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Wednesday December 23 2015 SO WE WOULD LIVE
Wednesday December 23 2015 SO WE WOULD LIVE
SO WE WOULD LIVE
By Kathleen Martens
December 23, 2015
The night is calling
Come and rest
Tomorrow is full,
You need your zest.
Christmas Eve
With family near
To celebrate Jesus.
His story hear.
An innocent lamb
Born to die
Yet a time of rejoicing
And we know why.
An innocent babe
Born to save.
Yet the world
Does not rave.
Take not lightly
The celebration of love
For it’s what he brought
From heaven above.
He brought Love enough
To save all men
From their evil
And all their sin.
So take time
To praise His glory,
And take time
To share His story.
Rest in peace,
The gift He gives
Born to die
So we would live.
A day at home finishing up little things here and there. And then the phone call to Medicare about a discrepancy in my insurance coverage. Go figure, it is the government, how can there be a discrepancy? Only one of us is always right and it isn’t me. Oh well, the alternative of being on Medicare is not what I desire, being that the only way out of it is to either be a congressman, a senator, President of the United States or to just be dead. A phone call that lasted over two hours with absolutely nothing accomplished. But…I’m still alive and that is a good thing (anyway it is for me).
Sounded like a little bit of griping up there after a poem of peace and joy. I didn’t really mean it as such. Just the facts ma’am, just the facts.
So now I will turn myself toward the peace and joy I so love and look forward to celebrating Jesus’ birth as we attend our Christmas Eve service tomorrow evening and spend the day with our family. I pray that all who read this will also have a day of peace and joy and time with those you love.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AGAIN! GOD BLESS YOU.
Tuesday December 22 2015 MY FAVORITE KIND OF SHOPPING SPREE
Tuesday December 22 2015 MY FAVORITE KIND OF SHOPPING SPREE
Well, things went a little differently today than I had expected. Dave and I accomplished some shopping for someone else but I didn’t have the time to finish my last Christmas project as I had expected (and planned) to do. But, tomorrow is another day! It will be first on my agenda. I can’t say what it is because it too is a surprise.
So, I am home now. But oh, was my afternoon wonderful. A couple of days ago I was going through my purse and found a gift card for $50 that my husband had given me about four years ago as a Christmas gift for the Barnes and Noble Store. I purposely looked for my gift card after he told me that Barnes and Noble is struggling in the market place due to all the E-Books. I started wondering if the local store would be closing and then I wouldn’t have a chance to use my gift. AND I CERTAINLY DIDN’T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN! I asked Dave if he would go shopping with me after we finished the shopping venture for the mysterious person mentioned above. He said yes.
Normally, my husband is about the most patient husband in the world. He waits at church until after I am through talking and ministering to others. He is so patient with me getting ready to go places for which there is no mandatory arrival time. He normally doesn’t rush me at all EXCEPT for two circumstances. One, he does not like to be late anywhere (but especially to church), and two, HE DOES NOT LIKE TO SHOP (or at least shop with me). Well, today he gave me the greatest gift ever. We went to Barnes and Nobles, he told me to go and have a good time shopping, and he would just be doing his own thing. So that is what we did. We only met once when he told me he found the books I was looking for and pointed me to the shelf where they were housed. He went on his way and never once suggested it was time to leave or asked if I was finished, or…just fill in the blanks. Nope. He sat at a table overlooking the store and just watched what was going on. Finally I spotted him, brought all my titles up so he could see them, showed him the art supplies I wanted and discussed what I would buy with my gift certificate. Well, the art supplies were $40 so I decided I wouldn’t get them because I wanted the books more. I ended up with five used books, all non-fiction and two new books also non-fiction. I did find some fiction I liked so I looked them up on my iPhone to see if the library had them. I ordered them from the library rather than purchasing them. Very rarely do I ever buy fiction books, especially if I can check them out for free from the library. I suppose that also cuts into the bottom line dollar of the store.
After I picked out my selection of books Dave included the art supplies and said they were a Christmas present from him. I have lived 42 years with this wonderful man and I believe I am the most fortunate wife in the world. Not because he gives me “THINGS”, but because he has truly given his heart to me. I have never known anyone as sweet and gentle as the man that God picked out for me.
The highlight of my findings today was a book by A.W. Tozer published originally in 1981 and re-released in 2015. Tozer died in 1963. He was such a prolific writer that most of his books were published after his death and are still being compiled with new titles being released. The one I purchased today is “EVENINGS WITH TOZER, DAILY DEVOTIONAL READINGS”, compiled by Gerald B. Smith. Just think, one new page every day from one of my favorite authors who has been dead for over 50 years. His books are still just as pertinent today as they would have been 50 years ago or even 50 years into the future. What he wrote about is timeless. I consider this book like a desert. A little bit of something rich for every single day of next year which will satisfy my body, soul, and intellect. I am looking forward to it with such anticipation. But I shan’t read ahead! I relish the fact that I will enjoy a bit of it each day! Just in case you don’t know it, or understand why I speak of books the way I do, to me they are like delectable treats to be savored slowly and with great pleasure, like a fine piece of chocolate. Oh how sad that I can no longer partake of chocolate, but oh what joy that books are still on my diet, and I can devour all that I desire. They are food for thought. And I do enjoy thinking!
Before we left the store I asked Dave if he wanted to buy a book. Dave just never spends any money on himself (he sounds like a saint doesn’t he ladies) and after thinking about if for amount 3 seconds he said yes, he wanted to buy the book I put back. I looked at him suspiciously and questioned whether or not he was buying it for me because he knew I had wanted it. No, he told me, he really did want to read it himself. He went back in line and purchased the book for himself. The first thing he did when we arrived home was to quickly take it out of the bag and squirrel it away in his safe zone. He knew if he left it in the bag he would probably never see it again. The title he chose was, “VOICE OF A PROPHET, WHO SPEAKS FOR GOD?” by A.W. Tozer, compiled and edited by James L. Snyder, published in 2014. Hmmm…do you think I might read that one too? Can’t wait!
THE PERFECT BOOK
By Kathleen Martens
December 22, 2015
Words, words, and more words
Written in the pages of books.
How do you pick the right one?
By its thickness or how it looks?
Or is it by how it feels
When you hold it in your hand?
Or is it the title
That gives the command?
How do I choose
A book that delights,
That will give great pleasure
Night after night?
How do I know
That the words are true
And will penetrate my heart
With thoughts that are new?
Do I search forever,
Or is it easy to find
The perfect book,
Just the right kind?
For me there is something
That just grabs my heart
And tells me quietly
Here is the book to start!
And I also confess
I don’t want a dozer.
And I know it won’t be…
If the author is Tozer.
I guess you can tell I enjoy reading Tozer.
The howling wind outside the blackness of my windows is making such sounds as I have never heard. We have huge leafless trees surrounding our house and I think they must be praising God very loudly right now. The racket is unbelievable and it comes in through the thick walls of our brick home. I actually thought I heard a crowd of people making noise outside and then I realized it was all the branches knocking their limbs together. Sometimes it is a bit scary. Those trees could do a lot of damage if one came crashing down on the roof. I pray to God for protection!
And I wish you a Merry Christmas. Tomorrow is the eve of Christmas Eve! Enjoy this year, there may never be another one like it!
Monday December 14 2015 BEST LAID PLANS
Monday December 14 2015 BEST LAID PLANS
Do you ever feel that the more you do the more behind you become? It especially feels that way the month of December. For some reason I always fantasize that December will be peaceful and slow, everything accomplished by October, the tree up the Friday after Thanksgiving, and nothing left to do except go to parties and watch Christmas movies.
Once upon a time it was that way. I kid you not. But that was way back when…before I owned my own business. And somehow I am just hoping that it will be that way again. When? I do not know. I think in order for it to happen I would need to start in March. The surprising thing is, we don’t even do that much anymore in the way of decorating, tree, shopping, or party going. It just seems to take longer to live.
This reminiscing reminds me of a conversation I had with my newly retired neighbor about 20 or more years ago when he retired from his University of Wisconsin position as a German Professor. Anne and Hank lived next door when we moved in. Original builders of their home where they lived until both of them died in their living room, lying in a hospital bed, a few years apart. When Hank retired I was so envious of all his time and freedom. I thought it would never come for me. Oh how wrong I was. And the scary part is how fast it came. I asked Hank what he did with all his time. He looked at me in a jovial way and said, oh you will find out when you are older, it just takes a lot longer to do the same things so you don’t really have that much extra time after all. Oh my goodness, how right he was! In order not to frighten the younger generation (if any are reading this blog) I will refrain from expounding on exactly what he meant. I will just say to you, when it comes, you know what I mean. And it is not just that it takes longer, but I find that I now have more “things” that need taking care of. Oh well, it is sort of like you really don’t understand how it feels to have a baby until you have one. Then you become the expert!
Well, this day just up and danced away from me. I still can’t (or won’t) say what I did for most of the day so as not to ruin my surprise. My day is gone now and I have fifteen minutes before I must walk out the door for our Monday rendezvous. So I will wish all of you well and see what poem I can write in these few moments.
SCATTERED MOMENTS
By Kathleen Martens
December 14, 2015
Scattered moments, here and there
I wish I could collect each one.
All the accumulation of lost time
As between the cracks they fall.
Driving here and driving there
Then waiting for your turn.
And those precious seconds tick by
And never can they be re-earned.
Such a commodity is our time
And we must learn to spend it wisely.
Without becoming too selfish to give
For then our hours are miserly.
Give from the heart the gifts you have
Making this world a better place.
Just make certain you set aside a spell
That you can give without haste.
Each hour you give will come back to you
In abundance of love from others.
Use each hour with great purpose
That your heart will never be smothered.
Time well spent brings satisfaction
To know you have done your best.
Live each day to your fullest.
Let that be your quest.
Well, I guess that sums this blog up. It took seven minutes to write the above poem. Will publish but this blog it is not proofed as of yet. Oh well, NO TIME.
Good night and God bless you!
Visions of Poetry 