Friday July 10 2015  EVERYDAY IS SATURDAY!

My husband is truly retired.  I am supposed to be truly retired but I have left over work to do so I don’t feel truly retired.  But one thing that is different, now that my husband isn’t going to work every day, every day is now Saturday.  Truly!  When I wake up without an alarm, look across the bed (before he went into the hospital) at him still sleeping, I think it must be Saturday.  Then I remember that it is not.  And then the really hard part is trying to remember what day of the week it really is.  I’ve yet to establish a routine of any sort.  Perhaps when that falls into place I’ll remember the day of the week.

Oh well, I like Saturdays!

It is good to have Dave home again.  He can’t do much because he must keep his leg elevated but it is nice to hear the background noise of him in the house.  I’ve discovered that a house is not a home.  It is the people in the house that make it feel like a home.  Having him gone for four days opened my eyes to how empty it must have felt with me gone.  However he did confess, that as usual, he always left for work early morning and worked late while I was gone.  He had so much work to accomplish before he retired and had to tie up a lot of loose ends of different contracts so he was under a lot of pressure at work and probably under less stress with me not around since he didn’t feel pressured to come home earlier.  Anyway, that’s the way I’ll think about it so I won’t feel so bad for being gone so long.  I will say IT IS GOOD TO BE HOME even if every day is Saturday.

Dave still has a long recovery ahead of him.  He was told today at the infectious disease place he went to for intravenous antibiotics that he will be coming longer than they originally told him.  The Doctor told him that it could be weeks before He is out of the woods.  He must go every day for several more days for the drugs and then will be reassessed as to what they plan for a course of treatment.  His leg, the source of the infection, still looks very bad.  But, he could walk today.  That is a good step (no pun intended) in the right direction.  It may take a while to get his full health and strength back but I am just so happy that he is feeling better and is coherent to what is going on around him.  It was not a pretty picture to see the kind of pain and condition he was in.  I am so thankful that he has made such progress the last five days.  I thank God every day for Dave’s continued healing.

Part of my Scripture reading this morning was in Psalms 92.  Here are the verses that spoke to my heart.  Read each line slowly and carefully out loud.  I love writing scripture longhand in my diary because it seems to take on a new and more understandable meaning.  When you must put in all the punctuation you realize that sometimes sentences can mean something entirely different when the punctuation is not emphasized.  Writing it out helps me see and understand that.  Here is the scripture:

Psalms 92:  12-15:

“The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,

He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.

They shall still bear fruit in old age;

They shall be fresh and flourishing,

To declare that the Lord is upright.

He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

 

I purposely made a new line for each end of punctuation.  Notice what kind of punctuation each line ends with and read it accordingly.  It is powerful.  As an older person in our society I listen more acutely when the scripture talks about the “old”.  There are some mighty awesome promises given to us old geezers!  I could go on and on about the different verses but I won’t take the time now.  Just really read these lines as punctuation dictates and realize that God is giving us promises in his Word about so many things.  I take these promises to heart.  I probably interpret it differently than a young person would because to me these promises are real.  Here is my interpretation of what it means to me.

“As I live righteously (following in the steps of Jesus) I will live and stay tall and strong, yet will still be able to bend to the winds of adversity and flourish, by again being tall and straight, when the winds pass.  I will have roots that will last a long lifetime and give shade and comfort to the weary as they pass by.  Because by feet are steadfast in the presence of the Lord I shall flourish in His presence and have a close intimacy with the Lord.  And even though I am old I will still be of service to God and bear fruit for His kingdom.  I will maintain a freshness and vitality of life that I will flourish and not let old age cause me to wilt, lose hope, or give up.  And while I flourish I will declare to others that the Lord is upright and give witness to others of who He is to me, that He is my rock and I know that there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

That is what that passage of scripture means to me.  And I hope it is true until the day I go to be with the Lord.  I desire to declare the glory of the Lord and the miracles He has done in my life.  Here is the poem I wrote this morning after reading the above scripture.  I just love the scripture!

 

YOUR WRITTEN WORD

By Kathleen Martens

July 10, 2015

 

Oh Lord, You are mighty

And I give my thanks to You.

You are higher than the mountains,

The whole world is in Your view.

 

I sing praises to Your name

For You have made me glad.

Your lovingkindness washes over me

More amazing than anything else I’ve had.

 

You speak that the righteous shall flourish

And grow like a cedar.

And when I am planted in Your house

I will know You are my leader.

 

And You say I will flourish in Your courts

And will bear fruit even when old.

And continue to be fresh and flourishing

For in Your scriptures these words are told.

 

And I will declare You are upright

For You are my rock and my tower.

In You there is no unrighteousness

For You are Holy and pure, my source of power.

 

Clothed in Your majesty, some day I will see

Your throne established from old.

For I believe Your written Word

The inspired Word You have told.

 

Thanks to all of you who got to the end of this blog tonight and for listening to an “old lady”* on a Saturday.  Oops!  It’s not Saturday, it is still Friday.

*Just so you know, I don’t feel old on the inside.  Just thought you might like to know.  Short blog tonight as I’m aiming for “old lady bed time”.  Didn’t make it though, because it is already 9:40.  But it’s an improvement over 3:00 or 3:30 a.m.  I think I am getting used to the two hour time change now.

One more thing:  I only last night let my neighbor ladies know that Dave was in the hospital (that was before He came home).  I am so blessed with wonderful neighbors.  We live in a country neighborhood and I just made a calculated guess, by mentally walking the neighborhood that we have 34 homes in this community.  Only homes, no businesses.  I think I know almost everyone one, at least a little, who live here.  There are several neighborhood functions that happen throughout the year which helps in knowing the neighbors.  Last night I had one neighbor that said she would mow for us.  Then today, my next door neighbor knocked on the door and asked if she could mow for us right then because she was going to do her yard too.  She has a riding lawn mower and that is a great help on a lawn like ours.  I accepted and the lawn is now mowed.  I thank God for our neighbors.  So if you are reading this blog Karen I want to say thanks again for your generosity of time and energy.  It is people like you that make our neighborhood so great!

And one last thing.  I just received an email from a lady I met on my journey.  She gave me her word of wisdom just before I was ready to publish this blog.  Her name is Robin and I met her in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.  This wisdom was given to her from her grandmother.  Robin’s email really blessed me.

Robin’s wisdom: “…only one life will soon be past,only whats done for Christ will last”.

Thank you Robin.  I love your wisdom.  Let me know if I can share more of your email with the public.

Goodnight everyone.  Thank you for your prayers.