LESSONS WHILE STANDING IN LINE

I observed a modern day parable while standing in line at a store yesterday. In front of me was a family that consisted of a mom, a dad, and a boy of about age 7. Standing behind me were a young boy and a woman I assumed to be his mother. With the sale taking place at the head of the line I had the opportunity to observe with pleasure both young boys and their parents.
The boy ahead tried on some sunglasses that were strategically placed to tempt the hands of grown-ups but could not have been better set for eye level had they measured from the center of this lad’s eyes to the counter top setting! Naturally he put a pair on, made a cute little face for his dad to see and then carefully placed them back in the bow-hold holes of the display rack. From time to time he glanced back towards me and had even more interest in what was happening with the boy and his mother who stood behind me.
The boy behind me, probably about 8 years of age, had a children’s Bible in his hands and as I looked back, he held it up towards his mom to show her what appeared to be a sticky tab on the binding. She bent down to look more closely then explained, “It looks like someone cut it when they were opening the box.” She had already spoken with him about going to the Christian store afterwards so she said, “Why don’t we leave this one here and get one for you at the Christian store instead? This binding is likely to fall apart.” They bent their heads together as they both fingered the binding more carefully as though trying to prove or disprove each to self and the other the truth of that statement. He said, “But I want this one. I looked so very hard to find this one.” She said, “We can probably find one like that there.” I turned away as he stood heavily first on one foot then the other while looking at her with pleading eyes but I knew he probably was continuing to vacillate between wanting to argue yet realizing she was being most reasonable.
By this time my turn at the checkout had arrived so I made my purchases and once finished I looked back and saw that the Bible had been set aside along with the high hopes of ownership by the young boy. I hoped I could be an encouragement to both his mom and him so I commended him for his good attitude in listening to his mom about it and assured him that I knew she would help him find a good one. She softly said, “Thank you,” and we smiled as I added that I understood that it was hard to wait, adding that it was something I was still learning.
As I walked away my heart sang praises for the lessons her little boy was learning in growing up with a mother who lives a Christ-like love. It was obvious this boy had learned that he could trust her word: she said they’d go to the Christian store later…he knew they would. He had learned to listen to reason…she explained what probably had happened and why the Bible would likely fall apart. He knew it was true. He had learned that some things are worth waiting for, even though he really wanted it now and had carefully chosen it. When he is a grown man what he will realize is that his mom taught him a lot about God even while they stood in a line at the store some days. That particular little Bible won’t seem so important then but the lessons that came from God’s Word will last a lifetime.
2 Timothy 3:14-15 (Holman Christian Standard Bible):
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing those from whom you learned, and that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 6-24-09

THE INVITATION

“He is the Maker of heaven and earth and the ocean.”
Psalm 146:6a (New International Reader's Version)


THE INVITATION

The alluring Atlantic…
Please tell her, “Hello!”

I hear her invitation…
In my imagination
In each photo I possess
In each sea scene painted by the most imaginative of artists
On each notecard depiction

Stepping on her shores I hear…
The waves swoosh in
The waves rush out
The call of the gulls
The distant foghorn

The ocean calls…
The invitation has been sent
The invitation has been heard
When will the RSVP be sent?
Please tell her, “I’m already here!”

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 6-18-09

THE BIRTHDAY OF A GRANDDAUGHTER

Today is our granddaughter’s birthday. She turns nine years old. I wasn’t there at the moment of her birth. I hadn’t sewed any cute girly dresses or crocheted any frilly sweater and hat sets in anticipation of her birth yet this was a long-awaited moment because at the age of eleven years she chose this time to be born anew into the Family of God. (Romans 6:4-6; Galatians 3:27)
Because I am her grandmother, different than when she was physically developing in the womb, I was able over the intervening years to have something to do with the nourishing of her soul. After her physical birth it was five months before I saw her in person but there came a time when to my great delight I had many hands-on experiences with her. There was a day when the leg of a chair I was sitting in collapsed and both her mother and she came rushing to be sure I was alright. Finding me scrambling to get up from the floor and receiving assurances that I was truly unharmed, this three-year-old dynamo put her hands on her hips, looked me square in the eye, and said, “And don’t do that again!” How many times might she have heard that from me and the other adults in the four generations surrounding her at the time? And, just as well-intended, too! She and I had occasions when opportunities arose to learn many daily grandmother-granddaughter lessons together that to this day each of us remembers with a special fondness of heart and everything was always based on the foundation of “because God made it so” coming from His admonitions found in Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (Holman Christian Standard Bible):
“These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
For me as her grandmother when her physical birth took place, I wished I could have been there to cuddle her instantly; so too, at the time of her spiritual birth how I would have loved to be immediately able to wrap her in my arms to welcome her as my sister in our Lord and Savior! But, just as with her physical birth, I had to wait. Eventually the time came when I was able to hold her in a welcoming hug that completed the grandmother-granddaughter-sister circle on this earth.
So today I wish you a very Happy Spiritual Birthday Granddaughter and many more in His service!
© Marilyn Sue (Libby Moore 6-14-09

WORTH SHARING

In Luke’s early verses of chapter 15 we read the story of the woman who has ten silver coins and having lost one searches diligently for it. Once she has found it she is so filled with rejoicing she calls her friends together to celebrate her joy with her. Some things are just too good to be kept to oneself.
During my growing-up years my family and I lived in an Air Force Base city. Attached to the base were many first time away from home young folks, some singles, some couples, who drew the attention of my parents like nectar to bees. My parents saw a need in these young ones that they could fulfill and in their doing so taught me the valuable lesson of taking advantage of life’s fleeting moments.
More than a half-century has passed between those years and the present with some of us still in touch; now I live halfway across the country from the land of my birth but once again I am delighted to live in an Air Force city. The mission of this base is different but we often see students assigned for short periods of time. Not very long ago my husband and I had opportunity to thoroughly enjoy the companionship of “two of America’s finest” when these young men, military students close in age to our son, had some time off that they chose to share with us during and following Sunday morning church services and/or other times during the week. It didn’t take long for us to grow to love them like family and in our rejoicing we, like the woman who had found her coin, wanted to share “our find” with family and friends.
Parting with these two was painful but not too long after they left another young man came to our city and we looked forward to getting to know and love him as we had them…lunches together, lazy Sunday afternoons in our home giving him the opportunity to get away from the base if he so chose, just getting to know one another…but issues got in the way this time and we didn’t make the diligent effort seen in the woman in Luke 15. Our knowledge of him was surface but still there remained that sense that he was very special. Whenever we did see him at church we tried to have contact but it was lacking and too minimal to be satisfactory. Recently the Sunday a.m. announcement was made that this was the last Sunday the young man would be with us. After the service was over I made sure I got to speak to him and as I went to shake his hand he enfolded me in a gentle one-sided hug that told me he understood we meant the planned invitation to get together. We said our good-byes and my knowing we have each other’s e-addresses helps but somehow I feel I have lost a valuable coin. I wish we had somehow made the time to get together as we did with those young folks of half a century past or those “two of America’s finest” of the more recent past because people are just too good to be kept to oneself!
©Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 6-9-09

JUST BE

I am a doer. I am a fixer. My daughter once referred to me as the Energizer Bunny®. Probably the longest I sit still is when I am in my recliner with a book in my hands, having nodded off in momentary slumber. So how can I just be? And what does “just be” mean anyway?
A favorite scripture for many people is “Be still and know that I am God…” from Psalm 46:10a (KJV). Could “be still” and “just be” fit together some way? The NASB version of Psalm 46:10a puts it this way, “Cease striving, and know that I am God...” When we read and consider all of Psalm 46 we realize it is about God’s protection to us; that’s when the phrases “Be still” and “Cease striving” make even more sense.
We have all heard of the need for lifeguards to calm near-drowning victims before they can save them or their task is going to be much more difficult or impossible. With that in mind, are we near-drowning victims in the sea of life, refusing the calm assurance of the help God is offering when He tells us to “Be Still”, to “Cease striving”, maybe to “Just be”?
Does a lifeguard ask a near-drowning victim to be the hero and/or to take on the complete job of bringing himself/herself into the safety of the shore? No, but the one being saved in our scenario does bear some responsibility, that of being still, to cease striving, to just be, while allowing the would-be rescuer to do his/her work.
Jesus was the Ultimate Lifeguard when He died once for all that He might bring us to God (I Peter 3:18) and now we have the responsibility of resting in His promises as we get back up to walk on the shore or swim in the surf because we live in a troubled world much like the one described in Psalm 46. And as we do we can “just be” because God wants us to cease striving and know that He is God.
Just be.
©Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 6-2-09