Autographs and Love Notes Revisited

Today is the day I have set apart to share with you my "Wednesday Treasures".  After our "September" questions yesterday for "Tuesday 4", I was reminded of these pictures and this little autograph book. I knew I must have shared it with you before, so I search for the post and found it. I hope you won't mind reading it again.  Be sure to click on the pictures from the Autograph book so you can enlarge them to read.

Note: This is a new picture. The Autograph book is the pink book standing up in front of pictures of my mother and my sister and me, and the dolls are also special "treasures", from left to right: 

Anne of Green Gables, which was one of my mother's collection of Madame Alexander dolls, which came to me because I am named after "Anne" of Green Gables...my name is Pamela Anne.  The next doll is Valerie, a gift from  my Dad for Christmas one year because she has red hair.  Next comes a doll that I gave to my mother for her 85th birthday, and the last one is my Margie doll, named after my Aunt Margie, who gave her to me for my 7th birthday. 

Original Post from 6/6/2017:

I was looking back through my old autograph book the other day...you remember those little books of blank paper that are intended to have signatures of special people, little funny sayings and other special words from friends or family...and I made a few discoveries that I'd forgotten or just hadn't really paid close attention to.

This particular autograph book was a gift from a friend on my 10th birthday!

It's right down there on the table at the far right end... I also received my first and only Barbie Doll for this birthday from my Grandparents!  I still have her today!

Here I am with my friends who came to my party.  L to R: my neighbor Kim, my cousin Becky, me, my girlfriend Rhonda, and my friend Linda. Linda gave me the autograph book!

I thought it would be kind of fun to go back through and share with you some of the funny and special autographs that I collected in this little book.

The most famous autograph in my book was from the actress Gloria Swanson:

 This was also on my 10th birthday.  Gloria Swanson came to a local new housing development for their grand opening, and my parents took me to see her.  I didn't even know who she was as she was a rather "old" movie star at this time, but it was exciting anyway.  I also had my picture taken with her and a friend of ours, whose mother was the local photographer for the community newspaper, so this picture also ended up in the paper!

Somehow, she also autographed this photograph, but I don't know how that happened since the picture wasn't developed when we were there with her.  The only thing I can figure is the photographer, Mrs. Bunny Rapalje, must have sent the photo to Gloria Swanson for the autograph and then gave it to me.  I never realized that until today as I wrote this!  And Mrs. Rapalje is no longer living, nor are my parents, so I can't ask them.  Maybe her daughter Janet would know, if I could locate her...

Anyway, I digress...

I was having such fun looking back through this little autograph book, reading all the funny, pithy sayings that many of my friends wrote back in the day...here are a few that were typical:

(You can click on the picture to enlarge for better reading)

My cousin Becky wrote this!

(This was written by my big sister...)

It appears that I didn't use this autograph book much after about age 12, so that explains the "maturity level" of these autographs.  I also noticed that even though I saved a special page in the book for a "special fella" to write on, none did.  I guess it was just the age...boys still thought girls had cooties and would never write in our autograph book...and if they did, it probably wouldn't have been anything very "special".

However, in between the silly sayings I did discover two very special messages from my mother.  One I actually chose as my life verse and the key verse that stays on the front page of this particular blog:

My mother wrote this as "A Thought for Every Day"....(and that is why I chose it as my life verse!)

Psalm 19:14

  I just realized that she inadvertently  left out a couple of words, so here is the verse in its entirety:

"Let the words of my mouth 

and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in Thy sight,

O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

And this note I had actually forgotten or not realized was in here...and just rediscovered it when looking through the pages again...and it is perhaps the most valuable and important message of all to me:

When I read this I just cried.  My mother has been gone from earth for about 11 years now, and this was written to me way back about 55 years ago...and I honestly do not remember reading it before now. The other one I had read over and over again, but the pages must have been stuck together on this one because I just don't remember reading it before.  And what a powerful blessing and prayer for my life!

"Dear Pamela, 

I have nothing very clever to say...I'll just put it on record that I love you so much and pray that you will continue to grow in spiritual goodness and love of God.  

Your Loving Mommy."

Wow! How can I say thank you now to my mother for this wonderful blessing?  I am humbled and in awe of this, because when she wrote this to me, I was only about 11 years old...and I wonder just how much this "prayer" that I would "grow in spiritual goodness and love of God" had to do with the way my life turned out?  I will not claim that I have much "spiritual goodness" in and of  myself...whatever "goodness" is there can only be because of Christ and what He has done in my life...and my love of God is due to Christ loving me and giving Himself for my salvation as well...but I wonder if I would ever have reached that place in my life if it had not been for this prayer and the loving example of my parents and other godly people throughout my life who helped to direct my steps into the right paths that would lead me to Christ.  

When you are a child you sometimes take for granted the love of your parents and other important people in your life...but I know there are many perhaps reading this today who have never experienced that in their own lives.  We can't go back and "do over" life. We can't make our parents into what we wish they could have been for us.  But we can start now, wherever we are in our own lives, and make a difference in the children, grandchildren or other special young people over whom we may have some influence.  We can speak words of love and praise and encouragement that could make a total huge difference in the paths they may choose to take in the future.  We can PRAY for them even when we may feel we don't have any other way of reaching out to them due to circumstances beyond our control.  Many families are broken, separated, spread far apart, and you may feel you can't make any significant impact on them at all.  But you can pray!  Even if that is the only way available...it is always the best way!  God hears our prayers...and He answers them in due time.  

Thank you for taking this little walk down memory lane with me.  

"The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:

"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;

Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you."

Jeremiah 31:3

Click HERE for another post on this topic.

The Secret Garden Chronicles Day 20- Is Your All on the Altar?

"Is Your All on the Altar?"

This morning in our devotions we read from Matthew 5:23-24, and I noticed something about these verses that I had not realized before.  Let's read it together, and then we can talk about this:

23.  "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, 

and there remember that your brother has something against you,

24.  Leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way.

First be reconciled to your brother, 

and then come and offer your gift."

Now, I always thought this was talking about bringing your "tithes", or money gifts to the altar...and that if you had anything wrong between you and your "brother", or any other person, you needed to take care of that before the Lord could accept your gift.  But today my eyes were enlightened to look at this a little deeper.

Do you ever even think about bringing your "gift" to the altar when you come to church?  Do you just put your offering in the plate when it is passed and not even think about the significance of that act...or the possibility that the Lord may not even accept that gift because of your "relationships" with others?

First of all, what exactly are the "gifts" that we bring to God's altar?  If this is not just talking about our tithes, then what?

How about the gift of ourselves...our very being...our soul and heart?

Or how about our joys and sorrows? Could that be a "gift" to the Lord?

Our praises and words of thanksgiving to the Lord?

Perhaps our desire to be transformed...reconciled to the Lord Himself is a gift.

The gift of service to the Lord and to one another...the gift of our voices lifted up in song, praise, testimony, teaching, preaching...

Maybe we desire to be a better prayer warrior or counselor, a writer of encouragement to others, a better friend to others...

But these things we desire to give to the Lord...even for His honor and glory, cannot happen until we are reconciled to our "brother", or sister, mother, father, spouse, friend, child, neighbor....anyone we may have hurt or wronged in some way...or perhaps someone we need to forgive...whether or not they "deserve" to be forgiven.

Until we are able to lay our "all" on the altar, we will not be able to move forward in our walk with the Lord, or be able to do the things we so desire to do for Him, no matter how honorable our intentions.

Wow!  I never looked at these verses quite this way before.  Have you?  Have you ever realized that perhaps all the things we long to do for the Lord and for others are not happening because we have not let go of our hurts and sorrows...our sin of an unforgiving heart?  That grudge we may be nursing in our mind toward someone somewhere...possibly even someone we really don't even know...but we heard about them somewhere and decided to harbor resentment and hatred toward them?  There's a lot of that going on these days...I don't need to elaborate....

As the Lord opened my eyes to these thoughts today, I found myself searching my own heart and examining the nooks and crannies of my internal being...and asking the Lord to turn on His searchlight and reveal to me those things I am holding onto that need to be "reconciled"...to anyone who fits that description above.  

Here's a song that came to mind as the Lord was reminding me of these things:

"You have longed for sweet peace,

and for faith to increase,

And have earnestly, fervently prayed;

But you cannot have rest,

or be perfectly blest,

Until ALL on the altar is laid.

Chorus:

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?

Your heart, does the Spirit control?

You can only be blest

and have peace and sweet rest,

As you yield Him your body and soul.

Would you walk with the Lord 

in the light of His Word,

and have peace and contentment alway?

You must do His sweet will

to be free from all ill;

On the altar your all you must lay.

(Chorus)

Oh, we never can know

what the Lord will bestow

Of the blessings for which we have prayed,

Till our body and soul

He doth fully control,

And our all on the altar is laid.

(Chorus)

Who can tell all the love

He will send from above!

Oh, how happy our hearts will be made!

Oh, what fellowship sweet

we shall share at His feet,

When our all on the altar is laid!"

(Chorus)

(Is Your All on the Altar? by Elisha A. Hoffman)

So...what about you?  Did this open your eyes to some things that perhaps need to be taken care of before you can leave your gift on God's Altar?  Sometimes we may think we don't have any "issues" against any of our "brothers or sisters"...and then the Lord helps us to see that we just might be in need of some "reconciliation"...even between ourselves and the Lord Himself...before we can move any further in that relationship.  

I know I'm praying about this now...how about you?

Spontaneous Joy

"I am the Lord, and there is NO OTHER;

There is NO GOD besides ME.

I will gird you, though you have not known Me,

That they may know from the 

RISING OF THE SUN

 TO ITS SETTING

That there is NONE besides Me.

I AM the Lord, and there is NO OTHER;

I form the LIGHT

AND CREATE DARKNESS

I make peace and create calamity;

I, the Lord, do all these things.

Rain down, you heavens, from above,

and let the skies pour down

righteousness;

Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation,

and let righteousness spring up together.

I, the Lord, have created it."

Isaiah 45:5-8

What is so amazing about these verses is that this was the scripture passage pre-selected for our morning devotions today, which we did not read until after my hubby and I came home from a spontaneous trip to our nearby lake/public boat ramp to watch the sunrise.  These sunrise pictures were taken on two separate mornings this weekend, hopefully the first of many with my sweet husband of 45+ years. I cannot begin to express to you first of all, the joy of viewing God's glorious splendor so early in the morning with my hubby...but also the fact that we did it not once, but twice in the same weekend! 

If you find your relationship with your spouse is lacking 

spontaneity, or you are finding it difficult to make time to communicate with one another, 

why not make an effort to wake up a little earlier next weekend (or weekday if you don't have to go to work), grab your travel mugs of coffee or tea, a camera, and a sweatshirt

and take a ride or walk to wherever you can best view

the sunrise together

and just enjoy!

Take a moment to recognize the

majesty and splendor of God's handiwork...

worship and praise Him together...

and then spend a little extra time

sharing the spontaneous joy of the moment with your mate.

This is the best date we've had in a LONG time.

I highly recommend it.

Getting Fit? What's the Motive??

Proverbs 31:30: "Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised."

Today it seems as though there is so much emphasis in the world on beauty and keeping "fit and trim" (isn't that a dog food?) that I sometimes want to rebel when I hear of women going to the "Gym" and aerobics classes. I think I've already shown my rebellion by just letting myself go...I've proven my point...all that fitness jazz just isn't for me! I once had a friend who invited me to visit her health spa with her for a morning workout. I came well prepared...jogging pants and a sweatshirt, and lots of extra weight to lose. We tried out the different exercise machines, and when she saw that I couldn't even stay on the bicycle, let alone get it up to any speed, she suggested we just walk around the jogging trail. That suited me just fine! Funny, I've never heard from that "friend" since that day! I guess she found someone more her "speed".

Well, is it really a sin to try and be beautiful and charming? I guess that depends on your motive. I think a lot of us would do well to try and be a little more beautiful, charming and fit. What woman doesn't feel better about herself and her position in life when she's just had her hair done or when she has a great new outfit that she feels good in and knows it looks good on her? Sometimes even the simplest additions to our wardrobe can make a big difference in how we view the whole wardrobe. I remember one time we were invited to a 50th anniversary party at a lovely hotel restaurant for some relatives. There were many people invited that I didn't know, and as this was my husband's side of the family, I wanted to make a good impression. I didn't have an appropriate outfit for such an occasion, and we couldn't afford to buy one either. So in looking over my existing wardrobe I decided that a black skirt with a dressy blouse and accessories would be appropriate. However, my black skirt really needed a belt to finish it off properly. So I went to a local discount department store and found two great belts for a very low price...one was black velvet, and the other a beautiful tapestry with black trim. I decided on the black velvet for the dressy evening affair, but the tapestry belt made another whole outfit for church or other special events! So there were two new outfits for the price of two inexpensive belts at a discount store!

Back to the issue at hand...what was the motive? Well maybe it was vanity...I admit it...but at least I was "frugal and intelligent" (my opinion, ha!) in solving the problem! And because I felt comfortable about the way I looked, and that my clothes were appropriate for the situation, I was more at ease and able to forget about myself for the evening and enjoy the party.

The proverb says that "a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." Perhaps what this is teaching us is that our goal in life should be to know and reverence (fear) the Lord, and not to desire to be noticed and admired by the eyes of the world. A woman who truly loves and knows the Lord will show it in all her ways. She will be charming and beautiful, but her charm will be the attractiveness of Christ glowing out from her, and her beauty will come from deep within her soul. Everything she touches will have a certain radiance of Christ. I've known sincere women of God who, although their physical features were plain, they were the most beautiful women I'd ever known. When we truly know Him in our hearts, all the other areas of our lives fall into the right perspective.

We don't have to be constantly "working out" to get fit, or filling our closets full of useless dresses to make us look beautiful. Certainly we will take proper care of our bodies, "the Temple of the Holy Spirit", because we are not our own since we were bought at a price (I Corinthians 6:19-20) and therefore we should "glorify God in [our bodies] and in our spirits], which are God's." Rather we should spend more time in getting our souls and minds "fit" for the Master's use, and He'll show us how to take care of the rest.

Lord, please help me to remember that You desire my beauty to come from knowing You, and not from a cosmetic or the latest hairstyle or fitness regime. I am reminded in Matthew 6:30-34 that if I will seek first the kingdom of God and Your righteousness, all these things shall be added unto me. You tell us in Your Word not to worry about tomorrow or about what we should eat, drink, or wear, because since you take care of the grass and lilies of the field, You will surely clothe us as well. Thank You, Lord, for this timely reminder. Amen.

Ok, friends, Please don't think that this was just a cop-out for not keeping myself in "shape". I truly desire to be in the best physical condition possible for my age and stage in life...and I do try to eat right, get enough exercise and fresh air, etc. It's all about keeping things in proper perspective and order in our lives...setting priorities and not letting any activity get out of control or placing us in an unbalanced position. The proper order should be:

1. My relationship with God: which includes: spiritual, emotional, and physical attitudes and concerns
2. My relationship with my husband and family
3. My relationship with my church, friends, neighbors, co-workers and others
4. Everything else

If I maintain this order...I should be in good shape!!!