A few years ago we got a new refrigerator. It was time for the old one to go.
The problem was how to keep the door of the old one so I could treasure it always, but still have the new one installed...
From the time that our grandkids were old enough to stand, I had used a sharpie on the door of the refrigerator and in tiny letters wrote their name and the date, with a small line to measure where the top of their heads ended.
For years, they would come in, quickly take off their shoes and say 'measure me mimi'. I've never seen such straight spines, as they stretched to the highest possible place for their new mark. The little lines were sometimes just a hair above the last time they measured, but we recorded it all there anyway. Once in awhile I had to tell them to get those heels back on the ground!
When the guy from Lowe's installed the new one, it even made him sad. He said 'we can remove the door and you can keep it'...
I didn't, and it's gone, and so are those years...
Flash forward to right now, and each of those kids are making their own marks, maybe not on the refrigerator door, but in their own lives.
I pray that they will stand tall as each new chapter comes their way, with straight spines and heels firmly planted!
By now you know that I am a PK... a preacher's kid.
Many years ago, my dad started a ministry of teaching about prayer to pastors and church leaders, called College of Prayer. His ministry was always about prayer, everything else too, but prayer was #1...
I have always felt that he didn't really see the results or 'the promised land', of his life's work during his own lifetime. He prayed and taught and studied about prayer for so many years, sometimes to a few, sometimes to a large group. There were results, yes, but later...
He went to heaven in 2001, and since he has been in heaven, the work of his lifetime here, has thrived and grown. In a recent email from Fred Hartley, pastor in Atlanta who dad mentored and loved, and who has continued the work dad began... College of Prayer...
Here's what it said:
"We now have over 100 established and developing campuses of the College of
Prayer spanning over 35 countries around the world reaching over 20,000
Christian leaders!"...
It was my dad's heart. God is the one who planted it there. It was always His work.
My dad loved to pray. He knew that the answers for everything we face are to be found in prayer. He also knew that christians need to fully understand what power there is in prayer, backed by the promises of God.
Why am I sharing this?
It's so clear to me as I read this email today, that God's work is never wasted. What dad was faithful in living out, God has since multiplied, many times over.
The other reason is to share that one more time I see the difference between my timeline and God's bigger picture. It was God's work in my dad, and it's still God's work... on and on it goes. When the work is from God, the results are His, so is the timing, and there is never any waste.
My dad never questioned that, and his daughter is reminded again today that I am to be faithful in what He has asked me to be, and the results are His to accomplish... in His way and in His time.
Every day something happens during my day that triggers thoughts of something more than the situation, often it is many times each day. I wonder if it is God's 'love language' at work in me? His way of teaching me. He knows how I think, and I seem to always be prompted to see a different side to something... His side.
Example...
An ambulance always jumps my mind to the brevity of life, and how quickly eternity is coming.
A rude person is a reminder that I am NOT to be the same in return, and that the person involved may not know God. Do they see a different reaction when it's my turn to choose rude or kindness?
A rare animal photo or documentary on how animals survive, reminds me of the amazing limitless unfathomable God who created every species with their own unique way of living, surviving, eating, caring for their young. That thought usually takes me a little further, to the person who thinks all of that happened with one big bang, and reminds me for about the 1000th time, that it would be harder to believe that theory than to trust that there is a God who created all of it. I digress...
A child who looks at their parents with eyes reflecting unwavering certainty that they are loved... reminds me of the way God wants me to look at Him, trusting, uncomplicated by the mind or emotion that wants to throw a curve into that simple truth... He loves me, always!
See what I mean?
Maybe it's as simple as being His child, and that His thoughts are not only formed in us, but strengthened and developed as we grow, so that our thoughts are becoming more about His, and it affects everything we say, do and think.
Even as I write this, I'm thinking, duh... this is exactly how it's supposed to be, we are 'being transformed by the renewing of our minds'.
It hasn't always been like that for me, but in looking back, I can see how my heart has changed through the years. Having gone off on my own tangents far too many times, and seen how quickly I can revert to running my own show and calling all the shots, the difference between me and God in charge, is... everything.
We are works in progress, but the key word has to be progress... if I'm not moving forward, I'm standing still and quickly moving backward.
So as we go about our daily lives... it's so good to know that all the while He is shaping and changing us, so that even our thoughts, or maybe even especially our thoughts, are being fine tuned by God Himself.
Lately, I've seen some of the comments I've left on your blogs, AFTER I punched 'publish'.
Too late...
I have a sticky keyboard problem, the keys are starting to skip or miss, so a smart person, who knows this is happening, should double check everything she writes. Do I?
Not so far...
This reminds me though, in the bigger picture of life, that 'hitting it a lick' is never as good as double checking yourself, especially in the areas where we know there is a weakness.
My dad always used to say... 'a thing worth doing, is worth doing well'.
God's word speaks to this too.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as
working for the Lord, not for human masters... Col.3:23
One of those quick little thoughts that God uses to instruct me in my daily life.
If you notice a omment from me, and it doesn't quite look inished... please know that I am addressing the problem, on the keyboard and in my daily life. :)
Do you ever watch PBS TV when they bring the groups of singers from the 1950's and 60's? Some are newly formed, but most of them are the original groups.
I love to watch. First of all, I can sing along in perfect tune, remembering every word. We grew up with that music, we sat and listened to it until we knew how to sing it like they did. We were yesterday's karaoke contenders.
Second... I am captivated as I watch those in the tv audience.. they are just like me, they sing along, and they remember the songs, all of them, word for word. The only difference is... they are all OLD!
I see gray haired ladies and big tummys and bottoms filling those seats.... And just a moment before, I was thinking we had so much in common!
I don't want a big tummy (or bottom) and I don't have gray hair (at least I don't THINK I do... that's one of those things we may never know, and my hair dresser doesn't either, I am she...
Still... I have a lot in common with that audience. Life was simpler in the 50's and 60's. At least by the standards and pace of today's world, it sure feels like it was.
Another thing I am seeing is... the wrinkles and age in my own face are telling me that I am not that young vibrant person I used to be in my 20's,30's and even 40's.
I really do FEEL young, and it's for sure I know myself in ways I never did back in those years. I think I'm in the years that knows I have gotten older, but I feel young in my heart.
Like someone wrote in a magazine, she saw her face one morning in the toaster as she leaned forward, and thought there was an intruder in her kitchen!
When my mother in law was in her upper 80's, with short gray curls, she clipped a magazine picture for her hairdresser to copy, it was a super model in her 20's with long flowing blonde hair, and she wanted THAT hair... we all laughed together about it, and we all loved her spunk that felt anything was possible.
Whatever our age, we have choices every day. My choice is to admit my age, but fight hard AGAINST what I know I COULD look like, which is not the way I WANT to look.
Looks do matter, and how I look on the outside says something about how I am on the inside. I don't mean glamour... I mean doing the very best we can with what we have and where we are... THAT'S what I want to do.
It's easy to say that's a pride issue, or that's for the really young. I think that can be a cop out. I've tried to cop out with those thoughts many times. Nope... God makes it clear we are to be our best in ALL areas. How I take care of myself is definitely one of those areas.
It also makes me sharper and more cheerful when I am doing those things.
I knew a woman once who said 'I'm older now, so I'm going to eat what I want to forget exercise and just enjoy life.'... It doesn't work for me!... I NEED the discipline and order of a healthy life style to do it God's way. He designed our bodies, and they work better when we are healthy. Period.
That's a pretty long 'sermon' this morning, but it's right where I am... needing to do this every day, and on many days it isn't what I FEEL like doing, so ESPECIALLY on those days, I am on high alert to make the right choices.
Do you relate??
I just wanted to share that I have been to a ladies retreat... several times today, and many times each week.
For this retreat, I never have to leave my office!
I would guess that many of you feel the same way.
There are blogs, and seasons in the lives of bloggers, that are as rich in the telling and reading as being at a real ladies retreat. I've been to some amazing ladies retreats through the years, powerful messages, divine fellowship and lots of fun.
I love the face to face fellowship with others ladies, but there is also something very special about sharing your hearts and lives on these pages. I am so encouraged and challenged and blessed by the words that you share.
Some of you are speakers, some writers, authors or just kindred spirits.
We name the dates and times of these retreats, and they follow along the lines of what God is teaching us.
There are many kinds of ladies gatherings, and our blogs are on that list!
I know that even if we don't all meet each other face to face down here, we will meet one day in heaven, and we will know each other! It will be like a ladies retreat that never ends!
But for now... I just love 'seeing' your faces day after day, and I am blessed to count you as friends.
A few years ago we got a new refrigerator. It was time for the old one to go.
