Satisfied Early

     Today, I’m catching up on housework and preparing for our next school week.  I have found now that I’m working every day, my time at home seems more precious.  The Saturday mornings in p.j.’s are invaluable, and coming downstairs to a clean kitchen sets the tone for my whole day.  Surprisingly, after a late evening at the school yesterday, the kitchen was clean this morning…and it has been a good day. 

     Earlier, I had a few minutes to sit out on the porch and watch my girls play on the trampoline.  Watching them did what it usually does…it drew me back to when I was a girl.  Their age difference is about the same as the years between my cousin Shannon and me, and since she was more like my sister, I found myself on memory lane, once again, next to her at the creek behind her house.  I remember so well the place where we used to build dams in the creek and string clotheslines from trees.  It was lovingly named “The Rock”.  We named it that.  We were creative that way.  It was named after a big…umm…rock that was there along the creek.  (Cut us some slack!  We were little.)  We worked to build the best dams, made brooms out of tree limbs to sweep our “house”, had church services, funerals, and the occasional baptism (against orders).  We rowed downstream to help neighbors who were sick.  All pretend, of course.  The Psalmist said, “we spend our years as a tale that is told”, and boy, do our years have some tales to tell! 

     When I came in to read a little, I found myself in Psalm 90 reading that very same passage.  The verse that seemed to strike a chord with me most was verse 14, “O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”  Early in life, God showed Himself to me.  I certainly hope my life is one that rejoices in the mercy He has shown!  Then, just two verses down, he says, “Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.”  Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me there is little glory being passed down to children these days.  Could it be that their parents haven’t been looking for opportunities to serve?  Could it be that in our rush from one activity to the next…one store to the next…one game to the next…we’ve stopped being servants?  I think Shannon and I spent our playtime “working” because it was all we had ever known.  We had seen our parents serve in and outside the church, giving their time and energy for all that really mattered…for people and for the God they loved.  Their example was mirrored in our pretense and the glory of their work has shown in our lives.  Please don’t misinterpret this as bragging.  It is only the grace of a loving heavenly Father, and I marvel nearly every day that He would lavish me with a past and present life so blessed. 

     A few days ago, I found myself pretty exhausted and wondering if it would all really pay off.  When I read my cousin Matthew’s facebook post, I was reminded that it isn’t about the payoff at all.  Mother Theresa said, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”  As generic and overused as it sounds, it is all about love.  My heart’s desire is to leave an example of service for my children, a willingness to work, but most of all a legacy of love.  And, this may be a little off subject, but I pray their memories are also filled with river rock, bare feet, and tree branch brooms.

 “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us:  and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”~Psalm 90:17                

Time Will Tell

     There is hardly a day that passes without finding me anxious to check in with everyone here at The Daring Life.  And yet, my intentions, however sincere they may be, never seem to place me here at the keyboard often enough.  (Now would be a great time to promise to blog more often or set some sort of goal, but who are we kidding?  This is me, here.)  I’m no busier than anyone else.  Actually, my life is probably less hectic than most lives these days.  Usually, the problem is having five thousand things I want to say and not being able to narrow them down to the one or two I think people may be the slightest bit interested in reading about.  But enough of that.  I’m sitting here now, so here goes…

     Occasionally, you have a short time to sit alone in the quiet and realize and recount how many wonderful things have just happened.  That “short time” occurred for me this morning on my front porch.  Even though it’s a little stuffy out, it smells like Fall this morning, and something about watching the first red and yellow leaves slip from their branches and twirl to the ground makes me nostalgic and, frankly, a little weepy.  My girls are vegged out in front of the TV (another occurrence you’ll seldom see around our house) and Clark was called in to work, so I feel like I have a few minutes to myself.  I’m trying not to be giddy about that, so I don’t fight the guilt later.  ~sigh~ Scratch those last two sentences.  They have already been up here.  I put them in a bubble bath.  That buys me a good thirty minutes.  What better use of my time than to share with you a few of the blessings recently afforded me?      

     In the last month or so, I have begun serving in a ministry long dear to my heart.  Any ministry is dear to our hearts, but occasionally God allows us the privilege to find that one that seems to fit so well and we find ourselves wondering how we made it so long without its presence.  It seems almost human, like a dear friend who, even in your time away, never left your heart and has been waiting patiently for you to find your way back…a friend that accepts you for all the changes time has made in you, yet knows you’re still just you and that’s okay.  I am honored to be teaching at Seneca Trail Christian Academy this year.   

     The mornings are almost always foggy on the hill where the school is, and nearly every time I round the curve to pass Miss B’s house, I find myself squinting through the fog, like searching for a face in a crowd…waiting for that reassuring glance that lets me know my “friend” is still there. I imagine our school  like a Mary who lavishes every bit she has to bless the Lord she loves. She is there where I left her nearly a decade ago.  She has been hard at work and time has made its changes in her, too.  But, to me, her changes have left her even more beautiful than when I departed.  More beautiful for the lives she has touched and changed.  More beautiful for all she represents…and more importantly, for Whom she represents.  What made me love her is all still there and what time has changed makes me respect her heart and determination. 

     This past week, I was also privileged to see my grandparents renew their wedding vows in celebration of their fiftieth wedding anniversary.  Last night, as I looked over the photos I snapped that day, it was plain to see time is no more a respector of persons than of places.  For an instant, I was tempted to think of time as a cruel thing…a mocker, a stealer of youth, a ruthless changer of all we build and hold dear.  Then it occurred to me how much more beautiful someone is when the testimony of their life is apparent.  When the moment we see their face, we also see years of hard work, tears, or laughter, they are so much more beautiful than the inexperience of youth, and we wonder what secrets time is keeping.  Even seeing the physical effects of sin, whether it was their own personal sin or the effects passed on from a choice made by someone else, we are grateful for a loving and forgiving Savior.  We love Him because He first loved us.  And, just maybe we love Him even more for loving the ones we love.

     I hope, my friends, you are blessed to know as many beautiful people and places as I am blessed to know.  Perhaps, today you’ll find yourself with an old friend or even a stranger in a check-out line wondering what made them so beautiful.  Was it love?  Heartbreak?  Laughter?  Years of labor?  Maybe, like me, you’ll wonder if you will be fortunate enough to be so beautiful some day.  I wish I could say…but only time will tell.

“And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:  He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.”~Daniel 2:21-22