"THINGS"

"If we spend all our time focusing on and wanting the things we can't have, we will miss the joys of the blessings of the things we do have".    

--Brenda

MEMORIES?

The past year in my life has been hard.  I'm just gonna be real with you.  It's REALLY been hard.  My parents made the choice to go to assisted living and made the decision for their house to be sold.  This is the house where we moved when I was 13 years old and it was next door to the house where we moved when I was three years old.  You might say that you imagine I was devastated.  I will tell you that I was not.  There were parts of the whole sequence that were very emotional for me.  All of the sequence was exhausting physically and mentally to me.  But devastated?  Not even close.   We emptied the house of soooo much stuff and cleaned it up, listed it, and much more and it got a contract the second day.   Two and a half months after my parents moved, my sister and I sat at the the closing table for this house.  As we each signed our last multiple paper representing our parents, we both got very very teary eyed.  It was a closure of a time.  Simply a closure of a time.  It was the Lord's provision for my parents and His best for them.  Have my memories left with the sale of that house?  Not a chance or at least as long as I keep my "rememberer" as The Grandbaby calls it.   Do my parents accept their decision for this sale?  Nah.  They want everything to be as it was 30 years ago.  I know realism and it can't happen.  Time goes by and time makes a change in everything and everybody.  That's a lesson I've learned.  

The church congregation I've been a part of for 50 years voted to build a new church building several years ago.  I think it was finished about fifteen years ago and we have worshipped in the new place all this time.  The Lord has been in that church with his sweet Spirit, souls have been saved, prayers  prayed and answered, praise given, tears shed, and shouts of joy heard.  Some have been married there, some of had goodbyes said there, and many have been baptized and joined to this congregation.  The new place houses the growth of this congregation.  

Fast forward to today.  The old church building was in much disrepair and the longer it stood, the more that disrepair came.  Today was the day that it was pushed down.  I didn't go watch, I had no need to.  You see my memories are still in my "rememberer".  I was married in that church, yes.  I brought The Girl to that church.   I felt much in that church during the time we were in it, just as I feel in the church building of the same congregation today.  I will say that as I looked at the pictures of the rubble and noticed the front rails, I realized my strongest meaningful memory was a Sunday morning in the cold winter.  I had been recovering from a serious surgery and the Sunday had come that I could return.  The Girl was sick that day so The Husband went to Sunday School then came home to stay with her.  That made me arrive alone a bit late that morning.  I remember standing on the porch, overcome with emotion of thankfulness as I listened to the song being sang by the congregation.  My soul overflowed with peace that the Lord had provided for me to return....not to the church building, but to the church congregation and the Spirit living in them.  I realized it's an odd kind of a memory but then again, maybe not.  I think I felt the same thing in the new building on the day The Girl married The Son-in-Law as I stood in the foyer and listened to the piano playing and I realized yet again how faithful the Lord is in all our lives if we only trust in him.   Overwhelmed by the goodness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

It's not in the building, it's in the heart.  The things of the Lord matter and those things are best felt in the heart.  As for buildings, the BEST house of God will be not made with hands.  

"For if we know that this earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."  2 Corinthians 5:1

I will view THAT building some day....I hope you will, too!

Consider.....

DIFFERENT

Hello again, blog readers!  It appears I am finally off my hiatus or whatever you choose to call my long lapse in posting.    I credit the lapse to multiple, multiple doctors' appointments for the multiple, multiple folks I accompany to the doctor, a mind that is so very full of "stuff" that needs doing, a body that is so weary of doing that "stuff", and just plain simple distraction.  Truth.  It's a rare year when I miss making my Thanksgiving post.  Does that mean I'm not thankful?  No, it's just "different" for me.  My thanks to my Savior for all HIS blessings is just different that I didn't blog voice them this year....the thanks is unchanged and still remains sincere.  Happily, Jesus knows that.  

So here I am again.  Finally.   

The Christmas season held a lot of sickness for those I love most....two cases of covid, one for The Husband and one for The Son-In-Law, and another case of walking pneumonia for The Grandbaby.  They were sick.  In our almost 46 years of marriage, I can never remember The Husband having a fever of 103+.  Now I know he has.   As we say in the South, bless.    Thankfully all are recovered.

I knew after The Parents moving to Assisted Living that this year would be "different" in many ways and I knew probably those who moved would not enjoy it at all.  You see, they don't like "different".   The thing that's hard to understand is that though things SEEM different, the only thing really changed is their location.  And it's a nice, good location.  Their physical and mental healths are "different" now, but the fact that they are my parents remains unchanged.  

I was thinking that is how many things in life are.  Many areas of life have "life" that comes and makes things totally "different" from what we considered normal.  I voiced just yesterday how Covid changed the world those years ago in many ways with that "different" virus that required quarantine and masks and fear.  Now Covid is here and it's not really "different" anymore, just a virus like so many others.  But man did it make life "different"?  For sure.

Faces we love may be absent and that's different, be them moved up to heaven or just absent.  Grocery prices are "different" and that's not good for anybody, but it's still a fact that folks have to eat.  So we either accept the "difference" or we make the "different" okay or better.  

Just remember as this years progresses, we will encounter different daily.  We must remember that often different and change have their places.  Just to prove my thought process, if I keep in mind that if I rolled along just the same day after day after day, I might not have had The Grandbaby in my life.  What a despair that would be!  Sometimes things being "different" allows things to be better!  Different and change is not always for the worse.  

So for this first post of 2025 after my hiatus,  I'm sure I have you totally confused.  Just remember with all the "differents" and "changes", love and blessings and Jesus remain unchanged.  That's the BIG deal!

MY NEW OLD BIBLE

Well for all of you regular readers, you will recall that in the post before the post before this one, I talked about my Bible and the fact I had sent it off for rebinding and recovering.  

First of all let me go back and say that I was wrong.  The purple IS a plum purple.  The repairman called me after he had received my Bible and we discussed my choices.  He relayed that the photo on the website was a lot brighter than the actual leather.  I was okay with that.  Just wanted to clear that up for you who have read the post before the post before this one.  :)

I got notice the Bible was completed and beautiful.  I paid as I promised and the Bible was sent along to me.  It arrived yesterday.  It was amazing to me that when I saw the delivery truck turn in my driveway, my heart got all jumpy and I felt all teary all over again.  It was just an emotional experience for me.  So many things contributing to the emotions.

The Grandbaby was away at the orthodontist's office getting her first braces put on.  The Girl called and said they could come by on their way home.  You see, I don't know if I mentioned that I wanted The Grandbaby and me to open the Bible together.  The Girl and The Grandbaby arrived and I went to get the box.  The rest you can piece together in the next group of photos.  I will tell you it was a wonderfully emotional grateful time.  

 

I like to think The Grandbaby will recall this day when she is older.  I actually told her that it would be a day of two wonderful things....her first braces and my purple Bible!  The note that was enclosed will remain a prayer....

Joy upon joy and just in case you were interested, here's the new braces...

And if you consider repair of your own Bible, you need AA Leather in Florida.......just sayin'.....

A "BLESSED" THOUGHT

You blog readers might recall that written in the first "Gospel"of the Bible's New Testament, there is a portion of scripture called the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount section.  (See Matthew 5:3-10.)

I read this the other day in my devotion and I think if one could add another "Blessed", it might be this one:

"Blessed are you when you trust when you cannot understand. "

Consider.....

MY BIBLE

 I would imagine tradition dictates that every Baptist woman of my age has a goodly number of Bibles.  I have one from my birthing time, one from my baptism, and many for different occasions in my life.  I will always hold on to and treasure them all. 

In this post, I am speaking of the Bible I read on a daily basis.  In fact it's been my most read Bible of the past many years.  I don't even have a given by name or date in it, just my name in my own handwriting so I'm guessing I just bought it for myself.  And if I guess why I bought it for myself, it would be because it is called an "Open Bible" brand AND more importantly, it has BIG print for my aging eyes to read better. 

This Bible is burgundy or deep deep red.  It is a Bible that began to show wear and tear, pages on edged are faded, cover is tearing, and the inside cover had to be taped.  Is this because I've treated it badly?  I can honestly say it is not because of that, it is because I have used it usually daily to read and study.  The inside has some things written I want to remember, notes in the margins, yellow highlighted verses, and so on and so forth.  This Bible is a treasure to me....a true treasure. 

So you see, this Bible is a great treasure of mine.  It's a way that my Heavenly Father speaks to me and leads me and guides me in the paths of righteousness.  Believe me, I 'm still on that path.  It's a long way for me to reach righteousness.  I love my Bible....it comes close to the top of the list right under my family who come right under my Jesus.  

I have longed for a while now and have been saving my $$ for a rebinding of my precious Bible.  I found a company with wonderful reviews and a good plan of mailing and returning so I began to decide specifics and then get a slot.  The inside pages will not be changed, just the outside cover and inner covers.  It was a big decision for me to choose a leather kind and color and extras.  I decided on an unusual color and fixings.  Then I decided to ask the advice of The Grandbaby.  She looked at all of them then she chose the purple.  I'm not talking a plum purple, I'm talking a real purple.  Not lavender, real purple.   I asked her which colors for the 5 ribbons.  Of course it was hot pink, teal blue, purple, and two more that she let me choose, one being gray.

Yesterday, I mailed the Bible away to the rebinding company.  I was surprised at how weird my heart felt as I covered it with Saran Wrap and put it in a plastic ziplock so it wouldn't be ruined if it got wet and then sealed it in the box.   Then as I carried it into the post office, I still felt weird.  I finally realized that the weird was just a bit of sadness that my precious treasure would be gone for two or three weeks.  The attendant asked me about insurance for the package and I decided there wouldn't be enough money to cover the loss.  Then I realized I still had this treasure as the Word was hidden in my heart.  For always.

As for when my Bible returns, it will be purple.  Not plum purple, but purple purple because when I asked The Grandbaby what color she liked and she chose purple, I said, "THAT'S the same color I chose!"  Her eyes lit up like sunshine and she was so excited.  I told her that one day hopefully a long time from now, that would be her Bible as I planned to give it to her.  She could remember that the two of us chose the color and the ribbon colors. 

I will write her a note to go with the Bible when that day comes.  In the note I will tell her that I hope she will always remember that her Neema read and carried this purple Bible.  Not a plum purple, but a purple purple.  And I will write in that note that the scriptures in that purple purple Bible are true, they are comforting, and they are the Words of our precious Savior.  And I will write how much I love Jesus and how much I love The Grandbaby. 

Some day, I pray that purple purple Bible will be The Grandbaby's greatest treasure.....right under her family who are right under HER Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I trust that it will.  God keeps HIS promises, you know?  His Word says so.....

Amen.

PLANNING AND TRUSTING

Yep, it's been almost a month with NO new posts.  Again.  I'm slowing and slowing more and more or so it appears.  I don't really have a lot of wise words, just wanted to share another saying that passed by my way.  You can see it at the end of this uninteresting post.

Since Covid, I've had my sleep apnea test, seen the ENT who I am pretty sure will join the list of my top three favorite doctors, seen my hip PA and gotten x-rayed as I got my foot caught up in my vacuum cord while vacuuming the kitchen pantry.  Lesson number one in this painful event is vacuuming a kitchen pantry is very overrated and lesson two, of course, is to not tangle your foot in the vacuum cord....or any cord.  Luckily for this event, I realized my head was headed toward the corner of the desk for a direct hit and I put my right hand out to avoid that.  Yes, the right hand still has a bit of swelling on the top above my wrist but it was a great weapon from a head hit.  The force from that hand hitting the corner of the desk pushed me back into the vintage padded den chair that fortunately has a home by my desk in the kitchen.  Even at that, it was a forceful hit with much soreness and a residual bad pain that I feared might be my non-bionic hip.  Happily, the hip in not much worse than the last X-ray a year and a half ago and sadly, the pain is thought to come from my back.  I will begin a new relationship this afternoon with physical therapy and it's joys that I am confident will be positive for me.    As for the ENT, yes, there's a mechanical problem so I'm not making it all up.  The simply remedy is continuing for 23 more days before my sinuses get a CT.  Let's just say that I have the cleanest nose in this household.   If I'm going to practice what I preach to my elder relatives, I have to follow physician's instructions completely.  I'm gonna do it!

So truly all that was just to take up space in this post and is meaningless to you.  My mind is just weary of too much thinking.  So to share my saying I have heard and will commit to my memory....

The more one knows about the Planner, the more he can trust the Plan.

Mull that one over a bit in your mind and heart.  I like it!

Consider....

MORE WISE WORDS

 Just sharing a truth from this morning's devotion:

"Fair weather faith is not faith at all."

My mind processed that and I realized it was truth.

Consider....

COVID LESSONS

Ah, yes, another learning time for me....uh huh, covid abode in my body.  I will say that on my day 8, I'm FINALLY feeling more normal.  My covid actually came on the heels of my two sinus infections in three months so I think the residual now is the covid symptoms aggravating the faulty sinuses.  So, in a nutshell, from my neck up, I feel normal.  I have seen an allergist in the past couple of weeks pre-covid and found that I'm allergic to nothing.  Nothing.  So next stop is an ENT to find out what kind of fault is in my sinuses.  Now that covid has come and almost gone, my fine watery left eye is again red and watery.  Did I say I had a partially blocked tear duct before the first sinus infection of the past three months?  In case I didn't, the opthomologist put his ice pick looking gizmo in the corner of my eye and probed and then washed all that out with a syringe attached to a small tube.  Not fun.  So here I am again, looking all watery in the left eye and feeling still pretty weak.   It was me, my Lysol and my Covid for a few days,

So for lessons....hmmmm...

I got the covid directly from my dad whom I took to the doctor ten days ago because he called me panicked because he was real sick.  At doctor's office he tested positive for covid.  Uh huh.  I actually was around him the day before that as I had to take my mom for labs and that was a very long long stressful day and I was interacting with my dad during part of it.  And did I say?  My mom came down with it two days later and I came down with it two days and twelve hours later.  My parents quarantined in their room at their assisted living home.  So I learned what I knew already and you might not know, so I will share.  NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED.

I quarantined in my small bedroom.  No, I don't live in a large house but just big enough.  The Good Husband moved my 25+ year old recliner to the bedroom and I spent 4 days there.  Sick.  Again, I knew this but was reminded.....MANY 25+ YEAR OLD RECLINERS ARE THE MOST COMFORTABLE. 

There were multiple calls for me from the medical people at my parents' home.  Problems to be addressed and managed from home, but I endured.  AGING PARENTS ARE REALLY NOT GONNA CHANGE ATTITUDES.  IT IS WHAT IT IS, EVEN IF YOU ARE SICK, TOO.

After I got past day 5, I was certain I was on the upward swing.  Then on day 7, I felt terrible again.  DON'T GET COCKY TOO QUICK.  SENIOR ADULTS CAN TAKE LONGER TO RECOVER WHEN THEY REACH SENIOR STATUS...OR AT LEAST SOME CAN.

I am very weak still and will still need a nap or two but I do know that I am grateful for a good husband who has been caring for me and very patient.  It's easy to be when you are rooms apart but even lately since I'm back in the "real' part of the house, he sees and pays attention to the fact that I am not my normal looking self.  Boy, I must look really scary.  GOOD HUSBANDS ARE A BLESSING.

As I didn't get to go to church yesterday as I planned to do....was gonna sit in the back alone, masked....I watched online and heard a wonderful song service and sermon.  Normally, we all have our favorite songs and a lot of older people enjoy "In the Garden" and I don't dislike it at all, it's just not one I sing when my heart sings.  Yesterday it was led as a congregational song and as I sat in my kitchen recliner with the computer in my lap, watching and listening, something about that song made my already sinus watery eyes water more and fall on my cheeks while my already snotty nose got snottier....and I didn't even mind.  It said, "And He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am his own.  And the joys we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known."  Sweet.

The sermon was given by one of our much loved and much humble ex-pastors.  I missed seeing him in person but I loved the message with the title of "ALL".  He said a lot that I won't go into but he did quote a scripture that I loved that comes from Paul's writings in one of my favorite NT letters, Philippians 4:8 and it goes like this, ".....whatsoever things are pure,  whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report.....think on these things".  That's great advice.

So another week begins.  In our house, we are washing hands, covering mouths, and working to a full recovery eventually.  You wash and cover and stay away from Covid.  It's a booger.

Consider..... 

OLD SPOONS

I have not always had my obsession with old spoons.  I acquired this obsession a few years back when The Mother-In-Law moved to heaven.  As some of her goods were being shared among her children, I found myself looking at a small spoon and couldn't seem to get away from it.  It was a simple spoon and had "Kennestone Hospital"  etched on the end of the handle.  Now since The MIL birthed five babies and had numerous kidney stones with all babies acquired and kidney stones un-acquired at Kennestone Hospital, I was somehow drawn to this spoon.  She either came by it honestly....or not so much.  Either way, you guessed it!  That spoon is now mine.  Not only that but when I eat my oatmeal in the mornings, it's one of the two spoons I use.  Somehow it just makes me happy.  Guess it doesn't take much in this season of life to make me happy.  

Now we fast forward several years.  The Mother knew of my obsession with old spoons and I found one in her silverware drawer.  The Mother and The MIL were a bit different.  The Mother had many more spoons than the MIL.  The Mother just enjoyed buying things and silverware was not exception.  Knowing my "obsession" with spoons, The Mother told me I could have it.  I gladly took it and now I interchange it with The MIL's spoon when I eat my oatmeal.  It's a tradition for me.  Maybe it keeps me in touch with my very loved MIL. 

A few months later, The Mother asked me if I would like to have an old box of silverware of her mama's.  Of course, I said yes and brought it home to live in my china cabinet drawer.    I began to think of those this morning as I ate my oatmeal with the Kennestone Hospital spoon and felt compelled to share.

Here's the goods I have:

The MIL's spoon is on the far right, The Mother's are the other three.  Look at those!  Aren't they beautiful?  The next photo is the wonderful box that the set of silverware is kept.  The silverware doesn't match but I don't care.  Notice that the set is a 24 piece service for 6.   Then notice how the silverware is described....highly polished, longer wearing, needs no polishing, and non corroding.  Now I was thinking that this silverware is probably 100 years old, at least.  It was described as "smart" and "serviceable".  And look at that home economics consultant....wasn't she classy looking?  

I thought of all the times, obviously from the age and use of these, that a family was fed.  Most likely fed food that was grown and processed by the parents.  The times of these humble people were hard times.  This silverware was prized.  How do I know this?  Because the box is still in magnificent shape and probably housed the treasures.  

In the bottom of the box was a guarantee.  Not only a guarantee, but a fancy looking guarantee,

So all this is well and good, you might say, but where is she going with this?  I was thinking of commonalities that I can have with this silverware.  There are many but one is I want to stand the test of time successfully.  Yep.  I want to not corrode and shine with a shine that is a positive joy.  Yep, that's part of it.  

I offer you food for thought in this post.  So enjoy the thought food.  You might even look in the "silverware drawer of your spirit" and eat the food with one of those spoons.  The taste is endlessly delicious!  It's guaranteed.....

Consider.....