Happy Childhood

I was having lunch with my friend Jane the other day and she started complaining for the umpteenth time about her awful childhood. Let’s just say her mom was no mother Teresa. As a matter of fact, Jane had trouble right from the beginning. She got stuck coming down the birth canal...her mother was still wearing pantyhose! After she was born, her mother asked for separate rooms. She even refused to breast feed her. She said, I hardly know her, let’s see how things work out.

Let’s face it some of us had lousy parents but what’s the point of crying over spilled breast milk. Think about how much our heavenly father loves us. He thinks the world of us. He says we’re the apple of his eye and are fearfully and wonderfully made. Well that sure makes me feel loved and accepted...and I think Jane felt better too...cuz she ended up picking up the check!

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Hollyweird

Ya know when I was a kid I used to love to go to the movies and see those great stars like Ginger Rogers, Doris Day and June Alison. I wanted to be just like them. I feel bad for kids today. What kind of role models do they have? All these so called “celebrities” are plastered all over the magazines...and I do mean plastered! Why do we make them so important?

The other day, Harry and I went fishing with our 14 year-old grandson. We got to talkin’ about all those young stars that are getting into trouble, he said, “oh Grammy they’re just having fun...don’t be such a fuddy duddy.” I said, “listen honey, I’m gonna give you a lesson in fishing today. Did you know the devil loves to fish too? Only he does it with people. He lures you in with the bait. And then he hides the poison in with the pleasure. Then before you know it, he’s got ya hook, line and sinker! Adam and eve discovered that in the Garden of Eden when they ate the forbidden fruit...and that’s no fish story!

I think he got the picture. We need to teach our kids to pick the good the fruit of the spirit. Love, patience, kindness, faithfulness, self-control...so be a good role model for a kid and show them how to trust in God...Not Hollyweird...and show ‘em how to live a good clean life.

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Retirement

Harry and I had a meeting with our accountant the other day to talk about our future investments. He told us that if we had only saved more money instead of helping our kids out, we could be living in a one of those beautiful retirement villages, driving a new car, playing golf in the warm weather and enjoying our senior years.

After the meeting Harry and I went to the Cracker Barrel for dinner. I said, “Harry, do you regret that we don’t have a lot of things that other people have? Harry said, “Roxie, I like our little house and I don’t mind jumpstarting our 1982 Honda Civic and you know where I wanna spend my leisure years? Playing hide and go seek with our grandkids.”

Harry’s right. Twenty years from now it won’t matter what our bank account was, the size of the house we lived in, or the kind of car we drove…but the world may be a better place because we were important in the life of a child. That’s the best investment plan I can think of. Y’know why God created grandchildren? It’s his way of compensating us for growing old. That’s sure living the rich life and livin’ it with gusto!

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Worrying and Waiting

Do you ever worry that God’s taking too long to answer your prayers? I remember many years ago when my first child was born. I was in labor for so many hours that I finally grabbed the doctor. And said, “Hey, get this thing out of me! Well there was nothing anyone could do about it. The Lord had an appointed time for my son to be born and my screamin’ about it wasn’t going to get him here any faster.

It’s the same with our prayer life. God doesn’t answer prayers on our time table. He answers them in His perfect timing. Then, He can give us the fullness of His blessing. His blessing. In the waiting, He teaches us valuable life lessons. Let’s face it, we may wait in vain for a lot of things but we never wait in vain for God.

That reminds me of my friend Paula. She’s an Avon lady and she knocked on someone’s door to see if the woman of the house was home. The husband said, “She’s not here.” So Paula said, “Can I wait?” He said “sure” and left her in the living room for 3 hours. Finally Paula said to the husband, “Hey, I don’t wanna be nosey but where is your wife?’ He said, “She went to the cemetery.” Paula said, do you know when she’s coming back?” He said, “I don’t really know, she’s been there eleven years now!” Let’s hope you don’t have to wait 11 years for your blessing.

But if you think God is too slow try this:

• take a deep breath
• go with the flow
• and let go
• remember God is never late (but sometimes he sure comes close).

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