Wisdom & Understanding

It is 6:00 AM and I am sitting here thinking about a great man that passed into Glory a couple of days ago. It was so obvious that he loved his wife, his precious daughter, his entire family and most of all he loved God. No man or woman on this earth is perfect, but this man exuded the love of Jesus every time I saw him. Not by being pious in his attitude, nor by being religiously restrained in his presence. But he was laughter and joking and making funny quips with what I call rapid humor. You had to be quick to catch it sometimes and when I did it made me laugh so! :-) And in the midst of the joking and laughter and the twinkling in his eyes...I saw Jesus! Out of all the many attributes and talents that this man had, one vivid thing I remember about him...I would always see Jesus in the twinkling of his eyes as he watched and I believed enjoyed seeing me totally break up laughing over something he said.  I "saw" Jesus smiling back at me. He lived his life for the Lord, wa...

"I'll never get another dog ! " this was spoken out of the heart ache of losing our 16 year old schnauzer about 20 years ago.  Oh how I loved that little dog that we named Scottie, after a dog I had when I was a kid. The first "Scottie" was a collie that followed me everywhere I went on my blue bicycle until one day he just disappeared. We believed that he was dognapped and the devastation of that loss as a child affected me for a long time. Years later, I was married with a small son and in a new neighborhood, when my 8 year old at the time comes home to ask, "Can we get a dog?"  He went through the usual promises of saying that he would take care of it, feed it, walk it and I wouldn't have to do a thing.  Well we KNOW how that worked out right? I practically became the sole care taker of Scottie number 2, although my husband did remind me from time to time that he was at least giving the dog a place to stay, even though Scottie  didn't have...

Wind of Change “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 Looking out the window of the exercise center that I attend several times a week has become one of my favorite pastimes.   It literally is a “pastime” because it makes the time past more easily and faster as I am doing one of my least most favorite, but necessary things to do. The views are nice; there is a lake where dozens of geese have taken residence, fish that we can actually see when the lake is not frozen over and all sorts of foliage that change with the seasons.   You might say that I really get a “bird’s eye” view from the center’s second story perch, and it is beautiful with each season.   One thing that I am learning about myself, even at this (ahem)...later stage, notice I didn’t say older, is that God speaks to me through nature, my surroundings. Now while I know that this is certainly not uni...

Oh what great memories I have of Christmases past!  Growing up in South Carolina we did not have cold weather or snow for Christmas, but still it was an exciting time. Going to the Christmas parade with all the local high school marching bands, the department stores (we only had about 2 big ones) all lit up with Christmas decorations and Christmas music piping through the speakers, all made my heart as a little girl race with excitement. On our local radio station, every Friday night after Thanksgiving, "Santa" would come on and read all the letters that he received from us kids in the community. Of course I sent one every year (until my brother told me that there was no Santa Claus and it was stupid).  But back then it was so exciting to hear when "Santa" would read my letter over the airwaves. He would say "...and this letter comes from Veronica Byrd that lives on Lincoln Avenue...she says that she has been a good girl and would like me to bring her a Ti...

“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, The consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you.” Joel 2:25   I love getting old stuff, cleaning it up and repurposing its use. My eyes light up when I spot a “treasure” while perusing the aisles of a thrift store…I can see the potential in what may be someone else’s cast off.   Now don’t get me wrong, I like new stuff too, but I seem to get so much joy out of things that have been around for a while. To me they have a story and even though they are inanimate objects I wonder what they have witnessed in their “lifetime”.   Some old things have aged gracefully and show little wear, which means they may have been in a china cabinet or a room and never really used; while some pieces are what I call all “jacked up” and look as if they have been kind of thrown around.   Were they cared for and appreciated? Are some of the questions that...

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.   He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. John 15: 1-4 “Pruning is a horticultural practice involving the selective removal of parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. Reasons to prune plants include deadwood removal, shaping (by controlling or directing growth), improving or maintaining health, reducing risk from falling branches, preparing nursery specimens for transplanting, and both harvesting and increasing the yield or quality of flowers and fruits. “   -Wikipedia   I have a plant that I have had for a number of years. I bought it as a small plant and now it is in a very large pot. T...

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:27 As I wrote about in my last post, I believe this is a season of healing for me. After many years of being a part of what I now see was an abusive church situation; finally leaving there and then desperately trying to “fit in” somewhere else, only to find that I never could. I see now that while I was trying to return to what I thought would please God was only a deterrent to what He was trying to do in my life…heal my wounds and get me to know Him for myself rather than what someone had portrayed for me. In Matthew 10: 1-3 it says that Jesus called the 12 disciples and gave each of them authority to cast out demons and to do miracles.   If you’ve had some doubt as to rather or not that included Judas, read verse 3 that specifically states Judas, yes the one that betrayed Jesus was in that number also. Jesus equipped Judas with everything that the others had; the only difference was Judas’ motive of the he...