The Ladies of St. James’s!
They’re painted to the eyes;
Their white it stays forever,
Their red it never dies:
But Phyllida, my Phyllida!
Her color comes and goes;
It trembles to a lily,–
It wavers to a rose.
—Henry Austin Dobson The Ladies of St. James’s. Stanza 4
Oh, to be changeable but true!
How better than being permanently false!
“But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” Mark 16:7
Gone to Galilee? But He just died Friday! We saw Him die on the cross. We watched them bury Him.
Gone to Galilee?
Why Galilee, an out-of-the way sort of place, about 60 miles (over a day’s walk) north of the gravesite?
It’s where Jesus grew up and ministered, but that’s about it. He had always been preparing to leave Galilee, to go Jerusalem, the Capital, where all the powerful and influential world-changers were.
Since they just crucified Him, if He truly was risen from the dead, seems He’d march straight to the palace or the temple and SHOW them He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Messiah of God Almighty!
Galilee? Nobody there but His followers.
Us.
He Came back to show Himself to us.
To the very same ragtag group of people who denied Him, misunderstood Him, forsook Him, and fled, He returned; to deserters.
Especially mentioned by name, to Peter, who had denied even knowing Him, He returned.
He came back for us as well. He has a message, is calling us, to travel to our “Galilee” to go back to the place where we fellowshiped with Jesus and to begin again. To follow Him all over again.
He will meet us there. In fact, He has gone on ahead and is already there.
The Disciples did not witness Him rising from the dead. They were gone. Out of it.
It is incredible enough to think that He could just decide to rise again, and to return to anyone. But he came back for us, to those who did believe and needed to know that He is alive, needed to believe again, and more.
The proof of the Resurrection is not the absence of Jesus’ body from the tomb. No, it is the presence of Jesus with His followers. The greatest promise of the Resurrection is not that we shall live forever, although that is great, indeed. No, the greatest message is that though we are still sinners, weak, and faithless like the Disciples, Jesus returned to US.
The Bible is not a book telling mostly how men kept seeking God. It is a record of how God keeps seeking US, despite our lack of faith.
And why?
The risen Christ has come back to change us from doubters to ambassadors. Jesus came back to us because He loves us.
I look back over my life at all the mistakes I’ve made, all the times I’ve failed, gone my own way, strayed, and each time, He came for me. He found a way to get to me even when I tried not to be found.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. I Corinthians 15:3-8
Here, Paul is writing to the poor struggling Corinthians, who were failing badly at being the Church. To those backsliding, sinful, divisive, faithless Christians, Paul preaches the Resurrection. He reminds them, and us, that the risen Christ chooses to return, to strengthen Christians.
How will we respond?
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:1-4
I suffered from going into the past to worry about a future that never came about.
However, I did stop worrying about the past-future-what-ifs and I’d like to share with you how to do it, in case you find yourself needing to know.
1. Stop imagining.
My kids tell a joke, disguised as a riddle, which begins: Imagine you are in a car rolling backward down a hill toward a lake. The troubles and frustrations described in the joke continue to the point of desperation. There is seemingly no way to survive being drowned in that lake when the question comes: What should you do? Once the victim of this joke tries every possible solution to this seeming riddle and then gives up, the joker gives the answer: STOP IMAGINING! At that point it is very funny.
If you tell it right, the relief in the air is almost palpable at that moment, because the listener latches on to the story because we all have imaginings like this from time to time.
You may have imagined worries, but you can have that palpable relief, too.
In real life.
Imagination is a wonderful tool, in its place—but stop imagining.
2. Take every thought captive and make it obey the truth.
Realize there is something or someone trying to take away your sanity and you need to fight to get it back. Tell yourself the truth, aloud, if needed.
Ah, but what is truth? How can anyone ever possibly know what might have happened?
Don’t go there!
Take that thought captive!
Here is the truth: You are not in control. You do your best with what you are in control of, and then other forces are in control of all the rest. You try hard to be in the right place, doing the right thing, at the right time, and then, you let go.
The truth is that God is in control and you are not God. He rules the world. He determines. Not you. Not me. Not any malfunctioning gearbox, not any tornado, not any burglar, not any hormone, not any doctor, not any police.
God.
We read the stories all the time of those who escaped harm while doing the wrong thing. People hide from tornados in flimsy shelters and the whole building blows away except for the flimsy shelter. We read, also, of a tornado that swoops out of nowhere to pick up only one person and passes on to do no more damage. Burglars flee when someone rolls over in bed; other burglars take everything. Careless women have healthy babies; careful women deliver stillborn babies. And on it goes.
The truth is partly in the timing. When God determines it is time, then it is time. We all want to escape all danger, harm, shame, etc., but after doing all we can do, then the ball is in God’s court, and when it comes to THAT ballgame, God wins.
Of course, the fatalist will say, “Then why try?”
We must try hard to stay alive and to keep others alive, if at all possible, because life is a precious gift from God and we are to use it to His glory. We are not to become fatalistic or desponding, but to trust Him to make the best possible outcome from our entire life. We are to cooperate with Him, but not to worry about if He knows what on earth He is doing.
True freedom from worry over past-future-what-ifs came for me — and I hope, for you — with these thoughts:
There could have been NO what-ifs that could have changed that. Since then I have even met a family whose son was run over, with no lasting harm coming to him. It’s all about Who is in control.
And it’s not about you or me.
The glorious liberty that comes from the truth, can set us free from all fear of death and all guilt.
We should do our best and trust God. He can and will take care of the what-ifs.
This is truth.
I pray you can apply it to your life.
I’ve encountered another $100.00!
I’ve known for ages that the older ways were kinder on clothing, on the environment, and on the utilities bill, but I just recently found the exact dollar amount.
They say, if I dry my laundry the old-fashioned way, I save about $100.00 every year. I’ve been doing this for many, many years. It’s more like $4,300, really. And it takes only a few moments per day, really hardly any longer than just loading the dryer.
But that’s not all.
No, if we dry our clothes on a line or rack, we extend the life of the clothing about 50%. Of course, we may not make good use of the savings if we are enslaved to the changing of the styles, but for many of us, that represents another huge saving.
But that’s not all.
Clothing dried on a rack come “out of the dryer” pre-folded! How cool is that? I literally take towels and wash cloths off the rack and put them away, as is. T-shirts require only one more fold. Everything is already smoothed, stacks better, and just is twice as easy to put away.
But that’s not all.
How would you like to add to last Wednesday’s health tricks? Drying laundry indoors humidifies the air in the winter, causing the body to fight off upper respiratory problems more efficiently. The result is fewer colds. That’s what they say, and I think I can tell that is happening for us. We’re “weller” without the cost or the mess of a humidifier.
But that’s not all.
Quality of life seems to skyrocket. Towels are more absorbent when they are not gummed up with fabric softener. A rack-dried towel, fresh from the closet, gives a marvelous back-scratching. Cotton t-shirts feel more honestly real when you put them on, and smell better, too, especially if they’ve been line-dried outdoors. We never encounter static cling.
But that’s not all.
If you have never gone to bed between freshly laundered, line-dried sheets, you just come on over to my house, dear, and let me introduce you to some real sleep. Sheets that you can feel, that stay tucked in, and that smell like angel wings — you won’t know what hit you ’til mornin’ honey!
And that’s probably still not all.
I woke up determined to be cheerful.
It’s a great goal, and I’m still workin’ on it.
However, I checked on the news. One whiff was enough to derail.
Our Supreme Court wants to nix home schooling.
Yep. It’s too obvious.
Of course we always knew they hated us and we always knew why, but for some reason, they are feeling super-empowered lately. Heh, heh. Probably because so many, even on the inside, are taking pot-shots at the U.S., that it appears ripe for a take-over and they think they will end up on top.
And I’m still working on the cheerfulness. Sighs.
It all began when a Christian family in Germany wanted asylum here after being harangued, harassed, punished, etc., for home schooling their children in Germany.
Oh, yeh, they were sort of breaking the law. So was Anne Frank. So was Schindler. So was Corrie ten Boom. So were Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, et al. Anyway, the German family got all the way over here, seeking and receiving asylum, when someone APPEALED it.
Can you imagine? Any druggy who crosses over can live here illegally all he wants, but these people trying to do things right are getting an awful run around. Our government SO does not want them here, that they have bent and rearranged our laws — and it could be, and has been, argued: our Constitution — to the point they have struck a blow at home schooling, itself, just to keep them out.
And it doesn’t end there. Either they are maliciously attacking “we the people” or else they are too unknowledgeable to realize: their wording also attacks private schools. We’re all in this handbasket together, friends, and where do you think we are going?
I am grieved. Okay. I’m not cheerful.
I read a cute saying on Facebook not long ago about women being crazy because men are stupid. Not nice things to say, true. But when the Supreme Court takes on about a million home schooling moms . . . ? Not to mention private schooling families? And the entire issue of education is supposed to belong to the States? Huh.
I’d laugh, but . . . I think I’m about to be expelled.
I commented on a great post that was part of a blog marketing lesson at Firepole Marketing (I know, I’m not selling anything, right?) and they gave prizes to commenters.
They liked mine. A lot.
What I said related to a post I put up eons ago, which you can read here: “The Keys in the Car Caper”
I cannot express my excitement, and cannot say “thank you” enough to these kind people, but here it is again:
Home's Cool! 