BLESSED SCHOOL-YEAR

THE BEST YEAR OF SCHOOL FOR ME

BECAUSE OF THESE TEACHERS.

MRS. SWARM WAS WONDERFUL.

 A TEACHER I'VE NEVER FORGOTTEN ABOUT.

SHE SAID I SHOULD BE A SPECIAL WORKER

SHE WROTE ON THE CLASS PHOTO I RECEIVED:

I SHALL BE WAITING TO HEAR OF THE FAMOUS

 "SCIENTIST LEE" SOME DAY.

AS TIME WENT ON WAS I GOING TO BE A SCIENTIST?

  NO. LIFE CHANGED.

WITH HER ENCOURAGEMENT, BURIED IN MY HEART, I TRULY HOPE TO SEE HER IN HEAVEN.

THE ASSISTANT TEACHER WAS GREAT, TOO.

[OH, AND, BTW, MY FIRST CHILD NAME WAS "LEE".] 

WALK STEADY

Ephesians 4:1 [KJV] states in part, "that ye walk worthy of the vocation...".   In my old Bible, penned in the margin, is the lofty thought, "a walk is steady."

My son, Steve, when he was ten years old, was a "string bean" with hands and feet too large for his lean frame. 
 

It seemed he was always in trouble for bumping, tripping, falling, or dropping.  Praise God for wise teachers ... one encouraged me by saying, "Steve doesn't have any trouble he won't outgrow.  He'll get all his parts going the same direction.  It just takes time."

When I passed the age of ten in my Christian walk 36 years ago, I also wondered when all my parts would go the same direction ... when I wouldn't have to flinch when I read the words "a walk is steady."

Yes, I loved my Lord then, and I dearly love Him now.  My heart yearns for more closeness with Him.  My heart is in the right place.

But --  this wife, mother, grandmother, missionary [local and beyond], knee-jerk-taking-care-of-people-person...

    ...sometimes finds her feet tangled, trying to be all things to all people;

    ...sometimes cries in tiredness and frustration;

    ...sometimes whispers a sleepy "I love you" to Jesus as another hectic or complicated day ends.

I know that the malady of our cultural age -- too much activity crammed into too little time -- has no easy answers.  Most of my activities are not options and, even those that are, do appear to be God-directed.

So -- I gallop jerkily along, occasionally coming to a screeching halt, tripping over gravel in the road, definitely not walking, and definitely not steady.

But God loves me anyhow.  He loves me when I over-book my schedule ... and when I use my few times of leisure inappropriately (Who, ME??? staring off into space??) ... when I am undisciplined in my study and writing needs and have to "cram" ... when I open the Word, the posts, the FB life ... to read it, only to fall asleep half way through the intended scriptures.

Why am I sharing this "negative confession?"  Because I am not alone.  In the work-world, our living day-by-day world, the [not me!!] texting-instantly world, the FB world, I hear and see that others struggle with the same awkward gait ... who long to be that fine-tuned specimen of Christian maturity and "walk steady."

And I'm sharing this because of the common ground we share,  the ground of God's love -- our joy, hope and crown.  He knows our hearts, and, in spite of our busyness, He knows we love Him.

That gives me HOPE... forever and ever.  AMEN!!

THE GRINCH and INKEEPER'S DAUGHTER

As I've shared before, when I was 14, in October, 1959, my English teacher in Tacoma, handed me a book and told me she wanted me to memorize it, that I had a month.  So, I did.  And, as you would recognize, it was the book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".  It had been written only 2 years earlier, so wasn't well known then.  My teacher, Mrs. Andersen, wanted me to do it in the English classes and the drama classes, in particular. [I was also asked to do it -- and did it -- on a children's TV show, WHICH, in those days, was NOTHING like it is today, believe me.  All that occurred, for me, was introduction and a camera guy who stood in front of me, eating an apple,  and just doing what was necessary to have me shown on TV, but there was nobody, no words in front of me in case I'd freak out and forget them, no one paying attention.  Scary!!]   Anyhow, that's when it began.

Since then, in these 53 years, I have done it hundreds of times in many places.  Schools, churches, parties, rest homes, hospitals, assisted living groups, and many others.  About 30 years ago, Judith at Calvary Lutheran Church where I attended here in Omaha, and had done the Grinch often,  made a costume for me.  A cape that was brown, junky-looking cloth on one side, and Santa-y on the other side.  And an ugly brown hat at the beginning of the Grinch and changing to a Santa hat when flipping the cape. Have had it all these years and worn it every time.  Even took it to Uganda in case there would be a chance to do it there... and, yep, did it.

It has been a real blessing for me.

THEN, when my daughter was 5, so that would put me in the 38-years-ago range of time, a book was dropped into my lap about Christmas and our Lord's birth.  It is called "The Innkeeper's Daughter."  I loved it.  One of the main reasons it hit me is because the girl's attitude towards life was just like ME, and her way of looking and behaving was much as I did.  WELL, when Renae was in 3rd grade, and I was going to do the Grinch in her class, it was worked out that I could read/share this other story.  I did.

In the next year or so, I memorized it and began to do it with the Grinch.  Grinch first, Innkeeper's Daughter second... and that way I would leave the room with the seed of God planted in the hearts of kids.  And then I also began doing it any time, anywhere I did the Grinch.  I didn't offer an option; just said these were my stories.

Seed-planting was my goal.

One huge blessing:  in 1980, I was asked to do it at a classroom.  The teacher is someone I had met when I was in real estate.  So, I went to the elementary school.  In her class, I did both.  Now, in those days, it was still considered OK, and I'd done it several times, in various schools, BUT the principal could become upset and, basically, kick me out and nail the teacher.  I was a little nervous about that this particular time, but the teacher insisted and I went ahead with it.  WELL, the principal showed up just as I finished, and, basically, asked about it.  We told her.  She immediately contacted the school teachers and broke the afternoon into 2 full assembly meetings, 300 kids each, and I performed both stories.  It so blessed my heart to do it; I've never forgotten that afternoon.

This was a newspaper article in 1981 when I was doing it at a hospital for kids.  Pretty cool, huh?

Know you couldn't read it, but the title and photo are cool.

Since then, in the last few years, Protestant and Catholic schools have had me to them, but I can't do "Innkeeper's daughter" any more in public schools.

NOW, after 53 years, I think I'm done.  My memorization doesn't work quite as well as it used to.  I struggle a bit. Even after all these years of knowing both of them perfectly, I get stuck.  Dave, or someone, is there with the words, and will help, but if it happens more than once for each one, I'm annoyed. I don't want to have the listeners side-tracked while I'm suddenly losing my words.

Does it make me happy to stop?  Uh, Uh!!!  BUT, do I know I've blessed and made many laugh at my acting as the Grinch?  YEP!! And, do I know the Lord used me to plant lots and lots of "seed" in the hearts of hundreds and hundreds of people, from pre-school kids to folks in their 80s and 90s?  

Yes.  

And that gives me hope.