A Day to Celebrate and Be Blessed

Today was a day to celebrate!  And so we did!  First of all, today, July 15, 2017, would be my father in law William G. Steiner's 100th birthday.  Here's just a smattering of pictures from throughout his life:

 He has been celebrating in heaven since 1995...but today we paused to remember him and the wonderful father, father in law and "Granddaddy" that he was to our family.  To commemorate this day, my hubby planted a Drake Elm tree in our back yard...not far from the one we planted a few months ago to remember my father on the 6th anniversary of his passing into heaven.

May this tree grow tall and strong and provide shade and beauty to our home for many, many years! And may we never forget the sacrifices my father-in-law made for our country and our family throughout his life.  He loved his family and would have given the shirt off his back to be sure they were taken care of.

Then, today was also a day to celebrate my mother-in-law's 94th birthday! Her actual birthday isn't until July 23rd, but due to family schedule conflicts, we had her party today at the nursing home where she currently resides.  Here are a few pictures of the friends and family that attended that celebration: (I won't identify everyone, but you get the idea...grandkids, kids, niece, friends, and people who love and care about her!)

She obviously had a great time, and was so pleasantly surprised!!!  What a blessing she is to us.

And then, after this celebration, the rest of us headed over to Cody's Roadhouse for lunch and to celebrate my husband's cousin Janice's birthday:

The pillow Janice is holding has a special story.  This is the gift that I made for her.  The cute embroidered young lady with a poodle is a vintage table scarf from the treasures I found in my mother in law's home...and I believe it was actually embroidered by my MIL's mother, "Nanny Martin", who would also be Janice's grandmother.  When I saw this table scarf, I immediately thought of Janice because she had always had poodles as a little girl as well as an adult.

The only problem with this table scarf was, in its original form, there were two ends, each having this same design.  But the other end was badly stained, and I could not remove the stain:

So, after much thought I came up with the pillow idea.  To create the pillow case itself, I used three cloth table napkins from my own table linens:

This is the back side of the pillow, where two of the napkins overlap to make the pocket where you slip the pillow inside...

And here is the front side, where I sewed the modified table scarf to the third napkin, and then sewed this to the other two napkins.

Janice was very surprised and pleased to receive this specially made gift with this link to her own grandmother.  And I thank the Lord for giving me the idea. I am not usually that creative or thoughtful...I'm being honest here!  I normally don't do that much sewing or crafts, but I truly believe the Lord gave me this idea, because He knew it would bless Janice...and in turn, it also was a blessing to me to be able to do this for her.

**This was a wonderful lesson for me....to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit to show love to someone else who needed that extra blessing. You see, Janice is a recent widow, following the death of her husband from cancer...and she also lost her only son to a sudden illness a few years ago. Her sweet little poodle, "Rocky", also passed away not long after that.  My husband and his brother and their mother are her closest family here...and they share this common family history.  To be able to share this bit of her own grandmother's treasures with her brought a few tears to her eyes and a smile on her face...and it didn't cost me a dime, but its value is priceless!

This reminded me of a favorite old hymn:

"Make Me A Blessing"

"Out in the highways and byways of life,

Many are weary and sad;

Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife,

Making the sorrowing glad.

Refrain:

Make me a blessing,

Make me a blessing,

Out of my life may Jesus shine;

Make me a blessing,

O Savior, I pray,

Make me a blessing

to someone today.

Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love,

Tell of His pow'r to forgive;

Others will trust Him if only you prove

True, every moment you live.

Refrain

Give as 'twas given to you in your need,

Love as the Master loved you;

Be to the helpless a helper indeed,

Unto your mission be true.

Refrain:

Make me a blessing,

Make me a blessing,

Out of my life may Jesus shine;

Make me a blessing,

O Savior, I pray,

Make me a blessing

to someone today."

Thank You, Lord, for being at the center of our celebrations today...for blessing our family with dear parents, and for helping us to be an encouragement and "blessing" to one who is in need of such comfort.  I give You praise for providing the means and the ideas that became the blessing. In giving, I am also blessed.  Thank You, Lord, for teaching me this lesson today.  Amen.

**UPDATE: I now have this pillow back in my keeping. Very sadly, about one year later our cousin Janice passed away very suddenly following some serious heart surgery. It was a very sad time for all of us.  When her estate was being settled I was blessed to receive this pillow back in memory of Janice.

The Secret Garden Chronicles~Love Thy Neighbor

Ahhh, The Secret Garden is so lovely and peaceful today! There's a cool breeze, the birds are singing in the treetops, butterflies are flitting about...it's a beautiful spring day! Oh, and the wisteria is blooming again! Remember how upset I was that the little freeze we had a week ago killed all the blossoms on the wisteria vine?  Well...here it is today:

I was so happy to see them revive!  That brought a smile to my face today!

We had our neighborhood BBQ here last night, and it was such a delightful time getting acquainted with new friends!  I can't believe I didn't even take one picture!  We were having such a good time that I totally forgot!

We ended the evening in the Secret Garden (which everyone now knows isn't really a secret anymore!).  I was sharing the story of how it all began.  It was a beautiful moment...and then everyone enjoyed being scolded by the chickadees as they arrived back at their birdhouse/nest and shooed us all away so they could go in and tend to their babies and/or eggs.  I don't know how far along they are yet as I can't see inside the birdhouse, so I'll just have to wait and see!  Anyway, it was a fun way to end the evening and everyone went home with smiles on their faces and promises to get together more often in the future.

This morning's devotional reading was from Mark 12:28-34, and the verse that stood out especially for me was verse 31, in which Jesus says:

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

I mean, how appropriate is that after spending a wonderful evening with our neighbors last night?

But, sometimes neighbors can be difficult to love, although I must say, this group we had here at our house last night was quite "lovable".  However, it hasn't always been so with the whole neighborhood.  We had one set of neighbors (actually, since we've lived here 5 years, there have been several different sets living in the same house, one after another) who were quite difficult to endure.  I won't go into details, but let's just sum it up by saying that no one was unhappy to see these different sets of "tenants" leave the neighborhood.  There were many times over the past few years that I'd find myself praying they'd move away and take all their junk, noisy trucks and screaming inhabitants and give us some peace and quiet.  And then I'd have to pray and ask God to forgive me for not "loving my neighbors as myself"...and ask the Lord to help me try to love them and see them as He saw them...through His eyes.  But I must admit, I was not the most kind-hearted neighbor. I truly just wanted them gone.  So now they are gone, and we have discovered that new people have purchased the house and do not intend to rent it out, and from what I am able to ascertain, they should be a "bit easier to love".

That does NOT let me off the hook, however.  God didn't say that I should only love the lovable neighbor.  He said to "love your neighbor as yourself."  No qualifications included. So all the nice things I may do in the future for my new and/or current neighbors doesn't really excuse my previous dislike for my former neighbors...but it is at least a place to start.

We may not always be able to go back and undo or rework our previous prejudices or uncharitable thoughts and/or actions, but we can strive to do better in the future.  We can pray for forgiveness for our lack of compassion, and move forward with positive intentions and actions in the future.  When we run across difficult neighbors in the future, we can approach them with the love of Christ in our hearts and on our lips.  

As I stood up from the bench in the Secret Garden today, I looked around the neighborhood and prayed for my neighbors, and for me to be a better neighbor. 

One thing I thought about was this gate that stands at the back entrance to our property, blocking entry from anyone coming in from that street. 

 We rarely use that gate as we have another entry on the front side, but this is the only section that directly leads to the street where our neighbors live.  When our neighbors were walking over to our house last night for the BBQ, some were unsure as to whether or not they should come into our yard through this entrance, even though we had opened the gate early in the day to make sure they knew they could enter this way.

Lesson learned for me personally...Open the gate of my heart so that others know they are welcome... My prayer is that my neighbors will know they are welcome anytime...not just to our home, but to us personally.

  As I continued to pray about these thoughts and feelings today, this particular song came to my mind:

Make Me A Blessing

1. Out in the highways and byways of life,
many are weary and sad;
Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife
making the sorrowing glad.

Refrain:
Make me a blessing,
Make me a blessing,
Out of my life
May Jesus shine;
Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray,
Make me a blessing to someone today.

2. Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love;
Tell of His pow'r to forgive;
Others will trust Him if only you prove
true ev'ry moment you live.

Refrain

3.  Give as 'twas given to you in your need;
Love as the Master loved you;
Be to the helpless a helper indeed;
Unto your mission be true.

Refrain

Yes, this is my prayer today...not just for my neighborhood, but wherever I may go:

Make me a blessing,
Make me a blessing,
Out of my life
May Jesus shine;
Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray,
Make me a blessing to someone today.

Amen!

Make Me a Blessing?

This week had its highs and lows.  It started out well enough...celebrated my birthday with loved ones. Such a treasure to have loved ones near, both to celebrate AND to celebrate with.  This is a blessing...it is a gift.

However, I fear that I was not such a "blessing" to others this week.  Lately my work has had its challenges, and there are times that I get a little out of sorts and impatient when things don't go exactly as planned. Having such responsibilities doesn't always bring out the best in me. I allowed my frustrations to overflow my better sense of handling things with wisdom and patience...and my tongue got the better of me.  It spoke when it shouldn't have spoken...when it would have been better to refrain from speaking at all... 

All on the same day that I had planned to share a devotional with our staff...to tell them about "Counting 1000 Gifts" (see www.AnnVoskamp.com), on the very same morning that I wanted to express the joy of "giving thanks"....having grace from on High on display...not grief from impatience and anger.  I failed. 
Thankfully, God was there in the midst.  He still was able to get His message of grace and love and thanksgiving across to those who listened patiently, in spite of the messenger who had already demonstrated too much humanity for one day.

This morning in my devotional reading I was directed to Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, you know the verses..."To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven...", and the question was asked as to what spiritual season am I experiencing right now, and could I name it's challenges and gifts?  Good question.  I'd like to think I am in a more mature spiritual season of life, but then I go and have a day where I blow it and don't act very mature at all, and I realize that no matter in which season of life I may be living, I always need to lean on the Lord and allow my thoughts, words, and actions to be "seasoned" with His grace. 

I was reminded of an old Gospel Hymn that you may remember and sing along with me:

"Make Me a Blessing"

1st Verse:

"Out in the highways and by-ways of life,

Many are weary and sad;

Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife,

Making the sorrowing glad."

(Chorus) 

"Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing,

Out of my life, May Jesus shine;

Make me a blessing,

O Saviour, I pray,

Make me a blessing to someone today." 

That is my prayer today.  Lord, make ME a blessing to someone today.  Help me to realize that sometimes others act and react they way they do to circumstances because they are "weary and sad".  Rather than losing my patience and reacting in an immature way, help me to "Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife, making the sorrowing glad."....Yes, Lord, please, "out of my life, may Jesus shine."  Amen.

"Make Me a Blessing", written by Ira B. Wilson, 1880-1950.  Music: George S. Schuler, 1924.