Thanksgiving & Hallmark Movies

 With all the preparations that lead up to Thanksgiving Day, it’s almost like we only blink our eyes and then it’s time to begin with all the shopping, baking, and parties for the next big day!  It’s predictable.  Predictable like a Hallmark Christmas movie!  (You know…the two romantic leads get close to sharing their first kiss, and a phone will ring, and the kiss is interrupted!  You’ll have to wait until the two have some major drama/fallout and the movie is nearly over before you get to see them finally have that first kiss!  Seems like all those movies are alike but I still love watching them!)

 

Yes, these last two months of the year can be kind of predictable in a lot of ways.  

 

So, how about this idea?  Do something unexpected!  When your neighbor isn’t home, blow all their leaves to the street before doing your own.  Bless a worker at the fast-food drive-thru with a $5 tip.  Pay for the order in the car ahead of you in line.  Send a note to someone who had an influence on your life from years ago.  Tell that person how important they have been in your life.  

 

Bless someone! 

You’ll likely find some extra joy in your busy life!  Giving, sharing, blessing someone is a way of giving thanks!  I look at those opportunities to give thanks to the Lord for allowing me the privilege to bless someone else.  In that blessing, I get a blessing!  We learn in Genesis 12 that you and I are blessed to be a blessing! 

 

Let Thanksgiving be your time of “thanks – giving!”

If you have a pulse, you have a purpose.  Make your life count!

Church Pew Pads

I spent part of yesterday on a special sewing project as I mended worn places on the pew pads in our church sanctuary.  They’re attached to the wood, so one can’t just go in and turn the pads over to hide the bad places.  

That would be easy, wouldn’t it?

Easy, but not practical, because the worn places would still be there.  

See where I’m going with this?  Just because people can’t see the bad things in our lives doesn’t mean they don’t matter – or even exist in our minds/hearts.  Maybe those things happened a long time ago and you’ve kept them hidden.  But those places are still there.  Hiding them doesn’t change anything.  You know they’re there – buried deep – and they don’t just go away.  

But when the Lord comes and mends those broken and bad places...takes them away when we ask for His forgiveness...we have to receive His forgiveness.  That’s not always easy.  Sometimes it’s hard to receive Christ’s forgiveness when we can’t forgive ourselves.  

Do it anyway.  

Don’t just turn the pew pad over.  Take care of it.

And remember...if you have a pulse, you have a purpose. Make your life count!

Eight Years...

Eight years since I held my sister's hand...we used to hold hands walking in a mall, or sitting together in church.  I know that seems weird to somebody else but it was normal for us.  We were sisters, very close, and very affectionate.  It was an unusual closeness between sisters.  The older we got, the more it meant to spend time together.  The last Facebook message she sent to me was to tell me she was checking flights to come and visit me in Cleveland, Tennessee.  Which was less expensive?  Flying into Chattanooga or Knoxville airport?  What dates would be good for us?  She never got to fly down.

Eight years since I spent the night sleeping in her room...when we were kids we shared a room.  Then when we moved to Ohio we each had our own rooms, but it seemed like I'd end up sleeping in the extra bed that was in her room because we'd do our homework together and listen to the radio.  Many times I'd fall asleep in her room and just stay there all night.  When we lived together in Wilmore, Kentucky (before each of us got married) it was just normal for us!  Together again!

Eight years since I leaned over her bed and sang one of our songs in her ear and told her where her parts came in...and we had been singing together for many years!  Our first duet in church was "There's a Song in the Air" at Christmas-time in Woodlawn, Virginia.  I was six and she was nine.  That's where it really started and then we went on to sing duets for - basically - the rest of our lives together!  

Eight years since our family members and friends began to gather at a hospital in Cincinnati to say our last goodbyes.  Vangie was already being kept alive by machines.  Did she know we were there or even heard the words we said to her?  Maybe she did.  I've heard that a person's last sense to go was their hearing when they're in a state like that.  I sure hope so.  

There was so much I wanted her to know before she went away.  

We weren't done.  

And eight years since I posted this on Facebook, January 19, 2013:

Vangie is being kept comfortable now. Doctors figure it won't be long before she moves to Heaven. She's prayed for healing for 10 or 15 years and is going to finally get it. And she'll get to meet the two babies she carried under her heart but never got to hold. 

Thank you for your prayers...

I think about my sister every day.  I miss her.  And when it gets close to the date when she went to Heaven, you'll probably see me write about her again.  Numbering the years.  

Always remember...if you have a pulse, you have a purpose.  Make your life count.