CAROUSEL HORSES AND MERRY-GO-ROUNDS

This morning I thought I was awake but I must have been in a state between awake and asleep because when I did wake I realized I had just had a vision of an absolutely beautiful carousel with lots of gold filigree. It wasn’t particularly large so I think it must have been an ornamental one and why I would have seen such I have no idea except I am partial to pastel carousel horses, particularly if they have pearly paint and prancing poses!
Once I was really up I wondered why that image was so clearly imprinted on my mind that it lingered in memory far longer than most dreams or visions of that kind. Most seem to be passing moments, brief then gone forever from my thoughts. I decided it might have something to consider in regard to life.
I led a pretty sheltered life as a little girl. I lived in a small village community and seldom traveled further than 15-20 miles from there. As I grew a bit older, there were times when our family went to the city of Bangor and the surrounding areas. By the time I was ten we had moved to Bangor and there was an amusement park outside the city where there was a merry-go-round. Ten years old in 1949 was not as mature for me as ten years old is for my grandson in 2008. I was still very much a child and when given the opportunity to ride the pretty carousel horses I was afraid! Instead, I rode the bench seats every time while wishing I were brave enough to get on the horses for the full enjoyment of the ride.
As these thoughts wandered through my memories this morning I decided this was a good lesson about life. We are given opportunities that some take as the joys of life as does my grandson with any ride he can get on at any amusement park he can get to! Others see fearsome challenges as I did the riding of those very simple carousel horses. I can look back now and see the senseless fear held by the little girl sitting on the bench not getting the full enjoyment of the ride when I had the opportunity, while at the same time I see my grandson giving life all he has to give and getting so much out of it!
If I had taken advantage of the opportunity to tell my parents of my fear and why, I am sure they would have helped me work through it; I would have gained confidence and maturity along with the enjoyment that would have served me well in many follow-on areas in my life. Coming right down to it, the lesson is that this is how we, God’s children, need to be with Him: to talk with Him about our fears, not hesitating because of some childish, immature embarrassment (He knows anyway!), and let Him help us work through the insecurities knowing that “I can do all things through Him Who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13 NASB)
Try it and enjoy the ride. It will be the best of your life!
© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 3-5-08

ETERNAL SPRING!

Spring. A time of new beginnings. Lots of things have been written about it so this is not the first nor will it be the last but at least this should be different.
A few moments ago I spoke with a friend whose wife passed away last evening. I asked if he had been able to be with her. He had. I told him I knew how important that had to be as I relayed to him the many questions I didn’t have to ask because they were already answered by my being with my mother during the time of her passing.
Also as I had read the following scriptural assurance to her on March 1, 1996, I was able to remind him of the same, because God does not change (Malachi 3:6). Spring is a time for new beginnings and when we pass from this life we go on to the place Jesus promised that He has prepared for us. In John 14:1-6, He teaches, "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
Spring…a time for new beginnings…don’t you wonder exactly what He has planned for us besides those dwelling places? When we leave this earth we are rather like those wrinkly, ugly, dried, crumbly, drab brown daffodil, tulip, iris, and many other kinds of bulbs that are placed in the ground and left there for a season. As God’s children we do not grieve as those who have no hope! (I Thessalonians 4:13b) The storms of life have no bad effects on the bulbs that are now altogether out of the hands of the living; they have been placed in God’s care alone and He has been continuing His creative processes of Eternal Spring as He prepares our places for us. And in that Eternal Spring these old bulbs will become brilliant beauties of many variations, always fresh, never fading, forever reflecting the bright light of the Son! Oh! Can you even begin to imagine what He is preparing for us there?
Eternal Spring where death is swallowed up in victory!
“But thanks be to God,

who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I Corinthians 15:57 (NASB)
©Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 3-4-08