"Read Through the Bible" - UPDATE

Earlier this week I shared the beginnings of my challenge to read through the Bible this year.  I even created a Facebook Group and challenged others to join me.  Some have.  As part of my role as group moderator, I have felt led to share my own personal thoughts after reading the day's assignment.  Today was a longer assignment, and this was my commentary:

"So, how many of you made it through Isaiah 1-6?? Thankfully, I had the four hour drive home from Bismarck in which to tackle it!

It's a sad tale, but one which has been repeated often through the years. . .a rebellious nation, a need to seek, a promise from the Lord that He wants to reason with us and make our scarlet sins as white as snow. And that's just the first chapter!

It goes on to tell about a coming time when the Lord is coming to make things right. He asks us to stop trusting in man. He tells us there will be judgment, but His Branch will be beautiful and glorious, and bloodstains will be cleansed. His Branch will be a shelter and shade, a refuge and a hiding place from the storms of life.

I found the "Woes" in chapter 5 interesting. At some point I had underlined verse 8. . ."Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land." That's an interesting picture, but one that made me think of the big apartment complexes. Lots of people together in one place, but so many alone in each "house".

Other woes. . .to those who are up early and stay up late drinking; to those who live in deceit, to those who want to set God's timetable instead of letting Him do things in His time; to those who are "wise in their own eyes"; to those who deny justice.

After all this, in chapter 6 we find the Lord seated on a throne looking for someone to send with His message to the people. It is a challenging message to people who hear, but don't understand, see, but don't perceive, have calloused hearts, dull ears and blind eyes. Somehow I see this as a picture of our world today. God is still looking for messengers. Are you willing to be one?

Tomorrow we get to read from the NEW TESTAMENT! We start in Matthew, the first of four Gospels. Makes me think of a recent song with a good message. Have a listen!"

 
Ryan Stevenson - The Gospel (Official Lyric Video)

If you are interested in joining our Bible reading journey, contact me through Facebook, or my email, which is saturdayseeker828@gmail.com   Only when we spend time reading God's Word will we learn to recognize His voice in our everyday world!

COMMIT!

Last week, in a conversation with my sister-in-law, she talked about her granddaughter having a "word for the year."  I have heard of other people doing this in the past, and wondered what might be an appropriate word if I were to jump on the bandwagon.  In the days leading up to the new year, I found myself pondering the thought more, and decided on some form of the word, "COMMIT."  It might be extended to "COMMITTED" or "COMMITMENT,' but in any form it would be a good focus for the year 2018.

To start my journey, I created a Facebook Group entitled, "Read the Bible in a Year."  Over the course of six years, 2006-2011, I was able to accomplish this by using a guide published by Samaritan's Purse, called "Prayer Point."  Since then, I haven't been as committed to my Bible reading, and decided 2018 was the year to do it again.  Already several have indicated a desire to join me.  Hopefully, besides accomplishing the reading, we will be able to share insights and lessons learned in the process.

An old "Sunday School Song" was the source of another idea for my commitment journey.  The words which came to mind were, "Read your Bible, pray every day and you'll grow, grow, grow!" [An alternate verse to "I will make you fishers of men"]  Although my mind tends to turn often to prayer throughout the day, a more focused time of daily prayer is something I have been missing in my life.  I enjoy a weekly prayer time with a prayer partner over the phone, and feel I need to create a space of time each day to commune meaningfully with the Lord.

Another commitment I decided to tackle was reading more actual books, instead of mindlessly scrolling through Facebook.  Yesterday I completed Max Lucado's new book, "Anxious for Nothing," and today started on a book we received for Christmas.  It is written by Robert J. Morgan and entitled, "The Red Sea Rules."  The subtitle is "10 God-given Strategies for Difficult Times."  Having completed the first three rules today, I'm looking forward to seeing what the other seven have in store!

How else can I be committed in this new year?  After attending a presentation last week, my desire is to be more mindful of my general health.  The speaker was a native of Crosby who recently started a business venture called the "Brain Health Institute" in Birmingham, Alabama.  She is a neuropsychologist, and her partner is a functional doctor.  Together they are on a mission to point people to a healthier way of living, which in turn will promote better brain health. 

With my bipolar diagnosis, I have already learned it is beneficial to follow many of the suggestions she covered, (such as healthy eating, exercise, toxin removal, and proper sleep), but I realize there is always a deeper commitment which can be made.  I'm thankful for the friends I exercise with at the Prairie Tumbleweeds Fitness Center, and hope to maintain the M-W sessions of "Women on Weights," and add in T-Th Yoga workouts.  Now that the holidays are over, I also need to commit to less sugar!

Our pastor had an excellent sermon yesterday, and encouraged us to draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper.  At the top we were to put a plus sign on one side and a minus sign on the other.  This was to be a tool to evaluate the things you would like to eliminate and add into your life for the new year.  It looks like I've made a start. . .now to follow through and COMMIT to doing it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

   

Memories and Cousins by the Dozens!

'Twas the night before Christmas, and long we will treasure,

the times spent with family, and love we can't measure.

 

It has been a full day.  Actually, a full two days.  It is the year my daughter and her family will celebrate Christmas with her husband's family, so they decided to come spend the night in Crosby to enjoy an "early Christmas" with us.  They arrived yesterday just in time for our traditional Christmas meal of Cornish Game Hens stuffed with rice.  

 

We then proceeded as if it were actually Christmas Eve.  The Christmas story was read by our granddaughter, her three brothers joined her in passing out the gifts, we offered a prayer of thanks for our blessings, and then the gifts were opened.  Starting with the youngest, and rotating to the oldest, we took turns opening our gifts.  We shared lots of laughter, and a few confused looks when Uncle Ryan tricked his older nephews by replacing Lego pieces with books inside the Lego boxes he gave them.  In the end, they did get the Lego pieces, too, but he had them wondering!  The night ended with four kids in new pajamas, and hearts filled with love and thankfulness.

 

This morning, we pretended it was Christmas Day, and woke up to stockings filled with small treats.  First priority, however, was working on getting the Lego sets assembled.  Since one of the items in our granddaughter's stocking was a pencil covered in snowflakes, she got inspired to write a story.  The "rough draft" was on copy paper, and the final print done typing on Grandma's phone.  I do believe we have another little author on our hands!

 

When afternoon rolled around, more children started arriving with their parents and grandparents.  We have a tradition in my husband's family of having a "Cousin Cookie Bake" sometime shortly before Christmas.  It began with our daughter and two of her cousin back in 1981.  Two of them were not yet 3, and the other was 4 1/2.  Three little girls, and two mothers.  Over the years, however, the group expanded, and today the bakers included ten of their children!





Perhaps some of my favorite pictures taken over the years came from the year 1991, so this year we tried to take a similar picture of the second generation cookie bakers.

 

                                                           1991 Cousins

 

                                                   2017 Second Cousins

My daughter and I took turns rolling the dough, and my husband was the one manning the oven.  Over the years, he has perfected the art of knowing just how long to leave them in the oven!

 

We learned today the second generation bakers prefer a heavier coating of sprinkles on their cookies!  Everyone got to enjoy a cookie or two (or three, or four!) and were given the option of taking a small plate of cookies home with them.

After a visit at Great Grandma's house, we headed out of town for a gathering with another set of cousins.  My brother and his wife had invited us, our son, and our daughter & family to a delicious meal of baked potatoes and taco toppings.  Adding to the crowd were their six grandchildren, along with their daughter and husband.  It was fun to see the second cousins interact, as they aren't together very often.  The evening included sled rides behind the "Ranger" in the dark.  Thankfully, everyone returned safely indoors!  We couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap a few pictures.

At the end of the day, there was just a small amount of cookie dough left, so this collector of Nativities finished it off the best way she could think of!  Merry Christmas to all, and cherish those precious memories!

Three Wise Women

It's the time of year we often read stories about three wise men who followed a star to find the Christ Child in Bethlehem.  Mind you, the Bible doesn't specifically say there were three wise men.  It only specifies they brought three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  It just works best to line up each gift with one wise man for the ease of casting Christmas programs and depicting Nativity scenes.

Today, however, I don't want to focus on three wise men, but instead on three wise women.  All were a part of my heritage, and all had a significant impact on my life.  And, coincidentally, they all had December birthdays.

The first was my mother's maternal grandmother.  I don't remember a lot about her, due to the fact I was only 11 years old when she passed away.  The things that come to mind are her visits to my grandmother's home, hearing them converse in Norwegian, and seeing the colorful pillows she knitted to pass the time. 

More of the lessons I gleaned from her life came after she passed away at the age of 101.  Coming across a newspaper article written for her 100th birthday, I found she had four things to which she attributed her long life.  These were keeping calm, taking things as they come, working hard, and staying close to God. 

She obviously passed this wisdom on to her children, as four of them lived past the age of 100, and two more into their 90's.  There were an amazing bunch, and naturally I feel my grandmother was the cream of the crop!  She was interviewed by our local paper for her 100th birthday, and gave these words of advice. . . ."Read the Word, and stick to it!"  So simple, and yet how many of us take the time to heed her wisdom?

My mother wasn't blessed with longevity like her mother and grandmother, as she died of a brain aneurism at the age of 68.  One piece of wisdom she left me was the encouragement to make every day one in which Jesus is invited in, striving to follow His example with our lives.

Doing the math, Great Grandma Christine would be 152 this year on the 13th, Grandma Ellen 121 on the 15th, and my mom, Della, 94 on the 30th.  Who knows if we continue to count birthdays when we get to heaven?  There is one thing for sure, however.   December is a great month to look back and remember the lives of these three wise women.  How blessed I am to have them in my bloodline!

 

Christmas Senses

Today I have been baking.  With an open house coming up in a couple of days, I wanted to have on hand some of the goodies I remember from Christmas in childhood days.  My first choice was to make ginger cookies, as I had seen a fun way to decorate them on Facebook.

As I stirred up the dough, the smell of the spices reached my nose, bringing me back in time to my mother's kitchen.  Rolling it into balls, and then in sugar activated the sense of touch, and also, as I looked down at my hands, made me see my mother's hands lovingly preparing Christmas goodies to share with friends and the bachelor men of our neighborhood. 

In the background, an Anne Murray Christmas CD was playing, bringing to mind memories with each song sung.  It made me thankful God gave us ears to enjoy the sounds around us.  Suddenly, it came to mind Christmas is a time when all the senses are activated.  Smell, touch, sight, sound.  The only one left is taste.  Once the cookies are cooled, I will get to appreciate the fifth sense.  Hopefully you can join me for the Christmas Open House on Thursday afternoon and sample some, too! 

 

Unique and Bittersweet

Another season of chorus has come and gone.  Starting the middle of September, practices are held every Tuesday night.  Then, on the first week-end in December, two concerts are performed, one in Estevan, Saskatchewan and one in Crosby, North Dakota.  The set-up is a unique one with a little over half of the choir members coming from north of the Canadian border in the southeast corner of Saskatchewan, and the rest from various small communities in northwest North Dakota.

Adding up the numbers, I found there were 29 Canadians and 24 Americans in the choir.  The interesting thing, however, was breaking it down by sections.  In the soprano section, the Canadians dominated 13 to 6.  The altos were closer to even with a 10 to 6 mix.  Moving to the men, it was the Americans who had the majority, with tenors and basses each having 6 Americans and 3 Canadians.

From this analysis, I found the representatives from each side would have a hard time making up a full choir on their own, with the Canadians lacking in men, and the Americans lacking in women.  Perhaps this speaks to what makes the chorus so special.  "Hands across the border" united in their common love of music.  Friendships formed over the years become special, even though for 9 months out of the year we rarely see one another.

Each year, when the concerts are over, there is a bittersweet feeling in the air.  Perhaps much of it is looking back over 47 years and realizing the many faces which are no longer there.  The chorus originated in Crosby as the brainchild of a Lutheran pastor having a desire to hear Handal's "Messiah" performed.  He recruited the talents of a local dentist to lead the singing, and the high school music instructor to direct the orchestra. They, in turn, reached out to around 100 area singers and musicians, and orchestration was supplemented by a group of stringed instrumentalists from Williston, ND.  It was a huge undertaking for a small community, but impressively, they made it happen.

After a few years of performing the "Messiah", the chorus branched into other types of music, and the Canadians came on board.  The original director led the group for 25 years, followed by a second director who put in 20 years.  This year, and last, the directing duties have also been a joint effort across the border, with one being a farmer from south of Crosby, ND, and the other being a music instructor from Estevan, Saskatchewan.

Between the two concerts, we perform for somewhere between 400 and 500 people.  That is a lot of people receiving the blessing of hearing the message of Christmas over and over again throughout the lyrics of the music.  Because of my love of music, and my love of Jesus, I always wish more could hear it.  Yet, in the days leading up to the concerts, I prayed God would draw those in need of hearing our message, and I must trust He did.

Since holiday schedules fill up fast, think ahead to next year. Mark the first week-end in December, reserving it to take part in this welcome beginning to the Advent season.  Better yet, come September, think about joining us as we practice for another round of sharing the "reason for the season" in song.  We'd love to have you! 

 

Saying Goodbye

Thanksgiving is now behind us, and we are entering into, perhaps, the busiest season of all.  With so much on the "to do" list leading up to Christmas, you would think I'd be busy as a beaver.  Instead, I find myself sitting in my favorite blue chair, iPad in hand, mindlessly scrolling through Facebook and playing an addictive word game I discovered.  Productive has not been in my vocabulary.

It is now the last day of November, and time to say goodbye to the fall decorations.  I love the colors of fall, and the thankful theme they remind me of.  And yet, as the days go by, I realize the Thanksgiving season is now behind us, and it is time to dig out the totes of Nativity sets and Christmas decorations to replace them.  I'm reminded of the butterfly hanging in my bathroom which tells me, "If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies."

The butterfly was given to me after the death of my dear aunt Mabel in August, and suddenly I'm finding there may be a subconscious reason I'm dragging my feet getting into the Christmas spirit.  There will be something missing from the season this year.  Be it seasons or special people, it is hard to say goodbye! 

The good news of the Christmas story is the arrival of Jesus as a baby.  Leaving the splendor of heaven, He opted to enter the world in the most humble of settings. . .a stable.  He said goodbye to heaven because He knew He had a mission to accomplish here on earth.  That mission was to grow, experience all we do, and then journey to the cross to die for the forgiveness of our sins. 

The story of Jesus doesn't end at the cross, however, and that's the reason we can be comforted when loved ones pass away.  It is never saying, "Goodbye," but rather, "See you later!"  And so, it is time to face the inevitable.  Seasons are constantly changing, but they always lead to new reasons to rejoice.  I do believe it is time to play some Christmas CD's!