Perspective is Everything....

My Mama made the table square this year for Thanksgiving so that we could all sit around it and see one another's faces as we ate, drank, and shared the love.  It was a great idea.

When you have a square table with everyone sitting on the outside looking in to one another, you really can see one another's faces.  And, the faces at our table are beautiful to me…..

While in reality, our family is a portrait of diversity, in truth, our family portrait is that of love without an eye toward that diversity, it is just one of love.

A stranger entering our parent's home yesterday would have witnessed this about the color of our skin….Black almost as dark as the ebony keys on our piano, Brown, the color of Autumnal leaves right before they get ready to hit the ground, Tan, the color one finds on a fine leather coach purse, Pink, the shade that a baby has the minute her mother hears her voice the very first time, and, White, which in our family ranges from deep, barely white to almost tan to the very white like one might find on the wings of a baby dove.

That same stranger, if they looked at my family's eyes, would find big, round, saucer-like eyes of my little niece which are so beautiful in their paleness that the first time I laid eyes on her, they took away my breath.  Truth.  As that stranger kept circling around our square table of family, they would see the sage, if not a little wrinkled eyes of my Mama and Daddy, which are lovely shades of pale, sky-blue and deeper, ocean blue, respectively.  They would see oval the shape of a summer's leaf right as it is beginning to bloom in the Spring in my brothers and I.  They would witness Korean Almonds so lovely that you want to stare at them as you would a precious jewel.

My family is diverse

My family is imperfect

My family is love

What I see as my eyes scan around our square table of Thanksgiving is a Mama and Daddy who are examples of strivers, ones who put God in their family's center so that when they are no longer with us, our family will remain standing on the foundation of a heavenly God.

I see a brother who has given over his life to share God's word to the lost, whose wife is all in with that support and a lovely niece with a face so sweet you can see Jesus in it.

I see a brother who life has challenged but who has risen time and time again not just to stand, but to do so joyfully.  This brother whose heart is so big and life experiences so deep that those who take the time to listen, will hear the whispers of God's love for all of us.

I see a brother who knew early on that his footsteps would be followed by a few younger siblings and so, every step he took would matter.  A man who has grown into a fine husband, father, son and brother, fulfilling his goal of Godly example.  His wife, a multi-talented woman who could do whatever she wants in life, chooses to work first at being a Godly wife, mother, daughter and sister.

I see a brother who came new to our family a few years ago and yet you would think we have had him forever he fits so well into the puzzle that is our family.  He looks you in the eyes when you speak and laughter bubbles up when you talk with him and his eyes twinkle with merriment and wisdom.  His wife, my sister, she is the one who has walked hard in her path and forgets none of it.  The elegance of her love for us is wrapped up with a sassy spirit that causes dancing to our family.

I see a sister who keeps our family organized and together as she helps take our parent's ideas and put them into practice.  She is the one who figures out how to make a round table square so that we can see one another's faces and which doctor deserves the opportunity to care for our precious Mama and Daddy.  Her husband, more quiet, but just as steady and strong, brings her same work ethic and care to the details of our family's gatherings and lives so that our time together is made beautiful.

I see a brother, my parent's neighbor, who brings the "lively and quick" to our parents and our family, just as his father-given name promised he would.  His wife, our family nurse, is a constant reminder that God calls us to serve and we witness her quiet, but tender heart both by watching her care for the smallest of God's babies and in the way she loves her neighbors, our parents.

I see a daughter, who gave up the opportunity to sleep so that she could share in our family-time.  She is a mighty woman, going to school full-time to become a social worker while working full time to help those for whom life is a struggle.

I see a husband, whose greatest gift to me, my children, my family is that he loves me beyond measure so that no one of my family need ever doubt I am loved and cared for.  He is a humble soul who gives so much more than he asks for in return and the healing he has brought into my and my children's lives brings comfort to those who love me.

We hear from our oldest brother and his wife, not physically present at this year's table, but present in our hearts and via the phone.  He is our quiet guide making deposits into the banks of our lives so that we feel his love when he cannot be there in body.  His wife, my sweet sister these many years, she too, is a quiet reminder to me, to us, that this life is about serving others, caring for all of God's children, and especially those who do not have the peace in their lives that we do in ours. 

And, then….there are all of those babies.  Our family's quiver is so full that there is no doubt we are blessed by the one who fashions babies.  There is a reason they are called "grand"…..because I assure you, they are magnificent!!

We have two "generations" of babies…we call them, "the older ones" and "the younger ones".  There are fourteen and 1/3 of them (yes, we are expecting in June).  And, it is neat to see God meshing them together as they are aging.  The older ones paving the way for the youngest and the youngest, reminding the older ones that there are little eyes watching. 

 This is what I see when I look across the square Thanksgiving table at my parent's home.

Love

Imperfect love, but love

We are not the perfect family 

Trust me on that

But, as we age together, we are able to more and more look beyond those imperfections to see the heart of one another in a real and genuine way

We do that because our perspective grows as does our family live

We do that because our Daddy and Mama would allow nothing else

We do that because at the end of the day, we are who God brought together for just this purpose

To feel, to find, to be HIS love for this small season we have here on this earth

Where the stranger may see African American, Asian, American Indian, Irish, Scotch Irish, French, Korean, Black, Tan, Pink, White, Almond, Round, Oval….

Where the stranger may see tall, short, thin, thick, bald, hair abounding, old, young, sweet, mean, beautiful, ugly (well, none of us are that)…

What I see is love

Love which is a choice, consciously made because of the ONE who made us all

When you walk across the threshold of our parent's door, you choose to lay down anything which would cause you or another to stumble and do as they have given example to

You love

And, after fifty-two years of being in this family, I can say, I felt that love yesterday.  I suspect that is because, rather than coming with need for it, I chose to give it…but, my perspective changed because I am changing

As I grow closer to the cross, to the realization that I won't always be with this group of people God put me with, my perspective of their worth in my life has become more tender, more precious

And, more beautiful

And, isn't that what love is?

All of God's wondrous beauty wrapped up in 

Family

Happy Thanksgiving

Blessings,

Lesa

We were missing a few of our family....Margarette, Kassie and Taylor and Kenton and Johnson.  Their absence was felt because they are what makes us whole.

 Our Trials Don't Define Us...

               They Refine Us..

Early this year, the foundation of our family's lives was shaken as my siblings and I came from across the state to be at the side of our much beloved mother, the heart of our home.  It is significant to me in so many ways that it was her heart which brought her children and grandchildren to her side.  An annual testing led our "pink tight-wearing, white haired" sassy Mama to be taken into surgery for what appeared to be a life-threatening condition.  My Daddy, siblings, and I held hands in a circle around our mother asking God to heal her, and He did.

Earlier still, I received the call from the sweet daughter of my beloved sister-friend, Helen McFadden, to come quickly to tell her goodbye.  I had just seen her less than six weeks before, stood in her family room in a circle of prayer…Helen, her husband Phil, me, and my husband Ian who asked God to bring healing to her…and, He did.

Later in the year, I personally underwent what should have been an achievable surgery with no complications, but, which instead, left me with a serious condition from which only God knows when I will be healed.  We have all prayed for healing and believe that God will in His time.

My Mama, Daddy, husband and I sat in the stands of Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force

Base and watched as our beloved grandsons and sons graduated from what the most grueling experience in their short lives.  We prayed for God's deliverance and success through that BMT experience and He delivered them.

And, friends, these are just a tiny few of the trials experienced this year by my family….a drop in the bucket, a mere glimpse of the heartaches, sorrows, pains, joy-sucking challenges which my family has faced in the short eleven months of 2014.

Truth is, your family has had your own trials, struggles, sorrows and challenges….

We all do

We all will

If you are living, you are facing trials

Whether you want to or not….you are either personally experiencing trials in your own lives or you are watching someone you love take that walk.  I'm not sure which is worse….but, you, we, me are and will continue to have them come….

By definition, a TRIAL is, "the action or process of putting to the proof" meaning that only through trials, only via trials, only by trials will we ever truly know just exactly of what we are capable of handling and what we are not capable of handling…

That maybe, perhaps, God uses our trials to draw us closer to him and further from the world…

And, I think He does

And, here's why I believe that….

I have watched you

I have watched my own family

This year, as we shared with one another in all the various means available….church bulletins, Facebook requests, personal messages, texts, letters, announcements from pulpits….phone calls, prayer seasons,  written articles, news accounts…..

You have laid out there some of your times of being "put to the proof"…..

And, so many times, you were not only put to the proof, but you walked through the fire and came out on the other side with joy

With Thanksgiving

With Peace

I've seen you

Your own personal journey has brought hope to mine

What is the difference between losing your soul to the darkness of this world and giving into grief versus walking through the darkness into the light of hope?

What enables one individual to make it through while another falters?

Is one more worthy?

Are they more loved?

No

I don't think so

What I do find both personally and in my watching of others is that those who are able to journey through their sorrows and trials have a few things in common…

They know they cannot do the journey alone, so they don't;  they invite you in

They are not afraid to seek help, so they do seek help….from you and others

They boldly ask for prayer, because they believe in the power of prayer, so they pray and they ask you to pray, too

They share their needs, even when they are "unspoken" because they know there is power knowledge

They tell the truth of their pain, because the truth sets a person free to find God in our circumstances

I believe the world would keep us pinned down to the point of death with its ability to hurt us…

I do

I see it daily

In my life

And, in yours

But, I believe that we can overcome the world

We can

Because, when God's children take the time to be real, to be authentic, to share…to bare…to be brave

When we chose to love rather than hate; when we chose to lift a hand rather than our voices; when we lay down our anger and replace it with peace

When we become humble

When we become still

When we abandon ourselves to love one another through all times

When we seek God's grace for ourselves and others

When we give

When we grant

When we bless

When we take the time to see into the soul of another

Then, we let go

And, we let God

And, when we let God…..

We open the door to everything

All is possible

All is achievable

Darkness becomes light

Sorrow becomes joy

Trials become the opportunity to be put to "the proof" so that when we face them, we feel them, we live them, we walk through them…

And, in our walking, let's not be alone…

There is a power that is mighty when we walk through our trials in the company of others….

And, with Him….

For, He is the great I Am, I Will, I Can and I Did

Happy Thanksgiving

Blessings,

Lesa

 

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.