WHAT A QUIVER!

Celebrating birthdays of two of our grandchildren this week reminded me of the verses from Psalm 127:3a & 5a, Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,....How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. In our family all of our children have suffered loss in childbearing and yet the Lord has continued to bless them in unexpected ways with more "arrows" for their quiver.

Just his week as grandson # 4 turned 12 on 6/12, today grandchild # 8 celebrated his 1st birthday.

As each of our children's families have been blessed, so have we----as we now await surprise # 9 grandchild and only the 2nd girl in the quiver. 

Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged; parents are the pride of their children. (Proverbs 17:6) We celebrate the fulness of each of those quivers, even if its with blueberry pancakes instead of birthday cake! Tomorrow's "Jam Session" party for toddlers with drums will get to "eat cake."

WORDSMITH WEDNESDAY

Lexicography of symbols.
Many folks think a picture says more than a thousand words but these days of computerese, one needs to be careful.  LOL! I rarely even use an emoji for that very reason. I don't have a clue what many of them "mean"--- semantically ambiguous comes to mind."

Catching up on this week's "funnies" aka as "the comics, I came across a word I never recall seeing in print or hearing for that matter. "BRIFFIT."

BRIFFIT. Can you see it in Sarge's word balloon? 

It's speed indicative as if someone left so fast 

they left behind a cloud of smoke. (lower right)

Obviously there's a lexicon for cartoonists. In fact, Mort Walker, Beetle Bailey's original creator, wrote a book about it, The Lexicon of Comicana. It's a brief book on the language of symbols.

I just didn't know cartoonists used so many illustrations instead of words. Spacewise that's smart. Word balloons I'm familiar with, as I can know which character is speaking reading the balloon above his head. Hearts bubbling out of character's head is an emanta and indicates emotion of love is emanating from him.  I've see lines of motion which clearly indicate speed and often direction. Now I know they are labeled hites. Drops of sweat that spray from a character indicate distress are called plewds. The more upset, the greater number of plewds.

Profanity is left out and grawlixes are used instead. For that, I am grateful! (Ephesians 4:29)

At our house, the grands would think Sarge was using an "S" word when screaming at Beetle because "Stupid" is our "S" word and it's not allowed----neither is shutup,  another Liles "S" word.
I guess even individual households can have their own jargon.

PUZZLED!

PUZZLED!

I've always heard, the 3 stages of life are...youth, adulthood and "my you're looking well!" When you reach the last stage you are checking the last box on all forms---65 or older!

Yesterday, I went to teach Bible Study at Town Village, a residence for "senior" living. I had hoped to "bless" their day through sharing God's word with them and to encourage them to be steadfast in their faith.

These folks continue to "walk with the Lord"---even if that walk is a bit unsteady or includes a cane, a walker or a wheelchair. One came fresh out of the shower so his wife had to save him a seat. His strength has been a bit "spent" lately but he didn't want to miss. He brings with him a sense of humor that lifts us all. Pretending to take a bite of the "apple" of our object lesson had all of us laughing. He is one who continues to "fight the fight" to finish the race and keep the faith.

There was fellowship in that room of "mature" people on the same side of the physical struggles brought on by aging. Other trials and problems as death of friends and family to loneliness and diminishing finances are shared but not despaired. 

How can that be? Puzzled? Not really. They have remembered to "number their days and apply their hearts to wisdom" (Psalms 90:12) so they show up.
They know aging can be a blessing for Christians.

This framed puzzle, put together by some of the residents of Town Village, says more to me than the beautiful teacups of the finished work. Their eyesight might be dimming and their frail hands translucent with visible purplish veins..... but together they keep the faith, 

encourage each other and complete a masterpiece. 

I go to bless others---but everytime I teach, I am the one who is truly blessed. 

PUZZLED? No....that's the way God works. 

RED NOSE DAY W/ DUAL PURPOSE

Buy a "red nose" and support the charity to end childhood poverty. 

Young folks, teens and "mature" adults, with childlike glee, participate.

Celebrities don them. 

Even long-time friends, who have been an "every-day" kind of hero for me, don them!

HOW SWEET HER SMILE!!!

What a privilege it has been to grow wise by walking long side one who has been so wise and willing to share her wisdom. (Proverbs 13:20)
A friend loves at all times. (Proverbs 17:17, NIV)

Spiritual Sepsis

Negative thoughts come from a negative mind. Impurity can reign in a mind empty of God's truths.

Inlet Port & Discharge Port  In this picture it is all septic.

The adage that "what goes in is what comes out" is certainly important of the words that enter ones' mental pallet and then permeates one's heart. 
In the illustration above, the actual contents waiting to b discharged are septic. It says so right on the truck. 
A spiritual sepsis can permeate the body once it gets in. It can affect the heart. Even the brain can be affected as oxygen and nutrients are blocked from ones system. 
What is the remedy for spiritual sepsis? A thorough cleansing is required.

Sepsis can also invade one's spiritual life. I call it stinkin' thinkin', and if not held in check, it can block understanding of God's word thus destroying vital truths leading to godly living.
 Stinkin' thinkin' needs to  be treated by a washing of the word, God's Word so that the grace of God can come in? (Ephesians 5:26)
The cure to stinkin' thinkin' is a grateful heart?   

Create in me a clean heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

A Good man brings good things our of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. (Stinkin' stuff!) For the mouth speaks what theheart is full of. Luke 6:45)

So....don't fill your heart and mind with stinkin' thinkin'---the result could be septic.

CHOOSE SLOWING

Choose slowing. Sometimes age chooses slowing for us.

Then we have new choices. Attitudinal ones.

Will we "slow" because we have to, thus wearing a burden or agitation on our shoulder?

Will we choose to "slow" with acceptance, by His grace.

Slowing allows time for pondering.

Pondering can lead to praying with folded hands.

Praying can be encouraging for self...

...and others as one "pays it forward" with a smile on his face.

Note last letters in encouraging. Do something to encourage someone else---maybe someone a little older, and allow the Lord to take the aging process out of your self-focus to focus on others!

Pondering, as a verb, is to think carefully (Philippians 4:8) about something. Chew on. Contemplate. Consider.  Dwell on.
But.....pondering requires slowing. Slow down today so that your ponderings (noun) might be "God-focused"

O HAPPY DAZE......

From Easter & two birthdays to Flat Stanley fun, Mother's Day & 2 pre-birthdays it's been a Kodak worthy family journey.

Daze from frolicking days with family is always worth it!

GLORIOUS PALM SUNDAY!!

Johann Sebastian Bach said it well. "Aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.

To that I say, "Amen!"

Today's Palm Sunday service at church, with orchestra, choir, readers and amazing vocalists (Ephie Johnson, Reagan Strange and Shekinah Toebbe) did just that!

The Lord was glorified and my soul was refreshed.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

SIGNAGE---THAT GAVE PAUSE

I didn't stop dead in my tracks as it wasn't sudden or fearful....

but I did pause to ponder the sign as men of the cloth scurried past.
Do we more often take the path of working toward financial gain than the path of living for heaven?

Wonder if the finance committee has a meeting?

It seems seems that lately I have done more pondering as I've been "thinking carefully" (as Webster defines pondering) about heaven. I recently attended 3 funerals within 8 days. Factor in a heart catheterization requiring a stent for hubby and two recent hospital visitations, with one pending, and you'll understand my concern for self as well as others. 

I've prayed for all and actually prayed in person with two. My heart desires a heavenly trajectory for each.

But God......in my morning reading from Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven, reminded me.....It is God who "set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).....That's God's idea, not ours. (p. 114)

Salvation is God's work. (Psalm 3:8, 1 Timothy 2:4)

SANCTUARY FOR THE SOUL: LITERATURE & FLOWERS

Nothing quite speaks to my heart like the beauty of God's creation. (Psalm 104:24a)

Pair that with creativity used by man to display said blooms and place them in a church for all to view and one enters a sanctuary for her soul.

 Breakfast for the Bard

Lunch at Anne Hathaway's Cottage

Calla lilies as I've never seen them before.

Plus, a Knot Garden display greeted us as we entered and Tennessee Shakespeare Company provided vignettes of works of Shakespeare as we exited. 

I came away refreshed and humming "For the Beauty of the Earth."