Tuesday Musings

Do you ever have "one of THOSE nights?" Man, oh man - What a night last night was! We watched the 11:00 news and Nightline, turned off the TV and went to sleep just before midnight. I felt the need to head "down the hall" around 1:30 a.m., and was instantly and absolutely wide awake, like it was 1:30 in the afternoon. I layed there quietly in the darkness, pretending to be asleep (wishing desperately I could actually BE asleep!), till three-darned-o'clock! At that point I figured out that Hubby was awake, too. So we turned the TV back on and watched the rebroadcast of the Olympics till 5 a.m. (men's swimming and gymnastic events). Then at 9:40, I awoke with a start, realizing I had slept away a major portion of the morning - still, I got only about 5-1/2 hrs. of sleep. Not nearly enough for this old girl! Pretty groggy, even after a good stout cup of java. Fortunately, I have no pressing projects today (Note to self: Must stay alert enough to change and launder the sheets and stir the bean salad!).

During my wakeful time last night, and actually for the past couple of days, two women dominated my thoughts. One afternoon last week we spent a couple of hours browsing through one of our favorite thrift stores (one of our favorite pasttimes). Just before we left the store, I was digging through the huge bins of used books, and heard a young mom beside me talking to one of her little daughters about a specific book they were looking for - The Beginner's Bible. Aha, she's a Christian! So I struck up a conversation with her. I thought I might possibly have that book at home. She gave me her phone number, and I promised to call if I have the book - I don't have the book and have forgotten to call her. Shame on me!

During our conversation of about 20 minutes she shared with me that she homeschools her youngest three, but her husband is insisting that their 13-year-old enroll in public high school in the fall, which she feels is a really bad idea. I got the sense right away that all was not well in their family, and I was right. She told me she strongly suspects her husband is continuing an affair with a woman at work (after assuring her "it's over"), and she is hurt and scared, yet trusting in God to care for her and take her through whatever might be ahead. Did you do the math - they have four kids. I must remember to pray for her. Her name is Laura, will you pray for her, too?

Then on Saturday morning we went to a couple of garage sales (another favorite pasttime). At one of the sales there was a lot of women's clothing - brand names I like and the type of stuff I wear (old grandma-type), but I noticed that the woman playing "cashier" for the sale was tiny and mid-30's-ish. No way those were her clothes! I asked her - she said, they're my aunt's things. While I shopped, my hubby struck up a conversation with the older-looking man (her uncle(?), a guy about our age) who sort of aimlessly wandered around among the tables of knick-knacks, shoes and clothes. I made my purchases without eavesdropping on their conversation.

When we got back into the car, Hubby shared with me that the man's wife had just passed away. One recent afternoon as they were getting ready to head to their beach house (very near our own beach house), she suddenly collapsed and died, right there in her kitchen. What a horrible shock! Never a serious sick a day in her life, no chronic health issues, and she just up and died, right there in front of him. So sudden and totally unexpected! I can't stop thinking about it.

Then, as I sat in church on Sunday (wearing a pretty. soft pink shirt that had belonged to the lady), I thought so much about her and how this could happen to any of us at any time. She had worn that pink top, laundered it and hung it in her closet till the day when she chose it to wear again. Isn't it amazing how we just slide along, day by day, thinking we'll always be there - that is so NOT true! Thinking about that doesn't scare me, although it certainly does sober me. It makes me want to live each day, each moment, as though it could be my last. Sometimes when I attend a funeral, I silently muse about what folks might say about me when that microphone is passed around to friends and family at my services. That may sound morbid - but hey, we're all going to die, unless Jesus comes to take us home before that happens. (Even so, COME, Lord Jesus!)

In considering my mortality, sometimes I also think about whether it might take something such as a death (mine or their Dad's) to bring reconciliation between my quarreling grown children, or might an event of that type bring my own "prodigal" son to his senses where he would return from enjoying the husks with the pigs, as he squanders his spiritual "inheritance." Just some thoughts that occasionally flit through my little pea brain. And..., BTW, we (and our heavenly Father) are waiting for our precious son with open arms!

Lest you think I'm being too maudlin and serious, au contrare! I am in excellent spirits, just trying to remind myself to stop and enjoy life's little pleasure: A knowing glance or an inside joke with my husband, my kitty rubbing against my leg in the kitchen, wet kisses from my two smart, faithful and sweet Black Labrador Retrievers, and (even as I write) I can hear the windchime tinkling softly on the front porch of the home we are SO blessed to enjoy. Life is precious and God is so faithful and good!

MY TEXT FOR TODAY: 1Tim. 2:1-4 (LB)
"Here are my directions: Pray much for others; plead for God's mercy upon them; give thanks for all he is going to do for them.

"Pray in this [same] way for kings and all others who are in authority over us, or are in places of high responsibility, so that we can live in peace and quietness, spending our time in godly living and thinking much about the Lord.

"This is good and pleases God our Savior, for he longs for all to be saved and to understand this truth."

Till later...

XOXO