Life by Grace Alone

Days before Christmas as soon as the light began to dim, our neighbor's yard was decked  with air filled creatures that  for many represented the heart of Christmas, Santa Claus on a motorcycle stood along side 2 other Santas grasping other modes of transportation. In the night air, colorful lights accentuated the bulgy figure of each Santa. During the light of day I was startled each time we drove by. Instead of imposing figures each one lay flat on the ground. These Santas represented no Christmas joy or mystery. They looked more like discarded Halloween costumes. Was it the second or third time I went by before I realized there was something far more important to observe? Without the distraction of lights high lighting jolly old St. Nick the cutouts of Mary, Joseph and Jesus became the center of the yard. They were what stood while the rest of the yard lay like haphazard dabs of color on the winter ground.  No matter what place Santa has in your Christmas remember ...

The year was 1971. Steve and I were focused on our our wedding day. We had rented our apartment. Steve had moved in and I was eager to join him. The apartment came with an odd assortment of attributes. It had a swimming pool, pink appliances and a walk in closet. The walls were mostly bare as we had only just begun to understand what our tastes were and how they might work together or collide. I'm certain what we had on the walls could have been displayed by any number of other couples. Over the years we went from an apartment in an old barn to our first purchased house to a home owned by the church to a house owned by my family to a hundred year old house on a Vermont hillside to a house in a development in a large older community in Va, As we moved we did so with one, two and then 3 and then 4 children. With each additional child the moves became more complex with more toys, clothes and personalities. Home decor took a back seat to budget constraints and attempts to enforce gre...

Recently I added another surgical procedure to my medical history. Although there are some serious side effects that can happen after total knee transplant surgery they usually don't transform your life like the word cancer and all the baggage that comes with it. After my last knee surgery I came across an article that I wrote that was published in our church's magazine, New Horizons. The magazine was dated October 2000. The breast cancer surgery occured the first time in September of 1993. These are excerpts from the article. Cancer is never easy. The first time, no matter what the particulars of the diagnosis are, you feel like the word cancer alone will consume you From the first scare to the reality of cancer, God has schooled me in spite of my reluctance to be his pupil. God has allowed me to latch onto three principles that have been my comfort. There have been times when I have yearned for a return to normal life. I craved normal life because in spite of all the ...

How many years have we marked the end of summer by spending a week at the Outer Banks with as much of our family as we can? Three out of four grown children have usually been there. The grandchildren have grown from two til now there are 8. They range in age from 1 1/2to 10 1/2. Each year we marvel at the variety of their abilities revealed in their play as well as in their conversations. Saturday we arrive and the next  Saturday we leave with sand in our shoes and gratitude in our hearts The week of Labor Day attracts many to the resort and many leave together clogging the lanes of traffic as we continued with our pattern of stop and go driving. Home lay a short distance ahead when suddenly at what may have been 20 miles an hour our heads were suddenly jerked as we were rear ended. Not exactly the way I'd choose to end a vacation.. There was a place to pull off of 95 while we waited for the state trooper who interviewed both motorists. That morning Steve had mentioned to all o...

Our internet age is amazing in so many ways. We have the answer to so many questions we have right at our fingertips. We can greet friends and strangers who live many miles away and dialogue with them about many topics. As exciting as these things may be we have lost what is at least as great a value. We used to send more cards and notes through the mail wishing friends a happy birthday or updating them on what is happening in our lives.Often such communication would be tucked away to be remembered another day. Today with our up to date technology such notes are gone in an instant. I have been blessed by living in both the age of notepaper as well as the age of quick notes that last a moment. Periodically I browse through old cards and notes from friends and relatives. I am often reminded of what is really important. Sometimes I find cards with an unexpected expression of affection. I rarely get to read what i might have written to these people. This note was an exception. I had been...

I am 68. I have 4 grown children and 8 grandchildren. Too often the younger generation acts like I can not relate to the struggles of moms of young children. Many years have gone by but many memories of those years have not faded. Recently I was going through my files in order to condense my collection. I came across an undated piece I had written reflecting on this time period Half my life I am drowning in a flood of partially eaten apples, usually unmatched socks stuffed between sofa cushions or peeking out under chairs and single pieces of toys waiting to cause pain as someone steps on them. The reunion of all these toy pieces back in their original groups seems like a dimly remembered dream. Little helpers stick dirty fingers in my futile attempts to accomplish something. anything. When dishes are finally clean and rooms are straightened, ("When is company coming , Mom?) clutter and confusion spring up like persistent weeds. How do I push back the flood? How do I help...

My husband Steve graduated from seminary in 1976. A short time later we traveled across country to what we thought would be an internship for Steve with one of the older pastors in the denomination. When we arrived the gentleman was thrilled, shook Steve's hand and drove back to his retirement home one hour away. Steve did get to see him and I'm sure he learned from him but it was not an internship. For Steve it was like graduating from an elementary swim class and then diving off the high dive. One of the first things asked of me was did I play the piano. Fortunately I had to say no. This was my first encounter with the stereotype of the preacher's wife. When we moved to our second church I was told soon after my arrival that I had to lead a study for senior women. I protested citing my lack of experience and my youth as reasons why I was not the appropriate choice. I wasted my breath and then I resigned myself to my new role. Let's see' the stereotype of the p...

Eventually we all will see our family structure change as various members come to the end of their lives. The first  of our families to leave us was my husband's sister. Carolyn left this world at the age of 60. We all missed her laughter and her many ways of serving others. Although she never had children she with great delight filled her role as aunt. Even now as I spend time with my grands I imagine how Carolyn would have reacted to the antics of these amazing children . After his sister we then had to say goodbye to Steve's dad and then his mom. By that time my father had died. In 2014 my mother left us, my brother Phil in 2016. When someone you love dies there are 2 sides to what has happened. Sometimes it is easy to dwell on what seems like the unfair circumstance under which they left. We focus on how much they suffered, the suddenness of the illness or accident or the young age of the deceased. When Carolyn died I must have understood the better focus. I found this ye...

Today in 2017 many people live with only a little understanding of the roots they have in their families. If they know their extended family it's only through occasional family reunions. Many miles and differing lifestyles separate them. My siblings including my brother's widow live from Georgia to Vermont. In spite of different lifestyles and interests we are glued together by a common heritage. At the center of many holiday meals were my mom's mother and my uncle and two aunts. My grandmom outlived each of her children except my mother. Grandmom was soft spoken partly because of her personality and partly because of her extreme hearing deficit. My mother made sure that Grandmom had everything she needed. There were things that separated her from the larger world but she was comfortable with those God had placed in her world. Grandmom was known for her sewing . Often when I would come home from college on break, Grandmom would be staying at the house. One time the...

My brother Phil died in November one week and one day before he would have turned 72. In December our family gathered in Georgia with friends for a funeral service. In May we knew there would be  another gathering on more familiar ground. Our family made plans to join with family and friends for a final goodbye in Ocean City, Md., familiar territory to all of us and a place frequented often by my brother the fisherman. The gathering happened in a large house overlooking Synepuxent Bay. Soon after arriving for the event friends joined family and the large living room filled quickly. Some of the people I recognized immediately. Others took me awhile as I tried to add  more hair and  darker color to their aging locks. In spite of increased wrinkles the shape of noses, brightness of eyes, or the angle of the chin were often a giveaway. The easiest people were the ones I had never met. After studying one woman's face she told me she had been in Phil's graduating class. I r...

My husband and I have been married over 45 years. A member of a former congregation has called Steve a walking concordance. I've lost track of the number of times I have stated to him things about God and how He works that I know he already knows. It doesn't seem to matter how great a person's understanding of Biblical truth is. We all need to be reminded of what we already know because the truth we know is often not the truth on which we are living out our lives. I remind him of those truths because I know that's what I usually need.

One morning I went to the gym with my husband. Without earphones I tried to understand the show on the tv as I pedaled on the exercise bike. A man was calmly allowing many bugs to crawl over his back. I responded with a shudder and then I commented on my response to the woman on the next bike.   ."God knew what He was doing as He created us with a natural dislike for crawling bugs. They could bite or bring bacteria." I sat a little taller as I realized how casually and naturally I had mentioned God. I remember when I had first become a Christian. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he has redeemed from trouble.", Psalm 107:2 was one of the first verses I memorized. Although the basic truth was easy to understand there were voices giving different ideas as to what that meant. Some seemed to say just invite people to Bible studies or church services and that counts. Others said no, you have to actively seek out those with whom you can share a gospel presentati...

Sometime as a child I heard the expression " a place for everything and everything in its place." I am sure it must have had something to do with my mom's frustration over what a messy room I kept. I am prone to blush whenever I remember how I responded to her pleas for greater order. "Clean laundry should be folded and placed in the right drawer.Shoes should be placed with its mate under the bed." Rules like this were only occasionally obeyed. As the years go by it has become clear that this simple statement about a place for everything has a greater application than just to domestic order. Matthew 22:37-39 states " You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." When loving God is the top priority it is much more likely that other things will find their proper place. After stating "the great and first command" Matthew goes on to state "the second", "You shall love your ne...

January 2017, the beginning of a new year cries out for the long held practice of making new year's resolutions. Hmm,what resolutions should I make? I really need to lose weight. That would be a good thing to tackle. What about becoming more organized? I could rid myself of clothes I don't wear anymore and books that I will not read either for the first or second time. What about increasing the amount of exercise, not just twice a week maybe 3 or more? Again a good project.  Unfortunately when one pursues these goals it's possible that instead of pleasing God with our efforts we are actually bowing the knee to desires we have turned into idols. Our lives are filled with things that have the potential for our good and God's glory but we often use them to divert our attention from the really important  things. We either look for those things that we think will help us deal with our problems or we look for those things that will help us forget them. Thoughts of God's...