Kisses

This has been a super busy day for me. Rushing around getting ready for Dean's birthday party tomorrow afternoon. He was at his adult day program and that allowed me to get much more done. Keep in mind that with my shortness of breath, it takes me twice as long to do half as much. So I am just now winding down as the Sabbath hours begin.

One of the things I did today was bake some macaroon cookies, which have always been Dean's favorite. I saw a recipe in a magazine that had little Hershey's kisses in the center of them and it looked much easier than my own recipe, so thought I'd give them a try.

Dean was ravenously hungry when he came home, so I gave him a few of the coconut cookies that didn't look the best. Later, I was disappointed to find the little trash can by his recliner full of coconut that he had spit out. He said he couldn't chew them. Oh, great, I make coconut cookies and now discover that he can't chew coconut with his eight remaining teeth. I guess he can just enjoy the Hershey's kisses that were left over. At least they will melt in his mouth. But it just won't be the same.

God created a beautiful world for His children, including me. How disappointed He must have been when Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden because of sin. There is still a glorious creation of natural beauty to enjoy. But it just isn't the same. Sabbath is a great reminder of our Paradise lost and our Paradise regained. For now, we'll settle for a kiss from God, but later on we'll get the "whole cookie".

They really are tasty, if you like coconut!

Ice Cream Toppings

Dean and I thoroughly enjoyed a musical program this evening at the small church of our in-laws that we have attended on occasion. Dean seems to fit in with this smaller congregation better than our larger home church right now. He misses fellowship with other Christians so much. So I do appreciate the warm welcome we felt in God's house tonight.

And one of the sweetest parts was the ice cream they shared with us afterward. A regular old-fashioned ice cream church social. Served with all the toppings.

The Lord's blessings to us are so sweet. We not only get the basic two scoops in a bowl, but our gracious God showers us with all the "toppings". He isn't stingy in the least. Just look around at all the beautiful nature He has created for our enjoyment. That's one blessing we can all enjoy. Like the toppings on ice cream or the icing on the cake. Not needed, but oh, so welcome.

The Pill Organizer

Having just retrieved Dean's new pill organizer that his nurse filled earlier in the week, and replaced it with the empty one I am reminded that today, Sunday, is truly the start of a new week. When you look at most calenders I also find that Sunday does not come at the end, but at the beginning. It's even referred to as the first day of the week in dictionaries.

When I read the Ten Commandments, it's like having a pill organizer. In the very center of it, we are told with great detail to remember something that involves a weekly reminder. The Sabbath reminds us of our Creator. The world was created in six days, and we are invited to share a time of rest with the Creator of the universe. We are able to rest on that day, because it was the day God blessed.

Daniel 7:25 speaks about a world power that will change times and laws. Don't underestimate the power of the master Deceiver. I believe he has been at work on this for a very long time, with much success.

Going Places on my Stationary Bike

I simply have got to start exercising in the morning on my recumbent stationary bike. Repeatedly when I wait til later in the day, I'm too tired to get it done. My oxygen is partly to blame for that, I'm sure, but it may apply to other people as well, especially if you are more of a morning type person, like I am.

There just seems to be so much to get done in the mornings and all through the day that I don't have time to do something just for me, like exercising.

This flies in the face of the caregiver presentation I'll be giving in October for a women's retreat. My message there is for caregivers to take care of themselves and take time for themselves. Guess I'd better start practicing what I preach.

Sometimes taking time means stealing it from something else. But I have to keep telling myself that I am as important as all those something elses. As a matter of fact, I may be the most important thing on my to-do list, because I'm the one doing all the things on the list.

In the same vein, God asks us to put Him first in our lives. Not because He's an egotistical dictator, but because without God first, none of us would be thriving, let alone even be alive. He did give us life, remember?

So, in the morning, right after I worship my Creator God, I'm going to hop on that bike and pedal my way to better health, and who knows, I might even get more done by the end of the day.

Baking From Scratch

In addition to being the Sabbath, it was also my nephew's birthday yesterday. The day started out special, with our electricity being off all through the house for several hours, due to a power line down, causing a wide neighborhood outage.

Knowing I should have made time to ask this earlier, I thought to ask my nephew what his favorite cake was for his birthday as he was going out the door with a friend. Angel food cake, I was told. Well, I had a whole afternoon ahead of me and a trusted recipe an elderly friend gave me long ago (she always brought one to potluck). So I proceeded to collect the ingredients and get started. I had made it once before myself, I think. I remembered how delicious it had been.

I knew instantly what a labor of love it was going to be, after the first step though. Sift the flour four times. Then add half the sugar and sift another four times. Even the counting was a challenge. The next steps weren't any easier. Separate about a dozen eggs, beat them until foamy, then add the sugar 2 Tbl. at a time with the mixer. THEN fold in by hand the flour and sugar mixture 2 Tbl. at a time too. Only the almond and vanilla flavoring scents wafting up gave me the strength and energy to continue mixing and stirring.

The end product was again delicious. But I can certainly understand why cake mixes have become so popular now. Imagine making all your cakes before we had electric mixers. (I thought of our power outage.) You could afford the extra calories from eating them. You burned them off by working so hard. I still say baking from scratch results in tastier treats too. But, they'd also be eaten in moderation. Who's going to let anyone gobble up something that you put so much work into?!

Like life, the more challenge it is to achieve something, the more rewarded we are for the effort. God knows that we need trials in our life to make us "good". God started us from dust. I'd say that's creating from scratch too. And He knows we're going to be worth it in the end.

"It's Mine"

What a blast I had in the grocery store today! It was a store that had those small-size carts that little ones can push; so each of my granddaughters ended up pushing her own grocery cart. Fortunately it wasn't a very populated store because little Julia (2) was not very adept at steering or maneuvering her cart and her mom and I have some sore ankles to prove it.

But the funniest part was when we pulled our carts up to the checkout and Julia saw us unloading our food onto the counter to get the items scanned. She started putting up such a fuss as we put her items on the belt. She grabbed the veggie hot dogs from her cart and wouldn't let go of them for love or money and was quite vocal with her objections, which included a little "not happy" foot dance. "It's mine. It's mine," she firmly announced.

The only solution seemed to get the dogs scanned quickly, so we could hand them right back to the about-to-lose-it toddler. Fortunately, the clerk was quick about it and handed it right back to her, but we still had to figure out how to extricate the "hot dogs" from her possession and convince her to leave the cart by the door.

Her mom, who seems to be an expert at handling these episodes, had it all figured out. She got out a big, refrigerated water bottle from the grocery bags and handed it to her while we tenderly explained that Grandma was bringing the dogs home for Grandpa's supper. With sister's example of leaving her cart by the door, she seemed to cut her losses and go with the offered substitute water bottle. Besides, the water bottle was so big, she needed both arms and all her strength to hang on to her new possession and lug it to the car.

How many times do I behave like a selfish toddler? I feel like all I have belongs to me, when in actuality, God owns it all, and everything I have is just on loan from our Creator God. Yet God, like a patient parent, shows me the "Substitute" for my selfish ways. I just have to hold onto "It" with both arms and with all my strength and lug "It" all the way to heaven.

Don't Mess with Mother Nature

We've had a beautiful, snow-covered wonderland to look at all day from our living room windows. Snow is so gorgeous the first day or two, before we humans start leaving our footprint and tire track signatures everywhere. We'll soon witness the pure, white landscape transformed into a dirty, messy muck wherever mankind leaves his mark.

Being Sabbath, I was thinking about how our Creator God made us in His image. We love to create too. But left to our own devices and without His help, we have a knack for messing up what God has created. Environmentalists, at least those who believe in God, would agree with this. We have done a lot to ruin our environment over the years.

And what have we done with the delicious menu God gave to Adam and Eve? Our tired, old world still has a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains to entice our appetites. But we insist on creating our own dishes with a combination of foods and spices that don't provide the nutrition we were meant to have. Often with unhealthy results.

We only have to look at a crowd of people to see our paltry attempts to create beauty on our bodies too. We forget that the kind of beauty that counts is on the inside. To me, an extreme form of altering God's creation is when we allow our bodies to be tattooed and/or pierced. What message does this send to God? "You didn't create me beautiful enough. I need to improve on the body you gave me. Let me be a human billboard of man's art. And while I'm at it, I really need to put holes in my body to hang rocks. Why didn't you provide that, God?" ...You get the idea.

Sweet Respite

Today was a "me" day and I basked in the freedom this day at home all alone brought me. I left lights on in rooms I had vacated. The toilet seat stayed in one place with the lid up and the seat down. I ate my dessert before my dinner. I even had cranberry sauce on my oatmeal in the morning. I read a book whenever I felt like it and didn't even look at any bills or my checkbook. Amazingly the phone didn't ring while I was in the shower. Oh, sweet respite when my hubby goes to his adult day program once a week!

My daughter called later in the morning and wanted me to go shopping with her and to the library. I was going to the library anyway, so I said sure. I got to spend quality time with her and my two little granddaughters for a few hours. Who could ask for anything more?

Of course, I can't forget the respite time God gave us at creation. The Sabbath was given to us for just this purpose too. So we can break away from the world on the special day He blessed and spend it with Him. Jesus told us the Sabbath was made for man. Are we using it for the purpose He intended? Don't throw away His gift. Use it wisely, and you can have a delightful respite just like I did today.

Remedies

Mr. Nasty Cold still has his grip, but so far I haven't bowed to his power over my lungs. I'm using a nebulizer (machine to deliver drugs to my lungs, like for asthmatics), a cough expectorant, and antihistamines. Although I hate using so many medications, it's the only way I can keep from going to the hospital with my colds. Did I mention I have restricted lungs from scoliosis?

Just for the record, I'm also using the natural remedies of water, diet, fresh air, rest, and trust in God. And when this cold's over, I'll try getting the sunshine and exercise part again. We don't often think of these as medicines, but they actually do aid in our recovery, and more important they work as prevention!

I've always been amazed at how resilient our bodies are and yet how delicate its composition. Today, the seventh day to "remember" our Creator (see the Fourth Commandment), we often look at God through nature, but part of that nature is our created bodies. How wonderful that of all creation, our bodies can be "born again", or recreated. What a wonderful God we serve!

The Day We Forgot

Today I happened to be out shopping and noticed the flurry of people out doing the same. I realize it's getting close to Christmas, but I've noticed over the years that Saturday AND Sunday seem to be ordinary business days for most people. Special maybe in the sense that it is the weekend, but also days for doing whatever needs to be done that you didn't have time for on the weekdays.

Nobody has time for a "day of rest" any more! Sunday-keeping Christians for years have used what they call the Lord's Day as a day set aside for God. And I believe initially that included resting from ordinary work that can be done on the other six days. Ask your grandparents, or great-grandparents.

God designed the world and even our human bodies to appreciate one day of rest every week, just as God himself rested the seventh day from His work of creation. So, how has the Christian world fallen so far away from seeking God on His special day?

Upon investigation years ago, I came up with an answer that satisfied me. But you have to go back to the eternal, unchangeable Ten Commandment Law written with the very finger of God. God specified not only A day, but WHICH day we are to reserve as holy. And He even told why...because HE BLESSED THAT DAY, a day that would point to the Creator, the Author and Finisher of our faith. It's the only Commandment that describes who we are to worship. In a sense it is like His autograph and placed right in the heart of the Law itself.

Man is trying to make a day holy that God has never blessed--and it hasn't worked. It was the only Commandment prefaced with "remember", but somewhere along the way we "forgot".