Meditation Matters (“matters” as both a noun and a verb) REVISED

4/30/12 Returning from a “prayer for revival” time where 4 of us convened to pray today, I opened this email from a blog reader in France (whom I have never met) .

She wasn’t sure why she sent it to me. But God…..knew the nature of our group and this so affirms our need to continue to pray for our nation and its leaders especially as election time is just around the corner.

AGGIE’S E-MAIL (synopsis)

It's early Sunday morning, one of those short nights.  I just checked out your blog and saw the I

It actually reminded me of something totally on the opposite end of the pole.  A positive I  which has nothing to do with the big ugly I  that pops up so insidiously in our lives.

Around 2001, due to some negative I factors, the French leaders felt God asking them to close the French association.  Shortly afterwards, at a small gathering of several Lydia cells at my house, we spent time waiting on the Lord.  I received a mental image of a strong white curtain-type material stretched out, and in the center was a tall I .  As we shared with one another what God had been speaking, I described what I had seen.  To me it was a big tear in the white "wall" and at the same time it was an opening to something else.  When I said "I'm not sure what the I stands for, one of the gals immediately responded, "It means 'INTERCESSION'."

As the four of us (a small nucleus of the group which had gotten together annually) met and prayed with the European leader earlier this year, she saw Jesus just on the other side of the I, waiting with joy to see us enter and begin again this ministry of intercession.

Only five former Lydia cell members, from my local area, responded to a letter sent out in March and expressed their desire to continue, but God (emphasis mine, DAL) doesn't despise small beginnings.  I am asking Him to give us some guidelines for days ahead, and encourage each of the ladies to trust God for a prayer partner (or several) to faithfully listen to God and intercede according to his heart.

Along with excerpts from Aggie's message, I have also included a link from her that led me to a site which led me to our meditation verse for today. (along with a few hints) Lydia Fellowship is “a call to prayer for Christian women, those who have the heart
 to meet with God and encounter his presence. The Vision of Lydia is for women to meet together with a "prayer-partner" or in small groups of 3 - 5 women.  Each Prayer Group is responsible to seek God for his specific agenda for prayer by the group.” 

Our prayer group's structure is very similar in structure to those Lydia cell groups in France. For 15+ years, our goal has been prayer for revival; for our own hearts, for members of our church, for our city, our state, our nation and our world.

At the Lydia website, (http://www.lydiafellowshipinternational.org/) a list of names, of those in authority in our country, was included. I printed those off to share with my group. A verse, which seemed so appropriate for today's meditation entry was:

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (1 Timothy 2: 1-2)

Guidelines for meditation were also given. God is so good!!

SABBATH SNAPSHOTS: 4/29/12

One never knows when truth will be revealed--this time it was at Canale's grocery when I stopped to pick up ham. Though preposition "by" has faded, one gets the idea of this company's realization of the "True Builder."

Roof top view of patio welcome mat "à la" hubby.

So very welcome!!!!!

Ashley Bryan said it well---"We be family!"

FAMILY RESEMBLANCE

(Circa 1964 or '65)

 4/28/12 As children of the Clifton “Brud” Adams family, people often commented that though we (my brothers and I) looked like family, & yet individually, none of us really resembled either of our parents. 

When we got together with our spouses this weekend, it was still pretty obvious that we are indeed related---more because of our idiosyncratic behavior than physical appearance. Just ask our spouses!

How fun to get together with kin---to reminiscence and celebrate family. In particular, for us, the key is acceptance. Warts and all----we are family. That’s why is was so fun to get together this weekend and go see “The Addams Family” (“snap, snap”) at the Orpheum.

As the lyrics of the opening melody rang out

You're obligated to the clan

It's family first and family last

And family by and by

When you're an Addams

The standard answers don't apply

When you're an Addams

You do what Addams do for us (Adams) that would be laugh and EAT!)

In same positions as sibling portrait---my how the "baby" has grown.

As Christians, we bear the name of Christ though certainly all of us “look” very different. It’s our actions, attitudes and even mannerisms that reflect that spiritual parentage. Do we act like our heavenly Father?

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love….(Ephesians 5:1-5)

My brothers and I certainly bear an earthly family resemblance in our actions. So much of what we say and do is a reflection of our “upbringing.” May our lives continue to reflect the parentage of our heavenly Father as well.

LESSONS FROM DADDY

2/25/12 Peonies----I just love them. Mama Davenport had gorgeous ones on the rise in her back yard---her cutting garden. The peony bushes backed up to her neighbors’ fence and many a family picture was snapped there among all the blooms in her cutting garden. She would cut peonies and bring them in for her kitchen table. Before they made it to the table they would sit in a big watering can on the back steps outside Dang-Dang’s sleeping porch door. Those blooms full of petals would make us all smile. Blossoms of white with a few pink thrown in for interest.

She loved them first. Therefore I couldn’t help but love them.

They were Mama’s  “pee OWN nees”----regardless of how Webster says we’re to pronounce peony, Mama’s accent was always on the 2^nd syllable.

As a child, Daddy taught me to never make fun of another’s pronunciation when it was different from my own. I still remember the pain/shame I felt from that admonishment when I giggled at Mama’s pronunciation of our phone #---Tuxedo 5-3985. A lesson taken to heart. Kindness taught in a teachable moment. (Ephesians 4: 1-2, 32)

Hopefully, I will continue to afford this grace to others. Another of Daddy’s lessons well learned.

Got junk?

4/24/12 More specifically, got a junk drawer? According to organizing guru, Maryanne MacDonald, no drawer should be a junk drawer, ie a catchall. Each drawer should have a specific purpose. I assume she meant that junk wasn’t a worthy purpose. Our junk drawer evolved into a purpose on its own---a place for hubby and me to put things when we didn’t know where else to put them. “Tidy”ing said “junk” drawer wasn’t on my day’s “to do” list but it came about anyway when I was looking for a sturdy rubberband. I was too lazy to go upstairs and get one out of the “Rubberband” labeled drawer in my old card catalog. Excess “junk” had the drawer jammed----thus the tidying up began.

As I culled and organized, I mused how akin to my brain this drawer was. Crammed. Filled to overflowing. Some information was useless clutter (trivia comes to mind) making retrieval for important info virtually impossible at times.

Sadly, one’s mind can be too spiritually similar to a junk drawer. Truth is, some thoughts don’t need to take up permanent residence there. Those thoughts can build resentment and bitterness and can “jam” pure thoughts or spew over and affect other unrelated aspects of your life. Bitterness is known in the Bible as spiritual poison and a means by which many are defiled (Hebrews 12:15)

 

Some thoughts never need to be allowed access in the first place. Take every thought captive… (2 Corinthians 10:5)

If mind ”junk” continues to be a problem, “….be transformed by the renewing of your mind” through scripture. (Romans 12:2)

Of course, I tidied up my drawer and wrote it on my “to do” list, (after the fact) so I could ✔ it off and feel a sense of accomplishment. Just yesterday, Debbie P. told me she often does the same thing. Since she’s a pastor’s wife, that info made me feel much better.

✔Drawer accomplished. Beginning to work on my brain now because in one’s thought life..…..organized junk is still junk.

GRAMMAR LESSON FOR MEDITATION

4/23/12 First person singular

Grammatical person in nominative case English pronoun---tends to dominate the thought life of most Americans. 

CONVICTION!

What “I” want! What "I" desire! What “I” deserve! 1st person or the self. “I” is certainly the “person” easiest for folks to put FIRST.

But God….has shown me this week how that “self” focus is not God honoring or “other” honoring. sIn. prIde. “I” boldly occupies the middle of those 2 self-seeking words.

Meditate on these words from John as you seek to move self out of the limelight and focus on loving God and serving others.

But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. (1 John 3:17-18)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)

Yesterday, Cole’s sermon, along these same truths (Malachi 2:10-17), concluded with “the larger “I” gets in our lives, the less regard we have for God and others.”

End of lesson!

SABBATH SNAPSHOTS: People who make a difference

4/22/12 In our lives we have family members, friends, neighbors, even service industry folks who make a difference. That’s what I saw as I looked through my photos from this week. These plants reminded me of such people. I am thankful for each in my life.

Bloom from my “heritage” snowball bush---originally from my grandmother, Mama’s, childhood home in Hampton Station KY. She took a cutting with her when she married Robert Davenport (my Dang-Dang) and moved to Clarksville, TN. Mama was my spiritual mentor.

A Magnolia tree given by Nancy R., a former Longreen neighbor, in memory of that same grandmother. A real essence of sweetness comes from her memory tree, just as pure sweetness emanated from the very core of her being 

A snapshot from my Wednesday “walkabout” with long time friend and walking encourager, Ellen. We walked in my “hood” this week.

Honeysuckle where I park for my “local” library---there the librarians bless my heart with their recommendations of “good reads” and big smiles. The distinct smell of the honeysuckle had childhood love of libraries and other memories flooding my mind.

Dear friend Ann’s, son Brad, (in sunglasses) has always been a generous supporter of the university. I know how pleased she is with his continued generosity in Memphis-- from education, health, and church to the arts.

A single dogwood bloom on the tree outside the track area beside hubby’s office at the university—a man who puts up with me. Enough said.

.

CELEBRATORY DAY

4/20/12 …..A Morning Centennial Event

What a day of events! More like a stroll down memory lane as I walked The University of Memphis campus. Some things changed but many things---were just the same. 

No longer do young ladies have to wear a trench coat to cover themselves if they are wearing shorts to their gym class. Old Scates Hall is still pretty. Our UM Liles graduates brick in front of Scates is much worn from trampling of many students and that’s a good thing. Mynders dorm still has the wrap porch where friends once got caught “spying” on a cute football player---I got so tickled, I left my mark right there in the grass. Jones Hall where I stood by as Janie B. steamed open a letter from D. B.’s girlfriend before putting it into his box. (Isn’t that a federal offense?) Rawls hall 5^th floor window that housed Molly Guard and me the semester before she married Nick. The 4^th floor window where Winslow and I were roomies and wrote notes on our windows for the world to see.  Also where W helped me climb in a back window when I was late for a Sunday night sign in. Of course, she had already signed me in. Not very spiritual--- but crazy, fun memories just the same.

 Not very spiritual came to mind because the reason I was on campus was an invitation as the former “Religion Editor” of the 1960s weekly campus newspaper the Tiger Rag. At that point in time,  I probably had more of a religiosity than a relationship with the Lord. Church attendance kept me “accountable” and I was more likely to be in church for some godly insurance on the Sunday before a BIG test than out of desire for truth.

Today, I joined other editors, photographers, etc. from those earlier years of the school’s publications and sat in on Otis Sanford’s “Diversity and Society” class. I was the only female visitor and I imagine the only one who had not pursued a journalism degree. Frankly, I probably did more writing with grants for Shelby County Schools than I even did as a member of that newspaper staff. As I recall, I put in schedules of events and “happenings” at the different “faith houses” on campus. Baptist Student Union, Hillel for my Jewish friends, Barth House for Episcopalians, Wesley House for Methodist students and I’m sure a Catholic one but I don’t remember an exact name. College students, according to my frosh roomie, (Carolyn ? from Collierville, a town foreign to this KY gal) only read faith news to see when there would be free food events.

The day’s lecture in a large lecture hall, a far cry from the cramped classroom we had in the basement of the old administration building, was “How Traditional Media is to Survive.” Mr. Sanford was a great prof---easy to listen to, with organized handouts which included practical tips and a visual presentation which ended on a positive note. He engaged the students in learning, accepted their thoughts, challenged their thinking and I gleaned much from the dialogue of the students themselves.

Today’s students’ reading habits have that same basis as readers of the old Tiger Rag---they just read for the info they want or need. It’s just rarely in a static form---most only know digital access these. Only wanting to be given the specific news they desire, they’d rather get it from twitter or a downloadable news or sports app. Bits of news between tweets and texts seems adequate.

I really did enjoy his class and the last words, I heard Mr. Sanford say to a student, though I don’t know the context, were “in spirit and in truth. And that comes from the Bible.” How right you are, Mr. Sanford. Those words are perfect words for an exiting religion editor, who today knows those words as a definition of true worship and that’s a real cause to celebrate.

AN AFTERNOON CENTENNIAL EVENT (“Stan the Man” was there.)

The unveiling of the Bronze Statue of Tom the Tiger with hubby was a fun way to celebrate along with others before traipsing off to lunch together. Rarely do the two of us have that privilege. That too is a reason to celebrate.

Posting pix so you other Memphis State/University of Memphis grads can get a glimpse of your campus. You’d be proud.

If you've forgotten the "Fight Song" words, they're written here. "Go Tigers go....."

Facing Manning Hall where those old science labs were once housed.

Signage by Panhellenic Building---not sure what it is now. Pi Phi and other sororities have their own houses elsewhere on campus.

CELEBRATORY NIGHT

 4/20/12 Oh what a night---Temptations Revue---centennial event---well, not exactly but as friend Doris said, “I thought they were all dead.” (or at least 100 yrs. old, maybe) Dennis was only one of the originals along with the son of original Temptation, Paul Williams. All still had the “moves” and could belt out that Motown sound, along with my favorite, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” Hubby and I danced in the aisle on that one. Of course we did, that’s the rule!! A toe-tapping way to end a day of celebrations!

The unmistakable sound of "Motown"---the best beat and doo-wap music for "bop" steps.