A Day in the Life

 Out and about early....

ready and waiting for my husband's cardioversion.

Competent and cheerful nurses and personnel make it easier.

The time comes.

I leave the room and scarcely have time to open the magazine

before I'm summoned back to bedside.

He is groggy, but his heart is back in rhythm.

So thankful for medical knowledge, equipment, facilities, and personnel.

Thankful for another day to live, love and share life with my beloved.

He holds the future in the palm of His hand,
And He has never failed me yet,
I know He's reigning and still has control,
So why should I worry or fret?

(words as I recall them from an "old" Gaither song)

My Love Language

Valentine's Day came and went.  The day before, my husband and I each enjoyed a piece of our favorite pie from The Diner - chocolate/peanut butter pie with whipped cream topping.  We called it "our Valentine celebration".  On the day itself, we both had responsibilities and chores to complete.  I was happy he agreed to pancakes and sausage for our mid-afternoon dinner.  When I went to make the pancakes however, there were bugs in the pancake mix!  Gross!  Soooooooo we went to Pizza Hut and followed that up with a few leisure hours at Barnes and Noble!  Spontaneous and unexciting by some standards, and nothing so out of the ordinary...but so "us".

I admit it.  As some people posted their glamorous gifts and exotic plans for celebrating the day, I wondered what was wrong with me.  Why do I rebel - yes, that's the word - "rebel" against the commercialization of something so basic and wonderful as love?

Recently one of my daughters mentioned her "love language".  She suggested I take a 30 question quiz on the internet to determine mine.  I struggled through the first 10 questions.  It was difficult for me to select my preferred method of receiving love in the options of at least six of them.  Neither of the two appealed to me.  I gave up.  (Maybe there IS something wrong with me.)

Today, my husband sprayed the green paint/primer on the second of two benches he created out an old wooden crib we found discarded curbside.  As I went out to photograph it, I realized I KNOW what my Love Language is!  Apparently my husband knows, too.

Now if I only knew what to call it....

The Greatest Love

 While putting away "Christmas", 

 I stumbled upon traces of the NEXT holiday--

Valentine's Day tins...

...reminding me...

of the Greatest Love!

O The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

Fire in my Heart of Hearts

 After a busy day, my husband called me outside to warm by the fire

 he had kindled from limbs and branches that had fallen in recent winds and storms.

 I took my book out with me--The Hawk and the Dove Trilogy, by Penelope Wilcox.

I turned to my place in the the second chapter
of the second of three books combined in this one volume...

and just LOOK at the words that greeted me!

"Technology is man made and has no soul"

What followed these initial paragraphs were some of the most moving  and profound words

about the justice and mercy of God that I have read in a long time.

Punctuated by the flames, I read:

'It is true that God shapes the lives of men in the ways of justice, and that the righteous find expression of his Spirit in the paths of justice and of peace.  

But justice is a path, yes a way; it is not a home.  

It is a framework, or a setting, but it was made to carry another jewel.

Justice, like John the Baptist, is the forerunner,

clears the road, for the coming of the Christ himself.

And when he comes, he is compassion.

He is love...

Oh God forbid that our lives display the sterile correctness 
of men who have learned what justice is, but never tasted mercy.' 
 (Words of the beloved character, Father Peregrine)

I wiped away my tears of overwhelming realization of the mercy and love of God

that burned like a fire in my heart of hearts

and continued to the end of the amazing chapter.

Hearts around Home

Happiness is a grateful spirit, an optimistic attitude, and a  heart full of love.

  Cultivate caring and generosity.  Happiness is the natural state of a loving heart.

  If you judge people, you have no time to love them.  (Mother Teresa)

 Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other;

 let us show the truth by our actions.

I John 3:18

"Wove and Mawwage"

Our friends...

 Earlier this week, we joined 13 other people around the table to celebrate

the 50th wedding anniversary of our friends.

They plan to host similar evenings over a period of a few weeks

in lieu of one big celebration.

I think it was a STELLAR idea!

We, the guests, carried in the food.

We were asked to bring a wedding picture or two. 

I took our album.  I haven't had it out for a LONG time.

 June 5, 1971

I "wove" this man!
I also believe I had a wonderful photographer - though I didn't
realize how important that would be at the time.

"Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us together today. Wove, twue wove...
So tweasure your woves forever." (from The Princess Bride)
Would you believe I've never seen this movie?  But I HAVE heard this line.
Many times!

Happy Valentines Day

my dad & mother

Love...

always PROTECTS, always TRUSTS, always HOPES, always PERSEVERES... (I Corinthians 13:7)

I'm more than a little overwhelmed by God's love and my lack of it.

♪ If I have not Charity

If Love does not flow from me

I am nothing

Jesus reduce me to Love

Jesus reduce me to Love ♪

(refrain from a Kelly Willard song...)

Sincere Art/Sincere Action

 Before leaving for our Study Group this morning,

I decided to make heart hang-ups for each lady. 

I pulled out my almost-depleted wallpaper sample book,

cut out heart shapes, cut backgrounds on which I glued the hearts,

printed out favorite quotes from the chapter we're studying today (Celebration of Discipline),

glued on a button or two, modpodged & punched a hole for a ribbon hanger.

Dear children, we must show love through actions that are sincere, not through empty words.  

I John 3:18

I am challenged to add sincere action to my sincere "art", as well.

How will YOU be showing YOUR love in the next few days?

Soup and Celebration

 Their 64th anniversary was Monday.  We celebrated here last night.

Yes.  They are my parents. How blessed I am.
The hats?  They're for the celebration of my brother-in-law's 50th birthday!

It was a double celebration!

 I made a big pot of soup.

We enjoyed it with apple salad (yummy!), cheese and crackers, and a red velvet cake.

The evening's entertainment consisted of a reading of Church Bulletin Bloopers
followed by a game of dominoes.  Mexican Train, of course.

In the Morning -- Unfailing Love

As the morning progressed, I had occasion to reflect on a few of the more recent tangible evidences of God's unfailing love...many of them from the hands of friends this past week.  The blue bottle, for instance.  It was in a bag of goodies chosen just for me by a friend.  She assured me she hadn't consumed its contents--but KNEW that I have been unsuccessful in my personal search for them.

The pictures came carefully padded in an envelop from Kansas yesterday.  They are pictures of my paternal grandparents.  These precious people and their prayers played an incredible role in my development.  I owe so much to them.

The leaf was one of the first red leaves to cross my path this autumn.  I have a hard time not picking up and trying to preserve EVERY beautiful leaf that falls!  My Bible is open to one of many Psalms that express my emotions and praise FAR better than I can! 

I am SO blessed!

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you."  

Psalm 143:8

How Clean It Is!

Last week a young friend of mine who is about 8 months pregnant commented about being overwhelmed with the prospect of cleaning her house.  I'd been trying to think of a way to express my love for her, so I asked her if she would be open to help.  When she said "yes",  I began to round up a cleaning crew!

This morning Donna (of Donna's Booknook) joined me and two other ladies. Donna dusted, took down a Christmas tree, helped scrub the kitchen floor, took down curtains and put in washing machine, ran the vacuum and probably more!

My primary project was the bathroom.  I was pleased with the shiny white of the bathtub and shower. Later we enjoyed a taco salad and some muffins.  It was a morning well spent.  Tonight, my body feels the effects of the concentrated hours of work.  I will recover.

"Serve one another in love...."  Galatians 5:13

To You...From Your Father

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!   

This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for each other.  

Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

(Excerpts from I John 3)