Posts made in May, 2010

Remember “Memorial” in Memorial Day

Posted by Michele on May 31, 2010 in Devotion | 4 comments

Every year around Memorial Day my mother travels to the various cemeteries where we have family members buried to place flowers and flags on the graves of our loved ones. This has been a tradition for as long as I remember.

This past week my mother, Travis (my grandson) and I traveled over 500 miles visiting three cemeteries in various places in north central and eastern Pennsylvania. We traveled two separate days. Mom had a great time showing Travis the house she was born in and several other places where she lived in the past with my step father. It was exhausting, but it was also a time for great-grandmother to share her heritage with today’s generation.

Some people may think it morbid to visit cemeteries; but they are full of history as well as it is a place to show honor and respect to our loved ones gone on before. It is also a time to share memories of our loved ones with one another.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day that was originally set aside in May of 1868 to remember those who have died in our nation’s service during the Civil War. However, as our nation participated in other wars it became a time to honor all who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

We not only placed flowers and flags on those who served our country, but we also took the time to show honor as we place flowers on other family member’s graves.

Often we are so busy participating in picnics and other celebrations that we fail to remember the “Memorial” in Memorial Day. Below is list of ways you and family can honor those who given the ultimate sacrifice:

• Visit cemeteries and place flags or flowers on the graves of our fallen heroes.

• Visit memorials.

• Fly the U.S. Flag at half-staff until noon.

• Fly the ‘POW/MIA Flag’ as well (Section 1082 of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act).

• Participate in a “National Moment of Remembrance:” at 3 p.m. (Memorial Day) to pause and think upon the true meaning of the day, and for Taps to be played.

• Renew a pledge to aid the widows, widowers, and orphans of our fallen soldiers, and to aid the disabled veterans.

• Thank a veteran or current military personnel for his/her valued service to their country.

Have a safe and honoring Memorial Day!

“Pick me!”

Posted by Kathy on May 28, 2010 in Reflection | 6 comments

I played a lot of kickball, dodge ball, and similar games during grade school recesses. But before we could play, two people had to choose the teams. Sometimes, I was picked early, sometimes late, and sometimes I was even picked last. It all depended on who was doing the choosing. If a boy was picking the team, girls were usually chosen last. Some kids shouted at the captains and waved their arms, “Pick me! Pick me!” I usually stood quietly, anxiously waiting to hear my name called out.

Many of you have had the same experience. Do you remember what it felt like to wait - to wonder if they’d want you on their team? If I was one of the last kids selected, I felt inadequate and rejected. If I was one of the first few chosen I felt wanted and valued. That was a great feeling.

Have you ever taken a moment to dwell on the incredible truth that God chose you? If you are a Christian - if you have entered into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ – it’s because God chose you first. He not only chose you, He made you His child!

In the first chapter of Ephesians, the apostle Paul reflected on this glorious truth:

Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.

Ephesians 1:4-5, NLT

Before you were even born, God picked you out for Himself. He decided to make you His very own through a relationship with Jesus. And it gave Him great pleasure! God delighted in making you His child.

God loves you. God chose you. God adopted you. God brought you to Himself. How does it feel to be chosen by God for salvation and adopted into His family?

Praise and thank Him today!

Kathy

Use that razor, girl!

Posted by Tracy on May 26, 2010 in Devotion, Inspirational, Women | 10 comments

OK….it is full-fledged shorts weather here in Iowa. Time to break out that razor and give those winter legs a good shave.

As I was tackling those last stubborn hairs that just don’t seem to want to get OFF, I thought about how God’s Word compares itself to the sharpest razor.

“For the Word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are. Nothing in all creation can hide from Him. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes.” Hebrews 4:12-13 NLT

Have you ever tried to shave with a dull razor?

I don’t know about you, but my legs tend to end up looking like this. Not a pretty picture.

My razor HAS to be sharp to effectively shave my body WITHOUT leaving little cuts and wounds. God’s Word has to be sharp to effectively reach those areas that we tend to hide away…..pretending they don’t exist…..hiding from the truth. The NIV puts it this way, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

It gets in there! “Dividing between joints and marrow.” No hiding from His Word. It penetrates our very being. It searches our motives and intentions.

Why?

It has power to CHANGE us.

It refines us.

Grows us.

Frees us.

Softens us.

Convicts us.

Encourages us.

God’s Word is ALIVE and ACTIVE and WORKS within us!

And, I have found that it is ONLY His Word that cuts cleanly without cutting me. When I try to follow MY word or the WORLD’S words, I find myself with a cut-up spirit, full of band-aids. Kind of like using a dull razor.

Lord, thank You for Your Word that PENETRATES deep within me. Thank You that even when I try to hide from you (and myself), Your Word gets right in where it needs to go. Give me a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that I might know You better and open the eyes of my understanding to fully comprehend what You are teaching me. Lord, I believe that Your Word is ALIVE and ACTIVE in me! Thank You, Lord! In Jesus’ Name we pray. AMEN!

So, pick up your “razor”, the beautiful Word of God…..and join me sometime at my personal blog,

Thank You…

Posted by Bethany on May 26, 2010 in Character, Devotion | 11 comments

Last week I walked to the kitchen to get my son’s breakfast. There on the table was a piece of typing paper folded into a card. I did a double-take because I did not remember it being on the table. Written across the front was “Thank You” in my husband’s writing. I quickly grabbed it up and read his words of thanks to me. It was such a surprise and such a simple thing, yet it absolutely made my day.

I have received many touching thank you’s through the years and they bless me even today to think about them. When I go through my cards from my days of classroom teaching, it makes me smile to read the notes written by parents and teachers. Many times it is the unexpected thank you’s that mean the most.

Growing up it was common at my house to write thank you notes. This was just something my Mom taught me to do, so when someone gave me something I’d write them a note.

I have noticed that many times it seems people do not send thank you notes for events that I thought it was standard to send a thank you note, such as baby shower or graduation gifts. Sometimes you get an email (and those are nice too!) but many times nothing. I wonder why this is. Are we too busy to say thanks? Do we think it is a waste of 44 cents to mail a card? Or have we lost the value of the importance of showing sincere appreciation?

Many times we read of Paul giving thanks in the first few lines of his letters to the various churches. Here are some examples:

Romans 1:8—“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.”

I Corinthians 1:4—“I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:3—“I thank my God every time I remember you.”

II Thessalonians 1:3—“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.”

2 Timothy 1:3—“I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.”

Have you written anyone a thank you note lately and told them why you are thankful for them? An email is nice, but finding a note in the mailbox will make someone’s day! There are so many people in our lives who we value, but maybe they don’t realize just how much they are appreciated. Your thank you may be just the words they need. You could leave a note for your spouse on the table or tuck a thank you in your child’s lunch box. Send a thank you note to someone in your church who is a “behind the scenes” servant, someone who probably hasn’t been thanked in a long time for what they do week after week (like the custodians, yard crew, or secretary). There are plenty of people in your community you could thank as well such as the mail person, bank teller, or the waitress who knows what you want to order each time you come. You may not even know their name, but you can still write them a note of thanks. Don’t forget to say thank you to your child’s teacher as the school year ends. I would like to challenge you to find someone in your life and send them a hand written thank you this week.

Thank you!

Have a day of blessings!

Lesson from a Tomato Plant

Posted by Tiffany on May 25, 2010 in Devotion | 4 comments

On this particular night, I delivered a meal to a family in need. As I sat and talked with this dad, I kept glancing at his two elementary aged kids. They stood on a chair over the kitchen sink. The girl was peeling a cucumber. Afterward, she sliced it and shared it with her younger brother. They ate it along with a couple cherry tomatoes, savoring each bite as if it was candy.

When the mom(a friend of mine) got home, I complimented her for her vegetable eating kids.

She said, “We grow our own tomatoes. My kids love picking the ripe ones every morning.”

What? It’s a month past frost, I thought. My tomatoes are ruined. Frozen first, now mush.

“Are you serious? How?”

She walked me out into her garage and turned on the light. I was stunned. These tomatoes hung upside down and ripened on the vine. Without roots. Without soil. Without water. Without sunlight. For over a month, they hung in the dark and grew anyway. How?

Now if this is normal gardening practice for you, please bear with me. I’d never heard of such a thing. And I love my garden.

Overwhelmed by the beauty, I saw God’s Word come to life.

I remembered John 15.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful,” John 15: 2,3.

“Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine,” John 15:5

Sometimes in life, we feel like we are dying. We are living in a dark season with no hope. No growth. No bright days. We feel forgotten.

Not true.

In the darkness, Your Master Gardener watches over you. Your tears are collected. Your cries heard. Your life carefully monitored day after day. God Almighty feeds you from His vine.

Yes, even in that dark place, fruit ripen.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control fill your life. (Gal. 5:22-23)

The Gardener then uses your fruit to nourish many. Those who are hungry, come and eat and are satisfied.

With a thankful heart, you realize you weren’t forgotten after all. Your life really mattered. That dark season saved your life. Had you been left out in the cold, you would’ve never survived. Broken, you realize the Vine died for you. The Vine willing give up its life, so you could bear fruit. And for the first time ever, you believe the Gardener loved you beyond measure.

*******

Abiding in Him,

Tiffany at Tea with Tiffany