Category Archives: Looking Over My Shoulder

To the frazzled young mother on Mother’s Day

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I always did pretty well in school growing up, at least until high school. I loved grade school, loved everything about it including the teachers, and I even wanted to be a teacher. When I hit the teenage years I changed my outlook a bit. Boys were a little more interesting than teachers but I still had many interests that kept me busy. I loved Sunday School, reading, the clarinet, and babysitting. The latter because it paid!

Then I met The Sweetheart and I knew I had fallen and fallen hard. Of course you will say I didn’t know what love was as a teenager. That’s what The Parents said too. But when July 20 rolls around it will be 39 years and whatever it was has lasted a long, long time.

I have never been happier than when My Three Sons were little and in school; the house was busy, messy and crazy. I dearly loved the daily routines, fixing breakfast, getting them ready for school, seeing them off to school, enjoying the little ones that were still at home, and trying my best to keep the house clean.

I miss that big old two-story, four-bedroom house with the wood floors that made so much noise when the three boys were chasing each other up and down the hallway. The memories of the wild things they did like duct-tape four-year-old Korey to the wall, pretending they were Tarzan only to have the vine break just as they soared halfway over the gully, or slamming doorknobs into each other’s foreheads…at least we kept the ER busy.

I miss riding the tractor for hours, the growing grass was just an excuse for quiet time! I could watch the world go by and see everything the boys were doing while the lawn was getting manicured: the softball and basketball games, chasing Molly the Beagle back onto her own property, or trying their best to pull a catfish out of the pond.

I couldn’t wait until they came home, even though I may not have gotten everything finished that I had intended. Even though they were going to pick at each other and there would probably be some punching and name-calling before the night was over, this is what I had chosen for my life. I didn’t want a career in the corporate world, nothing wrong with that, it just wasn’t for me. I had helped to get The Sweetheart there and he promised I could stay home with the boys. We never regretted it.

But seasons change and…

  • All of that time that I wished for a clean house?
  • No laundry flowing out of the basket and into the hallway?
  • No dishes in the dishwasher?
  • No dirt on the floor?
  • No Legos puncturing my tender feet in the middle of the night?
  • No calls from the schoolteacher?
  • No sound of little fists pounding on the bathroom door?

Those wishes have come true and I would give anything to relive them. You don’t know what you have sometimes until you are missing it.

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I remember when I was a young mother so many older women would say to me when I was frazzled and chasing three little boys, “Oh, you had better enjoy these days! They will be grown before you know it!” And I would just want to turn around and smack ‘em! I DID love my boys and I DID love everything about my life but sometimes it was just plain hectic. It is hard to realize that when you are in the middle of it.

And you know what? It is true…it does go by so fast. It is such a wonderful time in your life that you would love to be able to do over again if you could. Now I am the old lady saying the same thing to young mothers in the checkout line!

But God has given us seasons in our lives for a reason. And I am learning to enjoy every single one, even if it is sometimes painful. I didn’t know then what I know now and I didn’t have the relationship with HIM that I do now, which is so much to be thankful for.

And if you ARE that young mother who is so sleep deprived you can’t stay awake through church, remember they are only little for a short while. Drink in the smiles, the mischievous antics, the endless “Why’s” and “Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!” God has entrusted you with His most important treasure and most important task: to bring up your child in the way he should go so that when he is grown, when she has children of her own, they will remember a frazzled mother who even made mistakes but they will also remember the time you spent with them and the love that surrounded them.

For God is in control of each new day and if we let Him, He makes every season beautiful in its own way. And, don’t forget, the grandchildren are coming!

(photo courtesy of Shelby Fannin Photography)

 

 

Discovering MIRACLES in the Mailbox

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Discovering Miracles in the Mailbox

It’s #FiveMinuteFriday and the prompt is DISCOVER. Join me for a for a personal flashback story!

My earliest memories at the mailbox go way back to my favorite mail lady, Sandra Sylvester (pronounced Saundra). She actually delivered the newspaper and her husband was our mailman, a wonderfully kind and humble gentleman was this U.S. postal employee. As nice as he was, it was the familiar sound of Sandra’s little VW bug coming up our hill, but still a few houses away, that would cause me to put down whatever I was doing, pause any fights with my little brothers and head for the mailbox/paperbox.

Sandra always had time to say, “Hello” and give away her lovely smile. She literally allowed Jesus to shine and I wanted what she had. I can remember running to the box when I heard her coming, not because I loved to read the paper, only thing good in it for my age at the time was “the funnies”. (For you youngsters, that is what we called the comics. For those younger than that, a newspaper, “what is black and white and read all over”, was how we discovered what was going on in the world and our town…before smart phones and apps!)

My excitement was not in The Herald Times, I wasn’t even a teenager yet. But Sandra always seemed to have time for me, for everyone, and the short time she spent talking to me seemed as if it were so much longer. I was always encouraged and felt as if a little heaven had stopped to visit. She literally glowed with the power of the Holy Spirit. Sadly, she was taken from this life all too young and too soon but her memory lives on in her beautiful family (my cousins) and those who loved her.

Some things you expect to see in your mailbox and others you dread:

  • Advertisements. No need to explain, we probably all stand at the trashcan and sort our mail, most of it is junk.
  • Collections. Bills, bills and more bills.
  • Solicitations. Mostly in the form of THIS IS NOT AN ACTUAL CHECK…but it could be if you want to pay 75% interest on a loan!
  • Samples. Isn’t it crazy how we could get excited over a half ounce of dishwasher detergent?
  • Cards. Okay, okay, let me explain this one too. Back in the day, people sent these little things we called greeting cards that wished you a happy birthday or anniversary, conveyed good thoughts about your illness or loss and even congratulated you on an accomplishment or a new home. Now, we have social media to save us from the $6/per card ridiculousness! (sarcasm is free)

But sometimes, on rare but exciting occasions, there would be a miracle. One particular that comes to my mind happened shortly after we returned from Latvia. Our financial situation was not one to brag about, most of our donations did not come through as promised and we had survived on a wing and a prayer for sure. Obviously, we weren’t starving, but we were learning how to depend on God. I don’t remember praying that particular morning for a miracle to be in my mailbox but when I sorted through all of the junk, I discovered a letter with handwriting I didn’t recognize. I opened it to see a beautiful hand-written note from a pastor’s daughter in another state. Her words?

“In prayer this morning, I strongly felt led to send you this and pray you are not offended. I don’t know the need but God does and we appreciate your sacrifice and honor your ministry today with this small gift.”

Inside the card? $500.

And a side note; we had never even met this young lady.

I had long forgotten about this miracle until recently when I opened our mailbox and once again discovered a miracle. This was something I had prayed about and I had great anticipation and faith that He would provide…and He did. Now, it doesn’t always happen just the way we ask, or pray, or even think, because HIS timing is perfect but it is rarely what we are anticipating. He always knows what is best and the answer, HIS perfect answer, will arrive right when it is most needed.

But this past week was that timing and when God performs the little miracles for you, it gives you faith to believe for other needs. You know He has done it before and He can do it again, according to His will, the key ingredient in every prayer.

What do you anticipate being in your mailbox? Do you look forward to what God might do each day? Do you anticipate you might discover a miracle? Your mailbox can look like many other things; the miracle may come through another person, through a spoken word, a message or through prayer. You might see it in tangible form or it might be a promise of good things to come. When He speaks and you KNOW you have heard HIS voice, that is a miracle of fantastic proportions, no one can take it from you!

So go forward today, anticipating that you may discover a miracle and it could just show up in your mailbox.

Share with us today a time when something unexpected showed up in your mailbox, or in your life, that has built your faith to believe He will do it again. Encourage someone else with testimonies of answered prayers!

For the kingdom

 

So, I received an IN-vite

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So, I received an IN-vite. The #FiveMinuteFriday word prompt today is IN-vite. Let’s try that again, for this post only, if you want to keep your circle of friends, the emphasis must be on the first syllable. Make it long and drawn out and then cut off that second syllable as if it were offensive to you. INNN-vite! 

Growing up in southern Indiana, I may or may not always been grammatically correct in all of my speech. It wasn’t that I was illiterate, it wasn’t that I didn’t receive good grades or that my parents had not taught me better, but sometimes Hoosiers just choose to say some things differently. One such contraction is that of you’ns or you’uns; which when used properly, slides off the tongue closer to yuns. What in the world does it mean, you ask? Well, that is easy, it is just Mid-western slang for You guys, you-people-over-there, all you folks taking up space, or for my Tennessee friends and anyone south of Louisville, ya’ll. Or, all ya’ll which means anyone sitting close by, anyone related by birth or marriage, including sixth cousins twice removed and those connected to, or even remotely associated with those that you are speaking to at the time.

So, it is not strange, odd or even weird that other words were also possibly pronounced differently. Words such as INNN-vite, especially spoken by the Greatest Generation (for clarification purposes, that means those from the WWII era, not you millennials) were special. We knew they meant invitation but that was high-falutin’ (another fave), puttin’ on airs, and just too much trouble on a hot summer day to assemble and roll off the tongue. INNN-vite would do.

I remember my grandmother telling me when she received my wedding invitation in the mail, “Honey, I got your INNN-vite today and I will be there with bells on!” I can still hear her saying it as if it were the most important invitation she had ever received. Of course I knew that her shortened version was a verb and not a noun, I knew it wasn’t used correctly, but it wasn’t the pronunciation that was important; it was the fact that the invitation had been received. She was included, thought of and wanted, for a special occasion.

Jesus invited the woman at the well to experience living water. When the God of the universe issues an INNN-vite, you sit up and pay attention, you go call your friends and extend your own invitation for them to “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.”

The Pharisee invited Jesus into his home…

Peter invited the messengers of Cornelius to spend the night…

The Ethiopian eunuch invited Philip to sit beside him in his chariot and then Philip invited him into the Kingdom by preaching Jesus…

And Jesus continues to invite each of us to experience this living water, this New Birth. It was not just at the well in Samaria, it continues today, a couple of thousand years later, to everyone who reaches out to take it. He invites us to leave behind our past, our sins, our heavy burdens, shame, fear and so much more. The price has been paid, the debt no longer hangs over our heads and we can live victoriously as those who have been grafted in, who have been generously invited into this Kingdom, not as observers, but as children of God!

And we should continue to invite people to know Him. Invite them to church, invite them to small groups, to individual Bible study; just invite them to coffee! Extend a hand of fellowship, so to speak, and show the love of God, which is the magnet that draws them into the Kingdom.

Peter’s life was forever changed when Jesus invited him to “Come, follow me.” Our lives will never be the same if we respond to that INNN-vite; RSVP with a Yes and then don’t forget the next line on that card. It asks, “How Many?” How many are we going to bring with us, to how many will we offer eternal life and deliverance from the weight of sin? Don’t be afraid to ask, to extend that offer to just, “Come.” Most are waiting and just needing that sincere, down-to-earth nudge.

You give the INNN-vite; Jesus will do the rest.

For the kingdom