Tag Archives: thankfulness

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Like Mother Like Daughter

Three Generations - Four Mothers

Three Generations – Four Mothers

“You must be Esther’s daughter.”

I have heard that comment, or something similar all my life.

I have heard that phrase most recently while visiting my mother. Many of the people who live at the retirement community where my parents have lived the past two years have never met me.

They recognize me anyway!

My father passed on to his heavenly home on February 10.

My mother has rejoiced in the fact that Dad was ready to die, he was alert until the very end, and we were all able to share our love and say goodby at the end of Dad’s life on this earth.

Yet, that is not the end of the story.

I traveled to Wheaton to visit Mom in March. She was ready to sort through Dad’s things and distribute them. His clothes were given to a ministry for refugees and immigrants, which would have pleased Dad. We also rearranged some things in her apartment and had time to share many wonderful memories.

I returned to North Carolina on March 24th and on the 25th, Mom suffered a broken femur in a car accident upon arriving at church for the Good Friday service.

My mother’s attitude since these two situations occurred has been inspirational. She has expressed gratitude to God in each case because she has seen something to be genuinely thankful for.

What has Mom been thankful for?

  •  that Dad did not suffer long
  • that they had a chance to share their love and say goodby
  • that Dad was at peace
  • that she did not get hurt worse
  • that she has good care and loving caregivers
  • that my brother and sister-in-law have been so helpful

It has certainly been a blessing for me to see. I planned on comforting Mom during my visits and she has helped me to see the blessings.

“What do you expect, Gayle? God is answering everyone’s prayers for me.” Mom said recently.

Last Sunday morning Mom called me at 7:00 (6:00 in Wheaton). She said, “I know you are going to church today and that you will praise God. I want you to praise Him for how well I am doing.”

You can imagine how easy it was to praise God after that call!

James 1:2-4

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So, let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

This Mother’s Day I am so thankful for a mother who is an example of living those verses.

I not only want to look like my mother, I want to have faith like her.

May God bless each of you who are mothers….

Happy Mother’s Day!

 

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This is a Real Good Day!

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“This is a real fun day!”

Adella, our three-year old granddaughter says this often. We all love it.

It reflects a viewpoint we should all have more often. You see, Adella says this when –

  • she is eating a peanut butter sandwich, which she has many days for lunch.
  • she is playing outside with her brothers in the sandbox
  • she is riding in the car to church
  • she is helping Nana (me) set the table
  • she is celebrating her brother’s and Pop’s (Phil) birthday at the park

For Adella, this is a mindset….

….at least right now.

She is three after all.

But right now she enjoys almost everything.

I need to have that perspective.

I am reading the book Miracles by Eric Metaxas. Our son gave it to me for Christmas and I am in awe of God’s creation right now in a way I have never been before. My father has always instilled in me a wonder and appreciation for God’s creation. That is the subject matter for most of the art I create. I am so grateful for this legacy.

Mr. Metaxas has the insight and ability to communicate the wonder of our very existence on planet earth as I have never understood or felt it before. He uses scientific evidence to illustrate the unlikelihood of a planet being able to sustain life. Metaxas shows the mathematical improbability of all the conditions needed for life as we know it to exist on any planet  – and yet as improbable as it is – here we are!

On p. 54 Metaxas writes, “The slimness of our being here is so slim that it’s enough to leave us goggle-eyed with terror – until in the next moment we realize we are indeed here and explode with gratitude for our very existence.”

God is God.

It IS a real good day!

He says on p. 56 “It is something to which the most truly human response is the combination of terror and wonder, of ancient awe and childhood joy.”

Childhood joy. This should be our “go to” response to life.

This is a real fun day!

Of course there are terrible, hurtful, tragic days in each of our lives. These days are also part of our existence on this fallen planet.

God is God. Our hope lies in the fact of God’s faithfulness throughout our lives and into eternity.

Psalm 16:9-11

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful[b] one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

The realization of God’s sustaining power in the universe and in my life allows me say –

“This is a real fun day!”

 

 

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Stacking Up Rocks

 

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My goal for this year is to stack rocks.

Do you ever have a song that gets stuck in your head? You find yourself “singing” the words over and over? Well, not necessarily singing them out loud, but the words repeatedly run through your mind like a creek flowing over rocks.

The new song “Stacking Up the Rocks” by Balsam Range, the award-winning bluegrass group with roots here in Jackson County, is that kind of song. If you haven’t heard it – you need to.

But be prepared – it will stick with you like honey on warm cornbread!

The chorus that keeps flowing through my head goes like this:

Stacking up the rocks at the edge of the water

A memorial of the miracles He did for thee

That all the people of the Lord might remember

That the hand of the Lord is mighty.

Buddy Melton was moved to write this song when his mother, Ann Melton, reminded him of a scripture in Joshua 4:1-8

Joshua 4:1-8 (NIV)

4 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, 3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”

4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

Buddy had experienced a miracle in his life when God healed him after a serious brain injury caused by a farming accident. This song is Buddy’s “memorial rock”.

Notice what verse 6 says “when your children ask you “What do these stones mean?” tell them…..”

I want to stack stones this year, maybe literally, but certainly figuratively.

I want to do this by –

  • recognizing each miracle – big and small – that God performs in my life
  • memorialize it in some way by writing it down, taking a photo, or making a piece of art
  • share it with my children and grandchildren

What a blessing it will be to remember “that the hand of the Lord is mighty!”

Let’s start stacking up rocks in 2016 …