Exhort and Encourage One Another!

This morning, as I flipped pancakes in the kitchen, my husband tuned in to the TV to see if the rain would be gone so he could call his crew to roof today. There was quite the commotion going on as the sports broadcaster was in a packed gymnasium of exuberant,(to say the least- a little much so for me at 7:00 a.m.) fans of the Griffin Bears football team. Yes, the pep rally brought back some memories of the late 1960's, pleasant memories, I might add.  As I watched that blueberry pancake sizzle in the pan, I pictured a 15-17 yr old girl at a free throw line in a noisy gym and hearing fans and cheerleaders, dressed in blue and white like me, exhorting and encouraging me that I could sink the shot.

Forgive One Another

A couple of blogs ago, I began the "one anothers" of the New Testament with Jesus' words "Love one another" launching us into the study. I thought I would take two lessons to talk about the characteristics of love that Paul gave to us in 1 Cor. 13 but decided I would proceed when I saw that in that chapter, some of the other "one anothers' are included such as the last one we looked at- "love is kind."

Be Kind One To Another

WARNING: Here comes another example from my adorable grandson!  A few weeks ago, I told you the story of Alicia and Landon observing the beautiful, pink sky and discussing the reasons for the brilliant color to which Landon exclaimed that he thought God wanted to bless someone and he also thought He wanted to bless him. He went on to relate his reasoning  to his Mom and Sister. The day before, on the playground, he was winning the race, (apparently a rare event for him to be in the lead), and when he saw Timothy fall, he went back to help him up and then said later to his mommy and sister, "I think that made Jesus happy!"

Love One Another

When my 5 year old grandson started to kindergarten this year, he was introduced to a new piece of apparel, one that 0-5 little boys have no need of and that being the dreaded belt. (You thought that I was going to say the necktie, didn't you?)  Well, his Mommy bought him one a week or so before school started so they could practice buckling it. She even got the magnetic type to make it easier and for the first day or two, she noticed when she picked up the children that the belt was barely hanging on the hips and maybe through one loop of the khaki uniform shorts he was wearing.  They practiced some more and toward the end of the week, she noticed an improvement and asked him- "Landon, are you getting better at clasping your belt?" And I love his reply-

A Spiritual Makeover

We have all, probably, watched one of those TV shows where Ty, I believe is his name, goes into a house and completely makes it over, so much so that you can hardly believe it is the one and same. Then there is the show where you have the before and after transformation of a dowdy woman, (not right hair, not right clothes, not right make-up, pretty much not right anything :)  ) and together with the make-up artist, the hair-dresser, and the fashionable wardrobe consultant, the new woman has changed from frumpy to fabulous in about an hour.  Together, with that example, let me use a couple of TV ads which make me laugh and frustrate me all at the same time, to try to show where I am going today in this writing.

Rich In What Matters!

A few weeks ago, the precious ones had a sleepover with us and as Landon looked around the house, I guess to see if anything had changed since the last trip, he asked me- "MaMa, are you rich?" I had to smile, firstly, because Grandanny and I have a very humble home and secondly, I remembered that Alicia, around age five, had also asked me the question one day as she accompanied me to the bank to deposit twenty $100 bills so we could pay SOME of the bills for that month. She thought it was a lot of money! :) Maybe, when they start to school, they begin to hear "rich and poor", suppose?

Reflections on Finishing Well!

In my last blog, I left off with the thought of finishing well and today I was reading one of my favorite prayers in the Bible offered up by one of my favorite O.T. characters. I thought that from one of the final prayers of King David, I could offer some insight from a man who finished well.  I love to read the prayers in Scripture by the men and women of God. I think of Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel concerning her heartfelt desire for a child and Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1 as he desperately wanted the people to know the God that they served.

Thoughts on September!

I just turned the calendar from, perhaps, my favorite month of the year. September, in many ways, seems more like a new beginning than January to me. Maybe it has to do with the the wonderful change of season (although it was very hot in Sept.) or the new routine that we learned as children as the school buses began to run again. Yes, when I went way back in the day, everyone started after Labor Day.  When I used to teach Sunday School, I would have the new series planned for the ninth month and would eagerly go shopping for my new study books and my 3-subject wide-ruled notebooks to make my many notes in for my new upcoming lessons.