Philippians 4:8 thinking. “Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.” It’s so easy to think on things that don’t fit into this category, get ourselves worked up over it, then respond with the wrong attitude. “He always…” Always? Really? “I wish my husband was like her husband!” We don’t have a clue what people are like in their private lives, and is it pure thinking to wish our husband was like someone else? We have to line up our thinking with the Truth. I haven’t always done that, and have gotten myself in a tizzy in the process! How much sweeter it is to look at our marriage through the lens of Philippians 4:8!
Twenty-eight years really isn’t that long a time to be married – we’re just getting started. I pray the years ahead will be filled with simple things, mature love, and right thinking ’til death parts us on this world.
Wise or Foolish Tongue
I fight a battle every day. It is a battle with my tongue. How easy it is for me to spill everything I am thinking, tell everything I know, give my insight to the situations around me, or share my feelings about any and everything. Often it’s only after I’ve talked that I remember the wisdom in Proverbs on the tongue.
One passage I’m memorizing and trying to apply is Proverbs 17:27, 28 – “He that hath wisdom spareth his words, and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirt. Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” My interpretation of this passage is, if you want people to think your wise, be quiet! Another quote that had to be taken from this passage is, “It is better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt!”
Wisdom is not talking often. Being quiet, as I Thessalonians 4:11 – “And that you study to be quiet…” – it is a learned thing; it doesn’t come naturally for most of us. Too often I spew off – sharing my thoughts, my disgust, my frustration, my opinion. That kind of temperament is not demonstrating an “excellent spirit” (good character). Even when I feel someone is wrong about something, it is my responsibility to pray for them. If they need to be set straight, God can reveal that to them far better than I can!
So today as I fight the battle with my tongue I pray I’ll do it with my lips closed more than open – revealing wisdom instead of foolishness!
RefreshHer 