11/15 and 11/16 Gifts

3 Gifts Golden
1) The golden rule - So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12).  What an important and simple rule for life!  It's not always easy, but it is always right.

2) The golden years - I have the sheer joy of spending time with many in their golden years.  I always learn something from my time with them.  Usually it is a lesson in grace, wisdom, and patience.  I pray that I hold onto those lessons through my own golden years.

3) Bands of gold - I have posted previously about my wedding set and how much it means to me.  Rob has recently started wearing his wedding ring again.  I love seeing that circle of gold on his finger.  My heart is filled with pride and joy in knowing that he is my husband.  This may be TMI, but I also find it extremely sexy when he wears it.  That's right, I'm a preacher's wife and I find my husband sexy.

3 Gifts Hard Eucharisteo
1) Cold weather - I love summer with the heat and the sun.  I love spring with new life and warming temps.  I love early fall with the changing leaves and jeans and sweatshirts.  I don't love late fall and winter with dry skin and grey skies and the bare landscape.  Cold weather months are just hard for me.  But, what would spring and summer and early fall be without the colder months.  There would be no new life unless the trees were stripped bare.  Every season has a purpose and a place.

2) The miles that separate me from family - It's hard being six hours away from my parents, sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma.  I hurt over this when one of them is sick.  I am jealous when they gather for a birthday or holiday or just for fun.  However, the separation makes the time with them even sweeter.  I also believe that one reason I am so close to my husband and my children is because we are the only family we have close by.  We have also been forced to discover the joy of making friends into family.

3) Death - I can't say I will ever be thankful for death, but there is good to be found in it.  Cancer claimed the lives of two very godly, beautiful people very recently.  As much as they will be missed here and mourned over, there is hope in their passing.  They will suffer no more.  Cancer can't touch their glorified bodies.  They are with their savior and we will see them again.  Also, death gives me a very hard reminder that this world is not my home.  I will never find perfection here on Earth.  Death sends me running to the arms of Christ.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God

in Christ Jesus for you.

It's Another Two-for-one

3 Gifts Behind a Door
1) My beautiful daughter - A few days ago, I opened the door to Megan's room and she was inside dancing.  In that moment, I was struck with how beautiful and grown-up she is.  She is becoming quite the young lady!

2) Our remodeled bathroom - We've been keeping the door closed so the cats won't get in there while there are still holes, etc for them to get in.  It's coming along well and going to be very nice when it's done.

3) Carl Dahlquist - A dear, wonderful man of God, I just can not say enough nice things about him.  He went to be on the heaven's side of death's door yesterday.  He is in the midst of his savior and friends and family who have gone before him.  Cancer has never touched him there.

3 Gifts Silent
1) The moments before anyone else is up - This morning I was actually grumbly about these moments.  I wanted to sleep in, but knew I had to get up.  My husband was still in bed.  I hadn't gotten the kids up yet.  I trudged around the house, grumbling about every little thing that irritated me.  I realized later in the morning that it's good that I'm up before everyone else.  I can get my grumpies out and be woke up enough to greet them pleasantly when they get up.

2) Coffee time - I know, another post about coffee.  The kids have already gone off to school.  Rob is in his recliner sipping coffee.  I am in mine doing the same.  We're not always completely silent, but sometimes we are and we are both comfortable being silent together.

3) Isaiah 53:7 - He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God

in Christ Jesus for you.

3 Gifts at Noon

1)Butternut squash made by my sweet hubby.
2)Eating that soup with my hubby & the contractor who's working on the bathroom.
3)Did I mention there were pita chips with the soup?  Did I mention I really, really like pita chips?

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God

in Christ Jesus for you.

3 Gifts of Remembrance

1) The weekly gathering around the table honoring my savior who lived, died, and rose again to give me new life. - a joyous remembrance

2) The children's church kids holding flags they colored and reading a poem honoring our veterans.  One little girl, volunteered to read and recite a prayer because she is very proud of her daddy who is currently serving the country. - a tender remembrance

3) The memorization and recall of muscles and bones and cells and organs for Anatomy & Physiology.  This practice has given me a greater appreciation for the intricacy and wonder of the human body and for our creator. - a necessary and enlightening remembrance

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God

in Christ Jesus for you.

2 Days for the Price of One

I never got around to posting my Joy Dare for Friday.  It was a busy day, but I also had some trouble with thinking of my answer.  The prompt was "3 Gifts Harvest."  Here are my musings...

- Memories: Through 16+ years of marriage and 11+ years of mothering, I have gathered a bountiful harvest of memories.  Some are sad, some are dark, many are happy, or funny, or tender.  All of them, from one end of the spectrum to the other, are precious and make up the relationships I have with my family.

- Garden:  The garden is done for the year.  I need to pull out the tomato cages and let one of our farming friends come mow it over and turn over the ground.  I usually look at that time and I'm saddened.  I think about the second-rate tomatoes that I'll have to buy from the store.  I scold myself for not doing a better job of weeding or tending this past season.  This year, I'm choosing to look at the clearing of the dead plants as the beginning of next year's harvest.

- Souls:  Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."  All too often, I despair over the state of our country and world.  I worry that so many are lost and that there is nothing I can hope to do about it.  But that's looking at the situation through sin-colored human glasses.  God sees a harvest, ripe for the picking. 


Saturday's prompt is "3 Gifts Bible Reading"

- If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy going or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. - 1 Corinthians 1:1-3  (This is becoming my plumb line for all I say and do.  If my actions are not rooted in love, then I need to rethink what I'm doing.)

- The story of Cornelius from Acts 10.  I've always liked this story because it is the moment when Peter and then the rest of the church realized that gentiles were invited to the party as well.  Today, when we were listening to it, I realized something else.  Cornelius was noticed by God because of his prayers and alms.  He was doing the "right" things and probably living a pretty good "Christian-style" life.  But God knew that it was best for him to be part of a body of believers.  He told Cornelius to send for Peter and then urged Peter to go to him.  He made sure that Cornelius and the gentiles were not on their own in the Christian walk.  Having a body of believers around you in vital even today.

- For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12  (His Word is just as real and true and important today as when it was written.)

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God

in Christ Jesus for you.

A Gift Sweet, Salty, Sipped

Sweet:  Snuggling up next to Robby to wake him in the morning.
Robby is a snuggler.  He always has been, even before he was born.  Megan is more than she used to be, but touch has never been her love language.  When I was pregnant with Megan, she would push out with a hand or foot.  If I touched that area of my belly, she would quickly pull in back in.  She was our little "touch-me-not."  With Robby, on the other hand, when I would touch the area where his little foot or hand was, he would push it out even more.  It was almost like he was trying to come through my skin to get to me.  Now he is a big 9-year-old boy, but he still likes to snuggle up in the mornings.  When I wake him, I crawl into his bed and wrap my arm around him, and he hugs me tight.  I know these precious moments will only last so much longer.  He will come to a point where it is just weird to snuggle your momma.

Salty:  Pita chips that I just couldn't get enough of last night.
Seriously, these things are really yummy!  I kept rolling up the bag and putting the chip clip on, only to take it back off again a few minutes later so I could reach in for another handful.  Salty snacks are my downfall.

Sipped:  My morning cup of coffee.
I really do enjoy coffee, especially that first morning cup.  Over the years, I'm afraid we've become coffee snobs.  We buy whole beans from Starbucks that we grind fresh every morning.  Lately we have been putting some Saigon cinnamon in with the grounds when we brew a pot.  Then I wait for that "beep," letting me know I can pour a cup.  Three Splenda and a generous amount of creamer, and I'm off to my recliner.  I catch up on Facebook, Fox News, Today's website, while sipping on that rich, creamy goodness.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God

in Christ Jesus for you.

3 Gifts Government

Here are my entries for today's Joy Dare:

1) Religious Freedom - No man dictates how I worship and serve the LORD.
2) Right To Vote - I exercised this right today.  Hope you did too!
3) Freedom To Teach My Children & Others About Christ - I do not have to be secretive or fearful about sharing my faith.

Rejoice always,

pray without ceasing,

give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God

in Christ Jesus for you.