MARY AND MARTHA

 MARY AND MARTHA

MARY AND MARTHA

Mary seeks light, sits at His feet

Head held high, hoping eyes to meet

Steadies her gaze upon His face

Enthralled by His love, His peace, His grace

Martha seeks light, stands at His side

Captures each word, as through the room glides

Hopes her devotion He still can see

Seeking to serve, though not at His knee

Both seek His light…at His feet, by His side

One sees, one hears… their souls to Him tied…

Poem by Karen Nelson

Mary and Martha approach the Lord in very different ways, as do we, with evidence that we have honored the gifts He has given us to work with on earth to beautify, bless and “Come Unto Him.”  Each unique offering is graciously and gratefully accepted.

LIKE HENRY

LIKE HENRY

Henry, who was three years old at the time, was asked what it was like to go to Lego Land.  He looked up and said, “It was an awesome good time, and I was awesome!”

Everyone should feel about themselves the way Henry feels about himself.  When he walks in a room, he throws up his arms and jumps and smiles and laughs and spins in circles and stoops down and then springs up in the air - and dances.  It is like he is announcing, with his body, “Here I am, I am Henry, and I am the happy to be me and be alive and I am amazing and cool and awesome, and so are you!- so let’s live and love life together.”  One time he was hiding behind a towel and I told him to show me his beautiful face.  He pulled the towel away and said, “I have the most beautiful face in the whole world.  Jesus is good.”  He then proceeded to sing a song about Jesus as he ran out of the room.  I believe Jesus would love it if we could remember what Henry knows - that we are awesome and beautiful.

HER DAY IN THE SUN

 HER DAY IN THE SUN

One early morning before daydawn break

And scarcely before completely awake

She found herself sitting arrayed all in white

In a sacred room filled with crystal light

She looked at the mirrors that brought time together

And basked in eternity – in her visual forever

And pondering upon all the souls gone and forward

She felt a deep stirring and knew she had heard

A voice that speaks soundless – the language of soul

That taught her of gifts that exacted a toll-

That all she was and could ever be

Was bought by the mirror – the lives she could see

Of those who had struggled and cried and stretched

Whose brilliant life stories they carefully etched –

In a sacred record of heart – mind – soul time

And her vision was opened to remembrance divine

To the pages recorded line upon line

Of Eve and Ruth, Rachel and Leah

Of Mary, and Miriam, Sariah and Hannah

One by one in bright glory did come

The sung and unsung, the women of God

Who unwearingly held on tight to the rod

Millions of women who made it their creed

To do whatsoever The Father would need

And each precious history – each life profound

All built a foundation – pure and sound

For the next to come forward – for her day in the sun

For her day to laugh, cry – give birth and run

Run in the wind, splash in the waves

Warm by the fire – and earnestly pave

A new path to follow for wondering eyes

That search through the soul to determine the prize

What are the gifts she will give us they ask

What are the treasures - to aid in the task

Of finding the way through the maze of life

That will take us all through – both the joy and the strife

And each valiant woman who taught their heart

Taught them to choose the better part

Taught them to turn their mind, heart and soul

To Him who has power to make thunder roll

And lightning to flash and water to part

And destroy in a moment adversarial darts

And power to speak in the perfect still

With voice so pervading and quiet, it fills

The entire, the all, the everything

So beautiful and strong – it makes one’s deep sing

Sing of the miracles that He carefully planned

For each single life – so we each could stand

Tall and full straight – not bent by life’s tears

Full of God’s spirit, not bowed by the years

Sure of His love, sure of his power

Sure that he watchcares through each blessed hour

And then it all closed and the souls in mind’s light

All vanished and left her alone in the might

The might of the gift she was given through mirrors

That faced one another with her as the seer
She stood in the middle looking backward and forward

And blessed all the lives now infinitely dearer

Of those who behind her stood strong in the wind

And those ahead – whose lives have not penned

The life they will write with music and song

And  their words that will then help others along

And then as she stood there – a truth stepped out forward

And planted it’s message without a word

Just knowledge – pure, precious, plain, penetrating

Suddenly, completely a part of her being

She knew the forever – of forward and backward

Were hers to own, to enjoy and to treasure

She had the choice to honor the gifts

Of those from before -  whose choices were lifts

From one to the other …..  and now they held out

Their steady hands – banishing doubt

So with faith and trusting – she held their hands tight

And with the other,  reached into the night

To pull those unborn through the curtain of light

And give of her gifts made golden and bright

By a touch of the Master – in the end turning all

To goodness and laughter – despite all the falls

Gifts of pure wisdom, gifts of pure faith

Gifts of the heart, gifts in clear lace

That only can come and go from a mirror

That faces another and brings loved ones nearer

And basking between forever and ever

She stood all amazed at time-honored treasure

Packed solidly, firmly in the sinew of soul

That is shared through reflection as the ages roll.

                                              Written by Karen Nelson

WHAT'S A LIFE FOR ANYWAY?

WHAT'S A LIFE FOR ANYWAY?

Wilbur, the pig, had a devoted spider friend who wrote in her web, the words,  SOME PIG  - TERRIFIC -  RADIANT -  HUMBLE  - which opened the eyes of his animal friends to declare he was, also, phenomenal, wonderful and unique.  Wilbur, the runt of the litter, told Charlotte he did not feel like he was terrific, but she said, “You’re terrific as far as I’m concerned.  I think you’re sensational.”

How many times have our children’s eyes looked up into ours, in despair, and said, “I am untalented, unattractive, worthless, the runt of all of God’s children that have ever lived on the earth.”   And there we stand, with their hearts in our hands, with the sacred chance to bring them to a place of safety where their feelings will not be misinterpreted, but held, valued, nourished and carried across their personal gulf of discouragement to a place of hope and eventual rescue.  It happens over and over again, a child’s need to find a safe harbor, a Wilbur’s barn, their mother’s heart, where blinking, shining lights flash and ultimately glow and penetrate their troubled souls with words that say, “You’re remarkable, you’re magnificent and you are definitely “SOME PIG!” 

One of the most important discoveries I have made in my personal journey through 39 years of mothering 10 spectacularly different children, is the “art of absorbing,” the God-given ability to stand before a needy, desperate child and absorb their pain and frustration.  I believe God fashioned a mother’s heart in a very unique way, with a special capacity to create the safety in a barn that allows a child to look up, and see and learn that they are indeed terrific, at least terrific. The chance to be Charlotte to our Wilburs is a calling of the most sacred kind.

Our story ends with Wilbur working very hard to live up to all that Charlotte believed him to be and he eventually BECAME all her webby words and won a special prize at the fair.  As Charlotte is about to die, Wilbur says, “You have saved me Charlotte. Why did you do all this for me?”  She said,  “I wove my webs because I liked you. After all, what’s a life for anyway?”