When People Don't

Ecclesiastes 10:7 "I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking like servants upon the earth."

Many things happen in this world, some make sense; some things don't. Of late I read an article about two people who had been married twenty years that were going their separate ways. It was poignant. It  gave the distinct impression that one of the people in the separation wasn't happy about it. Resigned would be the word I'd use.

Change: The More Things Change The More They Stay the Same~

The one writing the farewell began by stating: I know I'm not easy to live with...
Well, well in all truth and honesty--who is? I'm asserting that each one of us has faults, defects, frailties--you get the idea. Since no one is perfect, no one is 'easy to live with'. Granted, some are easier to live with than others, but there is more often than not, a period of adjustment.

The impression I got, was one person of the duo was resigned to becoming single, and the other person had things they wanted to do i.e. "I'm happy for you that you'll be going back to further your education". What? You mean that to go back to college requires you to leave your mate of twenty years behind? We understand how callous that is when men begin families then leave them behind for something and someone new. That's shallow and callous.

Do we ever outgrow the people we love? Should we ever outgrow the people we love?

 I have a feeling that in the case of the original couple the 'she' of the pair at least thought she wanted something different. Maybe it was the 'change of life' syndrome. Both men and women have those 'changes', by the way. In the case of this 'she', it sounded like a syndrome of the grass is greener somewhere else. The answer in that case is, the grass is always greener where you water it.

There were three comments. The one summed it up in a short comment--Quitters, you couldn't have tried a little harder? Of course we don't know all the circumstances, but after twenty years where was the disconnect--and couldn't they have looked for it? But it takes two in a relationship. If one half isn't interested it doesn't work.

We all grow and change. I've been a lot of places, seen a lot of things in my life, but I will always be me. The people I love will always be in my heart. I don't intend to trade them in for something more green. I loved my grandparents and my in-laws. We tried to do for them as much as we could. As my husband and I grew older our house often was the spot for the Thanksgiving meals, and Christmas meals, and birthdays. Wherever we went we took them along.With each of their passing a part of my life went with them. I've wrapped it up in a neat little place in my heart.

But I wish I had known several things when I was in my younger years that I've discovered with aging.

• I've discovered, there are things I can't do. And I won't ask someone else to do it. One of the side notes is--it isn't I wouldn't let someone do it for me, or at least help, but if people don't care enough to be in my life to find out what I need, I'm not going to ask them.
• I've discovered that the family I thought was the greatest family on earth--isn't.
• I've discovered that all of us, as we go through life never do the things we want. Sure, we try to do the right things, but trying isn't accomplishing, and life is not easy. Modern life is horrible on families--even the greatest family on earth. 
• I've discovered to be kind. Many people would do better--see last discovery. I've apologized profusely for not getting enough done, even though the Good Lord knows I really wanted to, because I love, and have loved my family so much. 
• I've discovered that, just as the ex-pro football player said, there is no amount of fame in your younger life that makes up for being forgotten when you're older.

 2Corinthians 1:3  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; 4)  who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."
                              Hallelujah, what a Savior. 

Who Will Be Your Leader?

In life we have leaders and followers. Leaders in all walks of life. What makes a good leader?  Maybe even who makes a good leader? I would like to look at some of the leaders we find in the scriptures through a series of posts. 

Years ago, I read a book, One Straw Revolution, written by a Japanese man by the name of Manasobu Fukuoka. It has been so long ago I don't remember a lot of it, but one part resonated with me, and I will rephrase it since the wording seemed somewhat questionable, the gist was most people if given their choice of the type of ruler (leader) would choose the guy that wee's by the side of the road. Or, in my way of thinking an unassuming type of fellow that allows people to be free.


Moses as a young man sets out to save his fellow Israelites. He was raised as the son of Pharoh's daughter in the palace, but his own mother had been paid to nurse him after Pharoh's daughter found him in the little boat and drew him 'out of the water'. He probably was in his parents' care until he was five years old. During the important formative years.

However, at the age of forty he is out and about where he sees an Egyptian beating and Israelite. He comes to the aid of the Israelite, and the Egyptian dies. The next day he tries to separate two Israelites who are fighting. And this is what happens:

 Exodus 2:13  "And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men of the Hebrews were striving together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? 14)  And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?"

What a shock to poor Moses. Here he thought God had a purpose for him to be a helper for God's people. He was trying to help them to be 'free'. And what's more, Pharoh was after him now. So he fled to a land far away. A land called Midian. Moses liked Midian. It was peaceful and quiet. He liked the sheep, The sheep liked him. He was given a wife. He had food, lodging, a wife, and sheep. What more could he want? What more could he ask?

Then God appears to him in the burning bush with a mission. And Moses says to God:
Exods 4:13  And he said, Oh, Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.

Basically Moses says, thanks, but no thanks, God. Find someone else to lead your people. Moses had seen the heart of these people all he wanted to see, back when the two Hebrews were striving together.

Moses didn't desire money, power, or prestige. You couldn't give him anything that would make him desire the role of leading these people out of the land of Egypt.  But God still said, GO-- and he went. Not for money, nor for gain, but for God.
Hallelujah. What a Saviour.

When I Was a Child

The short video clip shows a woman in a grocery store pushing the cart. It's an advertisement for something, and after a short spiel the camera shot widens out to show a small child helping himself from the shelf. He has chips and some other child type item in his arms. Now, as he anticipates his mother's rejection of his choices, a tantrum look begins to appear on his face. However, as some of these clips are meant to do, the adult in the clip heads him off at the water fountain.

The woman throws herself down on the grocery store floor and begins to pitch the mother of all tantrums. The child, wide eyed and open mouthed stands aghast, plastered against the shelf, as his mother kicks and screams with abandon.  After a decent tantrum she picks herself up, walks back to her cart--the child puts his selections back on the shelf--and they walk on down the aisle together as if nothing had ever happened.

Funny--right?

It's like many things, funny on the stage or in the movies, but not always in real life.

For instance, a husband and wife that have been married, oh, say ten years give or take a few years. That's long enough to have made a decent start on a life together, perhaps they have begun to purchase a house, or a property, a car or two, maybe they have one or more children. Now one of them decides, you know what, I don't feel fulfilled. Or maybe they've fallen out of love. They decide to walk away from where they are--to just leave it all behind.

Well, now, let's just throw ourselves down on the grocery store floor and have a tantrum. It isn't just that when a couple goes through a divorce they both will lose everything, but what about the baggage?

As a couple unites in marriage they begin to bring their lives together, as it would seem, each person begins to put a little bit from themselves (and their previous single lives) into the pot. The scriptures tell us that a man and wife become one flesh, and studies show how literal that is. But it goes inside and out from bonding with each other, to buying things together, working for mutual good each for the other...So many things that can't be listed. That doesn't even cover the children that are brought into the picture. And now we're going to tear it all apart? Not real easy you aren't.

There are other ways adults can throw tantrums in relationships. It most often includes a healthy dose of self. At one time, back in the day when my daughter's daughter was a two-year old or prone to the throwing self on the floor stage, my daughter asked me, "Mom, do you think I ever look like that to God?"

I laughed. I'm sure not just my daughter, but everyone has those moments when we look like that. It causes me on occasion to take a deep breath and look at me.

1Corinthians 13:11 "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. 12)  For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known."

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

To Have

From this day forward, I take this person to be...
Nothing appears to be sacred any more. People run through life looking only for what makes them happy. If it doesn't make them happy it is thrown on the trash heap with how many items of broken dreams and broken promises?

Broken dreams and broken promises most often go together. True it is that sometimes things just don't work out consequently you end up with broken dreams, but often it comes about because of another person's failure.

When I was young even though my upbringing was not religious we were in some way belivers in the Golden rule.

 Mattew 7:12  "All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophets."

Or as in our shortened view: Do unto others as ye would have them do unto you.

In the mid-80's it became: Do unto others before they do unto you. With the idea of getting the other guy before he gets you. The difference in the two philosophies is an upside down society, an upside down world.

Here are some ideas for changing our world back from the precipice that it is wavering on:

• Be real-- Don't put on a face. This means you are who you are. Romans12:9  "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good."
• Strive to not just do right, but to be right. 1Peter 1:22  "Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently:" (unfeigned=unpretended)
• Remember the principles taught by Paul here in Acts and try to follow them: Do not covet another persons' money, possesions or good fortune: Acts 20:33 "I coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel."  
• Do minister to your own needs, and in such a way as to help others: Acts 20:34 "Ye yourselves know that these hands ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me."  
• Follow good examples, again helping the weak, and less fortunate: Acts 20:35 "In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."
• Try to do good unto others and live peaceable lives:  Romans 12:18 "If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men."
• Lastly, realize that the scripture says--"If it be possible...and as much as in you lieth". You should strive to never be the cause of a problem, but there are some people that will not live peaceable with you. 2Timothy 4:14 "Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord will render to him according to his works: 15) of whom do thou also beware; for he greatly withstood our words." 

Broken dreams and broken promises--it isn't always possible to avoid these happenings, but by living the way we need to live ourself we can minimize the chance of it happening. By encouraging others to live right and do right we make our society better one life at a time.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Praise God

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It works both ways. On days when we think we have all the answers, as well as the days when there seem to be no answers. Praise God who is in control in all situations.

De Nile

When I first came to this town I couldn't walk and I was bald--
You've really recovered...what did you have?
Have? I was born here...

Life: It comes when we are most unprepared for it.
It isn't the birth date, nor the day you die that matters--it's the dash in between. 
 How many cliches are there about life and the living thereof?
One that comes to mind, and has done so for quite a few years is Psalms 37:25
          "I have been young, and now am old;"
I began muttering this quote quite early in my later life--about forty years old, I believe. It often came at times when I was struggling with something. It Could have been tiredness, or something foolish my children did or said. It could have been something I observed in society around me.

When I go to Face Book many of my aquaintances will post sayings. Some are by famous people I do know, some are by famous people I don't know, and some are by virtual unknowns. Wisdom doesn't always come from the places we expect.

Matthew 21:16  "and said unto him, Hearest thou what these are saying? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea: did ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou has perfected praise?"

As in the  story of the semi-truck that got caught under a low bridge. There were police, and all sorts of people trying to figure out what to do. A child watching the goings on piped up--"Why don't they just let the air out of the tires?"

At times the solution may be just that simple, however, the farther away from morality we go the more we are like a top at the end of its rotation, the more we wobble.

I like to laugh. I like to be peaceful, and encouraging, yet like the phrase from Patrick Henry's speech that goes, "Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace." My spirit within me is troubled. It can't rest because of issues buffeting my mind.

I was told quite a number of years ago that my children should do quite well on logical thinking tests. I questioned that opinion having witnessed some of their--happenings that they happened to do. Howbeit, on these type of tests they did score quite well, and perhaps some of the results from their happenings may have helped their quality of logical thinking.

Recently a problem was brought to the front of a discussion on the difference between a 'fact, and an opinion', and the teaching thereof to children. The crux of the matter under discussion is that in our schools children are being taught that there are no moral absolutes. I was surprised when I came across this article on a website, and there is a link to it:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator/2015/03/02/why-our-children-dont-think-there-are-moral-facts/

 ***
 This is just the beginning of a medium length article that shows how we as parents have been lulled into sleep. For years we have turned our children over to 'experts' to give them a good education, only to find that the good education we thought they were receiving--they didn't and aren't. Where did we go wrong? And further, what can we do to change this problem?

In perusing history there are many factors to the problem. It may be any one component, but most likely is several of them rolled together.

• parents gave up (either willingly or were forced to give up) part of their responsibility.
• became too busy and let the experts take over their primary job
• believed the lie that they should let someone else teach their children, because they weren't smart enough
• lost most of their local control through consolidations ie. one room school houses went to town schools, town schools went to several towns together, schools, and so forth (now we're looking at large districts)

• parents got lost in the shuffle, and don't know what to do next

History will tell us that at one time this nation was built upon individual strong families.  These families overwhelmingly exemplified strong moral character and convictions. Now our families are falling apart, our society is falling apart, and our nation is perched on the edge of sliding into the drain.  It began with the idea that the father wasn't a necessary component in a family. It has ended with the idea that all that is really necessary is for a woman to be impregnated, give birth, then drop the offspring off at a care center.

Here is an aside, I have the best family there ever could be. My boys married beautiful talented girls--who smile at their mother-in-law, and humor me. After repeating directions to one of my lovely girls, as how to prepare a certain meal she told me I had already passed that information along. She had tried and enjoyed it. Some people would have been embarrassed to have repeated them self, but not me. I told her most people don't listen the first time I tell them something--matter of fact most people don't listen the first ten times I tell them something.

Yes, for years I've been telling people--women mostly--you're going the wrong way. Turn around, and turn to the way God tells you to do things. It used to be a pet peeve when people would say things such as, well the Bible really doesn't say I can't do it my way/this way. Even amongst people who should be disciples of Jesus, they are so determined to do it their own way.

Why have I become so much more vocal? Because I see a great evil. Parents who want to rear their own families in their own Godly way, and a government that is determined to take and teach our children to be godless, immoral pawns of a godless antichrist organization.  If adults don't stop acting like spoiled children, spoiled adults who WILL do what they want instead of following Christ—it may already be to late. Of course we know God wins in the end, but we are not God. Individuals can still lose, and those who have inadvertently sold themselves to the devil will garner his wages.

Is there any encouragement here? Well, God does win, and it is always right to do the right thing.

Revelation 20:12  "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13)  And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."
Hallelujah. What a Savior.

What Are You Looking For?

I enjoy Christmas holidays. It's the time of year when you have permission to be a child again. For quite a number of years now people have decried the commercialism of the holidays--Christmas especially, and rightly so. The response to Christmas runs the gamut from those who point out 'we don't know what time of year Jesus was born' to the other side of the spectrum, where little people are encouraged to 'tell Santa what you want'.

Quite a few years ago I was looking for a Christmas gift, and while I was perusing a table with items on it snow globes caught my eye, and I stopped to look. A snowglobe, is an encapsulated world. The object encased may be just about anything. A pretty house, a Santa, a snowman...encased in a world of water. When you shake the globe bits of 'snow' fly up and swirl around as if it's in a snow storm. Then they settle down and all is peaceful again.

In a way our world is like a snow globe on a large scale. However, unlike the snow globe, our world is not static. It doesn't stay the same. Time and tide wait for no man--just as the saying goes.

Several yeas ago someone in my family told me of a movie--Groundhog Day from 1993. It's story line is about a self-centered man that replays Groundhog day over and over, until eventually he gets it right--so to speak. Like the snow globe his world was somewhat static. The same things always happened, the people were always the same. Time was rewound daily like a cuckoo clock, and people were like cardboard cut outs in his days.

While our days do not replay day after day, many lives follow the same patterns day after day. Some astute people ask--'What am I here for? What is my purpose in this life?' They go about searching for their destiny, as it were looking for meaning for their existence.


Sometimes we can over analyze. We can get so wrapped up looking for the purpose in something --our life included--that we miss the chance to live.  In the movie 'It's A Wonderful Life', the main character, George Bailey, goes through his life doing the mundane duties that come before him. In the crucial moments when the chips are down, he feels like a failure. That's where Clarence the angel comes in to show him how wrong he is.

Jeremiah 1:5  "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations."

This scripture tells us that God had a purpose for Jeremiah. He had that purpose before Jeremiah was even conceived. God has a purpose for each person conceived. Everyone doesn't have the same duty, but our intrinsic purpose is to glorify God and to do His will. What God calls us to do may not be --in the eyes of the world--awe inspiring. It may not be anything that will cause people to sing our name in amazement and praise. However, we aren't looking for our purpose for being famous, just our purpose, and the words famous and purpose do not have the same meaning.

We do God (and our self) a disservice by confusing the two words. I prefer working quietly, doing my own tasks away from the crowd, away from notoriety. That isn't how everyone else wants to do their own work. With some, the applause is their reward.

At one time, for instance, the task of a good wife was to take care of her home and family. The task of a good husband was to provide for his wife and family. The two were supposed to work as a team taking care of their family's needs, physically and spiritually. This was their duty. This was their purpose. In the long run society benefited because the results were that the next generation raised from this environment was for the most part, good adults.

No one stood up and applauded the men and women for doing the mundane duties of raising families and caring for each other. Then it became blase to do what any dull and uneducated person could do, and more spectacular for the younger women to find jobs outside of the home. They received more applause, more of a sense of purpose--but did this fill the purpose place in their lives?

There are a number of lies Satan tells us, and women are especially vulnerable to these lies.We want to feel wanted/needed, loved, and important. When we bring home a paycheck we can show others that we have value. Without that slip of paper, Satan whispers to us that we aren't valuable. Society and sometimes husbands think of stay at home wives as somehow less valuable. For example more than once I have heard women talking of a mutual friend in this light: "Yes, she's just a stay at home mother, raising their children. What a waste, she's so smart and talented..." --What a waste? Who's better to raise her own children, teaching them what God would have them learn? A daycare worker who doesn't love them, or care about them?

Here's another one. A talk show host --supposedly a Christian--is fielding a call from a woman who wants to know about how he raised his daughter, and her role as a wife and mother. The woman obviously had the impression that he had the same revelation that tells Christian wives to 'love their husbands, and children, and be keepers at home' from the type of questions she asked him. His response was classic. "I don't want her sitting at home all day watching Oprah."

Well, there you have it. Stay at home moms just sit around all day and watch Oprah, and other television shows. This could come as a shock to people, not just men who have no clue, but all sorts of clueless people, but for most of my adult life (and younger life as well) for long stretches of time I either haven't had a t.v., or I chose not to watch it at all, and I've been a homekeeper mom while doing so for over forty years.  I've taught my children many good things during their pre-school years. I read to them, baked kitchen things, played games, took walks, taught them gardening, husbandry, and loved them--and did I mention read to them?

The point is that our purpose is first to find out what the will of God is for us, then do it. I wasn't original with that, I believe it was Baroness Maria Von Trapp that I saw as being credited for that statement. The second point is our purpose is to glorify God. If on this mission he gives us glory be that as it may, if not--so what? Third point is that like a secret agent, our mission is often done quietly in such a manner so as not to draw undue attention to self. It isn't the flamboyant person that is the most successful, it's the person like George Bailey, who does what they find to do at hand. It isn't an earthly paycheck, or the earthly accolades that will fill the 'purpose place' in a person's character. 


**Titus 2:4  "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5)  To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."