Tom and Alura

Anything good? That's the question I always ask Clif when he brings the mail in. Most of the time it is just junk mail but once in a while there is something good. Yesterday when I asked him, he said we got a Christmas card from Tom and Lou. "I always call them Lou and Tom," I replied. It's always been Lou and Tom - not Tom and Lou. He said, "Well, they're more formal. The return address says Tom and Alura." Why was this beautiful Christmas card and a four page hand written letter special to me? Alura (Lou) is my dad's youngest sister. She's 93 years old. Her husband Tom is 95. They still live at home and take care of themselves. They have a lady that comes in once every two weeks and cleans the house. They've been married for 72 years. I think that is remarkable. I remember when I was growing up I was always compared to my Aunt Lou. People said I looked like her. Maybe this is a good "omen" for me. LOL

Some of my most cherished childhood memories are going to their farm in Oklahoma. They sold their farm and moved to town about 15 years ago. Tom bought himself a new pickup for his 90th birthday. And they both played golf regularly until just a few years ago. In her letter she updated us on all their kids and grandkids. She was proud they all had college educations. Lou and Tom lived their entire lives in the same area in Oklahoma. I remember many years ago they visited us when my parents and I lived in Colorado. Lou really fell in love with Colorado and I think for just a short time, she wished she lived there. Her heart was in Oklahoma though and it didn't take her long to "get over it."

I credit at least part of their longevity to all that good fresh food they grew on their farm. Clif added, "and clean air." I think the main thing though was the Lord was blessing them in every way. They have both been faithful Christians all their lives.

Thank you for letting me reminisce a little. I hope you have a Lou and Tom in your lives. Even more importantly, I hope you have their Lord in your lives.

I'm sharing this tribute for Spiritual Sundays.  Again, I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

Isaiah 9:6-7

AMAZING GRACE - Not Just Soap

Amazing Grace is not just soap? Of course not. We all know about Amazing Grace ― the spiritual kind (at least I hope we do) ― but how many know about Amazing Grace soap? I just found out about it recently. So how did I find out about this amazing soap? It was at an Arts & Crafts Festival in Fountain Hills, AZ. Did I buy some of it? No. But after I got home I wished I had. And why is that, you ask? I did buy a jar of their Body Butter and I love love loved it. When I bought the Body Butter I was given a small sample of their soap. (It is so wise to give samples.) Well, I used that little sample all up and was sold on it. But the Fair was over, so I looked it up online. A little research by my dear hubby and we found out they would be at the Tempe Festival of the Arts. It can also be ordered online, of course, but since they were going to be at the Festival I thought it would be a good excuse to go to it. We always enjoy going there anyway. We were so glad we went because we met the lovely lady who makes these beautiful soaps and her husband also. Amazing Grace is just one of the choices they have. Many different fruity and flower "flavors" are also available. And they are all amazing. The problem I had was deciding which fragrance to choose. Amazing Grace was the one I finally chose, partly because of the pink color. They do have other colors. So this is one of my Christmas presents. It's under the tree now in the lovely bag they provided. Here is their website if you would like to find out more about their products. http://SophisticatedSoap.com/index.htm

As wonderful as this soap is, it pales in comparison to God's Amazing Grace. There is a reason why Amazing Grace is one of the most popular songs in the religious world. That Jesus would leave his heavenly home, come to earth, live here showing us how we should live, and then going to the cross, dying in our place. And of course just as important, his resurrection and promised return to this earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now, that is truly AMAZING GRACE.

I'm sharing this both for Spiritual Sundays and for Pink Saturday. I hope you will visit both of these links to find many wonderful posts both of the spiritual and pink varieties.

Silent Night

After posting some history behind O Little Town of Bethlehem, I decided to see what I could find out about an even more popular carol — Silent Night. Here is what I found online.

On December 24, 1818 the carol "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht" was heard for the first time in a village church in Oberndorf, Austria. The congregation at that Midnight Mass in St. Nicholas Church listened as the voices of the assistant pastor, Fr. Joseph Mohr, and the choir director, Franz Xaver Gruber, rang through the church to the accompaniment of Fr. Mohr's guitar. On each of the six verses, the choir repeated the last two lines in four-part harmony.

On that evening in 1818 Joseph Mohr journeyed to the home of musician-schoolteacher Franz Gruber who lived in an apartment over the schoolhouse in nearby Arnsdorf. He showed his friend a poem he had written and asked him to add a melody and guitar accompaniment so that it could be sung at Midnight Mass. His reason for wanting the new carol is unknown. Some speculate that the organ would not work; others feel that the assistant pastor, who dearly loved guitar music, merely wanted a new carol for Christmas. Later that evening, as the two men, backed by the choir, stood in front of the main altar in St. Nicholas Church and sang "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!" for the first time, they could hardly imagine the impact their composition would have on the world. Now translated into hundreds of languages, it is sung by untold millions every December from small chapels in the Andes to great cathedrals in Antwerp and Rome.

I learned this carol in school way back when Christmas was celebrated in public schools and Christmas plays were the norm. In fact, I think I learned most of the carols that I love today in school. Today's children are denied that blessing. How sad for America's children.


I'm sharing this for Spiritual Sundays. You can go there to find links to many spiritual and inspirational posts on different blogs. You may want to share. There is info there about how to do it.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

This has been a favorite song of mine for many years. I was glad to find out the history.

On Christmas Eve, 1865, Phillips Brooks was in Jerusalem, a trip intended to inspire spiritual rebirth after the horrors of the Civil War. Just a few months earlier he had spoken at the funeral of President Abraham Lincoln. That clear night as he walked the streets of the Holy City, he had a sudden inspiration. Renting a horse, he set out for Bethlehem. After a solitary journey under the clear night sky, Brooks reached the tiny remote village and was surrounded by the spirit of the first Christmas. His impoverished soul was refreshed as he considered what had happened there so many years before. Three years later on Christmas Eve, 1868, as he sat alone in his study preparing his sermon for the next day, he felt inspired to pen the words to this beautiful carol.

O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM 

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.

Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light; 

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary and gathered all above.

While mortals sleep the angels keep their watch of wondering love.

O morning stars together, proclaim the holy birth.

And praises sing to God the king, and peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given;

So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven.

No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.

Where children pure and happy pray to the blessed Child,

Where misery cries out to Thee, Son of the mother mild:

Where charity stands watching and faith holds wide the door,

The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, and Christmas comes once more.

O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!

As this new Christmas season has arrived and we get caught up in the shopping, the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I hope we will often stop to remember that night in Bethlehem. And then pause to dwell on the reality that He is the reason for the season. 

For links to many inspiring posts, please click HERE to visit Spiritual Sundays. You may want to participate by sharing a link there as well.

Happy Thanksgiving

I found the following poem/prayer online and wanted to share it with you.

A Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Lord, so often times, as any other day

When we sit down to our meal and pray

We hurry along and make fast the blessing 

Thanks, amen. Now please pass the dressing

We're slaves to the olfactory overload
We must rush our prayer before the food gets cold

But Lord, I'd like to take a few minute more
To really give thanks to what I'm thankful for

For my family, my health, a nice soft bed
My friends, my freedom, a roof over my head

I'm thankful right now to be surrounded by those
Whose lives touch me more than they'll ever possibly know

Thankful Lord, that You've blessed me beyond measure
Thankful that in my heart lives life's greatest treasure

That You, dear Jesus, reside in that place
And I'm ever so grateful for Your unending grace

So please, heavenly Father, bless this food You've provided
And bless each and every person invited

Amen!

--Scott Wesemann

I especially like the last part of the prayer. I want to make it my prayer as well. 

Thank you for letting me share with you. Please visit Spiritual Sundays where many inspirational posts are shared each week. Click HERE to go to that blog.

WHO'S TAKING CARE OF THEM?

Since I alluded to the birds and flowers in my Spiritual Sundays introduction this week I decided to say a little more about them.

"I tell you not to worry about everyday life ― whether you have enough. Look at the birds. They don't plan or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?" (Matt. 6:325-27 NLT)

God not only provides food for the birds, he has given them instincts that people still have not figured out. How do they know where they are going when they start their migration? This has always amazed me. They seem to know where water is also. There is an open field close to our house that is usually dry as a bone but when it does rain (which isn't very often) water collects there and forms a pond. This happened a few days ago and now when we drive by there we see a lot of ducks on that water. I wonder if they were on their way to somewhere and stopped there for a drink and to rest a bit. The water is only there for a few days, then dries up and no ducks are around.

"Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the kingdom of heaven above all else and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need." (Matt. 6:32-33) NLT  Did He promise to give everybody everything they need? Did you notice the sentence before the promise to give you everything you need? Seek the kingdom of heaven above all else and live righteously. If we do those two things He has promised to give us everything we need. Too many times we seek everything under the sun except the kingdom of heaven and righteousness and then wonder why God is not providing our needs.

Heavenly Father, please help us to get our priorities straight. Help us to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness and we know you will take care of us. Amen

Be sure to visit Spiritual Sundays if you didn't come here from that blog.

Precious In His Sight

Psalm 116:15

King James Version (KJV)

 ¹⁵Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

More and more people are living until into their 90s. Last week in my Spiritual Sundays post I told you about Ruth. Two more precious saints have gone on to be with the Lord since Ruth died. Leah and Lahoma are the latest two (both in their 90s).

Lahoma I have known all my life although I have not been in touch with her directly for many years. I just recently became Facebook friends with her daughter. Lahoma was married to one of my dad's first cousins. Although that would make her my cousin I always thought of her as my aunt because she was of my parents' generation. She was a beautiful gracious lady. She was a Christian. I know she is precious in the sight of the Lord. Picture at the left is Lahoma at her 90th birthday celebration. She sure didn't look that old.

Leah, age 93, is the other saint to pass away just a couple of days ago. Leah went to India in the 1940s when she was in her 20s. She and her friend Dolly went together and were planning to stay at least 3 years. They had no idea at the time that they would both spend the rest of their lives in that country. They founded the Kulpahar Kids' Home in the little town of Kulpahar. They raised hundreds of children who did not have parents to take care of them. These children have grown up, married, had families, and now they are spread all over India. What a wonderful influence she has been in the lives of so many. This picture of Leah, Clif and me was taken on Leah's birthday which she celebrated while we were there in October of 1999. My birthday and Leah's are just four days apart so I celebrated my birthday in India that year as well. 

We just received news a couple of days ago that Leah had died. She will be buried in the little cemetery by the church on the mission compound next to Dolly who preceded Leah in death by about 15 years. Leah gave us a tour of the cemetery while we were there and pointed out where she would be buried. Leah came home to the states every few years and traveled around promoting the Kids Home. At one of the Christian Colleges where she was speaking someone asked her how she could go to India and stay for over 50 years. She told them you had to believe with all your heart that was what God wanted you to do. I feel so blessed to have known Leah for the past 20+ years.

The scripture in Psalm that is quoted at the top of this post is especially meaningful to me when I think of all the saints that are precious to me have gone on to be with the one who is the most precious. It is because of Jesus that we all have hope of reuniting with Him after death and spending eternity there. Wow! Can you think of anything in this world that even remotely compares to this? I sure can't.

The website for the Kulpahar Kids' Home is http://kulpaharkidshome-school.org/

Thank you for letting me reminisce about these two wonderful women. You will find links to many inspirational posts by visiting Spiritual Sundays. You can click HERE to go to that blog.

Fearing Life's Final Moments

I've been reading Max Lucado's little book entitled Imagine Your Life Without Fear. It is a tiny book, just 46 pages (small pages) but if you know Max, you know he has packed a lot into those few pages. I was discussing with hubby this morning what I was going to write about for Spiritual Sundays this week. I told him I was thinking about using something out of Max's book and adding some of my thoughts to it. He said "You're going to improve on Max's book?" I replied, "Yes, he needs a little help. LOL". That really is a laugh. I know. But anyway, here goes.

In this book Max lists several things that people are fearful about and gives a scripture for each one. The one fear that caught my eye this morning was the fear of death. So many of our friends and family have already passed through the valley of the shadow of death. We just found out that another member of our former church has died and the memorial service for her will be Monday. Monday is Halloween. Seems like a rather strange time for a funeral, but that's when it is. Ruth was a Christian, a faithful dedicated Christian and I know she had no fear of death. I'm not sure how old she was but she was about 90 or close to it.

The scripture Max used for this subject was John 14:1-3. "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am." Now here is my thought about it. Jesus has been there preparing a place for about 2,000 years now. Is there any way we can imagine how magnificent it already is? Can you imagine spending eternity in such a place? And since He hasn't come back to the earth as yet, I assume he's still preparing. Maybe not. Perhaps it is all prepared. I have the strong feeling that His return cannot be too far away in the future. There are many things that call for our attention and things we can worry about, but it seems to me that if we are wise we will be less concerned about our problems here on earth, and more concerned about being ready to meet Him when He comes. If you are reading this and you don't believe you are ready, I hope you will think very seriously about getting ready. And not just think about it. DO IT.

Reading what others have shared on Spiritual Sundays is a good place to find inspiration. Click HERE to go to that blog.

IN THE DESERT

It is beautiful in our desert this time of year. There was a time when I wondered why in the world would anyone want to live in the desert. Now I get it. We've lived in the desert for over 22 years now and we love it. Growing up in southern California I always loved the ocean and the beach. I also like the mountains and trees. I still do but I have come to appreciate the desert now.

Do you know how many times the desert is referred to in the Bible? Neither do I but I know it is many many times. The Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years immediately comes to my mind and Jesus spending 40 days in the desert being tempted by Satan also comes to mind.

I hadn't thought about the word desert as in "desertion" meaning being deserted. It is pronounced a little differently but spelled the same. Actually it is pronounced like dessert, a word I love. My favorite part of the meal is the dessert. Many people have been deserted by those they have loved and depended on. There are a lot of people in this world who may leave you and may desert you but how comforting it is to know that God never will.

There are many scriptures indicating that God will never leave us nor forsake us. I chose the following one in Hebrews as an example. With so many people out of work and the economy getting weaker, I think this is a good one to think about. We may not have as much money or things as we would like to have, but God says to be content with what we have. If we have the peace of God and the love of Christ in our lives, we are rich. How much better can it get than to be a child of the King of the universe? Wow!

Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:4-6 (in Context) 

Be sure to check out our Spiritual Sundays blog. You will be blessed by reading the wonderful posts that are shared there by many different bloggers. Just click HERE to go there.

Treasure of Love

Probably not many will remember Clyde McPhatter's song called "The Treasure of Love". It was popular back in the 50s. OK. I'm telling my age here although it really isn't a secret, LOL. Anyway, back to the song, I hadn't thought about it in many years and then one day I heard it again and I remembered that it was one of my very favorite songs way back when.

The Treasure of Love is not a religious song but I think it can be adapted to spirituality. After all, where did "love" originate? Certainly God is love and He has put love in all our hearts.

Who could begin to count all the poems, songs, and books written about the love of God? One of God's first commandments was to love Him.

Deuteronomy 6:5
New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Leviticus 19:18

“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. 

I always think of the "Love your neighbor as yourself" as a New Testament command, but it goes back to the beginning. Did you know it was commanded way back in Leviticus? 

And who is my neighbor? The story of the Good Samaritan answers that question. (Luke chapter 10).

I Corinthians chapter 13 is one of my favorites. It describes love perfectly. 

LOVE IS PATIENT,

LOVE IS KIND,

IT DOES NOT ENVY;

LOVE DOES NOT BOAST,

IT IS NOT ARROGANT,

IT DOES NOT BEHAVE RUDELY;

IT DOES NOT SEEK ITS OWN,

IT IS NOT PROVOKED,

IT KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS;

IT DOES NOT REJOICE IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS BUT REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH;

IT BEARS ALL THINGS,

BELIEVES ALL THINGS,

HOPES ALL THINGS,

ENDURES ALL THINGS.

LOVE NEVER FAILS.

Knowing that most of you have probably never heard Clyde McPhatter's song and might be a little curious about it, I decided to include it in this post. The quality is not good. It's like listening to an old 78 rpm record. I love the words that say it's stronger than diamonds, worth more than gold. This is the treasure that never grows old. So true.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

I hope you will go to the Spiritual Sundays blog and visit as many of the links there as you can. Trust me, there is a lot of great "stuff" shared there. You may want to share something on your blog as well. Linking info is available there. Click HERE to go to that blog.

PINK SATURDAY

It has been awhile since I've participated in Pink Saturday. I do love and appreciate Beverly for her faithfulness to that meme. She makes lots of people happy with all that pinkness that is shared. Click HERE to go to How Sweet the Sound for links to lots of pink posts.

I wanted to share this very very short video (8 seconds long) today. I love pink and I love pink flowers.

Beverly has reminded us that October is breast cancer awareness month. October is also my birthday month. To celebrate my birthday on the 5th we drove up to beautiful Sedona, AZ to spend the day. I wore my pink hat because I needed to keep the sun off my face. I've started a round of Carac cream to get rid of skin cancer cells. My face is getting redder every day. It doesn't really show up in this picture. A pink top seemed appropriate for the occasion so I wore that too. Here's a picture. I also wore a pink cross. For those of you who follow Spiritual Sundays this picture was taken outside the chapel in the header picture for that blog. Such a beautiful place. When we visited the chapel this time we bought a cross made from the red rock. I'm planning to share a picture of it on Spiritual Sundays.

Happy Pink Saturday to everyone who shares there. No no - Happy Pink Saturday to everyone, not just those who share. 

Now you can click "like" to like this post on Facebook. How about that.