Do Hard Things - Chapter 2

The first blog I posted was about doing hard things. Since then I've attempted or am in the process of attempting doing hard things.

The first thing which is pretty much accomplished was the creation of the X-Club handbook. Since I'm the new president this year, it became my job to update the handbook with deletions, additions, etc. You know how that is - when I was called and asked to take this position it was one of those - "There isn't anything to do except chair the luncheon meetings and update the handbook". Hah! No one ever put the previous handbooks on a computer, or if they did I'm ignorant of it. So - the last two weeks have been spent typing up this year's handbook. I have a new respect for all my friends in the printing business. You would think the front of pages 1 and 2 would have pages 23 and 24 on the back. Wrong! Page 1 has page 24 on its right side and page 2 has page 23 on its right side!

This exercise is sure to stave off altzheimer's for at least one year!

Speaking of the "a" word, I have it on good authority that it is not enough that I do crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles. There must be a variety of exercises to keep the brain working well. In light of that I've decided to memorize scripture verses. Now, I am a firm believer that there are certain verses we should all know - John 3:16, Rom. 3:23, Rom. 12: 1,2 - etc. A couple of weeks ago as I was doing my daily reading a verse I've probably read countless times just leapt off the page. It is II Corinthians 2:15,16. It goes like this:

"For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To one we are the smell of death, to the other the fragrance of life."

As I struggled to get these two verses memorized I began to think about the words - smell and fragrance. The dictionary tells me that there are several words that mean 'smell'. They are aroma, odor, scent, bouquet, stink, perfume, savor, stench. One idea (smell) can convey two polarizing results depending upon the situation. Aroma to me is a pleasant smell - perhaps a fresh baked bread. Bouquet, according to the dictionary, defines the smell of a fine wine. Scent (candle burning ) - so, too savor and perfume. Fragrance - roses. All convey a pleasant situation. How about stench or stink, though. Smell in the context of the scripture is a bad smell, but when you go to a backyard barbecue where beef is being grilled, do we say - "that sure has a good fragrance (or perfume, or scent)"? You get the picture. We say - "that sure smells good".

Anyway - my prayer is that the smell emanating from my personality is a fragrant perfume, pleasant to the senses; a smell that will truly be an aroma of Christ.

Life is not for sissies!

When I start a blog, I'm never quite sure where it is going to go. I've had a recurring thought running around in this pea brain, so we'll see.

A few weeks ago when we were in the Kansas City area we had the opportunity to lunch with two couples we'd known when we lived there 40 years ago. One friend, Lois, now suffers from the Big A. The Big A is no respecter of persons. It doesn't matter if you've dined with queens, held the most powerful office in the world, or are just a normal housewife in suburban Kansas - the Big A can and does strike.

I knew Lois had developed this disease. I wondered what she would now be like as I'd heard that personalities are changed. This dear Christian friend, whom I've always counted as my spiritual mother, is still the same sweet personality. Despite the fact she can no longer recall on a moment's notice where one of her children lives, she is still the dignified, lovely lady whose feet I sat at as she poured wisdom and Biblical teaching into me years ago. I think her grounding in the Word is holding her steady.

I came away with a new mantra. "Old age is not for sissies"!

I've thought about that a lot. There is a lot of wisdom in this saying which also has some humor. I thought about Granddaughter Emma who is just 17 mos. old. If she could verbalize, maybe she'd say something like:

Being a baby is not for sissies. I'd hardly gotten out of the womb before Mom and Dad wanted me to follow them with my eyes, smile at their silly "coochie coos", sit up, crawl, and of all things, stand up and walk. And they wanted me to do all that in one year!" Now, I think they are talking about me having to sit on that potty. Being a baby is not for sissies.

How about the high school seniors. We have two grandchildren in that category. Parents are continually talking about what we're going to do with our lives and what college we're going to. Being forced out of the house and expected to be an adult is not for sissies.

We could go on and on - what about newly marrieds, new parents, older parents, old parents!

Life is not for sissies! Thankfully, we have the Manufacturer's Handbook to give us guidance, because on our own we would fail miserably. We can see that by the hordes of people around us who refuse to read the Handbook.

Heart Issues

Today I had occasion to lay quietly while a very noisy machine (MRI) took pictures of my back. For 45 minutes with nothing more to do than try to identify the noises the machine makes (woodpecker working on the house, jack hammer, mirumba badly out of tune) I started making an analogy between Bob's heart issues, and a Christian's heart issues.

Bob had drastic surgery on his heart.
When one becomes a Christian he or she has drastic surgery on a very diseased heart.
Bob was in Intensive Care for several days with nurses and doctors monitoring him 24/7.
The new Christian needs Intensive Care from other Christians as he grows accustomed to the changes.
Bob had clogged arteries which did not permit blood to flow efficiently to all parts of his body. Some new vessels had to be attached to his heart to make it work properly.
The new Christian has clogged arteries from the old life, and through confession must clean those arteries out, and then new ways of thinking, responding to stimuli which once upon a time caused anger, resentment, moodiness, etc. must be learned.
Bob was sent to Cardiac Rehab where he learned to exercise correctly all the time that he was hooked up to monitors.
The new Christian needs to be rehab'd where he learns to think correctly. He needs to be in an environment where he can be monitored to insure that he is growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Bob was then released from Cardiac Rehab and encouraged to exercise faithfully by doing cardio exercises and weight training.
The new Christian needs to exercise his faith every day, and do some weight training by Bible Study.
Bob will be reassessed after 3 months with perhaps a new exercise regimen implemented.
The Christian needs to listen carefully for the leading of the Holy Spirit to see what areas he needs to work on.
Bob needs to be seen regularly by his cardiologist.
The Christian needs to be in contact with his "cardiologist" daily.
Bob needs to be obedient to any changes in his diet, exercise regimen, etc. that the doctor deems necessary.
The Christian needs to make obedience to God's Word the foremost thing he does. Obedience is better than sacrifice, and the rewards of obedience are too marvelous to even be able to understand.
I'm sure more analogies could be made, but at this point the MRI was over.

Computers

Having started out in a one-room schoolhouse and using a slate and chalk to do my work (no kidding!), trying to be a computer whiz is not just something of a stretch - it's down right intimidating.

Also, being somewhat of a stingy person, I don't want to pay for listening to music if I can get it free. So, having said that, I found a "free Christian music" web site and joined the group. It seemed to take hours to install the software. The "free music" was great, but -------

I began to have a lot of trouble typing a simple sentence. Words were misspelled, letters were missing - everything was a mess!

I tried changing to another key board, but it didn't help. Next step, call Dell's tech. support. They assured me it was a "soft ware" problem, which they'd be glad to fix for $239. Their 'fix' would take my computer back to what was on it when we purchased 3 years ago. Whoa! Not going there!

I've known for years that I do my best analyzing of a problem in the middle of the night. It's as if the Lord waits until my brain has had some rest and then provides the answer. Could it be that this new "free Christian music" software that took hours to install was the problem?

I'm so pleased that this thought came sifting through the haze of sleepiness for this morning I've uninstalled the program, and voila - the keyboard is working fine.

Is there a lesson to learn here? Probably that free isn't always free.

Thank you, Lord, for being so patient with me.

Bob and I hav ad the joy of a unique opportunity in the past few weeks. I was approached by a new acquaintance, a Muslim lady. Her husband needed help in writing reports for his job. Since English is his 6th language he is struggling with proper use of words, punctuation, etc.

This Mslim is a gentleman in every respect. I expected him show disdain to me, yet in every way he is respectful. He accepted my critiques and suggestions in the same way he accepted Bob's.

He wanted to thank us by taking us out to eat last night. At first the time was a problem because it is now Ramadan. Muslims mus fast from sunup to sundown. They fast, not only from food, but from anything to drink as well. They cannot even drink water!

Bob explained tha as a heart paient he drinks copius amounts of waer daily. This gentleman explained that he also is a heart patient. His son, a doctor, warned him about the risks of doing Ramadan. Yet, the indoctrination from birth is so strong, he risks his health for the rules of the religion.

This opened the way for Bob to explain that fasting that way was a "work" and as Christians we do not "work" to qualify to enter heaven - we simpy believe by faith that Jesus is our savior.

We had a frank discussion about the differences between the Christian faith and Muslim faith.

Our host for the evening called at 6 p.m. to say he would break Ramadan and go to eat early. His penace would be that today he must give food to a poor peson.

I love the opportunity we have to get acquainted with this man. He obviously is not part of the fringe group terrorizing the world.

Our prayer is that he will know Jesus as his savior, not just as a great prophet.

Do the hard thing

I recently ordered 3 books for each of my children's families from Focus on the Family. I had tuned into the program one day and Alex and Brett Harris were the guests. They are 19 yr.old twins who have written a book - "Do Hard Things". I thought each of the grandchildren might be inspired by what these young men have accomplished in recent years.

I decided I should read the book so I'd know it was really o.k. for the g-kids. Of course, what could they teach me - after all, I have a granddaughter their age.

Wrong!

I've just read the first few chapters, but I'm already impressed and must admit that they did, indeed, have something to teach me.

The premise is that teenagers have been conditioned by society, school, peers, etc., to rebel, take the easy way out, "get by" academically, do as little as possible, be lazy, take no responsibility-----------you get the picture.

Am I ever lazy?
Do I just "get by" in my meal preparation, prayer time, volunteer time, hospital visitation ? Again the list goes on.

Do I have the attitude that as a very senior citizen I am somehow exempt from doing the very best for my family, my church, and my community?

Granted I no longer have the stamina to do all I did years ago. However, I have determined that each day I will do at least one hard thing.