Sixty-Something

The average life expectancy in the US is 78.7 years, having increased from a century ago of 51.5.  The demographics vary.  If you live in Hawaii, the average age increases to over eighty.  If you live in the deep South, such as Mississippi, it decreases to 73.9 years.  Race and gender effect the averages, too, and statically women average outliving men by about five years.  

When I started this blog, I was fifty-eight. I was counting down or should I say "up" to sixty.  It seems I slept a few nights and turned around and now I'm sixty-two, marching toward sixty-three. I have no idea how many years I will have but I want to live them well.  My Mom is ninety-nine, but my sister only lived to fifty-eight, my late husband to fifty-four, my dad to sixty-four, and my oldest brother to sixty-three.  That makes me take account of how I have spent my 62 years and how I will spend those precious days I have left. I realize each is a gift from God.  

None of us knows how many years we get to walk this earth.  It makes me think of a saying, "we don't get to choose when and how we die, but we do get to choose how we live.

Last week, I chose to spend a brief bit of my time shopping an estate sale.  That sale visit led to this post. It was the second day of the sale when normally most things are gone. Thousands of dollars of things had already been sold yet thousands of things remained.  I realized their previous owner had spent much of their time acquiring stuff.  It made me feel sad and the sheer amount of things made me really think about what is important to me.  I took pics of a little that remained but there were several more tables of glass plus tons of other types of collectables (beyond what is posted here.)

I've spent times in my life acquiring stuff too, just not to this degree.  When I die,  I'd hope the things that live on for my family aren't too much of the above.  Father, help me to write this as a prayer to You.  Help me live these things out in my life that my family may be left with these memories:

1. That I loved God and His Word
2. That I loved them
3. That I was a faithful daughter, wife, mom, sister, friend, grandmother
4. That I loved life and enjoyed it
5. That I invested in people, more than stuff, and cared, truly cared, about them
6. That I out grew some of my idiosyncrasies and became more Christ-like yearly
7. That I had a heart filled with thanksgiving (I write this one especially as a prayer)

Gal 5:22-23  But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

John 13:34  So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other

..

The New Season

It's been almost ten years since I embarked on a new season called widowhood.  I was fifty-two when the unwanted journey began. Instantly I felt old, afraid, and alone.  The previous tweny-four years of my life had been spent attempting to keep our daughter alive with never a thought of someone else in our family succumbing to poor health.  Then one knot found under my husband's arm ended our known life and sent us spiraling into an unexpected battle against Melanoma...a battle we lost in August of 2003.   In a sense,  I completed that battle and entered another one....widowhood.  The grief was hard and there were days I thought I couldn't keep living.   I'd longed to be a wife and mother and grandmother but the widowhood club was not one I'd ever expected to join...at least not in my fifties. I made mistakes in my quest for healing but  gradually I learned to accept my new role and flourish in it.  Singleness was not what I'd expected but it was what I had.

This fall will mark the tenth year anniversary of that club entrance.  As the anniversary approaches, I must share that I've learned a lot.  I am now happily remarried and wear the title 'wife' again but I will always be a widow who has remarried.  The pain and lessons learned are woven into this tapestry called life.

Fun Times

 I love taking my grandchildren to garage sales.  They all seem to enjoy it. They can shop with quarters and dimes and have found many treasures!  Yesterday I had all four boys with me...I stopped at one sale.  The seven year old purchased a book, the five year old found a robo dog for fifty cents, and the three year old found a stuffed toy for a quarter.(most stuff animals wash beautifully) The picture is of the five year old watching TV with Robo dog laying on a pillow.  He also asked for a leash for his dog...so the dog wouldn't run off so the white thing is a ribbon leash!  Later we built a dog house out of boxes for robo dog and a bed for the stuffed animal.  By the way, robo dog dances and makes sounds when you rub his head or tickle him under the neck....two quarters well spent and a fun afternoon of memories.

Brokenness

One of my dearest friends visited today and we talked about many things as we always do. Among them we discussed brokenness. My friend is a professional story teller and collects poems and stories to use in her speaking. She shared a beautiful poem about the master searching for a vessel to use...many vessels clamored to be the one he chose. The golden candlesticks told Him of their beauty and purity and how they could shine for Him. The silver ones told Him how stately they were and what great things they could do. A brass vessel clamored loudly of his worth to serve, a crystal vessel told of his beauty and uses...a wooden one spoke too.....but the master passed each without saying a word....then he reached down and gently picked up a broken clay pot which had no hope of ever serving again and it was that broken clay pot that he chose.  It's in our brokenness that we learn to cling to Him for dear life and it is there that He restores us and makes us useful for Him....without Him, we're just like that broken vessel. Do you feel useless like the broken pot?  Has your life been shattered by loss or wrong choices?  It's you he wants to restore. It's you that He can use to do His mightiest works because brokenness humbles our heart. Cling to Him, vessel of clay.  Let Him Restore and mend your heart because He makes all things new.  Thank you, Ginger, for coming to see me.  God gave me a precious treasure when he gave me your friendship thirty-four years ago!
For those who are interested, the poem can be found at http://www.ftmagic.com/vessel.html

Memory

Don't you just hate it when you're hunting your cell phone and can't find it?  Maybe its never happened to you but a number of times I've been getting ready to leave the house and couldn't find my phone.  I've hunted everywhere only to realize, OPPPS, I'm talking on it!  Now that is a strange feeling.  Or in my recent move, I carefully put like-things together and had a plan for packing them so I could easily find them after the move.  I'm still hunting them.  I can't remember what my plan was....I'm sure it made sense at the time.
      My memory may fail but I'm so thankful that there is ONE who will never forget me and loves me with an Everlasting Love.  I invited Him into my heart many years ago and even though He's cast my sins as far as the East is from the West and remembers them no more, I'm always on his mind....as He cares for me.  THANK YOU LORD!
      

Change

     I've seen a lot of changes in my fifty-five plus years....as have you...some of it has been fantastic but much of it not has been bad.  The fact that I can publish my thoughts into cyber space for anyone to read is unbelievable and I confess that computers are much better than typewriters. E-mail is quite nice too and certainly faster and cheaper than snail mail.
     Yes, lots of things have changed but just as I look at my reflection in a 5X magnifying mirror so I can see what I really look like, I need to follow God word to live the abundant life.  Sadly our nation has gotten away from many of God's principles and has started down a path that will lead to disaster.  When I grew up, my grade school teachers started the day by having each child recite a scripture..this was public school...not private. Back then, what God said was wrong was considered wrong by the majority of people. Today things are changing rapidly and our country is resorting to doing that which is right in man's eyes.
   Our founding father's were not agnostic as some say.  The majority based their lives and the constitution they signed on God's Word.  If you want to check them out, you can.
http://www.reclaimoklahoma.org/FaithofourFoundingFathers.htm
 

Mimi's Chocolate Chip Cookies

I guess I could say this is my signature dish since I don't cook much anymore.  I almost always have this dough in my ref so I can bake up a batch of these scrumptious cookies when I want.  They're easy and get rave reviews from my family and friends.  Since  my grandkids don't like pecans, I don't put the nuts into the dough. I add them on top if I"m fixing a batch for someone else.  The above are for my Sunday School Class. 

Mimi's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar(I use C&H)
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
21/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 16 oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips

I make these in my food processor.  I toss in the sugars and butter first.  (soften the butter by placing it on a plate and microwaving for about 25 seconds...just enough to soften it a little unless you are organized and plan ahead and let it soften first)  I cube the butter up and toss it with the sugars.  I process and toss in two eggs and the rest of the ingredients, except of course the chocolate chips. Make certain all the butter is mixed in.  Stir in the chocolate chips after you're done processing.   NOW VERY IMPORTANT!.....they will not be nearly as good if you cook them now.  I always put the dough in the refrigerator and let it get good and cold.  It will harden up when the butter is cold and will bake up much chewier.  If I'm really wanting cookies, I'll put the dough in the freezer for awhile.  Then when I'm ready to cook the cookies, I take a tsp of dough and roll it into a ping pong ball sized roll(don't press them down) and place them on the cookie sheet...I use an insulated cookie sheet.  I place them in a 350 degree oven and bake til the edges start to brown a little....the middle will still be soft looking and light colored.   This part you'll have to learn on your own.  I've had four different ovens in the years that I've baked these....some were done in 111/2 minutes but the oven I use now, it takes 15 mins.  Why this oven takes so long, i'll never know....but once you learn what time it takes to make them perfect, set your timer each time and you'll have perfect chewy cookies.  If you prefer a crunchy cookie, bake until it is brown in the middle.  Sometimes I double this recipe because my grandsons love to have these....they come over and it's easy to bake them fresh cookies. I'll keep this dough for a week or two and it's still good.  Sometimes I'll only bake five or six cookies if it's just for me.   ENJOY!