Merry Christmas!

As Christmas Day approaches and time will be of the essence, here are some special quotes to all our friends.  Be blessed - and remember Who provides the blessings.  :)

Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It's lighting a fire inside the heart. Good will and joy a vital part. It's higher thought and a greater plan. It's glorious dream in the soul of man."   ~ Wilfred A. Peterson (The Art of Living)

...

May God grant you:

the light of Christmas, which is faith;

the warmth of Christmas, which is love;

the radiance of Christmas, which is purity;

the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice;

the belief in Christmas, which is truth;

the all of Christmas, which is Christ. Amen

Author Unknown

To be or not to be...

... up on the stage that is!  This decision was Caleb's choice the day of our trip to his church in Greenville to see their children's Christmas performance.  Would our two and a half year old grandson sing on stage with his friends... or perhaps wander the aisle?  For Gigi and Grandpa, we anticipated the joy of time with family, whatever the outcome! 

Upon our arrival and snack time while his mommy helped to organize the performance and his daddy served as an usher, his parents warned us that the last practices he has refused and they didn't think he'd go up today.  Grandpa (helping to hold our granddaughter, Karis) and I made much ado over how fun it would be on stage singing and playing the little instruments.
"Are you going up with the other children?" we whispered hopefully.  Swinging his little legs he firmly replied, "No."

Gradually as the children lined up, he slid from my lap and shyly worked his way towards the foot of the stage and his mommy.  When it was time to process on stage however he plopped solidly in her arms, thumb in his mouth!   Still he was every watchful and when the music began, his little feet wiggled and he began to sing.  And just like a light beam he climbed to his place to join the chorus while making all the little hand motions for their sweet presentation!

We were beaming and grinning like only grandparents can do to see him perform with the others!  Thank you, Lord, for this precious moment in time.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

At least on my decorated blog page.  :)

Friends, some of you would love having a blog - and it's much easier than a website.   If you'd like to have a class in our computer lab on creating blogs, let me know!  We can set up a date.

God bless.

Wet Boots and Pawprints!

Along with our son and his family plus other vistors, Thanksgiving blessings were coming - more quickly than you could thaw a turkey! Completing all the shopping and last minute errands I knew I still needed to clean the floors before our much anticipated guests arrived. I worked hard to spiff up the kitchen and backroom floors... even completing some final swipes by stepping on damp paper towels and dancing around. There - coats hung, boots and shoes inside the closet, dog and cat food in their proper containers, plants watered but not overflowing, box of sweet potatoes looking tidy under the two-seater, floor looking good. Now I could concentrate on welcoming our loved ones. Thank you, Lord.


We love living in rural eastern North Carolina where you could admire the changing of seasons and enjoy God's beautiful creation from the mighty roar of the ocean and breezes off the Currituck Sound to the calm and quiet when strolling through our grapevines at sunset, harvesting the last sweetness of autumn. And the men in our family enjoyed abundant opportunities to hunt for waterfowl, dove, turkey, and deer in their respective seasons... and fishing, too! These were all part of important family traditions to pass on to the next generations. And I hoped our grandson would one day enjoy the comaraderie of the hunt with proper respect for hunting laws and the providence of food supplied to us.


In the evening during a misty rain they arrived. Our strapping son toting in our sweet. sleepy grandson and our beautiful daughter-in-law holding our precious granddaughter. Luggage and baby supplies, laughter and hugs, tail wagging dogs - their dogs greeting our dogs while our two cats ran up the oak tree! Alas, within minutes the once shiny floor now showed evidence of paw prints, shoe marks, boots, but thanks be to God... it showed LIFE! Hunting supplies being laid out, dogs and cats being fed and bedded down, and boots lined up for the crack of dawn hunt the next morning. I knew that soon they'd be tramping in and out of that back room coming and going with excitement and plans. And the next day all would arrive back at the house in time for a shared Thanksgiving feast. What a blessing!


Thank you, dear Lord. Bring on the wet boots and pawprints. :)

Good News or Stories?

Helping to maintain our church prayer chain to the best of our ability is a privilege and a huge responsibility for the coordinators.  We do the best we can to share accurate information and worry we will make mistakes.  But overall the power of prayer is too important not to take chances.  And we've been blessed by forgiving folks on our prayer list when inevitable mistakes happen.  We are grateful for their patience!

Some days as I pause to pray I also wonder if folks ever feel led to share praises - or simply good news.  We all benefit from a smile.  You know smile muscles take less effort than frowns and of course a belly laugh sends lovely and healing endomorphs throughout our bodies!  So this month of November if you have good news (or a fun story or comment to share that may not be right for the prayer list mailings) I'd be happy to post it here.  Bring 'em on!!!  :)

Looking for some examples?  Try these sites for ideas...

*A Guidepost "Two Sisters Yam War" that made me smile:  http://www.guideposts.com/story/great-yam-war?emaileid=NL_YWI_Sub%20Category

*A Good News site!  http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/


Be blessed this sunny day following the Nor'easter! 

Sheila

New Disciple Blog!

Greetings to All!

So that Pastor David may share as commentator on our Disciple study journey we have created a new blog just for the church. The address is http://www.mtziongrandy.blogspot.com/ and we hope you will visit.

As we keep each of our Disciple members in prayer may we please include our youth as they gather for a spirit-filled event.

God bless,

Sheila

Psalm 84

Tonight we discussed Psalm 84, one of the Psalms of Zion that celebrated God's presence in Jerusalem.  Thankfully today it is not necessary to travel to the temple to draw near to God.  We can pray and sing our praises to Him at anytime - anywhere when we accept the invitation to have Christ in our lives. 

Have you ever experienced so much joy that a spontaneous song of praise sprang forth from your heart?  Try lifting your own unique song this week.  Off -key is not important - God listens to our hearts.   

In the Beginning

As the Bible begins, so shall I. In the beginning God's Word created everything.  Just Words - that began the incredible process of creation! May He inspire and guide mine on this simple blog.


Today's reading for Disciple is Genesis 1. Amazing time to begin something new - my first blog. :)