Wednesday, June
7, 2017
I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white
with age.
I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you. Isaiah 46:4(NLT)
I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you. Isaiah 46:4(NLT)
Certainly
God knew Isaiah would need to be “carried along” when his hair was white with
age. Even a prophet’s mind can wander
when you have many decades of memories swirling around in your noggin.
I met both
of the young ladies in the picture in school.
Most of you know the one on the right; we met in high school and married
50 years ago; more from her in a minute.
I also met
the lady on the left in school…it was in kindergarten! Patty O’Connor Thomas and her husband Mike grew
up in the same neighborhood where I lived, so we went to school in the same
classrooms, played in the same places, and walked to the same platform at
graduation. Pat and Mike are also United
Methodists and spend a good bit of time each year on mission trips. We grew up together, but they live in upstate
New York and we only keep in touch by Facebook.
Mike can’t resist taking a picture, and Pat thought the sign in Derry,
North Ireland was hilarious. Hmm; it
probably would’ve been hilarious before
my hair turned like Isaiah’s!
Back to the
other young lady; Elizabeth
(also a friend of mine on Facebook…and a pretty good cook and soulmate) shared
our date experience
from last week (yes, when you’re of a certain age and can identify with Pat’s
sign, anytime you leave the house together it’s officially a date, even if you’re
going to the store to pick up milk and toilet paper!). Well, here’s how our date went; I’ll let Elizabeth tell it from her Facebook
page:
Never a dull moment! I had a hair appointment today with my hairdresser
John a GREAT stylist by the way. When John took the cape off from
around my neck he said, “hum, Cato puts their labels on the outside”, then a
moment went by and he said, “huh you seams are on the outside too”, then after
another moment he said, “hey your blouse is on backwards”. We both started to laugh so loud I’m sure the
rest of the salon heard us. I told Rus
who was waiting for me outside and he had a good laugh. After leaving the salon we went to the mall
and I was in the restroom having a conversation with someone who was from
Queens, NY. When I said bye and was leaving
she grabbed my arm and leaned over and whispered in my ear, “your blouse is on
backwards”. When I told Rus he said he
was in the men’s department at Dillards and a man in a turban called him over
and pulled something off the back of his shirt and showed it to him. It was a new shirt and the tag was still
hanging on it. We’ll be 70 this year and
so far I think 70 years old is a dangerous age!!!
It’s common
to ask those who have lived a long time how they got there. Some could make the case for Pat and Mike or
Elizabeth and Russell that we all drank the same water. After all, the Native American name of the
little village we come from is Hauppauge, and it means “sweet water”.
But
whatever region of the world, or whatever water you’re drinking, there is one
formula for a long marriage and, among the ingredients for a successful
marriage are: sharing joyful time
together, learning to forgive, paying attention, laughing, and learning to love
by staying close to the Father. And,
when you reach a certain age, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check each other’s
clothing for tags and seams when you go out together! J
For You Today
Isaiah
had the roughest days of his life ahead of him when the Lord spoke words of
assurance that God would be with him and carry him along even when he was old
and weak. Whether you’ve got someone to
check your seams and tags and laugh with you, or not…He is always figuring out ways to have your back.
