~~FEMININE MATTERS~~

BRAND NEW HAMMOCK

We stood there in Lowes trying to decide between cotton and polyester.  I'm thinking...will the polyester be uncomfortable?  Hot?  Itchy?  I had a cotton hammock and it was so wonderful.  When the birds drop their treasure upon it, all I have to do is hose it down and the spots are history (till the next time).  So I'm thinking...do I want to try something new?  Hmmmmn, polyester.  They were the exact same price and the polyester one was green.  It would color-coodinate so well with the flower garden, too.

Then I spotted some hammocks that were woven like those little placemats we make in Bible-school.  But they were much more than I had to spend.  And I didn't think they'd be as easy to clean.  And anyway, there's something about leaving my hammock out all year that comforts me.  When winter comes and we have that wonderful January thaw (usually in February) and the weather is brisk but not so cold you can't lie in a hammock and stare at the sky through bare lacy limbs, it's nice to have my hammock already hanging.  I couldn't do that with a woven one.  I'd have to bring that in during the inclimate weather.

I decided.  Cotton.  And I'm glad I did.  It just feels better to know I'm lying in fiber that is God-made and not man-made.  It's kind of like an extra bonus to lying in the midst of God's creation.  Kind of like a hug.  selahV

THIS IS Abby and Brooklyn on the first day of the hammock's hanging.  What could be better to do than swing and sing and giggle beneath the canopy of shaded pecans?

LONG WALKS AND WILDFLOWERS

One of the things I like best in the world is wildflowers.  They come up all on their own.  No one tends them.  No one plants them.  No one tells them where they can and cannot grow.  God plants them for His and our pleasure.  And it is such a joy to go for a walk in the woods and discover new plants.  Last weekend I took my granddaughters for a walk to the pond on my daughter's property.  They were whipped when we reached the water's edge.  It was worth it to watch the waterbugs flit across the surface and hear the plop of bullfrogs as they took the plunge.

All along the way were Oklahoma Indian Blankets, Wild Primrose, Queen Anne's Lace, Morning Glories, Daisies, Buttercups and a multitude of flowers I've never seen. 

"I'm gonna pick a bouquet for Momma," Abby said.  Brooklyn was content with one sprig of an Indian Blanket.  I siezed the opportunity to tell them that it was Oklahoma's state flower.  While Abby gathered her bouquet, we crossed over creekbeds and dodged dragonflies.  I bent to pick one of the prettiest little magenta puffs and realized a bit late that the stem was covered in itsey bitsey thorns.  No idea what it is.  I plan to research that one.  There were several varieties of Thistles but it wasn't like that family at all.  So I suppose I'll have my work cut out for me to discover what it is.

There was a deer-stand along the way.  I told the girls what that little house standing on stilts meant.  It didn't please them to think of someone sitting inside it waiting to shoot a deer.  But then, that's a guy thing.  (Most of the time.)  I told them we could come sit in it and just wait for the deer and take pictures sometime.  That seemed to make it less ominous.

I am grateful today as I think about the glory of God in His creation.  He wants to show us a pinch of His splendor.  We get a peek into what long walks will be like in Heaven someday when we take time to focus on His glory here.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]

   

AN OLD WOMAN'S WORTH

Today I babysat my two little granddaughters so my daughter could go pack up her office and move it to her new home--a two-day job for her to accomplish in one.  I sat watching the girls play with each other, and considered how valuable my daughter is to her husband, her family, her church, her friends.  How precious she is to me; how proud I am of all she accomplishes as she manages the financial end of her husband's construction business.  She's never held a job outside this one which she does from home.  Any company would be hardpressed to find as dedicated, knowledgeable or dependable an employee as she is.  I know for a fact that women who do what she does for companies make upwards of 50,000 dollars.   

But she loves just being a stay-at-home mom.  She has two very active teenage boys who are extremely involved in church activities.  She's a great cook and uses that talent to make dinners for homebound members in her Sunday School department.  She plans to homeschool the girls.  To me, she personifies the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31. 

I called her today while she was working to pack up the house and asked how things were going.  As I thought of all she meant to me and how proud I was of her, she thanked me for watching her little ones.  "It means so much to have someone there with them who loves them."

When I hung up the phone I evaluated what I was doing as a Christian woman.  While others are out volunteering for hospitals, pregnancy resource centers, and Red Cross, I sit here watching two little girls play house.  While others are leading Bible studies and teaching Mexicans to read English so they can get jobs and driver's licenses, I sit listening to my 3 year-old granddaughter explain what each letter of the alphabet is as she counts apples, butterflies and clouds.  As others are visiting the sick, taking orders for Angel Food Ministry, and running errands for adopted International students, I am changing diapers, filling sipper cups and teaching two sisters to share Oreos, markers and me.  As others are making contributions to society and ministering in Jesus name, I'm squeezing cheeks, kissing noses and doling out hugs.

It occurred to me in the midst of my musings that though I can't move as quickly as I once did, I'm still good for something in the scheme of things.  I'm building bridges for another generation.  I'm undergirding my daughter and reinforcing her love.  A warm flow of goodness filled my heart and rewarded my mind with peace.  For all of a sudden I felt like this old woman was worth more here than anywhere else in the world.  selahV   

 

THE SPACE THAT'S NOT SO SAFE

I was lying in my hammock looking at the tiny leaves unfolding on the pecan trees.  I lay there for quite a while thinking about all kinds of things.  Mother's Day.  My lousy health.  My wonderful grandchildren.  My phenomenal daughter.  My life in general.  My writing aspirations.  My uselessness.  My significance.  A billion thoughts flitted through my brain--much like the tiny bugs racing about the air.  I thought how great it was to have that hammock and the joy I've had in it the past three years since Chad's been gone.

The girls and I have laughed so much in it.  Sang song after song.  I even fell asleep in it one evening when sleep alluded me.  I remember how brilliant the full moon had been that night.  I awoke to birds singing and the sun rising.

No more.

When I got up from the hammock, it broke.  It now has a huge gaping hole in it.  Rotted.  Sometimes that's how I feel.  Like there is this great gaping hole inside of me that has eaten straight through to my soul.  But in time, the Lord, He fills it back up again and repairs the damage done by heartache and time.  selahV