Be Still and Know...

Is there ever a non-busy time of the year?  Perhaps in the dead of winter, after the holidays and before Spring arrives with all its outdoor demands on our yards and houses.  Do we even want to slow down?  All of my kids are out on their own and I thought this would be the slow years...times of rocking chairs and knitting.  (I really tried with all my heart to learn how to knit, I promise, but I just ended up wanting to stab something or someone with those needles.) My grandma taught me how to crochet....does that count? ANYWAY, no rocking chairs, no knitting, no time for anything like that.  I am just as busy now as I was when my kids were little.  It's just a different busy. 
It's like what they say about money...you spend what you make.  We spend all the time we have doing something, and our deeds may be good, but are we missing the best things?  God tells us in His word to "Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10  He goes on to say "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."  He isn't telling us what we should do, He is telling us He WILL be exalted. Don't you want to be a part of that?  Well, I do. 
Let's be still and know that He alone is God.  There is no other real, true, alive, sovereign God.  He is it.  He is a writer, too.  In fact He is THE author of it all.  So let's begin by just being still and knowing that.  Take a moment...stop in the midst of your busyness and know He is God.  Once we do this, we will ask ourselves who are we.....that He would even be mindful of us?
Psalm 8 says it all.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
 Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
  Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,
 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
  the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Make "being still" a part of your day.  Spend time doing things that will matter for eternity. 
"Only one life, 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last."  C.T. Studd, missionary to China, India, and Africa.

Be still and know that He is God.  

Tools of the Trade

I have this inborn love of stationery, notebooks, well-writing pens, and all manner of school supplies.  The stores are full of them at present.  I am lured to the aisles of paper by the mere sight of a box of crayons.  There are notebooks of every fashion....soft cover, hardback, wide ruled, college ruled, spiral bound, glue bound, the stenographer type that flips over, and so on. They have all called out to me countless times during my 59 years on earth....and I do mean countless. 
Long ago, we used cartridge pens..messy, but pretty.  Now you see people staring at the endless choices of pens and pencils hanging on the pegboards...not knowing which is best...and most are not cheap, so be sure and pick the one that is right for you of else you have wasted your money.  But you may be one of those that doesn't care at all and so the less expensive suffices...and so it should. 
I am trying to rid myself of such loves.  My unused box of 20 journals compared to the 10 I have actually written in over the years, nails the obvious fact that I most likely will not use them all...and so I have given some away and kept the favorites.  And now this blog thing...though you will never see my deepest thoughts and feelings written here, still it fills the need to express what I might have written in a journal had I taken the time.  The number of pens I own is obscene, but I have scaled down to about 70 and yes, I use them all....but (whispering) -  just between you and me - they keep inventing these great pens. :/
Some say I should have been a school teacher....but not having attended college, I don't think they would have allowed it.  Love the supplies, but not the tests, pressures, and schedules that come with that degree.  English is my strong suit, along with shorthand, penmanship, and geography - all that is necessary to stir my imagination and put thoughts to paper.
I need a  spiral notebook for sermon notes, a stash of note cards for encouragement because I am a "snail mail" correspondent, a journal, a calendar ....actually 2 calendars, a pen of every color, and just the right book - void of lines - to carry around and keep my life organized until it is full and it is time for another one.
I am a writer...of any and every sort.  I am loving this whole blog thing.  Just don't take me too seriously...and forgive any "faux pas" I might commit.
Faux pas means 'misstep' or 'false step' or a violation of social customs.  Wanted to make that clear....because I will most likely be committing those from time to time.

Bessie

Bessie was my maternal grandmother.  She and I were very close.  She was probably just as close to my three brothers and to my cousins, but that did not matter. She was close to me. 
She had a way of making the simplest things so much fun.  My brothers did not know it, (so don't tell them)  but when I spent the night with her, she would pull me around the wooden floor on a blanket.  Now mind you, she was not a big woman at all, but she was a grandma and grandmas are super women to their grandchildren.  They are geniuses and storytellers and artists and magicians.....and spoilers. 
One of my favorite memories occurred at breakfast.  She would serve it to me on a tray while I was still in bed.  On the tray would be a piece of toast, sausage, chocolate milk, and - wait for it - a bowl of ice cream.  My grandfather's contribution was a note, a quarter, and a pack of Juicy Fruit chewing gum.  Now that speaks love. This ritual took place each and every time I spent the night.  Bedtime memories were just as special.  Stories from Highlight magazines, Pond's cold cream, and reading her Bible brought a comforting reminder that some things don't change...and that consistency is a blessing. 
Grandma taught me about flowers....begonias, sweetheart roses, canna lilies, plumbago, coleus, and zinnias.  I learned how to water the garden in the heat of the day by placing the hose at the base of the flower, without getting the petals wet - lest they turn brown from the sun.
She also taught me how to like ironing....yes, I know....and no, she did not hypnotize me.  She said she prayed for everyone whose clothes she  was pressing. That perspective changes any task....so when I wash dishes, fold laundry, pick up after Tommy, etc., I try to pray for the mess maker, instead of becoming exasperated with him/her/them.  (I am not always successful at it, but I get better with practice.)
She PATIENTLY taught me how to draw, sew, - she made ALL of my clothes, even my pjs! - and ride downtown on a city bus.  They did not own a car, and the bus stop was about a half a mile away.  The trip to the stop was never too long, because we were going downtown - to their bank - and then to eat at the L&C cafeteria, or One's A Meal, or the drugstore.   We shopped at Kress's, Newberry's, and Foley's....none of which are still there.  As we got off the bus and made our way home, I would get so tired and begin to complain.  She would say with every other step, "We are one step closer to grandma's house" and before long we were there.
She was dependent on others for rides to church every Sunday and Wednesday.   Thank you to Mrs. Jarvis, the Moores, and the Wyatts for all of those times you picked her up.  She took taxis to the doctor's office (she had emphysema), and she called in her grocery list and the local store delivered.  Simple times. 

She was a living example of Christianity to me.  She showed me Christ as she put actions to her faith.  And she was content.  Her world was small...reaching back home to Missouri where her sister Pearl lived - by writing weekly letters through "snail mail".   (BTW - There is nothing like receiving a real handwritten letter in the mail.  Tell me that isn't exciting.)  Missouri was about as far away as she traveled and that was rare...and on a bus or train. 

Lives are often measured by the legacies they leave behind.  My grandma's teaching will be an influence for years to come...as I share it with family, friends, and you.  She is the reason I do so much of what I do.

She was Bessie Maeonia Brown Hamilton....  I just pray that I can be that kind of "grammy" to my own grandchildren...that they will see Jesus in me and that I will be faithful to Him and content right where I am with my backyard of begonias, blue plumbago, coleus, and cannes lilies.

Red Letters

Recently my husband gave me a large print bible...(pausing for laughter to subside)...as it seemed my eyes were begging for one.  As I eagerly examined it, I discovered that it was not a "red letter" edition.  What??  How was I going to find Jesus' exact words that He spoke?  How would I know which words were most important?  About now, I am sounding ridiculous...aren't I?  God's word is God's word...all of it...all important.  My brain had relied so much on those red letters to guide me to certain verses, to quickly find the gospels, to more easily find Jesus' conversations with others.  I almost said to Tommy, "Oh no!!  It's not red letter!" but then I opened it again.  Jesus' words are worth searching for and the words in black are equally important, else they would not be included in scripture...What a small bible we would all own, if the only words printed had red letters.  Many of Jesus' words are black lettered ones from the Old Testament.  So there:)

FALL

It is my favorite season of the year....although I have strong affinities for them all.  I did not always love it, though.  In fact I viewed it only as a stepping stone to ....taadaaaa- Christmas!  That is until one day in 1989, while I was homeschooling my children, I asked Tommy if we (my mom and I) could take the boys on a history tour of New England, including Jamestown and Williamsburg and of course that great historical monument, the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.  To my surprise, he said "yes".  Yes!  We were going on a trip!

All of the sights we saw were amazing.  I fell in love with Jamestown.  If you have never been, you are really missing something.  It is a small island, actually - connected by a wooden bridge to..well, us.  It is hard to believe that people came and settled there, built big stone buildings, worshiped there and died there. All of the things I read about in my school books happened in such a tiny place.  (This statement reminds me that there is another tiny place, relatively speaking, where one man lived a perfect life that changed the world and continues to do so 2000 years later.)  Hmmm  maybe I should have titled this "Tiny Places"...it seems I have wandered a bit.

Anyway, far and above any of the places we saw, the most impressive to me was what our Creator did with His creation. Have you EVER been to New England in the fall? Nothing compares with the beauty of it. NOTHING. As we neared the north, the leaves began to show their brightest colors just for me. The orange ones, the salmon-colored ones, the rusts, the yellows and the lime greens.  I could hardly breathe.  I began to stop at odd places, jumping out and gathering leaves to press in anything I could find in the car....magazines, journals, even the road map.  I bought clear contact paper to preserve them in.  I tried desperately to keep all those colors alive, but they have faded over the years. 

All of this to say that I will be writing about the fall for a few entries more.  It is just beginning and though Texas doesn't produce the splendour of New England's maples, we have our own little display of color.  Notice the tallowwood and the Bradford pear trees.  They put on a pretty good show come November.

I, of course, have my own display of autumn beauty...in my house.  I am often asked in mid summer, "Do you have your fall stuff out yet?"  They say it with a smile, but the truth is they are wanting to come and see my house transformed.  I tell them it makes me feel cooler....and happier! 

                          

What In The World Am I Doing?

I look at that title and I give it a second gaze....I started to say that I have no idea what I am doing writing a blog.  It takes a genius to do this..I am no genius.  Kudos to all the fellow bloggers that have gone before me.  I am impressed with the monumental tasks you must have accomplished in order to write down your...whatevers.  Please tell me they were monumental.
For example, do I push "publish", "save", "preview" or "close" when I am done?  And what happens to these fragile thoughts I write if I push each one?....Nevermind...the one marked "save" seems to be taking over.  But as I give another thought to my title, I ask, "What in the world am I doing" or "What am I doing in the world?" The question then becomes a theological one....for me at least. 
I want to bring glory to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who died for me on the cross, bearing my sins and making it possible for me to know Him, love Him, and serve Him.  The older I get, the more I see that nothing matters more than that. Until He takes me home, June