Good mornin’ world! God missed His chance to take me in my sleep but I slept until 8:30 and almost scared myself to death! Of all days to oversleep! It’s change-of-schedule-day at church and I should be there…at my post, greeting those who come! But the spiked, white hair with a smiling face and a firm handshake is missing today. I’m sorry, Lord.
I’ll be one of the first to admit that some traditions are very comforting. Perhaps even comfortable. There’s nothing better than a morning cup of coffee unless it’s that same cup of java consumed in total silence. I love it when our “girls” are both in my lap as I sip it’s deliciousness. Ahhh… Just thinking about that feels wonderful!
Kissing my hubby good-morning, good-bye, good-night and even occasionally for no apparent reason at all. Yeah, that’s nice, too. We even hold hands as we walk into a local restaurant. In most cases that’s nice, too.
Nothing compares to talking to my Savior when I have a chance. Yes, I pray even as I drive down the road. My prayers certainly aren’t restricted to those times and it seems that I visit with Him more with each passing year. That particular tradition has been, literally, a lifesaving one.
Could there be anything better than hugging those I love? Probably not. Top it off with saying and hearing those most beautiful words, “I love you”–and, for me, you have heaven on earth!
Yes, life wouldn’t be the same without some tradition. There is a point, however, where I hope never to go.
If there is a time when I must sleep on the same color sheets; if I have to skip my coffee because I’ve overslept by five minutes; if I begin eating my morning cereal out of the same bowl and those cereals must be layered in a certain order (rather than being mixed up as they are now)… If I ever get to the point when I feel compelled to follow a list of ritualistic behaviors before going to bed…then I beg you…just shoot me!
Put me out of my misery so that I don’t become further trapped by the things which were, no doubt, placed in my life to offer temporary shelter, solace, and some vague sence of order.
Don’t let the very things that were likely placed within me as a soft, flemsible endoskeleton harden to make me inflexible and rigid. When these kinds of behaviors cascade down upon the person I am, deterioration has, indeed, begun! And, at that point, I’ll likely be having much less fun!
So, if I’ve ceased to be free…I’ve ceased to be ME! And if you see that particular nightmare is coming to pass–PLEASE… put a round in the chamber and just shoot me!
A couple of nights ago, I discovered some dry turds (for lack of a better term) in our “big room.” Poop in any part of our home isn’t a good thing but it was dry and hard…which made it easy to pick it up and drop into the closest toilet. Because of its overall “character,” I knew that the perpetrator had been Sammie (“Sam”) …again. Yes, tho she’d likely already forgotten about it, I scolded her anyway. She acted very guilty…confirming my suspicions. Yup! She was, in fact, the offending critter! Our Suzi would burst before she did that…unless she was fighting IBS.
A bit later in the day, however, after that was behind us, I walked outside with the girls encouraging them to do their “business.” When Sam finally assumed her classic pooper position, I knew what would come next. When she finished, however, rather than scolding her (as I’d done a couple of hours earlier), I walked over and told her what a “good girl” she was for making her “mess” outside…rather than in the house! Then I scrubbed her ears and spoke in loving tones as though she were starting over in her house training “class”. All was forgiven and I was giving her yet another chance to do things right. After all, she tends to do this kind of thing periodically. Though she’s middle-aged for a dog, she, like us all, is far from perfect.
What a blessing that God is much like that with us, His children! There I was. Standing out in the back yard supervising the girls’ “business” and out of that proverbial clear blue sky dropped this huge TRUTH! It seems that I spend my life making one “mess” after another and God simply covers me with his Grace without a second thought! I don’t deserve that! He should either punish me Himself or encourage someone else to do it. My nose should be rubbed in it and I should be rolled over on my back and spoken to in gruff, alpha-dog-type tones! I should be sentenced to die in…and because of my sin! Instead, though, He simply reaches over, scrubs my ears, speaks softly to my heart, and gives me yet another chance to do things right. Why am I treated with such love when I screw up so often? Because He’d sent Jesus to be punished…to die in my place. Wow! That’s quite a gift! And just think. All we have to do is believe in Him and accept His sacrifice in our behalf.
This just goes to show you that God should be considered the Master Opportunist. Sometimes He uses the most trivial things to get our attention! He very softly placed a huge concept in front of my mind while I stood in my own back yard tending to our dogs! And He did it in such a way that I could better understand something that I already knew…but needed to hear again. Yes! My God IS an awesome God indeed!
Flemsibly Speaking 