SISTERS

How good and pleasant it is when brothers [sisters] live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head... Psalm 133:1 Here in Manila there is a massage that they do where they very slowly pour warm oil on the middle of your forehead and it runs down onto the side of your head and in your scalp. It is the most marvelous feeling. Then they very gently massage your head and your scalp. It is the most comforting, relaxing feeling, really seeming to wash away some of the cares of the world. Now I know a massage will only do that temporarily, that laying them at the feet of Jesus is the real "relaxer" for wordly cares, but I will tell you that a hot oil head massage does help in the stress of everyday living in the battle! You know, because of our depraved natures, we are not always going to live together in unity. In fact, it can sometimes be a lot of hard work to live together in unity. This week I had a bump in the road with one of my spiritual sisters. We definitely weren't unified and we had been hurtful to one another. Instead of feeling like there was warm oil dripping over my head I had more the feeling of a clanging gong that I couldn't get rid of; I was restless, anxious and just down right stricken. I was in my mind, busy defending my position and my rights. But the Lord is so good to us, He won't let us stay there if we are committed to Him and committed to one another. We were able to sit down this morning and talk through our differences and talk through our hurts and ask each other for forgiveness for our own sins in the matter. It wasn't always easy, but by God's grace He allowed us each to see our waywardness and to see the good in the other. Really, that is what sisterhood is all about - not that you will always be lovey-dovey, but that you are committed to one another through the good, the bad and the ugly!! Just as the Lord is committed to us through the bad and the ugly (I don't think there is ANY good on our part!) So now we can go on pushing forward in whatever comes up as we work together, knowing that we have weathered a storm and come out on the other side with our relationship even stronger because we have done the hard work (by God's grace) of being committed to love one another. God is good!!

Thought To Ponder

"I don't have a hard time believing the Gospel is true. For you. God loves you and accepts you and wants to do good for you. The problem is, I have such a hard time believing it's true for me. Luther nailed it when he said that we are born with an inborn suspicion that God is not for us. Like a base note in a terrific song, I battle almost daily the constant thumping that because of my failures, sins and selfishness, I do not have God's favor. He seems to be never satisfied. So what is the answer? How do I keep on keeping on? The life and death of Jesus tells me that the lie is just that, a lie. God is satisfied because He was satisfied with Jesus; and I am in Him and He is in me. That's the antidote to the inborn suspicion-The Father is for me, because of the cross of Jesus. So daily, it's a fight of faith; to believe the Gospel is true for me."
Tom Wood www.cmmnet.org

No Poet And I Know It!!!

My mom died when I was young (5) and my father's mother, my grandmother moved in with us. My grandmother had been a teacher in a one room schoolhouse when she was 18 years old and she never lost her passion for teaching. I can remember coming home from school and still spending an hour or two with her as she made sure that we were really strong in the three R's - reading, writing and arithmatic. I can remember one time having to choose between watching a movie or spending time on my times tables cause I had to have them memorized by that evening if I wanted to go shrimping with my dad. Every summer we left Miami the day after school was out to spend our summer out in the country in Thomasville, GA, where my grandmother had a house. It was a wonderful time for us; running around out in the country all day, lots and lots of cousins around, going fishing down at the pond, blackberry picking, going out in the field and busting open a big watermelon and eating the heart out of it. Such great memories!! Every day after lunch my grandmother made us come in and rest for a couple of hours in the heat of the day. My Aunt Willie Mae who had a house next door - across a big country yard filled with pear trees - always had the traveling library come in the summer so we had bookshelves full of books. I would use that time of rest in the afternoon for a couple of hours of reading. One summer my grandmother (the teacher at heart) decided that I should do a book report on each book that I read - before I could get another book. Well.....,I just decided that I was not reading any books, so there! After several days of being totally bored, I gave in and did my book report so I could get another book. To add insult to injury, there was one book report she made me do over twice before she would accept it - a biography I had read of George Washington. On my third try I just sort of cut up with it and "made it my own" as my grandmother would say. She accepted that one and it taught me a big lesson - it is okay to add a little humor and personality into a paper that you write. It is a lesson that has helped me a lot, both in school and now as I have to keep in touch with those who partner with me in ministry. One of my favorite books that my grandmother owned is "The World's Best-Loved Poems" published in 1927. Now, I have never been known as a poet, nor even one who enjoys it that much, but I have loved this book. I wrote out a little note, "This book goes to my wonderful,(?) literate & poetically sensitive grandaughter, Cheryl." (You can see that I had already begun using my sense of humor in writing!). I had her sign it and we kept the note in the book so there would be no question as to who got the book when she died. I was such a thoughtful granddaughter!! Anyway, I have enjoyed these poems through my life, seemingly always drawn to the really corney, hokey ones! I will sometimes get it out and read them to my friends and they never seem to have the same sense of enjoyment that I get out of them.....I guess they are just not as "poetically sensitive" as I am! Here is one of my favorites

DO IT NOW

If with pleasure you are viewing any work a man is doing,

If you like him or you love him, tell him now;

Don't withhold your approbation till the parson makes oration

as he lies with snowy lilies o'er his brow;

For no matter how you shout it, he won't really care about it;

He won't know how many teardrops you have shed;

If you think some praise is due him now's the time to pass it to him,

For he cannot read his tombstone when he's dead!

More than fame and more than money is the comment kind and sunny,

And the hearty, warm approval of a friend,

For it gives to life a savor and it makes you stronger, braver,

And it gives you heart and spirit to the end;

If he earns your praise--bestow it, if you like him, let him know it;

Let the words of true encouragement be said;

Do not wait till life is over and he's underneath the clover,

For he cannot read his tombstone when he's dead!

Berton Braley

May be corny wording, but the truths in it are really important! Here is just one verse of another of my favorites from that same theme. The poem is titled "Give To The Living"

If we offered to the living, as we heap upon the dead,

fragrant flowers of affection, blossoms of sweet recollection,

waiting not till hands are folded on the quiet, pulseless breast,

Then the passion of our pleading would not fall on ears unheeding,

Nor our tears fall, unavailing, on the weary form at rest.

Okay, I can hear your grumblings even now, but I love those old poems that actually rhyme! But they really do address an important truth - we so often don't say those words of encouragement and love to those we are close to, we just assume they already know that we feel that way, or our too insecure in our own selves, fearing rejection if we open our hearts up. But, we need to say them! Make your euologies to the living!

I just wanted to show you a picture of where I am sitting this morning playing with my blog. I guess my buddy boy, Percy, has missed me while I was gone cause he has slept right beside me the whole night the last couple of nights and has been here right beside my computer since I sat down. He loves his momma!

TIME FLYS!!

Wow, just looked at my blog and I haven't updated since the first of December!! I just have not had any time for blogging - hardly time to look at others' blogs, much less write on mine. It has been a little frantic here in Manila since the Scotts left to go home to transition from Short Term to Career Missionaries. Sandra and I have taken on their responsibilities as well as our own and that has certainly kept me running!! I also was able, through the gracious gift of an airplane ticket from a friend, to go home and be with family, church and friends for Christmas - what a joy that was! I was able to spend three weeks in the states, lots of good time with my dad and my sisters and wonderful worship with my church family. Needless to say, I also got in several rounds of golf - played horribly, but then what else is new! If I could have a mulligan on every hole I could play decent golf. I am back in the Philippines now, getting over jet lag and back into the groove of administrative duties - meetings, meetings, and more meetings!! I got home Wednesday night and spent Thursday and Friday all day catching up in the office. It is now Saturday morning and I am sitting at my dining room table with the windows open and the ceiling fan on listening to the rain as it comes gently down, the drops dripping off of the many green lush plants in my tiny little yard. I am praying that I will make the time to do this a little more often in the coming months. I was able to read several books on the flight back from the states - it is a 24 hour trip so there is much reading time - especially since I have a very hard time sleeping on the plane - there is just something about being able to sleep while feeling like a sardine in a very crowded can! So, I read and read! I had picked up a book by Karen Hughes who was a "Counselor to the President," President George W. Bush. The title of the book is "Ten Minutes From Normal." Karen Hughes started working on President Bush's staff when he was running for Governor of Texas. She is married and at the time of this book (2004) had a teenage son. A lot of her book is on the struggle she had between the demanding workload of the White House and at the same time trying to do her work as a mother and husband. She chose to leave the White House and move back to Austin, TX, with her family. She still remained as a counselor to the president, but was involved in a less hectic way. I was impressed with her witness throughout this book. She is very open about her relationship with the Lord and the work He has done in her life. I know that our President has made some choices that have put him in a horrible light and he is unpopular around the world right now. But, I see where he has surrounded himself with Believers who he goes to for counsel and input and I am encouraged. I wanted to quote several passages from her book that encouraged me. When I feel grumpy, or out of sorts, or worst of all, sorry for myself, I walk outside to the patio, a small space on an old weathered deck. The patio furniture is one of my favorite types: big, comfortable swivel chairs with sand-colored frames and the fabric a southwestern swirl of purple, green and beige. From the deck, I can see so many amazing things: the brilliant magenta of the flowering bougainvillea that blooms for months in the hot Texas sun; the stark darkness of a soaring hawk, wings fully spread, seemingly motionless even though I know it is flying through the crystal blue sky. The Lord of Life is the creator of them all-the God of the pale and fragile petunia flowering in the pot by the pool; of the sturdy, enduring oaks that fill the backyard; the God of the peaceful, still day I see before me and the powerful, roaring surf I see every summer at the beach. I cannot be grumpy here because God has so richly blessed us with the grandeur and beauty of His creation, with the freedom to live in this country, with the family and friends that I love. And most of all, God has given us a way back to Him. the enormity of that gift is hard to comprehend; that the God of creation would humble himself to become human; that Christ loved each one of us enough to die to atone for our sins. Doesn't that change everything: how we live, how we act, what we believe? I know the answer to that question, and I know I need to remind myself of it far more often. Later on in the book she says: I worry that Christians, myself included, give Christianity a bad name because we so often fail to model the love and humility displayed by the life of Jesus Christ. If I could debunk one myth about my faith, it would be the feeling that Christians are sanctimonious, holier than thou. Nothing could be further from Christ's message; he chastised the religious leaders of his time for putting on airs and placing themselves above other men. To the contrary, my faith instills in me a deep sense of humility and gratitude, reminding me how often I fall short and how much I need the Savior, and how thankful I am that God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. My faith calls me to try to live a life that is a joyful response to that good news. And whenever I get overwhelmed, or it seems too hard, I remember all that I am required to do: "Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8). I was encouraged by her book, by her desire to serve the Lord and be true to Him even when it seems that in our country it is becoming more and more outside the norm for that to be a life choice. I used to love to read Biographies, I still do, but it gets harder and harder to find life stories that you want to read. I go to the Biography section of the bookstore and I see books by Actors, Fashion Designers and Society Icons - not pretty reading! In fact, the sad thing about the Karen Hughes book is that I found it relegated to the "Dollar Tree Store" where I paid $1 for it - I guess it wasn't a best seller! If you can find it, I do recommend it for a fresh outlook at the seat of power and the REAL seat of power!