For Such A Worm As I

Joining the FMF group for a great word: protect .       Protect.  The word inspires so much in me. Today especially as I reflect on my Grandmother's short life of 86 years.  She went to be with her (and my) Savior, Jesus Christ two years ago today.     The Grandmother was a great example of protector.  At 80, she faced bringing her husband, my grandfather, home from the hospital after he experienced a debilitating stroke.  Hospital personnel said that she should put him in a veteran's home 60 miles away, but she was loyal to him and to the promise she had made to him 62 years earlier "til death do us part".  It was certainly no easy task as she had the carpet changed out for a shorter shag (easier for pushing a wheelchair on), and rearranged the furniture in almost every room of the house in order to make it easier for caring for him and to fit in the new hospital bed and lift chair.     The Grandmother also was...

  Recently Kyrie got some music that we used to listen to as a family when we were kids.  The singers, Harvest , made up a contemporary Christian group from the late seventies to early nineties.  It has been so wonderful to hear those dear songs again and, more importantly, to actually understand the words!  Before, I listened to them as a kid and sang along with some of the words, but now they actually mean something to me in my relationship with Christ Jesus.   This morning as I was working alone in the kitchen Kyrie had put on the music and I was struck by the words to their song "It's Alright Now".  "I remember the times I felt Your hand upon me, Lord   I thought that I would never rise again   For Your Spirit had broken the pride in my heart   I knew that I needed to make a new start   I wanted to feel Your love and know You cared   So I fell upon my knees and prayed, "Forgive me, Lord.   For livin' my life without Yo...

After many weeks of inactivity, I rejoin my FMF fellow-writers for some words on Rest.... Start:   My body is weary, my eyes are heavy.  I've gotten in bed too late two nights in a row and it's my own fault.    But I was just having too much fun with my dear friends and cousins during our back-to-back sleepover parties as we try to get in as much visiting as possible before they have to return to their home.     Yes, my physical self is weary and it makes my heart problems worse, too.     No, I don't have a medical condition you should be concerned about.  I just have some of the woes and problems brought on from living in a sin-tainted world.     I'm weary with a nine-month long inner struggle over a particular matter, an emotional roller coaster that has had me laughing and crying repeatedly.  I've been pained over it and blessed by it and have no idea what my part is to do with it now!   I keep turning t...

  "Do you want to be a cat?"   "Do I want to be a cat?" I repeated, making sure I had heard correctly.   "Mmhmm." The seriousness in the olive green eyes of my five year old friend told me that I had.  It wasn't the first time during babysitting that day that I had encountered the delightfulness of the child's "adult ideas"-free mind.  At other points, I had just had to laugh, wishing I could be recording the words and thoughts to share with someone later, (how many times I wished Kyrie was there for me to share a look and a laugh with!) but this was different.  Olive was serious and I needed to give this answer more than a chuckle.   "Well...." I thought for a moment.  Olive's three year old sister now looked up from the coloring book she was working on.  "No," I said slowly. "I don't think so.   'Cause if I was a cat, I would miss out on knowing alot of the wonderful people I know."   The ans...

Dear Lydia,   I woke up this morning with your "honey sticks" and hot tea on my mind.  How hospitable you were to the lot of us on Sunday mornings who would file into your home, drink your hot beverages, and discuss the Word of God!  I thought of those tall, Styrofoam cups of hot water steeping one of your gourmet tea bags and your generosity in letting us make ourselves at home in your kitchen, picking out a slender, plastic envelope of tantalizingly-diverse-colored honeys to empty into the hot liquid.    How well your kettle worked!  Often I would sit holding my cup, glancing at it between comments around the circle, and watch the steam rise for almost half the class time, only to down the sufficiently-cooled drink as quickly as possible at class's end so as not to be late to church.   You mean so much to me.  All those mornings spent pouring over the Scriptures as a class, all those weekdays learning from your skilled hands  & knowledg...

  Teaming up with Kate Motaung and the bunch at http://katemotaung.com/2016/04/28/five-minute-friday-pass/ .   It's been far too long and I just couldn't pass up today's word: Pass. Go:    Recently my family has encountered many different media with emphasis on witnessing, Scripture memory, and the persecuted church.  As a result, I've had many thoughts and prayers swirling inside my heart.    One of the biggest players in the emphasis on the persecuted church has been a set of DVDs my Mother purchased for our family to watch together called Dispatches from the Front by Dr. Tim Keesee.    Dr. Keesee is a Christian journalist who travels to the world's difficult places meeting with missionaries in those areas and getting to see what the Lord is doing in those nations.  It has been truly encouraging to see just a small part of what the Lord has been doing behind the scenes.  (I say behind the scenes, because most...

 “I wan’ you ta hol’ me!”     My little student’s nasally words were hard to refuse.  “We’re fixing to say the pledges, so I need to you stand up here by me, okay?” I whispered into his ear, my cheek brushing his smooth brown hair.   Not even a minute passed before it came again: “I wan’ you ta hol’ me!” His big, brown eyes below distressed eyebrows made my heart melt.   “I want to, too, but we can’t right now.  We’re fixing to sing.”   Briefly, in the bedlam that constitutes my church’s Awana song time, little Claude forgot his desire.  But seconds later as I stood there facing the big screen, singing and clapping, he came to stand in front of me with the plea again.  His desire was one I would have gladly granted had it not hindered his need to learn discipline, patience, and maturity--and mine to employ it.      There’s a time and place for everything, but after I’d gotten home from church, I wondered i...