This morning in my prayer room I stood looking out the window at the eastern horizon. The day promised to be a fabulous representation of spring in full bloom. From out of nowhere I had a random thought, something that had not crossed my mind in years. It would be so fun to go horseback riding today! Now, where did THAT come from? The best I could recall, I had not been on a horse in at least ten years, probably closer to fifteen. I had grown up riding horses and had had all kinds of escapades. Once when I was fifteen, I was out riding with my English teacher, who broke horses on the side for extra income. He was training a new eighteen-month-old colt, and so he was riding that horse and I was riding a more seasoned one on a brand new saddle of his. About halfway through our ride, way out in the desert, he said that he would like to ride the new saddle, and since the colt was well warm now that it would be all right for me to ride him. We switched animals. Things were going along pretty well, and I'm still not sure to this day what spooked that colt, but he took off bucking across the sand and the cactus. I stayed on pretty well for a few minutes but eventually the colt went right, and I went left...right into the big middle of a cactus. I had to go to the hospital and get my arm sewn up, and we pulled stickers out of all parts of my body for weeks! I had several adventures like that.
I thought of all the people I knew with horses. My sister had access, but she lives a hundred miles away. All the other people I could think of I did not know well enough to ask. I turned away from the window with a sigh. My attention was drawn to the clock and the lateness of the hour. I sat down for a short time of worship and prayer before getting ready for church. The goodness of God was overwhelming for those few moments. I forgot all about the horseback riding as I dressed for church and headed out. After church, I was talking with my friend Camille. We are both seriously into physical fitness, and on several Sundays she has asked me to come out to her ranch in the afternoons and walk. We had never done it due to conflicts.
"Hey, Camille...are you going walking this afternoon? Because if you are I'd like to come out and go too.""No, my mom is coming out and we're going to ride horses. Wanna come with us?"
"DID YOU SAY HORSES??? I DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD HORSES!"
I drove out to the Z Bar and by three o'clock we were saddling up and getting ready to go. I was surprised at how much I remembered about doing all of this. Getting on and off was a breeze!
I rode Camille's horse Rubio, and she rode her husband's horse. We rode for a couple of hours on their 8000-acre place. It brought back so many memories of days gone by. I thought of things I had not thought of in years. 
We laughed and talked and just enjoyed God's creation. I just kept thinking of the sweetness of God; it wasn't anything I had even asked for but only thought about, and here I was doing it. Still a country girl........
"Children are living messages we send to a time
we will not see."
John Whitehead
The bluebonnets in Texas are popping out everywhere. Every spring, when I see the very first one, the same memory floods my mind: driving home in our 1977 gold Buick Regal holding our newborn first child. I labored only five hours before the nine-pound-six-ounce wonder was flopped on my stomach. At that very moment I became aware of something I had not known about myself: I would be capable of seriously harming with my bare hands anyone that laid a finger on his precious head!
Along with this thought came another: I am now responsible for the life of another human being. I was twenty-two, and that seemed overwhelming at the time. We took him home, and he cried all night the first night. Neither his father nor I knew what to do, so we took turns walking him and I nursed him a lot. I guess he just finally wore himself out and fell asleep.
Those days seemed to go by very slowly, and so the transformation in me was so subtle that I didn't even see it until years had gone by. I was becoming a much better person. I deeply regret not having at least two more children; just think how terrific I'd be!! He he!
Here are some things I learned from my children:
~What is really important--Don't sweat the small stuff. Sit down and color, go outside and throw the football, go to the park, the dishes will wait.
~Everything doesn't have to be perfect! Throw a couple of sandwiches in a bag, grab some chips, and go impromptu.
~Run through the mud puddles WITH them!
~Appreciation of my own mother--the sacrificER always loves more than the sacrificEE
~Everything I do matters
Where did the years go? This child is grown now with a son of his own. It is both a blessing and an amusement to watch him raising his child, because I know that his son is now teaching him!
Although I did not attend a scheduled TEA party, I think they gathered more steam than anyone anticipated. The liberal media blasted insult after insult toward participants all over the country. A good sign. The grass-roots-organized movement evidently involved both red and blue participants, another good sign.
I do not know how much will be accomplished by these displays, but at least someone somewhere is saying enough is enough. I would like to hear from anyone who did attend one of these events and what your perspective was.
"Foolishness is bound up in the heart of
a child, but the rod of discipline will
drive it far from him."
Proverbs 22:15
A scene from an episode of Gunsmoke shows a man thoroughly paddling his son out in the middle of Dodge City Main Street. Someone runs into Marshal Dillon's office, arousing him from his nap:
"Marshal Dillon, Marshal Dillon, come quick!"
"What is it?" the marshal asks, reaching for his hat and gun belt.
"There's a man whippin' his boy out in the street!"
Marshal Dillon yawns and lies back down. "The law has no right to tell a parent how to discipline his own child."
I remember a road trip we were on when I was about six or seven. I don't remember why or how I was misbehaving, only that my mother told me that when we got home I was going to get a spanking. I straightened up immediately, because although it was still a couple of hundred miles to home, I knew my mother would NOT forget. You see, the REAL punishment was dreading the spanking. By the time we were turning into the driveway, I just wanted that spanking over with quickly. Sure enough, as soon as we unloaded the car (she tortured me just a little longer), we headed to the bathroom where the hairbrush awaited me. Even Marshal Dillon couldn't help me now! The difference in my mother and most parents today is that she never threatened over and over to paddle and then never came through with the goods. She always told us that whatever she promised us, good or bad, would be delivered! That way, she assured us, we could always trust what she said.
Although a delayed punishment can be very effective, on-the-spot discipline is usually more so. I once jerked up both of my sons in a grocery store and paddled them thoroughly after they climbed up into a refrigerated case and destroyed about twenty decorated cakes. They were about ages three and five. They were MODEL children from that time forth whenever we went into ANY store. I spanked my eight-year-old stepdaughter in the middle of an amusement park, and the rest of the day was quite pleasant. My sister tells a hilarious story of her two young daughters in a department store around the time of Easter. There were racks and racks of girls' Easter dresses. Her daughters had been warned not to play inside and around them, but did anyway. As one rack began to fall over, it created a domino effect and every rack fell all down the line. Her oldest daughter looked up at her mother and said, "We're going to get a spanking, aren't we!" Sure 'nuff!
It is unfortunate that a parent can no longer freely discipline his own child in public. Little by little our government is attempting to usurp parental rights and authority. Last summer H.J.R 97 was introduced by Representative Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.). It basically stated that it is a fundamental right for parents to direct the upbringing of their own children. The bill failed, but thankfully, is being reintroduced with much more support. J. Michael Smith, of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, says this: "It's possible that in the near future the United States may significantly weaken the rights of parents to raise their children. Crucial decisions that parents are accustomed to making, such as what our children read, who they associate with, what kind of discipline is used, whether we take them to church or how we educate them, all become decisions of the state if the United States ratifies the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child." Disturbing.
I understand that child abuse exists, but we are raising a politically-correct society of brats who defy authority beginning with their own parents. It's as though parents are afraid to raise their own children. And guess what: even if law after law is introduced, child abuse will STILL exist! I do not suggest that a spanking is always the strategy for discipline, but some of the scenes I've witnessed out in public certainly warrant consideration of such, if only for the benefit of others around those children. Sadly, most parents no long have that option in public.
I find it appalling that it has become necessary to protect by law common no-brainer values and rights such as marriage and parental authority. No laws or politicians can save us when four unelected judges, such as in Iowa very recently, decide that homosexual marriage would be ok there now. I believe there is hope, but it is to be found in an awakening to God all across this nation, just like with Jonathan Edwards in the 1700's. Study that out sometime and see the parallels to our present day society. Colonial America in 1726 was in moral and spiritual decline. The challenges of frontier life and a series of brutal wars had demoralized many. Many existing churches had degenerated into formal religious institutions with no power to bring much-needed change. Sound familiar? Along comes Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield. Benjamin Franklin, who did NOT profess to be a Christian was a close friend of Whitfield and gave credit to him as having great impact on the people. After Edwards' great sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, it was reported that there were far-reaching implications. Reports in New England showed over 150 new churches and a drastic change in the moral climate of colonial America. Harvard professor William Perry stated that the Declaration of Independence of 1776 was a direct result of the evangelical preaching of the evangelists of the Great Awakening.
I hope and pray that our rights and freedoms will not slip away one by one. Marshal Dillon had it right: the law has no right.
People stay at my house on a regular basis so I always try and keep the beds ready. A couple of weekends ago an evangelist friend and his wife, and also the music minister stayed with us as they conducted a cowboy camp meeting in our town. Today I was changing the linens and getting the beds back in shape for my next round, which will likely be my sister and her family this coming weekend, as the children have a 4H rifle shooting meet close to here.
I have a special way of folding my linens. I used to just hurriedly do the best I could, as I dreaded folding that pesky fitted sheet. My linen closet always looked like a storm had blown through. A few years ago one of my good friends, Mary Ann, taught me, via our mutual housekeeper, a great way to fold the sheets. I tweaked it a little, and I now have the most organized closet ever! A couple of weeks ago I was helping Mary Ann at her house because she had fallen and hurt her foot. The next day she asked me if I had folded a set of sheets. "Were they folded the way WE fold them???" I asked. " Absolutely not, she had replied. "Then I didn't do it." I went on to ask her how she ever came to fold them that way. She said the HER mother had started that in order for the sheets to stack nicely in her small closet. Last summer when I helped my son and daughter-in-law move into their new home, one of my assignments was to pack the linen closet. I grouped and folded all the sheet sets that way. Now it's passed all around!
A few days ago I was getting a pedicure and became engaged in a lively and thought-provoking conversation. The two women, one of them the owner of the shop, I have known for many years. They are both young mothers in their early thirties. The topic was the relationship of mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law. We all three asked and answered questions quite freely and candidly, and I came away with new perspectives from their open and honest comments. This was helpful, because some of that ground might not be easily covered by ones in the actual relationship because of the inherent possibility of treading on feelings.
I have two daughters-in-law. I could not have done better if God had allowed me to design them myself. They have been marvelous blessings to both my sons and me. Due to geographical differences, however, our relationships have been slow to develop. One of them I only see a couple of times a year; the other I see a somewhat more often because she lives closer. Both the young mothers in the shop live near their mothers-in-law and see them frequently. As a result, they are more accustomed to one another's qualities and idiosyncrasies. I laughed at their stories of the misunderstandings and resolutions, because I understood all too well.
Ridiculously, I wanted to be the perfect mother-in-law (I AM NOT!). I am certain that I have inadvertently offended both girls more often than I know. The times I DID know and tried to rectify I just seemed to make it worse! (Are you laughing yet? I'm certain you would never see a blog like this entitled Father-in-law, Son-in-law!!) On the other side of that, I have allowed my feelings to be hurt by what I was certain later to be a totally innocent action or comment. The point is, if we always give each other the benefit of the doubt, we would realize that never on purpose would either of us hurt the other. In John 16:1 Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you that you should not be offended." He was expounding on the love walk in John 15. That really went off inside of me as I pondered the discourse that I had had with the two young women. Another consideration was Ephesians 4:2: "Living as becomes you--with complete lowliness of mind and meekness with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another. " (Amp.)
I cannot ever recall my mother-in-law offending me even one time in twenty-one years.. That sets the bar pretty high for me. I hope that as the years go by my relationship with my daughters-in-law continues to flourish. Just because I am older does not mean I always have a better idea. There is so much for us to gain from each other. May we continue to extend the love and mercy to each other that holds us like an anchor to solid ground of mutual respect. And maybe, with their help, I'll reach that bar.
I woke up the other night to the sound of rainfall. I'm certain I heard the trees clapping their hands and the shrubs on the sides of our mountain rejoicing as well. The next morning, even on the backside of winter brownness, everything looked bright and colorful as the suffocating dust had been washed from the land.
All of our tanks had gone dry several weeks ago. The moisture deficit had grown crucial. Moisture is so important, whether to our land, or to our bones, or to our life walks in general. When dryness sets in, productivity and perspective decreases. Just like that dry tank bottom, from which all wildlife withdrew, aridity in our lives draws the same results.
I'm so glad the Spirit of the living God is water on my entire being. It refreshes me from head to toe, both on the inside and out. I know that as the dryness of this world's system persists in its attempts to disrupt and invade my life that the Kingdom of God remains the same. As I myself am watered, I can water others. I had an opportunity to do that this week as some very close friends experienced a tragedy in their family. Their niece and nephew, students at a large university in Texas, were shot and killed. We prayed together, wept, and rejoiced as we knew that they moved to heaven.
May we never accept dryness as normal. May we press into the Spirit, the moisture of God, always being prepared to not just be watered, but to water, prepared to offer refreshing to others.
