All in Encouragement
I’m not the family historian. Fortunately, other members have faithfully gathered helpful information and ancestral stories. I have two amazing grandmothers who lived through the Great Depression and World War II. Their faith that God would care for them remained strong. I also discovered a circuit riding pastor in my lineage, multiple church deacons, a cowboy who drove cattle to feed the confederate army, farmers, school teachers, a whaler, a constable and a physician.
As we discussed breaking down walls and strongholds in Bible study that morning I looked down at my hand. A recent surgery and stitches on my right little finger left behind some major scar tissue.
Red Rover was a team game often played on the courtyard of Travis school. Sometimes we included the boys. However, if they became too rough, we quickly ousted them.
Our Girl Scout troop had enjoyed sliding down the largest slide at our city park. At noon we left to eat our picnic lunch in another area.
I loved to swing as a child. Our teachers would take turns swinging us on the playground. When I learned to pump, I became an independent swinger. How invigorating to soar higher and higher.
The playground at Travis school in Greenville, Texas was divided: boys on one side of the courtyard, girls on the other. Fortunately, the girls had the playground equipment on their side. This week’s stories originated from this fun-filled place and our city park.
Female carpenter bees bore holes the size of a small finger into wood every spring.
These bees are often mistaken for bumblebees and are capable of drilling about one inch every 5-6 days and in the end, their tunnels can be up to several feet long with several egg chambers. They are about one inch long, do not have teeth, but they have mandibles like teeth that cut and tear through wood in circular patterns to perfectly fit their bodies.
Recently, I met with a young mother. As I listened to her share how she is parenting her children, I was struck by her wisdom. It became evident that she and her husband are leading their children according to godly principles.
No matter who you are, where you live or what you do, you have something in common with everyone else on this planet. Tomorrow at this time, you will be one day older. No matter how you spend them—reading in bed, planting a garden or working on a cure for cancer—everyone lives life one day at a time. We can’t slow down, much less stop, time. We cannot bring back the past or reach forward into the future.
Many years ago, I was given a copy of a talk by one of my favorite Bible teachers. In it she spoke about her husband’s sudden illness and passing from an incurable cancer. This woman, a gifted teacher and writer, and her husband had long planned to get their three boys reared and on their own, then work together to expand her ministry. It was at this point that he became ill.
I was reared by two terrific parents, but shaped by two very special ladies: my mother and my aunt. They were good cooks, immaculate housekeepers, active churchwomen, popular with their friends, kind to neighbors and stylish dressers whose hair and make-up were always in place before they stepped out the door.
The healing of the man born blind in John 9 is an amazing example of how our perspective colors how we see everything else. Was it an act of healing performed with the lowliest of elements in plain view of all or was it an act of blasphemy (performed on the Sabbath, yet)? Was a man who had spent his life in darkness and poverty an irredeemable sinner who somehow deserved his fate or was his misfortune the staging ground for a work that only God could do? Does God only heal and bless the pious or does He—will He—transform the sorrow of this fallen world for His glory?
I have never heard a sermon preached on it. I’ve never taken a Bjble study built around the subject. Yet with age and experience, I am realizing that our perspective is a crucial factor in both our thoughts and our actions.
I wrote “no” on the slip of paper, folded it up, and handed it to Mrs. Byerly. Our cheerleader sponsor asked if we wanted to compete in the upcoming season.
Tears pricked my eyes as she read the answers from the folded pieces of paper. We were going.
If you could choose a superpower, what would it be? Many of my students pick invisibility, saying it is “the ultimate” to exist without others knowing. While I smile at their answers, I remember feeling invisible on more than one occasion, and it isn’t an enjoyable feeling.
An idea - that’s how it all began.
A friend wanted to bring a little cheer into the lives of girls at a local temporary shelter. She took them to the park, played games and just had fun hanging out with them. Some of her friends joined her and a weekly Bible study began with the girls. A church class jumped on board and an activity night was added. Fast forward to today. In a few months a more permanent home for girls like these will open, providing much needed stability and love.
I am a wannabe gardener. I love all kinds of plants, flowers and trees. However, gardening doesn’t come naturally to me. I am so excited when something grows that I can’t stand the thought of cutting it back.
I gazed at the magnificent creature before me. Huge talons, sharp, curved beak, the characteristic white head. I have seen bald eagles in the zoo but not out in the open and certainly not a few feet away.
Eme had outgrown her dance shoes. But it was just two weeks before her recital and the end of the season.
And really, Eme only needed one shoe. She has one foot larger than the other. They buy shoes to fit the larger foot. Unfortunately, the larger foot was growing quickly.
Doesn’t everyone have it all together? My house is clean. I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish at work. My attitude with my husband has been perfect. I have excelled in parenting and disciplining my children.
