Where do I begin? Today was a mixture of goodbye and helloes. My dearest love Betty McAlister Lewis was laid to rest today--well, her body anyways. Her soul left for our Lord on Tuesday and she's been a new creation ever since. It was sad on many levels to know I'd never see her smiling face again, read her encouraging words, hear her raspy voice on our phone chats, or drive past her house to toot my horn and feel her loving presence.
Later, my husband and I celebrated my oldest grandson's eighth birthday party. As his friends and family swarmed together under the shed at the park, seeing his sweet face smiling as he was being sung to made my day. Listening to him and his buddies tell butt jokes while they ate said cake was not so fun.
Ephesians 4:26-27 is where today's verses come from and I am sure you are quite familiar with them, even though the Bible version I am using says them a bit differently than what I was previously taught. It's okay though: this Granny can still learn some new tricks.
"Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no place to the devil."Was I angered about anything today? If so, I've got an hour or so before the sun sets to give it to God so that Satan doesn't get the chance to invade my sweet dreams tonight. And honestly, yeah, there were some upsetting things today: the people at the funeral who had left their cigarette butts on the pavement outside; the ones who couldn't wait to get to their cars and take some puffs of those cancer sticks when they had just laid precious Betty to rest. Had her emaciated body not gotten through to them at all?! I was dumbfounded but...was I angry?
Hmn.
I've lost both of my parents to cancer. Steve's dad and mom also both died from lung cancer. Like the devil, cigarettes promise to make you look cool, to ease your stress, and to be there when no one or nothing else is. Then they quietly rob you of your health, your finances, and as though that wasn't enough, they steal your dignity and leave your body that was formed by God Himself into a skeletal mess that nobody enjoys looking at.
Am I angry? Is this disgust with cigarettes and cancer going to keep me from fellowshipping with God? Hardly. I see it for what it is. It's not even a tangible thing I can argue with, shake my fist at, or kick to the curb so do you really think I am going to let it take my peace from me when it has already stolen so much? Hardly. Am I going to hate it? Well, yeah. I'm sure it isn't through yet and is seeking its next victims even as I write. Just as ol' Slew Foot is.
It's going to have to go somewhere else this evening, folks. For tonight, I am choosing the better part. I'm going to edit the pics from today and recollect the smiles from the past week. It was a busy one and my emotions ran the gamut several times but...but I am going to think on the whatsoevers of the Bible that are good, true, honorable, kind, excellent, and worthy of my praise. Yeah, that's the way to let the sun go down, don't you think: with smiles, with an encouraged heart, and memories of those I love most whom I plan to spend eternity with? Who knows: I may even be thinking of you right now!
Let's pray!
Oh dear Father, what a week this has been! So many highs as I watched my grandsons turn different ages, reach different scholastic heights, and dealt with the loss of my Number One Gal. There were other losses, Lord, that You know about that tried to steal my joy, tried to damage my calm. Through them all, You didn't leave my side. You held me up when I thought I'd fall (and it was kind of funny, wasn't it Lord, when I didn't quite gracefully make it off of the bleachers and landed ever-so-briefly on my rear end?). It kept me humble, Lord, and helped me to once again see that I can't even walk without You holding my hand.
Hold me again tonight, Lord, as the day sets? Help my mind to focus on the good stuff and to say no to the thoughts that try to invade and take my mind off of You? I need You so! Thanks for always being here for me. I love You, too!
