Today's Inspiration

"The steps of a man are established by the LORD;

And He delights in his way.

The law of his God is in his heart;

His steps do not slip."

Psalm 37:23, 31

May Musings

Today I changed the calendar in my kindergarten classroom and announced to the children that they only had one month left in K5...where has the time gone? This past weekend I finished teaching my spring grad course which started out delayed due to my trip to Florida in January to see my Haitian nephews and then due to snow in February. And Saturday we were experiencing near 90 degree temps and high humidity...amazing!

I think the older I get the more quickly time flies...and the more I realize that I really must seize the moment and use it wisely. There really is no time to waste. I was reminded on Sunday of God's faithfulness and immutability...in this world of constant flux and change, He never changes. He is my anchor as life swirls wildly around me. I am so thankful for the relationship I have with Him. Some day I will spend eternity basking in His glory and enjoying sweet worship and fellowship. And, I believe, time will finally stand still.

Oh glorious day!

Quote of the Day

"If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that, too."

— Somerset Maugham, English playwright and novelist

I Love Fall!

Just wanted to check in on this chilly, crisp, fall day and say:

I LOVE FALL!

(That's all!)

Musings on Family and Country

I can hardly believe it is the 4th of July already...well, almost, as I'm posting this on the 3rd. We are going to be spending some time with family this weekend and enjoying a BBQ and good fellowship. My older boys keep wondering when summer is going to come, as it really hasn't been unbearably hot here yet. This past week we had rain every evening which kept the temps reasonable. But I'm looking at the calendar and realizing that one third of their summer vacation is over, and with as busy a month as July is, soon August will be here and school is right around the corner again!

This month I am directing and teaching at our church's Vacation Bible School, and we are planning a little vacation to upper New York State with some friends. I know the month will fly by very quickly. The other day I reminisced by watching two old videos that haven't seen the light of day for quite some time. The first one was of a patriotic cantata that our school community did in Santiago, Chile, back in 1989. I was a senior in high school, just about to graduate, at the time. It was great fun to look at everyone in the cantata, and the audience, and realize how much time has gone by since then. This year would be my 20th high school reunion if our little school did such a thing! The second video was of our wedding. I don't think I had ever really watched it before. A friend was our videographer, and she got shots from the rehearsal, photo session, wedding, and reception. I recall so few details of that day, so it was fun to watch the video and remember. My kids enjoyed watching their mom laugh and cry all at the same time more than the videos, I think!

Whatever you are doing this weekend, have fun doing it. Stay safe and healthy, and remember to say a prayer for our country and her leaders. We are going through trying times and I believe that it is only through a return to the ideals and beliefs of our country's biblical heritage that our country will once again be great.

God bless America!

I am Blessed

It is almost 1 a.m. on Saturday morning. I must get up and lead a VBS meeting at church in the morning. But I just finished reading a book that reminded me to cherish every moment God gives me with my children, so I did something some would think was quite stupid--I woke up my baby boy and held him for a few moments. He is getting so big, and life is so busy and crazy, and I just want it to slow down so I can cherish the moments I have with him and his brothers. He was so snuggly in his half awake/half asleep state...so unlike his usual go-at-100-miles-per-hour self when he's fully awake. Hug your babies while you still can--while they still let you. They grow up way too fast. I am blessed.

Quoteworthy

"Some days you're the pigeon; some days you're the statue."

-Roger Anderson

Quoteworthy

"(W)hen a strict interpretation of the Constitution ... is abandoned, and the theoretical opinions of individuals are allowed to control its meaning, we have no longer a Constitution; we are under the government of individual men, who for the time being have power to declare what the Constitution is, according to their own views of what it ought to mean."

— Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Curtiss, March 6, 1857, dissenting from the Dred Scott ruling that slaves were property

The Stranger

I got this in my inbox today. Perhaps you have already read this, but it is worth rereading...
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A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Texas town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger...he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home...not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished.

He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked...and NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?

We just call him 'TV.'

He has a wife now....we call her 'Computer.'