Just the other day I received an email from a friend who asked, “Can you believe it is already 2010?”  That is the kind of question we ask each other every year when January rolls around.

Well, this year, I really can’t believe a new year has begun.  It is January, but I’ve been out of sync since September!  My father had a stroke and my husband and I moved temporarily to be nearer to him.  We have only just recently moved back home and are getting our life back in order. 

These last months, although stressful, have been full of blessings.  At every step along the way toward his recovery, we have said, “Thank you, Lord.”

One of the first things we did with Dad was to sing “Jesus loves me.”  Even though his speech was severely affected, he mouthed the words as he sang with us.  This was a statement of his faith in his loving Lord and his confidence that He would be with Dad in his recovery. 

The twenty-third Psalm says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:  for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”  Those are powerful and comforting words, indeed!  The important key word in this passage is the preposition through.  That’s through not in.  Meaning we don’t stay there in the valley.  There is the other side. 

So, Dad has walked through the valley and is coming out on the other side, with his speech and mobility improving every day.  Our family, though temporarily derailed during the last months of 2009, looks forward with eagerness to continue to sing God’s praises in the New Year 2010.

After a while, flags begin to look tattered and worn, and are in need of replacement.  Such is the case at our church.  This weekend we dedicated three new flags that will fly out in front of our church as symbols of what is important to us.

The first flag is the Christian Flag.  It stands for the true foundation of our whole life, both here on earth and in the hereafter.  It represents Jesus Christ’s victories over sin, death, and the devil.  Those victories obtained for us the forgiveness of sins and salvation and gave us new life in Christ and membership in the eternal kingdom of God.  These blessings are now given to us because of Him and through our faith in Him.

The second flag is the State Flag.  It reminds us that we have been called to faith and planted here where we live.  Daily we enjoy all the blessings of family, friends, neighbors, community, and vocation freely given to us through God’s hand that we must willingly, wisely, and lovingly steward.

The third flag is the National Flag.  It represents that union of fifty states which enables us to maintain our national, social, cultural, and religious freedom from tyranny or oppression.  That freedom allows us to do the very things, without compulsion or negative consequence, that permits us to fly our flags in the first place.

After each flag was dedicated with a prayer, we sang the Doxology.  “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”  The biggest blessing is that we are able to enjoy our religious freedom while being grateful that we live in our beautiful state and our wonderful country.  Our flags will fly bearing witness to this!  Praise God!

This post is actually a “postscript” to a previous posting titled “Thou Shalt Not Steal“.  I hope you take the time to read it for its food for thought, but I will quickly summarize the events that prompted the original post, so I can share the update with you.

• My husband was unaware that he had dropped his wallet while at a store
• When he returned home, he realized that he did not have his wallet
• He returned to the store
• He and the clerk were looking for it
• Meanwhile, a woman stepped on his wallet in the parking lot and came into the store with it
• My husband opened his wallet to offer her a cash “thank you”
• She declined saying to give it to someone who needed it
• My husband gave the cash to our pastor telling him to use it as he saw fit to pass it along to someone in need

And so, this is where the postscript or update begins.

Once you pass something along to someone, you no longer have any control of it. It is out of your hands, and you may never hear what happens to it. Such is what we thought of the “thank you” that was passed along to our pastor to pass along to someone else.

The other day, as I was talking with our pastor, he told me that the envelope with the cash in it had sat on his desk for these many weeks. He had wondered what he would do with it, who might need it. This week he finally got his answer. As he said, the need presented itself. As it turned out, someone was dealing with a family life situation, and he felt that this person/family could use a little assistance.

While my husband didn’t expect to hear about what Pastor did with the “thank you cash”, it does feel good to know that someone was able to benefit from it. And once again, we are thankful that a lady in the parking lot did the right thing. It would be nice if we could tell her, but I’d like to think that she knows that both my husband and pastor also did the right thing by passing it along for someone in need.

This past weekend was a perfect day to work in the garden.  It was in the low 70s.  Sunny and warm, but not too warm.  Cool, but not too cool.  Perfect for working outdoors.

Our four year old neighbor girl came running over to “help” me.  As we were bent over to put in some new plants, she observed, “What a beautiful day!”  She was absolutely right.  It was a gorgeous day.  The day itself was wonderful, but it was all the more so, because we were enjoying working together.

Upon further reflection, I am reminded of the scripture verse that says “This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:24

We all too often just take each day as it comes along, without taking the time to appreciate it.  Our sweet little girl next door was a great reminder to rejoice in the blessing of the gift of a beautiful day.  I thank and praise the Lord for it… and for her.

Each year at Memorial Day our former minister, who was a military man, pulled out all the stops, so to speak, and created his sermon around the importance of the day and chose all of the patriotic hymns.  I kind of missed that.

This year, our new minister preached a traditional sermon telling us that as Christians, we are in this world, but not of this world.  After the service, however, we all met outside around the flag pole to sing America the Beautiful and God Bless Our Native Land as well as offer a prayer for our service men and women, both past and present, and ask for peace and mercy for our world.  I like this as a new tradition.

So… we are not of this world, but being in this world, we certainly do celebrate this Memorial Day as a day to remember our heroes and loved ones who are walking with Jesus and keep in mind all the sacrifices made for our country. 

God bless our native land;

Firm may it ever stand

Through storm and night.

When the wild tempests rave,

Ruler of wind and wave,

Do thou our country save

By thy great might.

Yesterday, my husband and I attended a wedding.  Since the wedding was the day before Mother’s Day, there was a slide show featuring the two mothers.  There was all manner of photos from the mothers’ own weddings, pregnancy photos, mothers holding their little babies, grandmothers holding their precious little grandchildren, and all kinds of interaction between mothers, grandmothers, and the children at all different ages.  The tribute to the mothers and grandmothers brought a tear to my eye, because you could just see and feel the love in those long ago photos.

Love, tenderness, caring, protection, sacrifice… all these emotions and more showed in the faces of those photos.  Such is the face of a mother’s love.

Consider how much more our Lord Jesus loves us.  As the song says, He “loves the little children”.  What mother wouldn’t be thrilled to tell that to her child every day using a beautiful work of Christian home decor in Baby’s room, featuring an infant in Jesus’ arms, as a visual reminder!  This would make a lovely gift for a baby dedication, baptism, or christening.

Now it’s time to look at some family photos and call my mother and thank her for her love.  More importantly, I will thank her for bringing me up in the church, and singing to me of God’s love as she rocked me in the rocking chair.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!  I love you!

Today, as I was driving down the road, I saw two large yard ornaments.  They were the big air-filled type.  One was a huge yellow chicken, and the other was an equally big pink Easter bunny.  They were cute!  They made me smile!

But then I got to thinking.  Not that there is anything wrong with having fun with Easter bunnies and chicks, but I don’t recall that I have ever seen any yard decorations for the Christian aspect of Easter.  I don’t think that I have ever seen any in the yard of any church, either. 

At Christmas, yards are decorated with Santa Claus, reindeer, candy canes, etc.  We also see nativity scenes with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, angels, wisemen, and shepherds.

So, what kind of yard decorations could be displayed for Easter?

An empty cross is a good symbol.  An empty tomb would be good, as well.  But I don’t really see either of these as a yard decoration.

These are way more important than Easter bunnies and chicks… even if they did make me smile. 

Tomorrow morning I will go to church to celebrate that empty tomb, because our risen Lord did hang on the cross, did die for my sins, and did rise in triumph over death and the devil for me.  I will give thanks and praise to the Lord!

That gives me an even bigger smile!  It fills my heart with joy!

Is it stealing if you keep something you have found, even if it does not belong to you? This is tempting, especially in these tough economic times.

This evening my husband went out to the corner store to get some ice cream. (Not that I needed it, mind you, but he thought I’d like some. Bless his heart!) He got home and realized that he did not have his wallet, so he headed back to the store. While he and the clerk were looking on the floor, a lady came in and said she stepped out of her car and stepped on a wallet. (That brought a sigh of relief!) My husband thanked the lady and offered her twenty dollars. She refused, telling him to pass it along to someone who needed it.

This brings me back to my original question. Is it stealing if you keep something you find? In the truest definition, I suppose not. But ethically, yes it is. Thank goodness that beautiful lady understood the commandment “Thou shalt not steal”!

That, along with the other nine commandments direct us as how we are to direct our life.  Christian home decor of The Ten Commandments makes a statement and serves as a daily visual reminder of how you and your family choose to live.      

As a post script to this message: You can be sure that a thank you prayer was said, and that, in fact, we will pass that twenty dollars along to our pastor to distribute to someone in need.

August 22, 2009  There is a post script to this post titled “Do the Right Thing“.  Read the update on what happened after the “thank you cash” left our hands and was turned over to our pastor.

Yesterday was April Fool’s Day, which got me thinking.  (I don’t know about you, but many of my thoughts come to me in the middle of the night, which is why I am writing about it the next day.)

People like to play little tricks on each other.  “Oh, look, you’ve got a bug in your coffee.”  Or some other silly prank.  Small prank, big prank, either way, when you fall for it you hear the phrase “April Fool”.  How embarrassing!

But by far the most foolish thing that one can do is to go through life without Jesus.  We need Him as a friend, as much and more than any human friend we have here on earth.  We need Jesus beside us.  Don’t be an April Fool or any other kind of fool!  Keep Jesus beside you each and every day!

Each and every day we take another step along the path of our life.   Sometimes we are in a crowd or with a few friends and sometimes we feel like we are alone.  Some days are good days and some days are a real challenge.

When we are busily engaged with others or when our days go well, we often don’t consider that we are walking with Jesus… or rather that He is walking with us.  How foolish we are, because we should be singing at the top of our lungs “What a friend we have in Jesus!”

When we feel alone or when our day is going badly, again, we often don’t consider that we are walking with Jesus, or more importantly, that He is walking with us.  How unappreciative we are, because we should be prayerfully and thankfully singing “What a friend we have in Jesus!”

As Christians, it is a great blessing to know that Jesus walks with us every day of our life.  With a beautiful drawing displayed as Christian home decor, we can have a visual reminder that we are walking with Jesus.  He is our support and He upholds us up through our particularly tough times.