OLD PHOTOGRAPHS, STORIES AND LIFE

Between “tear breaks” I looked through old pictures; pictures of an 18-year old couple beginning a life together, full of hopes and dreams, yet to be realized.  There were snapshots of 2 kids holding a newborn baby and then 17 months later another baby appears in the scene.  Among the old photos are those of loved ones that we miss so much and long to hold once more.  Jump to 2013 and there is that newborn baby, all grown up, standing proudly with his wife and 3 beautiful children and the other baby with his wife and 4 beautiful children.  When did life happen and where did time go?  I had aspirations and dreams and plans and goals; I want a do over!!!

There is an old country song with the lyrics, “I’d like to be 16 again and know what I know now!”  Have you ever felt that way?  I certainly have!  If I could only go back to 18 years old and Steve and I could start our life all over.  Oh the things I would do differently.  We would certainly be rich because I would have sunk our entire fortune into Microsoft and Wal-Mart, and then sold it all at just the right time.  There are places we would not have moved to and houses we would not have moved from.  I would have saved more, bought less and cut up the credit cards.  More time would have been spent just talking and laughing with those who have reached the finish line first.  I would have sat on the floor and played more, not caring about all the tasks I thought were priorities.  I would have worried less and trusted more because now I know of God’s faithfulness.  I WANT A DO OVER!

As I continue to reminiscence, God takes me on a journey down memory lane.  That life that seems to have just slipped past was really busy and full and He was using every moment to make me into the person He had planned.  That first little house, with the toilet falling through the floor was teaching me to be thankful for every blessing so I would appreciate the brand new house 35 years later.  Balancing the checkbook until payday and returning pop cans for lunch money taught me thrift, the value of coupons, cooking meals instead of fast food, using cloth diapers when everyone else had disposable, helped me learn to be content for future times when the checkbook would balance itself.  I learned that God is truly our provider and will use any means to bless us, even if it means blowing something off of a roof and denting a car, giving us an insurance check to pay a bill.  God was there gently instructing me as I sat in the dark night praying and holding a little boy who’s nose wouldn’t stop bleeding; He is our healer.  Through every storm, I learned that He is the “Master of the Wind,” and only God can speak peace to my situation.

Back to my box of photographs; each one telling another piece of my life’s story.  How many of the precious memories would simply disappear if I was granted a do over?  What if I had always done the “sensible” thing for the moment?  I might have had a great career with loads of money, a grand home and luxury car in the garage but I would have missed those chubby little arms tight around my neck.  We may not have moved to Michigan, Minnesota and Tennessee and I would have avoided the struggles, the loneliness and the heartache and the people we ministered to, the friendships and the adventures.  We could have traveled the world but missed out on Saturday trips to the beach, making a snowman in the front yard and playing Yahtzee at the dining room table.

Suddenly the “Do over” isn’t quite so inviting and this story of my life with all its many pieces is really quite wonderful.  You don’t need a “Do over.”  Allow God to take the scattered pieces, even the ones you don’t think can possibly fit and put the puzzle of your life together.  That event you would change creates a splash of color in the completed picture.  The edge pieces are seemingly unimportant to the overall theme but without them the puzzle remains unfinished.   Your personal puzzle is not quite finished but if you take a moment and look through God’s eyes you will see that life really is quite a wonderful journey.

DECORATED WITH LOVE

I will admit something that all my friends already know; I am ARTISTICALLY-CHALLENGED.   I see a beautiful picture in a magazine and even with all the ingredients, my living room still somehow ends up looking “lived in” instead of elegant.  I have friends that make quilts, decorate cakes, fashion beautiful bows for their granddaughters, live in beautifully “put-together” homes, and decorate elegant, award-winning Christmas trees.  Me?  I even mess up the helpful hints and finally just settle for “good enough.”

Being “artistically-challenged,” is not something that developed over time; Oh no!  I was born with this “handicap.”  In school, I dreaded art almost as much as I dreaded tumbling in gym class.  Let me do arithmetic, social studies or even practice handwriting but, puhleeze don’t make me draw or paint, model clay or do paper mache.  I have many art horror stories, but this one in particular belongs to the Christmas season.

 My second grade teacher, Mrs. Johnson, had the bright idea that the class would make beautiful ornaments to take home.  First we had to draw a shape of something on cardboard, cut it out, take heavy glue-dipped string, outline the shape, and finally paint it with tempera paint.  I drew a star (probably because anyone can draw a star), painstakingly applied the string and painted it a bright yellow.  It was the most horrible, lopsided, ugliest star ever made and what did my mom do when she found it among my things?  Laugh out loud?  Throw it in the trash when I wasn’t looking?  Console me with, “at least you tried?”  No way!!!  That star was given a prominent place on the Christmas tree, that year and for 49 years since (yep, my mom kept it and still brings it out every Christmas.)

Back to the beautiful, professional-looking, magazine-worthy Christmas trees my friends all post on Facebook…I really tried this year.  I could see it in my mind; the lights twinkled, ribbons swirled and streamed from the top, the color-coordinated ornaments were perfectly placed and this year, my tree would receive all the oohs and ahhs.  Then I opened my ornaments and the memories came flooding over me.  Some are hand-made, others have been given to me by dear friends; there are reminders of the anticipation of two little boys choosing just the right ornament for this year’s tree, one says 1982 and another is from a little girl I taught in Sunday School, years ago.  My tree won’t make it on a Christmas Card; the ornaments were hung through happy tears and the only oohs and ahhs I will receive are from my grandbabies that are still young enough to appreciate a tree decorated with love.

Now we come to the true meaning of Christmas in the heart of all Believers.  I’m sure Mary would have loved to have given birth in elegant surroundings or at least a much more sanitary place.  She may have dreamed of swaddling her baby in soft, hand-woven blankets and placing him in the cradle, lovingly crafted by Joseph.  The family would gather and ooh and ahh at the beauty of this special child, showering him with gifts to mark this glorious day.  But reality changed everything.  Luke 2:6-7 describes the scene, ⁶ So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. ⁷ And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.  The smelly stable, rough-hewn manger and animal sounds were not what she had envisioned. Instead of a loving family, Jesus was greeted by shepherds and angels and a special star to light the night.

Your life may seem a little lopsided, the ornaments may not be placed perfectly and you may even have a burned-out strand of lights hidden among the branches, but God thinks you are beautiful.  He oohs and ahhs when He sees you because He doesn’t look for elegance and perfection as a place to dwell.  God searches for the little star that others would toss aside and He hangs it in a prominent place on His Tree of Life because it is decorated with love.