WHAT IS OF REAL VALUE?

I often battle with the impression that I would be of more value in the eyes of my fellow sojourners if I were more successful by worldly standards.
Just a couple of days ago I mentioned to friends how I’d always wished I had the skills to draw. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be a world-renowned artist? When I was young I tried to draw with pencil and was able to do some very simple circle drawings that resembled bunnies and kitties but to go much beyond that took a lot more imagination than even I had to decipher what showed up on a piece of paper. Art classes were offered to me in junior high school for the first time in my life and the embarrassment of my efforts there nearly drove me away from school with the unique experiences of being introduced to less than stellar grades. Okay, so I learned that art was not my God-given gift but that didn’t mean I was without other valuable talents.
Homemaking is a skill I could and did excel at but if you look at 25th and 50th Anniversary write-ups and obituaries, homemaking skills fall last in the long line of achievements of couples or persons, if mentioned at all. They certainly do not include, “She worked at whatever job she could find while helping him get his college degree,” or “She made a home and helped them develop new friendships as they moved multiple times in a few years.” In the world today I am conditioned to hear the question fall from lips filled with disdain, “How is that rated on the success scale?”
I like to write and I plan to do so regardless of any disparaging critics with the subtle yet unspoken push given from time to time that says, “Unless you publish something and are making $$$, your writing is not worth the time it takes for me to read it.” That being presented to me several times over might as well be, “You are not very valuable until you are a published author. When the world says you are important then I can look up to you and loudly and proudly proclaim I know you well.”
Thankfully God does not look at me through worldly eyes nor judge me by such standards. He helped me with my drawing…it was good enough to entertain little children sitting beside me in church. He helped me realize that I was not created to excel at everything I tried or wanted to try…there’s simply not enough time in life to live through that many experiments and experiences! He gave me skills to fulfill my heart’s deepest desires from childhood…to be a wife and mother. Now I write and who knows what from my pen is already circulating that may someday be noticed, published, and bring about my worldly success that seems so important to some people? And, yes, I would like to have writing success but that would not change my value except, sadly, in the eyes of the world. Until then…if then…and even after…I’ll value God because He keeps showing me what is of real value.
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21 (NLT)
© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 7-20-09

THIS IS SCARY

Today I received another message with a title: “This Is Scary.”
My husband and I pray together faithfully for the leaders of our world and our country as we think with concern about how far removed we have come from the origin and intent of the founding of our nation. We pray that capable men and women of faith and substance will step up to carry the charge laid at their feet because we believe this nation's only hope is to return to God and the principles upon which the United States of America was founded.
On more than one occasion I have heard, "All it takes is one generation," and it makes me sad to say I feel I am living to see that statement come true. The differences I have seen in my three-score-years-and-ten are numerable.
Some of my first memories are of a nation united and committed in every possible way to winning World War II. The ultimate goal was more than about being victorious: we were in that war to help others gain freedom from the foot of a vicious dictator determined to bring himself to absolute power. Many lives were lost as the result of one man’s selfish goals but our country became more united than perhaps we had ever been in finding all kinds of individual creative ways to help defeat that man’s powerful machine. Little kids knew to collect aluminum scraps, we understood the concepts of “Victory Gardens,” “War Bonds,” “Black Out Curtains,” Loose Lips Sink Ships,” Rosie the Riveter,” etc. My just-barely school-age brother decided to collect aluminum foil and knew if he separated the pieces from the gum wrapper papers he could make a ball of aluminum to help our fighting men. Do you have any idea how many gum wrappers he must have had to collect to make a ball about the size of a baseball? Even as a child I, too, knew I could make a difference. Birthday money was immediately taken to the post office to buy special stamps (similar to the idea of S&H Green Stamps®) to fill up a booklet that, as I recall when full, could be used to purchase a War Bond.
There was great pride and sense of accomplishment when WW II was over but too soon on its heels came the Korean Conflict in the 1950’s, then in the mid-1960’s the US entered the Vietnam War followed by the Gulf War in the 1990’s. The attack of the Twin Towers on our own soil on 9-11-2001 was soon followed by what seems a never-ending war in Iraq. There appeared no major victory in Korea; indeed the whole world is still receiving threats and jabs from North Korea. And where was the support for the Vietnam Veterans who battled just as faithfully to keep this country free as the men and women who fought in WW II? A downhill slide had started somewhere. I didn’t understand it then and have yet to wrap my head around the thinking that those following orders of the political leaders of this country not only deserved the punishments rained on them with Agent Orange but also should be shown whatever displays of disgust could be heaped upon them as well. The impression seemed to be they should be ashamed if they dared show themselves in public upon their return to the US Soil if they be so “lucky” as to be able to make it back! Why weren’t those displays of disgust directed towards the political leaders instead?
Hello? Is anybody listening today? Do you think it is time to make a difference? Remember the little kids during WW II and the belief they held that one little kid could make a difference by plying one layer at a time from an aluminum gum wrapper, that it could finally add up to maybe a half pound? Or the little girl who took birthday money for stamps that eventually added up to enough to fill a book to buy a War Bond? How about your one-person vote? Do you think your vote makes a difference on who leads this country? Or do you think your one-person letter to your congressman or congresswoman makes a difference?
In case you haven’t seen the signs, please look around more carefully: this country is in trouble. Groups of people are trying to remove God from all we hold dear. One person’s complaint is all it takes to get a lawsuit started to remove God’s name and or any reference to Him from a piece of public property as in the case of “Don’t Tear Me Down” the story in the video included on the right side of this site or at: http://www.donttearmedown.com/ Be ready for more of this unless we stand in the gap. "I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.” Ezekiel 22:30 (NASB)
Let’s leave a good land, a Godly nation as our forefathers planned, for our little boys and girls. God is looking for one good man and/or woman. Are you the one?
© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 7-16-09

YOU GOTTA LOVE ‘EM

A new-to-me recliner adorns a place of honor in a corner of our guest room. As I walk by in the hall I look up with a smile and see not only the chair but in my mind I also envision the happy giver, a longtime friend who first owned and took many hours of pleasure and comfort from that chair. Having recently replaced it with a newer model and because she loves us she offered it to members of our family.
After the chair was brought to our home and carefully positioned in place, I took pictures to e-mail so my friend could immediately see how it looked in its new home. I expressed my happiness but also my growing concerns that I now expected guests would either spend all their time in the guest room sitting in the chair when they came to visit or like guests do with hotel towels, might just decide to take the chair with them when they leave!
We continued our e-message chatter off and on for a while when my friend once again mentioned a tear in the arm of the recliner. I explained that I had yet to observe a tear commenting I thought I had recently written to her about “keeping what is worth keeping…and with a breath of kindness blowing the rest away…” I went on to express my meaning to be that with the chair I would see what is worth seeing and ignore the rest because at that point I had not seen any tears on the arm of the chair and I wasn’t planning to go searching for such.
I suppose one could say I am not being realistic with my attitude. I think I am being very realistic. I know there is a tear in the arm of that chair. How do I know? Because I have seen it? No. I know because my friend has told me so, but I have chosen to ignore it because I prefer to see the rest of the chair in its beauty, not the little tear. Does the tear in any way hinder its usefulness? No. Does the tear harm its beauty? I’d guess not since it is not an obvious flaw in the fabric.
Let’s take this just a step further and compare this with our attitude in the way we treat people. Sometimes we know a person well enough to know “there is a small tear in the fabric,” so to speak. What are we going to do about it? Are we going to keep staring at the “sore spot” using unkind words and/or deeds until we make the hole bigger? Will we diminish the usefulness of another simply because they do not measure up to our yardstick of perfection?
An occasion that lives on in our lives occurred many years before my husband was born so certainly long before I came into the family. His maternal grandmother known to most as Nana seemed pretty close to perfect in so many ways but apparently she was human on occasion! In her younger days, Nana, as the wife of a minister and the mother of four young daughters, complained to her husband, “Why am I, with all these young ones always expected to be the one to peel and cook the potatoes for the Sunday dinners for all these people?” Now, Nana was not one given to much complaining, and when she later told the story about herself in a lesson to the family she said that Grampie laid his hand on her shoulder and said, “You gotta love ‘em, Momma.”
Today, two days after the delivery of the recliner, I have chosen to overlook the tear. I will take the word of my friend that there is one there, but I choose to not see it because to me the chair is as Mary Poppins would say, “practically perfect in every way.”

“Above all, love each other deeply,
because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
I Peter 4:8 (NIV)

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 7-12-09

WHAT THE NEIGHBORS THINK IS IMPORTANT…OR IS IT?

Whether it was from admonition or impression or both, I grew up believing that what the neighbors think is of vital importance.
What we grow up believing tends to stay with us long into adulthood whether it is truth or fiction. One of the side effects is that we may then add undue conflicting issues into the lives of our own children as they are growing up.
A real life example was the long-ago occasion when our nearly-college-age daughter decided on her own to bleach her hair. My first thoughts were, “What will the neighbors think?” My next thoughts turned into words directed her way, “You go right over to W.T.Grant and buy the hair color that most closely matches the natural color of your own hair and dye your own color back!” I have since apologized to my daughter.
Looking back, it sounds pretty silly but that was then and this is now and that does make some difference; however, the approach I took was still wrong. I should have considered the importance of the relationship between my daughter and me above “What will the neighbors think?”
I am sure “What will the neighbors think?” was based on more than the simplicity of that question. In my own case, I know it was. I believed (and still do) that as a Christian I was and am held to a higher standard in the world, that I am to set a Christ-like example. “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (I Thessalonians 5:22 KJV) At the time of the hair-coloring incident, the late 1970’s, most girls didn’t change the color of their hair as we see being done today…nothing like we see being done today…so it stood out more than it would now. I felt I was guiding my daughter on the right path to include modest dress, to set a better example for others including her non-Christian friends, etc., but my approach was wrong and didn’t go over very well. (That’s putting it mildly!) Today I would handle things in a far different manner (does hair color really matter in the long run?) for far different reasons (is it really important what the neighbors think?).
My growing-up belief descriptive terms for “what the neighbors think” would have included “putting up a good front” or “making up a show” but that is not how God would have us be. He wants real people representing His real love in this world. Here comes that 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NKJV) again: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” What the neighbors think is important but not for the reasons I grew up believing.
© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 7-7-09

LAUGHTER IS GOOD MEDICINE

I like to laugh, not exactly like the character Ed Wynn played in Mary Poppins, but a bubbling from way down deep belly laugh is good for the whole self sometimes.
Laughter at his antics is a good part what caught my attention to a particular classmate all those years ago when we were in high school and that man is now my husband John. That alone should prove the point that laughter is good for a person!
Laughter shared is truly doubled. While sitting at our dining table last evening I had an opportunity to share some laughter. Usually my husband is the one who makes people laugh and this time I had the fun! Somehow we started discussing the importance of letting companies know when their products are not satisfactory so I told of the time recently when John decided to call a toilet tissue company to tell them that their toilet tissue didn’t tear straight. I wasn’t privy (pun intended) to their conversation but he later related to me that they carefully explained that they knew exactly what the problem was, that the batch had gotten through when the blades were so dust-laden that they weren’t properly punching the holes, therefore causing the malfunctioning tear-off portions of the papers! Well now we had the answer!
While going through all this explanation with our family members I told them that all these years John had been blaming me for the inability to tear the toilet tissue evenly and finally we have learned that it is not my fault after all! It is simply malfunctioning equipment at the factory! We laughed and laughed and that shared laughter felt good! We even chuckled a bit more as John explained that his call did earn him a coupon worth up to $14.00 off one double roll package of his favorite brand of toilet tissue and the biggest I could find was worth only $6.97!
Proverbs17:22 tells us that “A merry heart does good, like medicine…” Isn’t it great to know that God has created us to have such fun and that it is good for us besides?
© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 7-4-09