Seeking jars to fill

 There is a story in 2 Kings about the prophet Elisha encouraging a widow whose sons are about to be taken away as payment for debts. She has nothing left but a small jar of olive oil and she needs a miracle. Elisha tells her to gather as many empty jars as she can find. Clean out the closet. Borrow from neighbors. Maybe even talk to people she doesn’t like (?) to ask for more. Find empty jars. 

“So the woman went into her house with her sons, closed the door, took the small jar of olive oil, and poured oil into the jars as her sons brought them to her. When they had filled all the jars, she asked if there were any more. “That was the last one,” one of her sons answered. 

And the olive oil stopped flowing.” 2 Kings‬ ‭4:5-6‬ ‭GNBUK‬‬

 The MSG translation says it so simply- “Then the oil stopped.”

 Her one little jar of olive oil filled all of the others and it didn’t stop coming until she stopped having someplace to put it. 

 God provided exactly enough. 

 Hear that please my friends. Exactly enough. 

 Enough oil. 

 Enough money. 

 Enough patience, or health, or energy, or joy. 

 BUT- we have to ask for the containers to put it in. We have to expect it, and seek it, and trust that it is coming. 

 I have never been the “name it claim it” type. I don’t think God just gives you what you want if you ask hard enough. However, I POWERFULLY believe that HE gives you what you need, always, and if we have enough faith to prep the jars that are good and right, HE will fill them all.  

 (For example, the woman in this story was trying to keep her sons, not buy a Mercedes. HE provided what she NEEDED)

 Andy has two months of military pay left then we officially retire, and that retirement paycheck is not enough for us to live on right now. So a new job is needed. But the job market has not been friendly or encouraging and fear started sneaking in. Jesus sent this story to remind me this morning that HE will fill my jars. I just need to gather them from the neighbors. So, my amazing, wonderful neighbors, please loan me your jars by praying your blessings over us in this job search. 

 I know we are not alone. Others are searching too. Others I love are searching for new jobs and new homes and new places to serve and worship and shine our Jesus. 

 So my friends, loan out yours jars and don’t be afraid to ask to borrow others as well. 

 We are a team and we need each other. 

 Be blessed my friends, with oil that overflows, then turn around and pass that overflowing oil along to someone else. 

One step at a time

 We saw a chicken crossing the road yesterday, oblivious and unconcerned about anything else, and it was beautiful. Colorful. Happy. Content. 

 Andy, Ellen (his mom) and I had to laugh.

 There has been so much heaviness recently: Losing my Father-in-law, Dane, to Covid. The rest of us being sick, and Andy much sicker than I was comfortable with, at the same time. Canaan away at Basic Training. Our new house needing more work than we thought, and all of the work being delayed by all the sickness. Andy on his final leave for the army and trying to adjust to the non-army world. (And find a new job)

 Seeing that chicken cross the road was simply beautiful. Laughing was so very needed. 

 It brought back the memory of the chicken crossing the road before. 

 My life has been filled with so many interesting moments. Really good ones and some really bad too. But full of interesting moments. I have to remember to celebrate. 

 This last month has been rough, but as HE reminds me over and over, I can trust Him. 

 The sweet little frog in that picture, barely peeking through the scripture, brought me a joyful reminder last week in the garden. The garden was Dane’s. Most of what I know about gardening I learned from him, and the garden is where he and I shared our love for God’s amazing creation. In 20 years as his Daughter in law, that has been our common bond. Growing. (And loving Andy) Without Dane here to help I have not maintained his garden well. All I did during the several weeks of covid and then the heaviness that it left behind, was pick what was ripe every few days. 

 But it has also been where I am able to mourn, and that sweet little frog was a beautiful reminder that beauty is hiding. Lovely things are often there, harder to see but definitely there, if we are willing to look. 

 Hear that, please. 

 Lovely things are there. 

 

 We just have to be willing to look. 

 I won’t pretend that the ugly things are not there. They still exist, and at times are almost overwhelming. But I was reminded, and I want to share with you, that the lovely things are there! 

 This quote was in one of my devotionals this morning. 

“No matter what you face, trust God, and know that He will surely answer at the right time.” New Life Church, Bandra

This is the key thing that stood out to me. “At the right time.” 

 I am holding to that promise. I hope you will too. 

 Be blessed my friends. One step at a time, remembering to look for the good and allowed to cry in the bad. 

Stop and enjoy it

 That old saying, “time flies when you are having fun”… well it seems that it is true about life in general. 

 Even the moments when you aren’t exactly having fun…

 Time still flies. 

 My firstborn rode away this week, off to start Army basic training. 

My “baby” is more than 8in taller than me. 

(This is not a good picture, but in the last minutes before Canaan left I had a meltdown and needed a “family picture”. This is what I got.)

 My husband, that boy I met in college, has completed almost 20 years in the military now. 

 We might be getting “old”, but don’t tell him that!

 

 Time flies. 

 Stop and enjoy it my friends. 

 Take a deep breath in the middle of the rain and listen for a moment to the music the drops make on the rooftop. 

 Be still as the sun sets and notice the crazy colors expanding across the sky, then applaud as they disappear, just because you enjoyed the show. 

 Lay quietly next to the person you love and enjoy their heartbeat and slow breaths, and maybe even some snoring, as sleep comes after a long crazy day. 

 Stop and enjoy it my friends. 

 Time flies. 

 Remember to SEE that you are blessed every single moment. 

 We would very much appreciate prayers for Canaan in basic training!

A delayed update

Hello my friends. Time flies! 

 The Troy house sold. Finally. It took a little longer to actually close than expected so we are very thankful to have family to be crashing with while our things are in storage and we are completely up in the air. 

 The military life is still the main one, but the draw of the civilian life is getting stronger and stronger as it draws closer and closer.

 On the other hand, Canaan is working on paperwork to join up and follow his Dad.

 Our life seems to be a lot of “hurry up and wait” recently. 

 So, I don’t have much to say about where we are going or what we are doing. Mostly, we don’t know. 

 What I will say is what remains true always….

 One step at a time, focused on the hope set before us but living RIGHT NOW, in the moment we are given. 

 Be blessed my friends, one step at a time. I will be back on the Internet eventually, I suppose, but in the meantime you can always text or email me. Know that you are lifted up, always. I promise, God places so many of you, my amazingly wide variety of people who have loved me over the years, on my heart throughout the day and I turn around and lift you back up to Him. Know that you are loved! 

 Live with Joy!! 

A mist

 I think some see this as a depressing verse, but it is also very inspiring. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow BUT... we have this very minute. 

 Use this minute for all that it is worth.

Choose the words and actions and even facial expressions of this very minute to be full of what Jesus is asking of you. 

 It has been a very full and intense few weeks here, since I last wrote a blog. 

 My firstborn son graduated from highschool and turned 18, officially becoming an adult. 

 The house sold and the packing has been full power since we are moving most things out a full week before we close.... and that moving date is barely a week away now. 

 My mother’s health has been atrocious, so we ran “home” to spend some time with her AND to celebrate another homeschool graduation. A choice for JOY in the middle of crazy. 

 My health hasn’t hit the atrocious level, but neither diabetes or epilepsy are being nice to me right now, which keeps me on my toes. I had some testing done yesterday, for my birthday, which will help determine what I even qualify for as a “next step” for epilepsy. But that is a story for another day. 

 As I said, very full several weeks. 

 But, as James says, “What is your life....(but) a mist.”

 When I read that verse this evening, with a blood sugar of 315 and on the grumpy level of attitude I was made aware, once again, that it is my choice how I react. It is my choice how I live. It is my choice whether my “mist” is a spring filled loveliness or a dark evening gloom. 

 We are all a mist. What kind shall I be? 

 As James sums up, just a few verse later... “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” James‬ ‭4:17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Choose to be a mist that not only does what is right, but shares it with others. Choose what brings Joy, shares love, reminds of hope, shines Jesus, plain and simple.

 Yes, we are just a mist. But the mist, although temporary, can be both beautiful and useful. 

 Make that choice. 

 Be blessed my friends, choosing to see the beauty in as many steps of the journey as you can. 

Produce Perseverance

While “cleaning” today I found this following message, a response to a text message or perhaps an email, that I had copied and saved in the “notes” on my phone. I don’t remember who it was originally written to, or if I even sent it, but I have people in my life that it fits. Finding it now, more than a year after it was originally written, I want to make these words available. I want to point out this truth, again. 

 “No argument from me that some things are just bad. And many of them we never get to see any good come from. Perhaps no good does ever come from them, if no one is asking God for it? Rom 8:28 adds at the end “for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes”. If no one is seeking the good, perhaps it is just completely bad? I don’t pretend to know the answer to that. You have seen a lot more bad than I have my friend. And very different bad.

 I do think though that joy is a choice. And it is nothing like happiness. No, a tree cannot choose it’s fruit, but the amount of sun it soaks up, reaching out its branches with hope, and the amount of rain it reaches out for, digging those roots deeper into the unforgiving soil around it... those things make the fruit stronger, and bigger, and sweeter. The tree is planted, and it is what it is... but it gets to choose whether it shrivels up or reaches out. 

 And just because it chooses one thing one day, doesn’t mean it doesn’t get to/have to choose again, the next day, and the next, over and over, choosing. 

 Some days I don’t choose to look for the good. Some days, in all honesty, I curl up and ask God to please let me die. When I have had blood sugar readings of 400 and 45 in the same day. When I have had 4 seizures in 12 hours time. When I have thrown up, for no diagnosable reason, over and over- sometimes I forget to look for the good. I forget to seek joy, when happiness seems so far away. I am just tired. 

 But Joy, not happiness, is always there. Always.”

JOY is strong here today. 

 There is nothing new on me, medically. 

 There is nothing new on selling the house, Andy getting a new job, or moving closer to our parents.

 There is nothing new on my mom’s broken body, the lack of medical equipment at the hospital in Kenya my BIL works at, (please go read that one) or the angst people carry about the world in general. 

 Yet, JOY is a choice and I am choosing it. 

 Please, join me in choosing it. 

 I am so glad to have found that old message, written in a time of pain, reminding me that those very trials faced have already produced perseverance. 

Grow my friends. Grow those roots down deep. Soak up the rainwater, even when they sometimes seem to be bigger rain drops than you think you can handle. Grow those branches strong, able to handle the wind. Grow those leaves full and thick, able to offer shade to those around you who are having a hard day. 

 Be blessed as you grow my friends!

Ruth and Mara and Naomi, all three

 On Sunday there was a baby dedication at church. The branch of the church that we worship with has the parents come to the front and, in the simplest way of describing it, ask for help in raising a child of God. We, as the body of Christ, commit to stand with them and support them as they strive to do that. It is simply a reminder that we are a team. 

  This baby stood out to me more than usual because her name is Ruth, which is my middle name. Her precious baby self called to me to remember the story of my name. 

 The story of Ruth is one of my favorite in the Old Testament. She is a foreigner, not a Hebrew, yet she ends up in the family line of King David. She experiences pain and loss, yet she holds onto hope. She doesn’t know all of the answers, so she trusts people she loves to lead her in truth. She works hard. She loves enthusiastically. She doesn’t give up. 

 Sometimes I think that those of us who study the Bible want to focus on Ruth too much and leave out Naomi. 

 Naomi had to have her time as Mara, her time in mourning, so that Ruth would come to the promised land, marry into what would become the royal line and eventually the birth line of Jesus. The bad was horrible. But it had to happen. It had to lead to the good later. 

 What God keeps pointing out to me, over and over, is that we have to have faith that our bad has a purpose too. Naomi didn’t get to meet King David, but she helped create his family line. We HAVE TO believe that our suffering leads to something good even if, sometimes, it is too far away for us to see.

 My grandma, who was literally and figuratively a Ruth in every way, was such a fabulous example of this to me. She loved others without condition. She gave and gave and gave. When she hurt, with my pastor grandfather in a coma for two years, slowly wasting away, I am sure she had moments when the Joy was hard to find and the Hope seemed out of reach, but she never quit loving others in the meantime. She never stopped. Then, after he died she still simply poured out love and trusted that her Savior would take care of her. 

 So, my goal is to be a Ruth in every way. I have had my Mara moments. They have to happen. Some amazing Ruth’s have helped me along the way, so I pray that they were strengthened in their ability to encourage in my moments of mourning. 

 I trust that my Savior used even my weak moments for good. 

 But now, I want to be a Ruth. I want to make that choice. I am praying that same strength over this new little baby Ruth in our church. The strength to share Hope even when it seems too far away. The ability to let Joy overflow onto others so passionately that they can’t help but absorb it. The Trust to grab ahold of Jesus’s hand and let Him lead even when the path is hard to see. 

 Be a Ruth my friends. Share your Mara past with others and help them overcome, but choose to be a Ruth. 

 Be blessed my friends, in both the rain and the sunshine, with the reminder of the promise that He is with you just like He was with Ruth and Naomi. (And Mara too)

Made perfect in weakness

 When I was a young girl there was a song sung by Twila Paris that, especially after I was diagnosed with diabetes, summed up my desire, my goal, for everything I wanted to be. Everything I hoped for my future was based around the ability to sing that song and mean it. 

I have pasted a link to YouTube and encourage you to listen to it. It is called The Thorn and is based around 2 Corinthians 12:7. 

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭12:7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

 The ESV fits the song, calling it a thorn, but the MSG simplifies the meaning so nicely. 

 “I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭12:7-10‬ ‭MSG‬‬

 That scripture passage has meant a lot to me, always. But for some reason just a few nights ago it was brought to the forefront, heavily, again. 

 I am part of a Wednesday night ladies Bible study group. We are reading a book together, discussing what God is teaching us and sharing our burdens. All different ages, stages of life, backgrounds and I suppose different futures as well. Simply women. In the opening prayer, as a wonderful woman of God was lifting requests and giving thanks, I had impressed upon me SO STRONGLY the need to “thank Him for the thorn” of Covid. 

 Thank Him for Covid. 

 I wrote that, immediately, on a piece of paper in my devotional. 

 

“Thank you for Covid!? It made us be still and quiet for just a moment. Remind us of that.”

 Notice, I had to add a “?” at the end of the first statement. As I wrote that first line I wasn’t sure that I could mean it. However, God never stops with just the first line if we are listening. 

 I have mulled the whole thing over for a few days, and have been pulled back to the verses in 2 Corinthians over and over. That thorn, that handicap, was given for a reason. His strength is made perfect in my weakness. If I think I am strong, if I think I can do it on my own, then I am not letting Him be the strength. 

 Remember that, please, when you have a thorn poking at your side. Remember also thorns come in many different packages. 

 That last line that I wrote, “remind us of that”... I want to mean it. 

I don’t know, not really, if I meant “remind us to be still and quiet” or “remind us to be thankful”, but I want to mean both. 

 I am choosing to mean both. 

 Beautifully, this verse from Psalm 46:10 was placed directly in front of me as a confirmation of both. 

Be still. 

Know, and trust, that He is God and we can be THANKFUL for even more than we want to recognize. 

As Twila Paris sings, 

Thank you for this thorn   fellowship of pain
Teaching me to know you more   never to complain
Thank You for this love   planted in my side
Faithful patient miracle   opening my eyes.

 Remember to be still and quiet, for just a moment, and then to be thankful for that moment even if it was painful. 

 Be blessed my friends as you choose to trust Him today. Know that you are loved, always. 

A simple reminder

 

Dear restless heart, be still; don’t fret and worry so;

God has a thousand ways His love and help to show;

Just trust, and trust, and trust, until His will you know. 

Dear restless heart, be still, for peace is God’s own smile,

His love can every wrong and sorrow reconcile;

Just love, and love, and love, and calmly wait awhile. 

Dear restless heart, be brave; don’t moan and sorrow so, 

He has a meaning kind in chilly winds that blow;

Just hope, and hope, and hope, until you braver grow. 

Dear restless heart, repose upon His breast this hour,

His grace is strength and life; His love is bloom and flower;

Just rest, and rest, and rest, within His tender power. 

Dear restless heart, be still! Don’t struggle to be free;

God’s life is in your life, from Him you may not flee;

Just pray, and pray, and pray, til you have faith to see. 

                                                               Edith Willis Linn

That picture has been my Facebook photo for several years now. It, quite simply, is my goal. I don’t succeed, but the goal is renewed every morning with the fresh new day. This poem struck me as a beautiful summary. 

 My restless heart forgets the goal, over and over, but we are reminded to trust and love and hope and rest and, most importantly, pray. 

 So, that is my reminder to you. Stop for a moment and let all of those goals be remembered. 

 Trust.

 Love. 

 Hope. 

 Rest. 

 Pray. 

 As always, I will add the reminder of my favorite- seek Joy my friends. One breath at a time! 

One good moment at a time

I tried to write this post several weeks ago but it didn’t have an ending, it didn’t have a conclusion. Andy said that it “was fine”, which is about as ugly as he gets about my writing. So, it didn’t get published. Instead it simply got pushed to the back and ignored. 

It is strange, really, what you discover while you wait. Or perhaps, more accurately, what you learn yet again. 

 I have had John 5, and especially the man by the pool, brought to my attention several times recently. Repeatedly, really. 

 For anyone who doesn’t know that story... there was a pool in Israel where the water would sometimes seem to stir, to move, without any human understanding. The first one who could dunk themselves in that moving water would often receive a miracle. Those who were sick, who needed a miracle, would often congregate around the pool, hoping and praying for the water to stir and for a miracle to occur. 

 However, tradition held that for them to receive the miracle, they had to be the first one in. So, even though there was joy, there was always sadness there too. 

The gospel of John says “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.” John‬ ‭5:5-9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

When I say this verse was “brought to my attention”, I mean in every way. A Sunday morning sermon, of course. A friend highlighting it on the Bible app so that I see it. It coming up in a devotional I am doing alone and also one with a friend. Then in an actual paper devotional as well, not just the digital ones. Then, just to make sure I was listening, a second paper devotional. 

 

 So, my friends, what am I suppose to learn from the man picking up his bed and being healed? 

 The answer to that is “I still don’t know.” 

 I don’t know what I am suppose to learn specifically from that story. I have had several ideas and I think they have all been “proven” wrong... I still don’t know what exactly I am suppose to be learning right now, from that story. But what I will tell you is that it has made me read more. Search more. Ask more. 

 And what it has led me to is truth, over and over. 

 Learning that “I don’t know” has, in complete honesty, helped me know other things so beautifully. 

 I know I just used it last time I wrote, but this verse says so clearly what my Jesus is teaching me right now. The Lord establishes my steps. 

 I can try to plan my course, have my goals, dream my dreams. None of those are evil. None of those are against my God. 

 But The Lord establishes my steps. 

 I either trust that or I don’t. 

 I either live that or I don’t. 

 

That leads to one of my favorite verses.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3:5-6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

 

 “Not on your own understanding”. 

 That sums it up my friends. 

 Trust. 

 Even if you don’t understand. 

 He will lead. 

 If you go back to that first verse I posted, the story in John, there is more to the story. You see, the man who was healed wasn’t brave enough to proclaim it. When he was questioned about technical difficulties he passed the blame immediately, rather than pointing out the obvious good. 

 Perhaps that is the lesson to learn? That one hasn’t been pointed out by any of the devotionals I have read but perhaps that is the one I am suppose to share. 

 Don’t make miracles more complicated, don’t make LIFE more complicated than it has to be. 

 Find the good. Choose the good. Share the good. 

 Jesus makes it good. 

 Be blessed my friends. One good moment at a time. 

My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit

 It has been over a month since I posted and it is completely my own fault. 

 The internet has worked. 

 My time has been free enough to write. 

 God has even given me words, several times.

 Most of those words are simply gone. Some of them are saved in the notes section of my phone.... but most of them are just gone. 

Why? 

Hmmm....Good question.

I think the simplest answer is that I wanted to be the happy person. I wanted to only share good news and unfortunately good news hasn’t been as strong as I had hoped. 

 Sometimes in the middle of “not good news” the actual, true, undeniable good news gets harder to see. We have all been there and experienced that. JOY gets hidden under sadness and discouragement. Hope is buried under fear. 

 Which leads me to this word of truth...

Who do I think I am to plan my course? Truly. I write this blog about trusting my Savior so I think I better follow through on meaning it. 

 So here I am, five months out from surgery, fairly confident that it didn’t work. September and October were beautiful and full of hope. Then I had 3 seizures in November. Definite, old style seizures. Slightly different, but old style. There were at least 5 in December, and then 5 in January as well, and already 2 so far this month. 

 Which leaves me, as I said, fairly confident that surgery didn’t work. 

 The whole reason I started writing (again) was to talk about this journey, brain surgery. If I only write about what I want to happen then it isn’t really writing about the journey, only the scenic stops along the way. I can’t only write about the scenic stops. That is a cheesy novel, not a story of growth. I have to write about the parts of the journey that aren’t beautiful and aren’t turning out the way I wanted them to. So, I am trying today to write the less than beautiful parts. 

 Fear and trembling will win if we let them. 

 I suppose the simple truth is, we don’t beat them. 

 It is not us who win the battle. We, those of us who are holding to the promise of our Jehovah, do not fight the battle on our own. That means we don’t have to win the battle. Our Savor already has. 

 So, fear and trembling are conquered for us in the end. Pain and sadness are still here, now. Human bodies are broken and human souls make wrong choices. But we do not fight alone and that is enough. 

 That means I have hope my friends.

 I have hope that I, Bethany Ruth, can shine Joy with a broken body. 

 I have hope that I can give love even when it isn’t asked for or returned by the world around me. 

 I have hope that every single morning, no matter what epilepsy, graves’s disease or diabetes has done the night before I can wake up with the ability to share Jesus in a the simplest and purest ways.

 The fruit of the Spirit is truly the simplest goal, but oh so very much the goal. 

Last reminder....

 My friends, don’t forget that important last reminder. 

 Your body IS the temple of the Holy Spirit. 

 Healthy body or broken. Joyful body or mourning. Focused and on track or scattered and blown with the wind. 

 Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 

 Be blessed my friends, then turn around and return those blessings to others. 

Home?

 I sent out a text to a group of local friends today asking for boxes and bubble wrap. It is time for the packing to begin. Just the “pre” stuff. I have to put away most of my decor and make the house less personal (translated= “boring”) and thus easier to sell. 

 Sending that text made me look at the actual date though, then do some counting. I am pretty sure we have broken my record. I have been here longer than anywhere else, ever, in my life. 

 That is always striking, breaking that record. Amusing, really, considering that the record so far stays at just over three years. But we have been here 3 years and 3 months now, and I think it was only 3 years and  2 months at Fort Bragg, the second time. 

 I could start adding times together? We were at Bragg twice, so I think we got almost 5 full years there, added together. I was in Rome, GA for 3 years of college and two years of working afterwards... but a different dorm room each year and three different apartments after graduation. 

 We were at Fort Leonard Wood twice, but even added together that doesn’t equal an entire year, lol. I wrote a similar blog the first time we were there. 

 

  The point is that places come and go. 

  My thoughts on the matter are summed up beautifully in Hebrews.

 We so often spend too much time focused on this current home. Don’t misunderstand me- I am not saying that caring for your home and children is bad or wrong. I am only pointing out that this is not the final home. This house, big or small, new or old, decorated in just the way you like or barely holding together, this house is not the end of the story. 

 Make it a joyful home. Make it a love filled home. But remember this beautiful Proverb, please. 

Wisdom and understanding far outrank fancy decor and expensive furniture. They outrank the latest healthy food and cleaning fad. They even outrank organization and schedule, because those aren’t the same as wisdom and understanding. I am a huge fan of organization and schedule, don’t get me wrong, but they aren’t the same as wisdom and understanding. Build your house on the wisdom of the Word and striving to understand it, and then trying to understand with the greatest love you can the people who are put into your life. 

 Please my friends, don’t forget where that foundation is!

 Before you know it the children are driving off to college. Or as my mom pointed out, before you know it the grandchildren are driving off to college! And since I have a grandmother going strong in her 90’s, I will add for her “before you know it the great grandchildren are driving off to college.” 

 

 From someone who has never had a physical home for long, focus instead on the people within and the neighbors nearby. The humans have so much more potential to last for the long run! 

 To those of you who have kept up with me through multiple moves, over multiple years: thank you! You have been the hands and feet and voice of Jesus to me, over and over! 

 To those of you who have befriended me each step along the journey: thank you! You also have been the hands and feet and voice of Jesus to me, over and over! 

 So, my friends, live fully. Love your neighbor, whether you have known them for two weeks or 20 years. Be the hands and feet and voice of Jesus, as so many neighbors have been to me over the years. 

 

 Be blessed my friends, with the gentle reminder added: SEE the blessings. 

A gentle reminder

 My dear friends, I have a simple reminder: 

 I will be that kind word. I make that choice. There will always be disagreement and unkindness but you and I make our own choice every single minute. So, be still for a moment and consider what it is you want to be. Who it is you want to be. 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:4-8‬ ‭ESV‬‬. https://www.bible.com/59/php.4.4-8.esv

 Those verses are quoted often, highlighted often, but in smaller portions, one at a time, broken up into bite size pieces. Look at that whole paragraph of truth, please. Then, grab ahold of it, claim the truth of it, choose to live it out loud where others can see it. 

Please my friends, no matter what label you have claimed here in the world, remember the more important ones that you have. Child of God. Follower of The King. Brother and Sister to every single human, created in His image. And perhaps that verse 5, which so often gets skipped, can stand out. “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” 

 Be blessed my friends, with Joy and Peace that cannot be explained in this time of questions and fear and upheaval. Choose to see the Joy and Peace, and lead others to them along the way!