Sunday Devotions - Troubled Hearts and Saying Goodbye

"Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going." John 14:1 - 4

A couple weeks ago when we were home in Indiana visiting family my grandfather passed away. I suppose it wasn't totally unexpected because he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's about four years ago and had gone downhill quickly in the last year. Still, losing a grandparent is always hard. Grandpa Asa was the fourth grandparent that has passed away but, for me, definitely the hardest to lose. 


You see, I lived with Grandpa and Grandma for four years while I attended college. My college was small and they lived within driving distance so I commuted to help save money. Grandpa was a special character. He fed me peanut butter and ice cream for breakfast when I was little. He could drink coffee at all hours of the day or night and he always offered you a cup of coffee no matter when you stopped by. Grandpa always wore bib overalls and seed corn hats, except to church. I'll never forget the time, when I was living with him,  when I went to do laundry only to find that Grandpa had washed a pair of his bib overalls with a full package of chewing tobacco in the pocket. I had to clean out washed Red Man out of the washing machine!! 


After I was married with kids, DR and I would return and stay with Grandpa Asa on visits. Grandpa once let my twin boys, aged 2 or 3 at the time, play with a big bucket of field corn on the living room carpet! 


I've cried a lot for Grandpa Asa. My heart has been troubled. 


I sure hadn't planned for a funeral during vacation; I had to buy a new dress and shoes. I was having a hard time dealing with the loss of Grandpa and I didn't know what we should do with our kids. My boys are almost 8 and remembered Grandpa well. Yahoo, I didn't know. Finally we decided that we would bring them early to the viewing for a few minutes before DR took them to play and the boys would attend the funeral while Yahoo was with a family friend. 


As we went to the casket during the viewing, my three year old daughter asked what was the matter with Papa. Trying my best not to cry, not succeeding, I answered that his body didn't work anymore and he went to live with Jesus and the angels. Yahoo exuberantly responded, "I want to go live with the angels too!!" 


My boys each went to the casket once or twice but I could tell that they weren't comfortable. I think mostly because Grandpa didn't look like the grandpa they remembered. Yahoo though kept asking over and over to go see Papa. She wasn't sad or upset standing at the casket. She just kept happily repeating to me that his body stopped working and Papa's was with the angels now. And she kept asking me why I was sad and crying. 


Yahoo taught me a lot that day. Papa's with the angels, which was a good thing and I shouldn't be sad. For Yahoo it was so simple. The facts were simple and she trusted that everything was fine. Papa was with Jesus, right? Why shouldn't everything be fine? Why couldn't I feel as happy as she? I learned I need to listen to the logic of my children more often. I think they understand God better than I do. 


Dear Lord, Make my heart like a child's today. Ever trusting and ever peaceful. You've promised us joy and gladness, peace of mind and heart. Help me not to be troubled but to look forward to eternity with You, when I'll see my loved ones again. Amen. 

Sunday Devotions - What's in your Bible?

As I was sitting in church last week, the minister began reading Scripture so I did what many of you probably do every Sunday in church. I opened my Bible to read along with him. But when I opened my Bible there was an avalanche of paper, pictures and newspaper clippings falling into my lap. I stuff lots of "stuff" into my Bible.

A fern I picked in the Smoky Mountains back in 1997.

I write a lot in my Bible too.

A note card and my grandfather's funeral bulletin from 2001.

A dog eared paper from Sunday school my 23 year old brother gave me when he was in elementary school.

And of course pictures of family.

Every so often this avalanche from my Bible prompts me to go through all the stuff and get rid of it!! But as I try to sort out these poems, keepsakes and other mementos I can't bear to part with them. Why? And why is it that I feel compelled to keep them in my Bible rather than in a shoebox in a closet somewhere?

The answer? Because all this stuff I "stuff" in my Bible brings me quietness of heart, a kind of peace that has been granted by God through a poem, a picture, a verse.

This Sunday I found this poem that I have photocopied from somewhere, I assume a church hymnal, that I want to share with you on this blessed Sunday.

Quietness of Heart

Give me, O Lord that quietness of heart that makes the most of labor and of rest. Save me from passionate excitement, petulant fretfulness, and idle fear, keeping me ever in the restful presence of Thy love.

 

Teach me to be alert and wise in all responsibilities, without hurry and without neglect. Tame Thou and rule my tongue, that I may not transgress Thy law of love. when others censure, may I seek Thine image in each fellow man, judging with charity, as one who shall be judged.

Banish envy and hatred from my thoughts.

Help me to be content amid the strife of tongues, with my unspoken thought. When anxious cares threaten my peace, help me to run to Thee, that I may find my rest and be made strong for calm endurance and valiant service.

Amen

Marker Monday - Anatomy

Along with our other homeschooling activities (math, writing, and reading), a couple weeks ago, I thought we'd throw in a little science as well. Where to start? With ourselves of course, and we began a two week long study of our body and anatomy.

I have the set of 1986 Childcraft Books I grew up with that we used to learn about the nervous, digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems. We looked at diagrams and talked about the purpose of each system and how it worked. I found this web site where we printed off organs to color. (These is a neat website I'll definitely come back to for educational resources.) Then the boys glued them to a large outline of themselves we had taped to their closet doors. Everyday we added a new system.

Here the boys started with their heart and are drawing red arteries and blue veins in their bodies. I did this way out of order. We should have done the brain first, digestive, then lungs and heart last because we ended up pulling the heart off to tuck the lungs underneath. Oh well, live and learn.

Here they are posing with their bodies. Yap is holding his eyes open so he won't blink for the picture. :)

At this point I thought we were done. It took a week, a good amount of time,  but oh no...Yip wanted bones. Bones?? Uh, okay. I couldn't find a good place on the Internet to print off bones that could be put on their paper bodies. So we spent the next week drawing, cutting out and gluing on bones.

Here is the finally finished product! The boys love them and get really grumpy if Yahoo even gets close to them! I'm surprised how much information about anatomy they have remembered and bring up later.