Our Blessed Hope

Some good news and some bad news on the Dean home healthcare front this week. First, we finally landed an appointment with the geriatric psychiatric clinic in Omaha on Valentine's Day. Someone cancelled, so we got their slot. Perhaps they decided to celebrate Valentine's Day instead. In any event, we'll take this opportunity to get another opinion about Dean's slipping health status and what medicines are appropriate for him at this time.

The not-so-good news though is that his platelet count is down. They want to check it again in two weeks. Keeping our fingers crossed on this one. Hoping it doesn't indicate anything too dire.

On a bright note, we had a family outing with Dean and the daughter and granddaughters this past week. It was quite a trip, just fifty miles away, but took us half a day to accomplish. It included a quick run into a lawyer's office for me to sign the tax forms for my parents' final years. Then we met a cousin at Burger King and visited with her for almost an hour. Followed by a quick visit to my parents' graves, where the girls left some "sturdy" plastic flowers. The only kind to survive these cold, wintry Nebraska days.

It seems our entire lives are sprinkled with good and bad news, aren't they? We should never expect this world, so tainted with sin, to be totally without cold, wintry days. But thankfully, the sun doesn't stay away forever. There is an eternal spring to look forward to. And the dimmer our lives become here, the brighter that Blessed Hope becomes.

Spring in Heaven

I wouldn't have thought that my nephew from Florida, where they enjoy greenery and tropical trees all year round, would be so excited about a simple vegetable garden here in Nebraska. After his first winter back up North, he has really been thrilled to work with the soil and witness the growth of tiny seeds and plants that he labored so hard to get started.

I think the seasonal changes we experience here make us appreciate the growth and colors of plants so much more. The harshness of winter weather only enhances the spring fever that captivates so many of us. Our salad with dinner tonight tasted so much better with the radishes that we grew ourselves in our very own yard.

Gardening seems to make us feel closer to God, because without His sunshine and rain, nothing would grow. We are partners with Him in a sense. But another reason I think people in general get so much more excited about gardens here in the North is that it follows a long period of cold, unpleasant weather and nature all around us wakes up and becomes green with life again.

It will be the same feeling when we get to heaven. We'll enjoy it all the more because of the hardships endured here on earth during our lifetimes. It will be like entering the most beautiful springtime, multiplied by infinity. I can't wait to wake up in the springtime of heaven and warm up to His love firsthand.

God's Garden

All in one day it seems, the peach tree in our backyard has budded and bloomed. Flowers are popping up in the front yard too, each taking turns showing off their bright colors. Crocuses, daffodils, and now jonquils. Before long it will be tulips, irises, lilacs, and roses. Funny how Mother Nature has a way of spreading out her beauty all through the summer and fall, with different blossoms in their different seasons, with none outshining the other.

That's the beauty of the church too. We each have our individual time table to rise and shine for God. None of us making it a one-man show. We're all there to glorify God when the time is right, in due season. If we are planted properly and given the right ingredients to grow, the field will become a glorious panorama of garden splendor and God will be pleased with His wonderful paradise.

Lord, make me a part of that church picture. Help me contribute to the overall effect, in whatever way you show me. Not a lonely blossom, but a part of the garden.

Holding On

Winter is over, with its icy streets and sidewalks. A real threat to some individuals prone to the worst effects of a fall. How odd that my fall recently had nothing to do with slippery snow and ice; and numerous friends lately have succumbed to the same embarrassing, ungraceful stumbles and tumbles, resulting in various injuries and complaints.

We go all winter without incident, then spring awakens the plant world with temperatures soaring, and next thing we know our feet go soaring. Right out from under us.

Sin has a way of catching us off guard too. Just when we think we are out of the danger of falling, of partaking of some harmful indulgence we have tried to put behind us, we find ourselves flat on our face again. Looking up into the face of God and asking Him "Why me, Lord?"

Most of us have learned that one way to prevent falls in the winter is to wear shoes with some tread and to hold onto something or someone when possible. Can we not prevent some of our spiritual falls by fortifying our minds with some Bible and prayer "tread" and hanging onto Jesus and our good Christian friends like our lives depended on it? And I suppose, as a matter of fact, they do.

The Cold

We are experiencing our first bout with snow in Nebraska this year. Even though it's pretty to look at,  you don't want to stay long outside. As a matter of fact, I thought our little dog would be having less requests to go out because of the cold. There seems to be just as many, but her visits are of a shorter duration.

Looking back over my life experiences, I find many cold, wintry times, when I needed to be out there doing my "business." But fortunately, I too have a Master at the door welcoming me back into a warm home. He knows just how long I can stand it out there.

I look forward to an eternal Spring. When we won't have to deal with harsh winter days any more. But right now, I'd settle for a temporary spring...bbbrrrrrrr! CLOSE THAT DOOR!