Sweet Sayings
Just a new little experiment I'm trying. I liked the way it turned out and thought you might too!
Why Did I Shave My Legs For This? (Gaining Wisdom)
I pretty much followed what my parents told me to do as a teenager. In fact, there’s only one time I remember blatantly going against what my parents told me to do. (Yes, I’m sure there were other times, but this is the only one I remember). Around the age of 12, I asked mom if I could begin shaving my legs. She told me no because I had blonde hair, no one could see it, and there was no reason to begin any sooner than necessary since I would be shaving the rest of my life. In my vast amount of 12 year-old wisdom, I just KNEW she was wrong, and that everyone was looking at my legs and laughing at how hairy they were. The next day, I snuck a razor into the shower with me and shaved! Ooo, can you just feel the freedom! I had done it! I was SO proud of my shaved legs, but I knew I had to keep it a secret from mom.
About 2 days later, my older sister was sitting on the couch. I flopped down and plopped my shorts laden legs on her lap. She looked at my legs, and said loudly , “Lynnae! Did you shave your legs?!”(Quiet was never a forte for anyone in my family). My heart stopped. Mom was in the kitchen, and could see me. I was pretty sure she was going to kill me dead, right there on the spot! Very quietly, I said, “Yes.” Leah responded with, “You need to do it better next time! You missed a bunch of spots.” Mom just looked at me and shrugged. She didn’t plan an immediate, untimely death for my infraction, and I was allowed to live yet another day.
Now, fast forward 20 years…today, I understand the wisdom of my mother. I’ve been shaving for a long time and realize it’s not as fun as I originally thought it would be. Yes, I do it, but I think back to what my mom told me…put it off as long as possible, you’ll be doing it for a long time. That was wisdom beyond my comprehension at the rip old age of 12.
The Lord has wisdom beyond any of our comprehension. He created the world and has a plan. I have the ability to choose to follow Him or go off on my own. He doesn’t force His hand. He doesn’t extract revenge against me when I decide to follow my own plan, not His. He has told us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9). I have found throughout my life, though, that as I willingly follow the Lord, He will bless me with understanding and comprehension. The understanding may not come immediately, but it always comes.
PS - In an effort to actually continue my blog while keeping my personal journal, I've decided to move my posting days to Wednesday. I hope you continue to enjoy!
You Are My Friend, and I Love You (Healing)
As a teenager, my parents would gather us for scripture study. Without fail, when I wasn’t in the mood to be there, my dad would ask us what our favorite scriptures were. I, being the youngest, was generally the last one to be asked. Many times I gave the answer, “Jesus wept.” When asked why, my response was, “Because it is the shortest scripture!” I’m sure my parents wanted to jerk a knot in my head, but it hurried along the discussion so I could go on to other things.
I lost my mother this a few months ago, very unexpectedly. I felt consumed with grief. It felt like my world had been shattered, torn apart, and destroyed. I wept a lot. However, my mind kept coming back to the scripture “Jesus wept”.
What is weeping? It isn’t just a single tear rolling down your face. “Weeping” brings to my mind images of someone sobbing. Why was Jesus sobbing? He’d just found out that his friend, Lazarus, died. He mourned the loss of his friend. He too felt consumed with grief.
Now, if there is anyone who should understand life, death, and salvation, it is Jesus. He understands much more than I do, yet, He sobbed when faced with the death of a loved one. My mind began wrapping around the fact that He truly understood the grief I felt in losing my mom. He came to suffer for each of us so he could understand our sorrows and pains so that one day we could return and live with him again. Why did He do this? Why did He suffer when he could have said no?
Forgive me for a moment as I go off on what appears to be a tangent.
A few days ago, we went to lunch with my husband at a Mexican restaurant. Our middle-aged waiter was very nice to us. About ¾ of the way through dinner, my 3-year-old son popped up from the table, ran to the waiter, gave him a hug, looked at him with huge, innocent eyes and said, “You are my new friend and I love you!!” I had two distinct reactions to this. Part of me thought, “Aww, how cute!” The other part of me thought, “Hmm, I need to teach him more about stranger danger!” Our waiter looked a bit surprised, but smiled. After the meal, my husband took the kids to pay as I tidied up the table a bit. Our waiter came up to me and said, “I will NEVER forget what your son told me today. ‘You are my new friend and I love you’. You have no idea how much that means to me! Please come back soon.” We hugged and off I went.
“You are my friend” and “I love you”…two of the most powerful phrases in the world. Think about it for a minute. Are there any other positive phrases that you can think of that carry more weight than those two? I can’t.
I pondered earlier why Jesus would come to earth and suffer for us. It comes down to those two phrases, “You are my friend and I love you.” He loves us and wants us to return to him. He did everything in His power to ensure our return. He said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” (John 15:13-14) He laid down His life for us, his friends, because He loves us!
Mother of the Year (Patience/Kindness)
Seeing as we just rang in the New Year, I feel like sharing a “Mother of the Year” moment I had when my son was a baby. We had a night-time routine in our family. While I changed the baby’s diaper, my daughter (5) was supposed to clean her room. After I was done with his diaper, I helped her with any cleaning she didn't finish. One evening, I was changing my son's diaper, and my daughter knew I was changing his diaper. She should have known it was time to clean her room. I finished up and went into her room. It looked like a bomb exploded in there! Toys littered the floor, clothes were in total disarray, it was a mess! At that moment, I did what any great “Mother of the Year” would do…I lost my head and yelled at her. “WHY DOES YOUR ROOM LOOK LIKE THIS?! WHY DIDN’T YOU CLEAN IT. YOU KNEW I WAS CHANGING THE BABY’S DIAPER, YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLEANING YOUR ROOM. I’M GIVING YOU 5 MINUTES TO CLEAN IT AND IF YOU DON’T YOU’LL BE IN BIG TROUBLE!” Then, I proceeded to stomp off to the living room.
As I entered the living room, I started to feel “Mother of the Year” glowing on my forehead like a neon sign. Ug, what had I just done! As I calmed down, my thoughts turned to how our Heavenly Father treats us, His children (Psalms 82:6 KJV). Many times we know what we should be doing, but we choose not to do the tasks he asks us. What does He do to us when we don’t do as He asks? Does He start yelling? “I’VE TOLD YOU HOW MANY TIMES TO READ YOUR SCRIPTURES? WHAT’S SO HARD ABOUT PRAYING? WHY ARE YOU JUST SITTING THERE? YOU SHOULD BE SERVING YOUR FELLOW MEN!! DO IT NOW OR YOU’LL BE IN BIG TROUBLE!” Generally, no. (Those times He does get angry and start "yelling", we better all watch out!!) He generally treats us with love, and respect. He asks us kindly to follow Him as our Shepherd.
As all these thoughts were swirling through my head, I returned to my daughter’s room.
I realized that just as I could now help her, our Heavenly Father is able to help us more as we do our part and do the things He asks. We are promised as we pray our prayers will be answered in ways that are for our best good. We are promised, as we pay our tithing the windows of heaven will be opened (Malachi 3:10). Our Heavenly Father promised that as we follow him we will be blessed, and He will never break that promise.
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