Realizing moments

One of my favorite plays is Thorton Wilder's, Our Town. In college, I played the role of Emily Webb, who grows up in the small town of Grover's Corner, where she marries her childhood friend, and dies giving birth to her second child.
She is given the opportunity to go back to one day in her life, and she chooses the day of her 12th birthday. Others who have gone before her caution her not to return, saying, “You (will)not only live (the day); you (will)watch yourself living it.”
At first, Emily sees the routine of life going on as usual–the milk man delivering milk, Constable Warren telling how he rescued a man lying in snowdrifts, the paper boy delivering newspapers. Then she sees her mother and father, who are surprisingly youthful to her. They are preparing to give her gifts.
She speaks with her mother, who tells her to eat her breakfast slowly. Her mother gives her a dress which she had to “send all the way to Boston” to get. Her father and brother also have gifts, but Emily can’t go on any longer and breaks down, saying she didn’t realize how much the little things of life–things she did not notice before–really matter. Emily returns to the cemetery and says to the another person there:
.......“They don’t understand, do they?”
.......“No, dear. They don’t understand.”
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every
minute?"
Every life is a culmination of moments, ones that are"one of a kind." Do we realize the most significant moments in our life, or do we too often dismiss them as ordinary, believing there will be another that comes along to top it? We are all here on temporary assignment, and if we're truly living in the moment, we will recognize its worth--for it can never be duplicated!
Life is made up of every day moments that make up the hours of our days. If we aren't careful, we will miss what is right in front of us! Those simple, every day things we so often take for granted are the very essence of life itself.
God uses moments in our life. How do we know if one is more pivotal than another? I have now lived for half a century, and looking back, there have been moments I regretfully dismissed; never realizing they were one of "the" moments, and never again would I have hold of them.
So, this is my message to all who have many more years of livng ahead:
Live in the moment! Don't take for granted that you'll ever own it again. Realize the importance of those simple, ordinary events that make up the patterns of life--those everyday miracles that God gives us eyes to see; if only we will!

Steadfast

I am grateful for friends in time of need; ones that stick with you through the mush. Never questioning, always near by...willing to wade with you through the molasses.
When startled by life's twists and turns, they console with unrestrained compassion, and remain steadfast when others close their eyes so not to see.
How like Jesus they are--when no one is looking.
How blessed I am to call them "friend."

We do not so much need the help of our friends as the confidence of their help in need."
~ Epicurus

Food for Thought

Today was "teacher service day" at the school where I teach. Our group chose to assist at a local community food bank. Listening to the director explain the many services they provided for families in need, I was surprised to learn there were no paid staff positions...every person serving was a volunteer. The efficiency I witnessed in organizing and distributing food and household items was impressive, with everyone working together like a well-oiled machine!
As I sorted through boxes of donated fruits and vegetables, tossing those that were badly bruised and no longer edible into boxes designated for farm animals, it struck me that there was no waste...every item had a purpose.
Some of those coming through the door today were bruised, harboring hurts, and needing to know that someone cared.
God created each one of us for a purpose. What is seemingly bad to us, God works for good. I'm so thankful He doesn't discard us when we are bruised, or deemed not good enough, but instead, by His grace, considers us each fruit worth saving!

Urgency

Couldn't sleep-exhausted in Him; His words quenching the core of my soul. If I fall asleep will I loose them? He gives me a Word, burning it in my heart for another...insistent.

Lasting joy comes from God. We are loosing it--too consumed with life--too absorbed with burden. Can the haze be lifted, can the stupor cease? Can we once again proclaim joy to a parched world as it was first proclaimed?
Can we bring back the music of joy to satiate the thirst?

E.T. phone home

I remember seeing Steven Spielberg's movie, E.T., in the early 80's with good friends. Our oldest son was just a toddler when the movie appeared in theaters, and to this day, it's still my favorite Spielberg flick! Watching it on DVD last weekend with my family was a treat. In one memorable scene, E.T. points to the phone and says to Elliot, "E.T. phone home," and of course this was not possible, since E.T. was an extra terrestial from a distant planet inaccessible to Pac Bell. But it got me thinking: back in the 1980's and 90's we were a world void of cell phones and blackberry smartphones. Back then, people actually memorized the phone numbers of their top ten friends, wrote important numbers in an address book, and never had trouble remembering their home phone. Yesterday I overheard a mother/daughter conversation taking place in a check out line at our local grocery store. The daughter, in her early teens, was on her cell, and had paused during her conversation to find her home phone number in her "contacts" list for the person on the other end. "You don't know our home phone number?," the mom exclaimed in a state of shock. "Well, I just wasn't sure of the last two digits," her daughter retorted.
So I'm throwing this question out into the cosmos: Have we become a world too dependent on iphones, blackberries, and the internet? If we misplace or heaven forbid, loose our cell phone, would we be able to find our way to a "White Pages" to phone home? (Using someone else's cell phone of course, since pay phones are now obsolete.) If the world wide web crashed, would we?
Call me old school, but I still prefer to memorize numbers (a throw back from years of memorizing play scripts), and I'd be perfectly content to go back to Big Chief tablets, typewriters, and snail mail. (I loved getting letters in the mail!)

P.S. My niece just asked, "What are White Pages?" Arrrgh!

Resolute

Lately I've had a restlessness... sensing there is something more that I'm to be about. I am certain change is in the air. God is preparing my heart-asking me to believe more, trust more, anticipate more! My time alone with Him increases my peace, but I find myself trembling at anomalous times throughout the day in great anticipation of what is to come...
For now, I wait, resolute in knowing that I will know when it pleases Him.

Such as These...

Children have such straightforward faith...pure and untarnished. Teaching them is a privilege, and more than occasionally I glean from them a wisdom way beyond their years! After singing, Jesus is the Rock, with one of my kindergarten classes, I asked, "What does it mean when we say Jesus is our rock?" A hand instantly shot-up, and before I could acknowledge him he blurted, "It means Jesus is solid, he doesn't move ...HE STICKS!" From the mouths of babes...sometimes I am totally astounded by what they perceive - just when you think you're not getting through!
On my drive home I was listening to a missionary talk about the amazing faith he has witnessed among the Haitian people during this most devastating time. You could hear the voices of children at play around him. "You see the children here playing among the rubble--they find a cheerfulness even in the most dire circumstances. They trust that things will be better."
"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

Just thinking how blessed I am to be able to teach such as these!