The Bible Tells Me

I’m not the Bible scholar I should be. I know some verses; not as many as I ought. Still, I find most of my experiences can be framed or underscored, explained or illuminated, by Scripture. Or maybe a hymn or a worship song, a devotional or a testimony. Frequently, I have those “Oh, yeah” moments when I see God clearly in an event. Or realized that I should have seen Him.

These are the moments of “The Bible tells me.”

These essays reflect that. Do know that I can proof-text as well as anyone. I have a concordance, and I know how to use it. Well, truthfully, I do all of that online now, where I can quickly find a passage, see it in many versions, and choose the one I like best. I try not to be narrow, but instead broad, as I apply Bible words to my experiences. I know that your interpretations and understanding may be different than mine. But I also know that our God is big enough for all of us.

I have a friend who, in her prayer time, likes to tell jokes to God. “I know He knows the punch line,” she says. “But I tell them anyway. He likes it when I laugh.”

He likes it when I laugh. I’m going to hang on to that. It’s Biblical. The Bible tells me.

Our mouths were filled with laughter then,
and our tongues with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord had done great things for us;
we were joyful.

Psalm 126: 2,3 (HCSB)

Attention Distraction Dis-whateveria

October 8, 2015 | Kindness, Patience, Self-Control

I was listening to a speaker (I think on PBS Ted Radio Hour) who was talking about a little girl, decades ago, who could not sit still in her chair at school. A specialist, after watching the child, from a distance, bounding and leaping and bouncing around his office, said to her mother, “She needs to move. Put her in dance class.” And the girl became a famous dancer and teacher of dance.

“It was before ADHD was invented,” the presenter said. “Before people knew they could have such a thing.”

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I Have This Treadmill

October 1, 2015 | Peace, Self-Control

Every one of my physicians thinks I should walk. Well, maybe the ophthalmologist and the retina specialist haven’t mentioned it, specifically, but I think they would be on board with it.

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I Know You Must Be Wondering About … the NEW FRIDGE!!!

September 24, 2015 | Joy, Peace

When we purchased the fridge, the Home Depot guy explained that they would deliver it and carry away the old one. They would also hook up the water line for the ice maker … if it was a plastic line and not copper. Hmmmm.

the water tube, all new and ready to be attached

Of course it was copper. I called Kenny, the plumber. Kenny is an independent plumber and the only phone number is the home phone, so I (and others) call and leave a message. I called. The answering message said that Kenny would be unavailable until the 17th. No good, as the refrigerator would be delivered on the 14. So I called another plumber that I’d used years and years ago (but liked, and they came right away). The lady who answered the phone, in response to my, “I need some plumbing work done,” said, “Oh, he’s got the people out at a construction site.” “How long,” I asked. “Oh, for about a month.” Hmmm. So, I had to call a stranger, who did come and did look at things, and did go back and get plastic tubing, and did replace the thing.

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I’m Going to Make a Mountain

September 17, 2015 | Gentleness, Patience, Self-Control

I got a text, with photo, from April last week. It was charming, and cute, and humorous, and, quite honestly, a little bit frightening. Peter is on their back porch, playing in a large pan of damp sand. Here’s the picture and the message:

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Breaking News!

September 10, 2015 | Joy, Patience, Peace

This just in from Waco, Texas. Long-time resident, Gayle Lintz, reports that, Tuesday, late afternoon, she went to her kitchen to prepare a dinner-time meal for her husband.

“I was planning to attend my Knitting Group’s meeting at 5:00. I opened the freezer section of my refrigerator and reached in for a frozen chicken breast to heat up for him to eat when he got home. My hand touched a freezer-weight zip-locking bag of previously sauteed onions and peppers. It was soft. Next to that was a bag that held some leftover spaghetti in marinara sauce that had unexpectedly begun to smell, far sooner than it should have. My husband had bagged it up and put it in the freezer until trash day. (It smelled that bad). It was absolutely squishy. Homemade popsicles that I had made for my grandson had turned back into apple juice.”

The ice maker with the ho-hum, maybe I will, maybe I won’t attitude

Mrs. Lintz says that, a couple of weeks earlier, the ice maker had stopped making ice.

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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . . SUMMER WILL NEVER, EVER END!!!!!

September 3, 2015 | Patience, Self-Control

I seem to forget, from year to year, how very long summer lasts here in Central Texas. It’s back to school time, and magazines are full of pictures of apples (for teachers) and footballs (games have already begun) and cool weather clothing (which, of course, family members will need, in another two months, WE HOPE!!).

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Summer Reading

August 27, 2015 | Joy, Self-Control

My daughter-in-law Sarah talked books with me back in the spring. She brought a couple of books for me to read, when we were both in Tennessee in May. Then, a few weeks later, I got a heavy box in the mail, with postage of $4.72. I mail packages all the time from here to New York, to California, and nothing goes for $4.72, especially not something heavy. So, it must be BOOK RATE!!!! It was, indeed, books.

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I Just Can’t Help Myself.

August 20, 2015 | Gentleness, Kindness, Love, Patience, Self-Control

Who *wouldn’t* want to chat with somebody as cute as this! With such a darling hat!!

I confessed to a class once, when I was teaching Child Development courses at our community college, that I can’t help myself; I talk to little kids at the grocery store. I will talk to them anywhere, but the grocery store provides more opportunities, as they are corralled in a seat in a cart. And, while their nearby adult is putting groceries on the conveyor belt, I am pretty much face-to-face with them, and it just seems a little rude not to chat. I am careful to keep my distance, and I never reach out or touch them.

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Yeah. That Waco

August 13, 2015 | Gentleness, Kindness, Love

In mid-May, I was in North Carolina, attending a Writers’ Conference. I arrived on a Sunday afternoon. That evening, I was playing Words with Friends on my phone, and a message popped up from my sister in San Diego. It said, “WHO lives in a dangerous part of the country?!? It’s a good thing you’re out of town.”

And I said to myself, as I rolled my eyes, “Ollie, Mollie, Gollie. What’s happened now.”

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Catching Up. Filling In. Telling the Rest of the Story.

August 6, 2015 | Faithfulness, Patience, Peace

A friend at the knitting group meeting, a couple of weeks ago, asked what the Tall Painting from Fun with Friends looked like, when it was all finished. “Oh,” I said. “I should do a follow-up. Like The Rest of the Story.”

She looked a little confused. So I explained (because she is somewhat younger than I am, and I couldn’t remember how many years earlier Paul Harvey had been on the radio). “There used to be a radio commentator, named Paul Harvey. And he would share news items, and sometimes, he’d talk about the first part, and then, after a commercial break, he’d say, ‘And now: The Rest of the Story.’ He was kind of a folksy guy. Like Garrison Keillor, on ‘Prairie Home Companion?” And I began to wonder if anything I was saying made any sense.

“I didn’t grow up in this country,” she reminded me. Oh, yeah. Well, she’s at least heard of Garrison Keillor.

Anyway, here’s some catching up, filling in, and more story:

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