If It’s Monday, It’s Mama……”Life is Short if You Live to be Old” 

Your Mamaw Betty McKenzie was fond of saying to her family…live your life fully and completely because “life is short if you live to be old”.  This was a saying she was passing down from her father Challie Pelphrey, to your father, to you….and even to me. 

Life IS short…..even if you live to be 100, it will go by fast….like a wink and a blink.

When you are young, you think you have all the time in the world, but even your “now” is not promised from God.  And, He tells you in His word,

“¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

Mamaw knew and was trying to teach this principal to her family…..you do not know what tomorrow may bring, so live each day…each moment to its fullest and always leave your life in the “will of God” for HE is the only one who knows what to make of your life.

Thank God!

Life is so very short if you live to be old….which is why God calls us to live a disciplined and orderly and focused life. 

The ONLY way to be disciplined and orderly and focused is to ASK God to make you that way and to accept his discipline when He answers us affirmatively.  We need to seek Him in all things…in the smallest details of our lives and in the largest details…

And, the good news is, when we do that….He WILL answer us!

That is why prayer is so important!  Prayer is our avenue not only for coming to know God personally, but it is also our avenue for seeking Him to guide our lives…to put us on the path He would have us to go.

So, as you continue your life….SEEK God’s will every day on everything….

Live your life on purpose and with focus on Him…and, on His direction.

This is not easy to do because life gets in our way….we get caught up in the business of doing things that we lose track of our ultimate goals.  That is one reason each January our family has written down personal goals.  Having them written down helps you achieve them….it increases the likelihood you will achieve them. 

It keeps you “aware”….

And, being aware is important.

I pray for you daily to be filled with intention…purposefully pursing God and His will for your life in real and positive ways so that you are able to achieve all the good that God has in store for you…so that you are not blinded by good intentions or way-laid by lack of focus.  But, that you are able to daily give your life to Him and ask Him to direct your every step.

Another saying your Mamaw had was, “it is just as it is”….meaning that you have to accept the truth of things and just move on.  Good things…bad things…your Mamaw had her share of them in her life time.  She told me on many occasions when I would share things with her, “Lesa…sweetie….it is just as it is and you just have to accept that and move on.”  This was actually sage advice.  Because one thing life would do to you if you let it is immobilize you with its stresses and strives.  Don’t do that!

Learn now that life “is just as it is” and move past it…..when you lose focus or go off path, get back on.  When you fall and stumble and fail…..give it over to God and get up…dust off your knees and get back on track.

Even now, as you are a college student, employee, daughter, sister, friend……ASK God daily for His direction.  Ask him often to guide your path…to lay out before you His will for the steps you take.  Because, WHEN you do that…when you seek Him with all of your heart, He will answer you…when you place your hope in Him….he will live out His Hopes for You….

Deuteronomy 4:29

"But if from there you seek the Lord your god, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul."

He, like a father with His child…waits upon us, wanting what is best for us….with but one requirement…that we seek Him…His will…His direction, for all the days of our lives.

When we do that…seek Him….we abide IN Him and when we abide IN Him is when we have the best life has to offer us….

So, as you pass your days….don ‘t just let them go by….be purposeful……

And, always remember your Mamaw Betty’s words….”Life is short if you live to be old”….make the most of every day, living daily in

God’s way…..

Blessings,

ILYAOYMC,

Mama

Hearts are to be Strengthened by One Another….

 

Ian and I have been visiting a church here in our home town for the past month and we have been blessed.  My friend, Ernie had invited me for over a year…I am not certain why we didn’t visit before now, but I am glad he kept inviting me….that he did not give up on us. 

Our first Sunday, we immediately were blessed by the warmth and kindness offered us from these new brothers and sisters.  It wasn’t just the normal “nice-ness” which members share with visitors.  They genuinely made us feel wanted, welcome and cared about that very first Sunday.   

We were drawn in…. 

It felt like a place which we might be able to call home. 

As I glanced around the sanctuary, beautifully lit by the sunshine out the picture windows in front of me, I had to smile….Beloved friends from more than twenty years sat in the spaces around me….Carol and Richard Anderson, Ernie and Karen Heavin, Bill and Rachel Wilson…Vince and Patti …familiar faces from a former church now joined here…all with hearts I knew to be kind and loving and tender. 

 

Further searching the room led me to two elders whose humble hearts were evident in the way they spoke God’s word and participated in the “church family” class discussion.  These appeared to be the kind of men one would feel comfortable sharing life’s struggles and life’s’ joys with.  Women of all ages shared the room, sweet sisters whose eyes held a kindness which comes from living life shared with one another. 

All ages appeared to be represented in this smallish church family….very similar to the size of church in which I grew up….maybe that explains the familiarity.  I am not sure…but, I know that I could feel God’s presence in that sanctuary in a way I have not felt for many, many years and it was good.

And, I confess…the singing brought me to tears.  There could not have been more than thirty people or so in that room, but these sweet brothers and sisters…they sang big…and deep….and with great heart.  When I closed my eyes and listened, I would have guessed there to be several hundred people’s voices singing….Of all the parts of worship available, it is the singing I enjoy most and which makes me feel most drawn to God.  It is my best avenue for worship.  I believe there is something precious and holy in the voices of the saints when they come together in songs of praises to our God.  It is as if HE is right there beside us….drawing Himself into our-selves through song and praise.

And, I felt that this day of worship with these new brothers and sisters. 

But, what most touched me about these new friends in Him was their humble grace.  

 

Grace…. 

Divine love and protection bestowed freely on people 

Prayer requests were laid out openly from this little family….praises were offered and we celebrated

Healings and savings and reconciliations were presented and we shared joy 

Hurts and sorrows and broken-nesses were laid bare before one another, and we shared hope. 

I can only imagine God in heaven smiling at the authentic sharing of hearts and hurts and hopes.  Most definitely was I able to see and feel and be a part of the diving love shared in this place….love bestowed freely on one another in such a sweet and Godly way. 

Precious 

And, for the first time, in a long time, I felt safe and cared for….just as I was…..just as I am. 

For all of these weeks, the discussions have been on love… 

What does love look like?

I am not certain I have the perfect answer for that question, but I do believe this… 

Love looks like the faces of the brothers and sisters at this home of worship.  And, my family and I have been gifted to be in their presence…. 

Jesus lives in hearts of this church family and we are blessed to have been welcomed to spend time with them. 

Blessings,

Lesa