ALL THINGS FAMILY

I've shared with you before that our family has the mega-family reunion of all reunions. Started in 1969 by our MamMaw to find a way to keep her 10 children and 40+ grandchildren connected she would be delighted to know that even though we are down to only 4 of the original 10 - the reunions keep on coming! This year our theme was "You Ought to be in Pictures" and was complete with our infamous family picture backdrop consisting of the stars' walk of fame - all ten of the childrens' names in STARS. It was sweet and it was bittersweet. The first year without our Mom and our brother was RE-hospitalized for emergency back surgery. He had surgery the week before to repair a ruptured disc and developed excrutiating headaches. They discovered he had another bone fragment that had punctured the dura of his cord and it was leaking spinal fluid causing the mega headaches.

SO while we were celebrating family - very present with them - our brother was undergoing surgery 200 miles away and our hearts and minds were very much with him also!

We weren't the only ones experiencing the angst of wanting to be in two places at once. Many in our family were undergoing business/financial/relational/physical/personal problems and yet for a few hours on a Sunday in September we swept them aside and just celebrated the joy of belonging to one another. Such is the tension in the family of God. We are exhorted to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

This Sunday we took the time to share some memories. Believe it or not, we usually don't do that. We're so busy - eating, catching up, judging the dessert contest, helping the children 'do' the coloring contest, bidding at the silent auction and admiring the creativity of the year's theme that we don't really stop and remember 'why' and 'what' we are celebrating. Maybe it's because we lost my mom and we're down to less than half the brothers and sisters or maybe it's because the cousins are older - but we stopped this year and talked about things remembered. It was fun for my generation but I noticed the spouses and siblings left behind were crying.

We rejoiced over the sweetness of memories past and we wept for what was forever gone. And yet.....in the Lord nothing is lost. I couldn't help but think for Mother, her reunion on the other side is growing just as ours is shrinking.

The same is true for us on this side of the veil. For every tragedy and heartache we are currently experiencing there is a reward awaiting for those of us who persevere. As we hold tight to God, trust in His faithfulness, speak of His goodness and wait on His promises we don't have to weep over our loss but rather to rejoice in our gain.

So I hope today you will think back on your memories of God's faithfulness and ride out the current difficulties you are experiencing knowing that you know - He took care of you before and He will forevermore! He who promised is faithful!

What A Difference!

It's just been a week but what a difference a little time can make. Last week we had a solid week of gray, overcast, gloomy, rainy, wet days! We knew we needed the rain but after a few days it affected our mood, our commute and our HAIR. Then one day the sun popped out, it began to dry things out, people quickly mowed their lawns and washed their cars and what do you know? The grass is greener, formerly dried up plants are sporting bright colored blooms again and the sun seems much friendlier and welcoming.

Today is my mother's first birthday in heaven! She's been gone from this earth for almost nine months. In my mind's eye I can see her laughing with her mother, dancing down streets of gold, teasing my Justin, in awe of the colors of the flowers and the fragrance of heaven whereas prior to her death she was losing her vision and her hearing, she could not walk and her arms were almost void of any range of motion. What a difference a little time can make!

There is no arguing that life is hard. But we would do well to take a lesson from nature. It takes storms to produce beauty and the storm is not the end. The storm is the means used to produce the beauty.

In our own lives we will have trouble. Jesus repeated that over and over again. But He also qualified it, "In this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." It is an admonishment that in the midst of our trouble/pain/diagnosis/prognosis to look beyond the rain to the rainbow. To believe beyond what we see to the promise. God is clear when He promises us that "all things work together for our good." It is ours to trust.

So whether you are enjoying the sun or enduring the rain it is to our Father's glory that we jump in the puddles, turn our faces to the sky and know - the Son is coming!

School Days

I was thinking about the start of school this morning - more specifically about when I was in school. It was so much fun to buy our little plaid dresses and pinafores. Yes, plaid was definitely "in" in the 60's. We also had 'to die for' metal lunch boxes and I absolutely loved carrying my lunch box each morning to school - though to be honest it took about ONE lunch before the thing stunk to high heaven. It was so cute on the outside but the inside always smelled like metallic old cheese. And I don't know about you - but my thermos never made it past the first week. I ALWAYS broke the glass. GASP I just realized - we would NEVER let our children carry a glass thermos. Plaid, glass, metal and dresses - times have sure changed.

Yet for many of us adults fall also signals the time for the start-up of new Bible study. I hope you are preparing yourself for a new school year. I hope there is anticipation in your heart and that you are preparing your wardrobe for a new year. It's the time to scrub our hearts, sharpen our vision, listen more intently, clothe ourselves in His righteousness alone and put on the shoes of the gospel of peace.

In the Psalms we continually hear a psalmist telling us that God wants to give us a "new song." That's what a new school year signifies for us. A new beginning. An opportunity to hear a fresh word from God and to act on that word. But it begins just like my mother began my school year - with a little preparation.

If you are preparing to begin a Bible study prepare yourself. If you don't have a Bible study on your calendar, consider doing so. We are to be students of His word. He is found in the words of those ancient pages and He is fresh, contemporary, living and active. Within the setting of the study of His word we will find brothers and sister who are like-minded and will help us to grow into the men and women we were purposed to be.

Apart from study and fellowship we will become like my cute lunch box - good-looking on the outside and stinky on the inside. And let me tell you something - by the end of the school year the metal didn't contain the stink!

Here's to the aroma of Christ in you!!! Happy school year!