THE LESSON OF THE IRIS

These pictures were taken from our yard as I aimed my camera into our neighbor's floral display yesterday! I missed the opportunity last year because the days of beauty are so brief and when I saw the blossoms appear a few days ago I determined it would not be so this year! I was busy around but all of a sudden yesterday I decided, "This is the day!" so I took the pictures, came in and played with my photo program, printed some copies and took to the neighbor who planted the iris. She was so appreciative and I was able to tell her she has given a gift to my husband since purple iris is his favorite flower! I added my thought that this way she could enjoy her flowers all year long!
The amazing thing about the iris is that in comparison the beauty was blighted today; the freshness of the "Look at me!" was replaced with limp petals still well formed as they hung on and blew in the wind. The change came swiftly just as I had known it would so I am thankful I paid heed to the lesson of last year's loss!
The beauty of the iris is a lesson for life: we need to take advantage of the God-given moments in appreciation of the now because all too soon these moments will be past. Say, “I love you,” now. Make the phone call today. See if you can beat the mailman to the box with your outgoing get-well card/note-of-encouragement before he puts the incoming junk mail in there! Don’t wait until tomorrow…

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” James 4:13-14 (NKJV)
© Marilyn Sue Moore 4-15-08

“IN THE WORLD YOU HAVE TRIBULATION, BUT TAKE COURAGE…”

It is always a concern when I learn of a young woman, particularly a young mother, who has developed breast cancer or some other devastating ailment. My mind rather swiftly goes back to how my major goal in life was to be THE ONE to raise my children and the feelings of empathy wash through me with the surge of an overflowing river.
However, I also know God had a plan for us before the beginning of the world because He knew our needs even before He created the world or us!!! (Ephesians 1:4) This truth along with Psalm 139:13-16 teaches us that He knew us and planned our days before He knit us together in the wombs of our mothers. Having had the experience of learning to knit I so appreciate that analogy, although in my knitting I have dropped some stitches and many of mine were uneven, definitely not an attribute of God's work since we are fearfully and wonderfully made! We can know that God is in control in all of life if we allow Him to be whether we perceive times as good or bad. While we often have a tendency to look at any disappointing news with discouragement so much that appears impossible can be overcome with God. (Luke 18:27)
Just as happened to my brand new red-orange sweater on the first day of school one year, we will develop snags in our lives that seem to mar its beauty; however, my mother used a crochet hook to pull the offending loose yarn inside, then she smoothed the tightened area around the snag fixing it so it didn’t look so bad anymore. While my mom did a neat job, God is a far better mender of all that is in disrepair in our lives spiritually and physically from the inside out! And just as with the sweater snag, the repair did not completely remove the reminder and sometimes in life there are tribulations that man cannot remove and God says, “No,” about doing so. That is the time we have choices to make; we can choose to be a child who throws a temper tantrum to try to get our own way or one who goes to Him to rest in His Word filled with so much hope and so many promises. We know that James 5:16b states that “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much,” so let us pursue righteousness (I Timothy 6:11b) like never before and pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17) while we remember and rest in Jesus’ words in John 16:33b (NASB):
“In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world!”
©Marilyn Sue Moore 4-16-08

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

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

News coming into our home during the past weeks has not been that good. It’s not that we always expect everything to be nothing but good news but things seem to be a little skewed to the wrong side of the scales lately.
Young parents tend to think when the children have grown that the concerns for their well-being will lessen. I am here to tell you that is definitely not so! The parental responsibilities lessen but many of the concerns remain those of a mom and a dad. Flu bugs, job changes and/or needs, houses sold and bought, children/grandchildren born and adopted, breaking bones, developing life-threatening ailments…all these and more. Does it really matter if the children are 3, 30, or 40? We’re still parents no matter how old we are and they are still our kids no matter how old they are! And if the news is dire we want to do what we can to help. When there is good news we want to join the celebration!
Friends of our generation are developing severe health issues: some illnesses can be helped by rather severe surgical procedures, others require long-term treatments that are often worse than the ailment’s symptoms had so far produced, making the patient wonder which was the better choice to have made.
Other friends are losing several family members and longtime friends in death within a short period of time, leaving them feeling there is no one left to talk to who understands the time of life when patriotism was high on the agenda in everyone’s mind, freedom to roam the countryside without fear of molestation of any kind was true freedom, water was free of pollution, people were never too busy to be helpful to a neighbor. Sound like “pie in the sky” to you? Just talk with some of the folks who lived through the Depression Era and you might be surprised at what they can tell you.
World news that invades our homes through multiple sources is certainly not particularly encouraging nor is the current ongoing battle of mud-slinging on the homefront.
Have you ever wondered what you would do if you ruled the world? Thankfully I never even played with the idea knowing it is way beyond anything I could begin to imagine, but I do know Who is ultimately in control and I have always been thankful to be able to leave it in His hands. He is patient allowing us freedom to choose our various paths all the while desiring that no one perish. (“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 NASB) I wonder how He remains so patient but He is God. I am not.
More comfort is summed up in the few words that Jesus spoke to His disciples that can be applied directly to the state of the trials and tribulations in our lives today as well:
“…in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33b NASB)
©Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 2-25-08

WHAT ABOUT THOSE POLITICAL CARTOONS AND STORIES?

Political stories and cartoons are always with us on any wavelength and in any print form imaginable. The question that has been on my mind lately is, “What are we going to do about them?” You may or may not have noticed but in the upper right hand corner of our site there has been a poll that needs a simple click answer…no signing in…just a click to show your preference…but only one person has answered it in the past two weeks. Yet, I still ask, “What are we going to do about them?”
You may question why it is so important to me. After all, aren’t they just funny things we share and aren’t some statements of true facts? And aren’t we supposed to be alerted to what is true and what is not regarding the people we put in office? Yet how do we know if the comments we are passing along are true or just things written to raise a ruckus? And aren’t the cartoons just plain funny, not really hurtful or believable, something that even the candidates would laugh at about themselves?
Recently an e-mail came into my box that had some factual information that had made news headlines in the past, along with some facts that I didn’t check out because I didn’t plan to pass the piece along. It wasn’t very long until another e-message came railing at the sender of that particular piece. Following almost immediately came an answering message stating that a relative of this sender always enjoyed a good joke. It seems that just that one piece prompted one person to see it as somewhat newsworthy while another found it very offensive yet another found the same thing humorous. All the same words, all written about the same politicians, and only the author knows for sure whether it was meant to inform or as a piece of political satire.
What are we going to do about these political commentaries? It seems to me we need to take a more serious approach than we sometimes do by seeking what God’s Word tells us about those in governmental authority. (I know the candidates are not necessarily those in authority but consider the reasoning…the WHY…behind God’s teachings as well as the WHAT…His Word.) One scripture that stands out is headlined in my Bible as: A Call to Prayer in I Timothy 2:1-4 (NASB): “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
What are we going to do about those political cartoons and stories? It seems we need to proceed with caution and remember that as the Children of God we are to be different, to make a difference, and with God’s guidance apply His wisdom to determine what’s trash, what’s newsworthy, what’s funny, and most of all to remember what “is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” This means even the politicians and those who write about them.
© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 2-19-08

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET OUR ATTENTION?

Yesterday morning we were studying about Jesus’ feeding of five-thousand men plus women and children from Matthew 14:13-21 in our Bible Study. The teacher said, “If that happened today it’d have to get your attention.” I wonder…
In 1964 when our three children were young we were blessed to live next door to an elderly couple who had never had children but loved little ones dearly. Their names were Alice and Jack but she was affectionately referred to as “Bunky” so our children were allowed to call them Bunky and Jack. It was like having built-in grandparents living right beside us and our discussions during our times together were much like that of family.
One memorable occasion that stands out among many was the day when discussion of space travel came up and Bunky declared, “Oh, those Hollywood movie men are just making those pictures to fool us, making up those pictures on a movie stage somewhere, not real at all!” What she had seen, she had not believed. Granted, she had not seen Freedom 7 in person but television coverage provided ample opportunity of believable footage. Would seeing Freedom 7 at the Space Museum in Washington, D.C. have convinced her? Perhaps. Perhaps not. She was not ready to believe what she saw.
There are times when we see things occur when we say, “I can’t believe my eyes!” although we know we really saw what we saw! Truly amazing things happen every day, some of which we ignore and take for granted. For example, have we noticed the newly opening leaves on the trees here in our city this past week or the fact that daylight comes to greet each morning and night closes each day? Do those things get our attention?
In order to get our attention do we actually have to see Jesus feed the five-thousand men plus the women and children or are we like Bunky when she truly believed the movie producers were making up things to fool us? What does it take to get our attention?
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
(Romans 10:17 NASB)

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 2-18-08