A NEW CHAIR

There are people who will shop and shop and shop for new furniture.  Oh the joy of a new chair.  Or table.  Or couch.  Or even a new pillow.  I am not one of those people.  I am not a shopper.  Notice the period after shopper.  I have never been a shopper, except in a fabric store or book store. Nope, once I find the furniture I want it stays where I put it.  No moving the couch across the room.  No moving the table under the window.  And yet, I have a new chair and it does not stay put.

Because of being over confident and not paying attention, this week I landed on the ground when I tried to get in the car.  I was putting one foot up and it was then that the other foot found the wet leaves.  This is not a good combination. Now that a few days have passed, you have my permission to laugh at the image of my being upright one moment and flat on the ground the next. What does this have to do with a chair?

The chair has wheels.  I have to stay off my right leg (broken bone) and my hubby is pushing me to various locations in our home.  Poor guy!  “Would you please get me a drink?”  Or a lot of other items I might require.  “I would like to sit in the other chair.”  This means getting up, getting in the wheelchair, and being pushed across the room.  “I need to go to the bathroom.”  And this is where the challenge comes in.  Our home was not built to accommodate a wheelchair.  Even with the door off (There are now three doors not hanging on their hinges.), the chair barely fits through the bathroom door.  And I wish the person that designed the nice little entry into the bedroom had to try and maneuver the chair around that jog.  Bill gets me where I need to be and he has done this with great patience.

I have learned many things.  It is hard to stand up and not put pressure on my leg.  It is hard to move around to get in and out of a wheelchair on one leg.  It is hard to get into bed with the boot on.  And I cannot get to my computer.  I now have a new understanding of what life is like for anyone who has to use a wheelchair and has limited mobility.  

I have been guilty of observing a person’s medical needs without stopping to think what those needs require.  I will no longer look at a wheelchair as a convenience that got me through the airport.  I will look deeper to see the struggle.  

Even though I have had many health issues, I have always been able to do many things myself.  I never imagined how hard it would be to ask Bill for everything I need.  Remember these words from a song:  Oh Lord it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.  I have always known I wasn’t perfect, but I now know I am humble.  I learned humility the instant I had to say, “I need to go to the bathroom.”

OPENING AND CLOSING A DOOR

Have you ever thought about the number of times you open a door in one day?  It took opening/closing ten doors just to go get my driver’s license renewed.  I cannot imagine what that number would be if I counted all day.  Cabinet, bathroom, closet, appliances, and car doors.  Doors when I go shopping.  The front and back doors, of the house.  The garage door.  That is a lot of doors!

Opening a door is simple.  You put your hand on the door knob and turn it.  Then out or in you go.  Simple unless the door is one of the tricky ones.  Do you push or do you pull?  Sometimes you have to look for the door, because it is hidden in the wall.  The big thing now is barn type doors on rollers.  All through life we are opening and closing doors.

OPENING AND CLOSING A DOOR – BUT WHICH DOOR?

I remember watching “Let’s Make A Deal.”  The contestant had to make a choice between Door 1, Door 2, or Door 3.  They couldn’t see what was behind the doors, but usually one door contained a joke prize.  Zero value.  How to decide?  The doors were all pretty colors and sometimes decorated with ribbons and bows.  Choices.  Choices.  Choices.

In life, opening or closing a door often requires making a choice.  Choices are not always easy and some do not turn out so great. 

Eglon made a choice to send his attendants away and to stay in a room with Ehud.  Later the servants found the doors locked so they waited and waited and … finally unlocked the doors.  Oh my.  Oh my.  The king of Moab lay on the floor dead.  (Taken from Judges 3:19-25)

Guess he should not have chosen to close those doors.  Our choices are influenced by what voice we listen to and too often we are not able to hear the voice of Jesus because we listen to Satan.  We listen to the devil who has no truth in him.  “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  part of John 8:44  Maybe we are blinded by the light of Satan when he masquerades as an angel of light.  2 Corinthians 11:14

In life, opening or closing a door often requires making a choice.  Sometimes those choices are spot on.

At the ripe age of twenty-five years old, Hezekiah became king and it says right there that “he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD.”  My goodness!  No question about it.  He would have won the big prize on Let’s Make A Deal.  Not wasting any time, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them.  Then he made others get their act together.  He told them to remove all (not just some) defilement from the sanctuary and told them to roll up the sleeves of their garments and get to it.  So the service of the temple of the LORD was reestablished.  (Taken from 2 Chronicles 29)

Hezekiah made the correct choice and opened the right door.  “This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God.  In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly.  And so he prospered.    2 Chronicles 31:20-21

OPENING AND CLOSING A DOOR – BUT WHICH DOOR?

In life, opening or closing a door often requires making a choice.  Do you want to hear, “Were you born in a barn?” or “If you open it, you close it.”  Very simple.  Close the door.  Other times, we listen to the liar.  Your mother asks, “Are adults going to be at the party?” and “Yes.” comes out of our mouths when we know the answer is no.  Sometimes, well sometimes,

we open a door and …… there stands a Shepherd.

Jesus answered,

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

John 10:27

“Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock. 

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,

I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

Revelation 3:20

Would you recognize the Shepherd’s voice?  Would you throw the door open …. or … would you listen to the liar and stand there staring at a closed door?

OUR CHILDREN

Unlike my Facebook page, my blog is rarely political, but this week my soul will not be quiet.  As hard as I have tried to not write this, I must.  

I am not a prophet, but sometimes I can understand how the prophets in the Bible felt. I post often on Facebook and it seems as if I am speaking to the wind.  Things I see so clearly, as a threat to the very foundation of our country, others shrug off.  Why can’t I just shake my head and continue on to the next post which is funny or sweet?  Why can’t I just stop posting when I know people go, “Oh, Mary is on a rant again.”  I hold my faith above all.  My family after that.  My country next.  And through each of these I value children.  I have taught children’s Sunday School, led a Brownie Troop, worked with a Kid’s Club, and advocated for children through CASA.  But now my heart breaks for our children and as I listen to the news of the beheading of children in Israel, the tears cannot be held back.  Children are no longer valued.  They are now a political commodity to be killed and mutilated.

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: And the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Psalm 127:3 KJV

How did this country – this world – get to the place where babies can be aborted up to the time of birth?  An unborn child has such little value that one breath means the difference between death and life.  The fruit of the womb is no longer a reward.  This heritage of the LORD has become something to toss in the trash.  And my heart breaks.

There are voices being heard in support of the actions of Hamas.  The killing of children -- The raping of women -- The murder of men, women, and children is being justified by the terms “right to resist” and they should not be condemned but understood as “a desperate act of self-defense.”  The actions of Hamas have nothing to do with resisting or self-defense.  The actions of Hamas are pure evil.  Life has no value.  Life is now political, to be discussed in the halls of political power, universities, and on the street.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27  NIV

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

Psalm 139:13-14  NIV

I believe in the 27th verse of Genesis 1.  God created them; male and female.  I also believe in the 13th and 14th verses of Psalm 139.  Each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made.  And yet, based upon flawed studies, now called scientific fact, we are allowing our children to become sexual objects.  Our children, our very young children are now being taught they can be any gender they want and are encouraged to make decisions as the wise age of 2 or 4 or 6 or ….. years old. And the world is falling in step.  Parents no longer have the right to make medical, emotional, or mental decisions for their children.  They can be imprisoned and have their children taken away if they do not agree with the decision of a 2 or 4 or 6 or … year old. 

Children, who should be playing with toys and wiggling their toes in the mud and protected from evil, are being given drugs that will change their bodies in ways no one yet understands.  Children, who should be amazed at the birth of puppies, are being taught that they are a sexual being and can pleasure themselves.  Young girls are being allowed to mutilate their bodies by having their breasts removed and young boys are advised on surgical procedures to forever change their bodies.  And business makes profits and hospitals rake in the dough and politicians and educators jump on the new god bandwagon:  transgenderism.

And I wonder, “How did this happen?  Where did reason and common sense go?  When did we turn our children over to such teachings?  Why do we allow this?”  And my heart breaks.  The tears fall. 

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Unlike my Facebook page, my blog is rarely political, but this week my soul will not be quiet.  As hard as I have tried to not write this, I must.  Why?  Because I fear for the souls of those that no longer value our children.  I fear for the souls of those that have allowed our children to become a political commodity, to be sexualized, to be mutilated, and to be killed.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in me – to stumble,

it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck

and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 

Matthew 18:6  NIV

 

 HI.  I AM ….

How do you introduce yourself?  Or how would others introduce you?

Since 1965, Bill has introduced me as, “My wife, Mary.”  When the kids were in school, I was Bill’s mother or Terri’s mother. I became someone’s grandma.  Before hubby retired, I was known as Bill’s office manager.  When I worked auctions, I was Mary, the cashier.  I am sometimes introduced, “This is my sister, Mary.”

I am introduced as my wife, my mother, my sister, my grandma, or my friend.  At church I am introduced as our Sunday School teacher, our social media manager, and our Mary.  I really like that “our Mary.”  Bill calls me “My Mary.”  Those make me feel special.  Like I have an identity that is not connected to a skill or activity or family.  Just ME.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I like being honored with the tags wife, mother, sister, grandma, or friend.  I appreciate that the people in our Sunday School class are willing to recognize me in public.  And I was darned good at being an auction cashier.  But I have hit an all-time low…

Our mailman started attending our daughter’s church.  Last Sunday he went up to our son-in-law and said, “Hi.  I know Norman Frog.”  He did not say, “Hi.  I know your in-laws.”  No -- he says NORMAN FROG!  When being introduced, I now rank below a stuffed frog.  For anyone who does not know, I have a stuffed frog with an Instagram account.  (norman_frog)  He has more followers than I have Facebook friends.  He sends Christmas cards to people in 23 countries.  How does Norman introduce me? He says, “This is my human.”  If he has to admit I am the one that sends those cards, he calls me his assistant.

For all my accomplishments, I am most recognized as a stuffed frog’s assistant.  Now doesn’t that just knock me off my pedestal?

All this to ask a question:  When talking to family, friends, and strangers, how do you introduce God?