You all have probably heard the phrase:  Mirror, mirror on the wall, I am my Mother after all!  I have heard this phrase many times and have even said it myself in reference to my Mother, but as I anticipate this first Mother’s Day without my Mom, the phrase has begun to take on a different meaning.

I know this phrase has been said tongue in cheek many times and even with a negative connotation but now that my Mom has gone home to be with the Lord, I am reminded of all the wonderful qualities that she had and I would be proud to look in the mirror and say that I am like her.  I hope I am!

My Mom was a wonderful mother.  She loved her children more than life itself. When we were growing up she, of course, did all the things expected of her.  She cooked, and cleaned, did the laundry, ironed our clothes, sometimes even made our clothes, and yes even worked outside the home.  She did it all!

But so much more than all the things she did, it was who she was more than what she did.  My Mom was loving and kind. She always tried to treat people with love and respect.  Oh there were times when I saw her temper, but those were few and far between.  I do not ever remember her spanking me even though I probably deserved one or two.  She did her best to try and shield me from getting in trouble with Daddy because we all knew when he said “front and center” we all better get there quick.

Mom was an encourager and always encouraged us to do what ever made us happy and to excel at what we were good at.  No matter what it was, from twirling a baton in the parade to singing and even preaching it didn’t matter what I did as long as I did it to my best ability. She was always proud of what I did and never failed to tell me so.

Mom taught me practical life lessons too, like “if you wear a dress, you must wear a slip” and “change your clothes everyday, you never know when you might have to go to the hospital.”  (Actually, I modified that last life lesson to be more appropriate for all readers. LOL )

She also taught me how to cook, especially roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, the Sunday tradition at our house. Mom loved to invite friends over for dinner, to be hospitable and to make them feel at home. That was her gift.

She also taught me that the most important and hardest job I will ever have is being “a mother.” And yet no other job is more rewarding and fulfilling.  She showed me how to love and be loved.  The most important thing my Mom taught me though was this; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and, Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)  She taught me by example and showed me how important it is to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and that without Christ we have nothing.

As Mother’s Day approaches and I reflect on the memories I have of my Mom, I can only hope and pray that I leave the legacy with my children and grandchildren that my Mom left with me.

I think the words to this song explains the legacy my Mom has left:

Someone once asked If only you knew
How short life would be What would you do?
What would they say When God called you home?
What would they engrave Once you were gone?

I hope they would see What I’ve done in my life
Who I’ve cared for And how I survived
I hope they’d say

Chorus:
She loved more than anything else
She loved with all of her heart
She loved everyone she believed in
She loved…oh she loved
She loved the Lord And served all her life
A sacrificial mother and an honorable wife
She gave all she had And through every trial
Made life much sweeter Because of her smile

Everyone will see What she’s done in her life
Who she cared for and how she survived
I’m sure they’d say
She loved…everyone she believed in
She loved..oh she loved
Oh…she loved.  By Sheri Easter

I hope and pray that I can say “Mirror, mirror on the wall, I am my Mother after all!

This month, families everywhere will be celebrating Father’s Day. My Dad passed away, July 10th, 2001 and I miss him as much today as I did then.

We lost Dad 24 years ago, however, we started loosing the Dad we all knew about 8 years before that due to the horrible mind robbing disease of Alzheimer’s.

Unlike the man that my Dad became after Alzheimer’s, the Dad I grew up with could do anything. He could tune up the car, build a house, milk a cow, and talk for hours to a stranger as if he’d known them all his life. They didn’t call him “Windy Willie” for nothing.

He was giving and caring and people said he would give the shirt off his back for someone in need. I remember one time he picked up a service man who was hitch hiking and took him where he needed to go even though Dad was going in the opposite direction. He was a good man, a family man. A man who loved the Lord, his family and showed it every day. We weren’t rich but Dad was a good provider and worked hard. He knew what a good work ethic was.

In high school he earned 13 letters in sports. He could swim and dive, play tennis, basketball, run track and he even boxed. He was undefeated! In my eyes he could do anything. He could talk about the Bible and quote scripture better than most people. Even after I got married and moved away from home I knew that I could always call and say, “hi Dad remember the scripture that goes something like this….” and then he’d say “oh yes it’s found in……” I was always amazed at how he could tell me the scripture just from my paraphrase of the little bit of it I knew. He could preach and preach he did. In Bellingham, Everett and Pullman, Washington, in Emmett, Idaho and Vancouver, B.C. He loved preaching and sharing the Gospel and often referred to preachEing as his “first love.” Dad wasn’t perfect, but those who spent time around my Dad knew he loved the Lord. One valuable lesson he taught me was to “hate the sin, and love the sinner, and that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) He also taught me that we are free in Christ, and no longer under the law but under grace. (Romans 8:2). He also taught me that “All things are lawful to me, but all things are not profitable; all things are lawful to me, but I — I will not be under authority by any.” (I Cor. 6:12 Young’s literal translation) I learned it this way – “all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable; all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” I have often been reminded of this teaching from my Dad when I have been tempted to do something which I know I should not do. The most important thing my Dad taught me was that Jesus loved me and that He was my friend.

Alzheimer’s robbed me and my brothers of the Dad we knew, and yet every once in a while the Dad we knew would come back for – oh so very a short time. Just a glimpse of the old Dad who was smart and witty and who could do anything. Sometimes people with Alzheimer’s become mean and sometimes even violent, but I saw a different side at times when Dad became more loving, and it meant so much to hear him say, “I love you” even though he could not remember my name, he knew I belonged to him.

For many of us, memories are all we have left of our Dad’s. As Christian’s, however, we have a heavenly Father who continues to care for us and loves us so much that He sent His Son to die on a cross, so that we “might have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10). Our Father in heaven, also give us eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I look forward to seeing my Dad again in heaven and to worship at the feet of Jesus with all the Saints who have gone before. Spend time with your earthly Father as we celebrate Fathers Day, and spend time with your heavenly Father in prayer, worship and study of His Word.

Happy Father’s Day to all!

For a lot of us, memories are all we have left of our earthly Father’s, but thanks be to God that we have our heavenly Father who cares for us and loves us so much that He gave up His only Son so that we can have life, “and have it more abundantly.”

It’s that time of year again, and farmers are busy planting their crops while others are busy getting their gardens ready.  I can’t help but think about all the time, commitment and hard work it takes to grow a beautiful, producing garden.  I am not a farmer or a gardener but I remember how my Mom and Dad worked hard to put the garden in for our family and how my Mom and Grandmother canned green beans, beets, made pickles and many other vegetables and fruits.  I remember how hard our family all worked to take care of the garden.  Weeding, hoeing and watering were everyday chores that were necessary to take care of our garden.

The relationship between cultivating, planting and nourishing a garden is similiar to the care needed for taking care of our spiritual lives.  If a garden is not cultivated, planted and nourished properly it will not grow.  The same is true of our spiritual lives. If we do not take the time, have the commitment and if we are not willing to put hard work into it, we will not grow spiritually.  Just as a garden needs attention, so does our spiritual life.

Have you ever seen a garden that has been left unattended?  It is not beautiful nor does it produce.  It is overcome by weeds, strangled and root-bound. Sin in our lives, just as weeds in a garden must be kept out.  We can keep sin from strangling our spiritual lives by providing proper nourishment.  This nourishment comes from studying God’s Word, praying and fellowshipping with other Christians.  Paul tells us in I Corinthians 9 verse 27 “I buffet my body daily” meaning he disciplines himself and does what is necessary to keep his spiritual life in shape.

Staying close to God’s Word is essential to the Christian’s spiritual life and studying God’s Word helps to keep sin out of our lives.  Paul in II Timothy 22:15 tells us to “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth.”  God’s Word is the word of truth, and as Christians we know there are things around every corner which the devil will use to try to pull us down spiritually if we are not attentive to our spiritual gardens.

Prayer is another way to help us keep our spiritual lives free from sin.  The scripture tells us that communication with God is essential to our spiritual lives.                  I Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to “Pray without ceasing.”  Prayer does more than just help us with our problems.  It is a way to express to God our praise and worship and it strengthens our faith, and is a source of renewal.  As Christians we need prayer to keep our spiritual lives healthy and strong.  Just as the farmer gives his crops water and fertilizer to keep them healthy, prayer can help keep our spiritual lives healthy and strong.

Living with sin all around us is not easy.  Encouraging one another in prayer and study of God’s Word will help us remain strong spiritually.  In Hebrews 10, Paul talks about drawing near to God by faith and not letting our faith waiver.  We can help each other stand firm in our faith.  In verse 25, Paul tells us not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another…”  Fellowship, supporting one another in Christian love will help us take care of our spiritual gardens and keep us strong and unwavering in our faith.

Would we rather have a garden strangled by weeds or a beautiful garden free to grow – not bound by anything?  Just as the farmer or gardner puts in time, commitment, and hard work to make his crop grow, so must we as Christians be willing to put time, commitment and hard work into our spiritual garden.  The study of God’s Word, prayer, and fellowship with other Christians will help our spiritual lives grow and produce good fruit.  (Ah another great topic the Fruit of the Spirit which I will leave for another blog.)

Have you ever wondered why bad things happen to good people?  Well, take for instance Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  Here are three good guys who had a bad thing happen to them or did they?  Yes, they were thrown into the fiery furnace, but not one hair on their head was singed.  God was able to use that incident which otherwise would have been disastrous for good.  In that respect the bad thing that happened to them turned out to be a good thing.  God was faithful to them because of their faithfulness to Him  We often think that God must deliver us first and then we will be productive, and yet it is very effident that God can do great work trough times of adversity and suffering.  This is true of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  The men had been followers of God and were worshiping the one true God; unwilling to bow to the golden image.  They were faithful to Him, already productive for Him and so when they were thrown into the fiery furnace God delivered them.  Here we see that productivity came before deliverance.  When we go through rough times our faith is strengthened.  When there is a need for us to have our courage bolstered God allows us to grow through our trials and our faith is deepened.  That’s what happened to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  Even in bondage they were productive through faith that God would deliver them.  They didn’t say “God deliver us first and then we will have faith.”  Instead, they said “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in the matter.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O King.  But even if He does not we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”  (Daniel 3:16-19)  They were productive through faith in God regardless of being delivered or not.  “You see faith to the spiritual world is what sight is to the material world.” (Dale Oquist)  In John 20:29, God told Thomas “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.”  PRODUCTIVITY BEFORE DELIVERANCE – we must first have faith and then we are delivered, but it has to be all God.  Remember when adversity, trials and suffering befalls us that our productivity is not contingent upon our deliverance.  God does not want us to say “God you do this and then I’ll do that.”  We must be productive first then we are delivered.   I want to give credit to Pastor Dale Oquist whom I heard give a sermon on this many years ago but it has stuck with me and I have thought about it many times since then, taking what I remember from the sermon and adding my own interpetation.  So much of what we do and who we become is a result of what we have heard and experienced in our Christian walk.  We hear and study what we have heard and then add our own interpretation.  Thank you to all the Pastor’s I have known who have influenced my walk with the Lord, and the person I have become.

I was writing on my profile page about my life and as I was writing this phrase came to mind.  I’m sure I’m not the first to coin it but as I wrote it down I began thingking about what it means to have God as the center of my life.  It’s kind of like the phrase “God is good all the time, All the time God is good!”  I’ve used that phrase many times when leading a worship service or preaching the message and I believe it, but today when writing “Life is Good when God is in the center of it” somehow summed up how I feel.

It’s what I believe and how I strive to live my life.  I’ve heard another phrase a lot lately “Lovin’ life.”  Again, it’s one of those phrases people use a lot but do they really feel that way?  Life isn’t always easy as we all know.   I’m reminded of an old song, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden sung by Lynn Anderson back in 1964.  It’s true God never promsed it would be easy, He never promised us a rose garden but He did promise to “never leave us or forsake us” (Hebrews 15:5)  He promised to be with us when things are tough.  He promised to be faithful to those who are faithful to Him (Hebrews 10:23)

When God is the center of our life “everything works for good to those who are called according to His purpose.”  (Romans 8:28)  With God at the center of our life it doesn’t matter what the world throws at us.  It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are at the moment because God is faithful to us.  With God “all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)

When God is the center of our life and things go wrong we can emerge victorious because God is with us.  We can look beyond the circumstances and see that God has a plan for our lives.  We can cling to His promises.  Life may throw curves our way but when God is the center of it, life is good!

This is the first of what I hope to be many blogs on a variety of subjects.

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