gramma

Genevieve Maria Murphy

Grandma

July 4,1913-October 5,2008

  To everything there is a season,

      A time for every purpose under heaven:
       A time to be born,
And a time to die;
Ecclesiates 3:1-2

A grandmother's prayers on graduation

Elliot, my first grandson, dearly loved is graduating from high school on Wednesday the 21st.  All glory to God.  God knew him in his mother's womb and He called him by name.  We all find our beginnings alike, God blesses some with intellect, others with graces, some with artististic abilities, but each one the Lord has made unique.  Elliot is graced with a good mind, a splendid sense of humor, a compassionate heart.  Most people when conveying their congratulations on the new graduate wish them good success, a good life.  What would my wish be for Elliot?  I'd wish for him to KNOW God, to aknowledge Him for every good and perfect gift He has given him, to become a strong young man of God.. Looking to the Lord for his every provision, for a career, a job, a family.. That he'd grow in God's graces to be highly ethical and moral, to love the Lord God with his whole heart, mind and spirit.  That Elliot would walk the straight and narrow, knowing that this world is not our home, not our eternity.. That we are only sojourners here passing along.. and finally i would hope and expect that Elliot would not be despised for his youth  but be an example (pattern) for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12)

Sounds like a tall order?  Fortunately for us, it is God all the while working within us to accomplish His purposes, we just have to be the willing vessle..

Vaya con Dios Elliot..

Better off?....not

Was watching a game show and the question was how many americans think kids have it better then they did? 

quite a number agreed with that in the poll..although, i disagree with it.  Maybe if you qualified the question with a factor such as financially, happier, smarter etc... But to say they are better off i can't agree.  while growing up, i had the usual child and teen angst; such as..who didn't like me, who was gonna kick my butt...who would come  to my party, would i be chosen last again.. i had a constant in my life.  my parents were together and were a united front for us kids. they didn't fight amongst themselves, we were poor, but we got by.. i never realized back then how important that was..it was more common for parents to be together then it was for them to be  apart. Unfortunately, my children didn't have that stability and they made it, but what wounds still remain? just thinking in space..

Musing~

earlier i was watching a Cold Case that i had dvr'd while we were on vacation.  it was about an amish girl who had gone to the city basically to decide if she wanted to commit to the amish way of life or make a new start in the city leaving old ways behind.  it had me in tears as i identified with the turning away from all that was sacred and jumping into a lifestyle that "glittered".  she was murdered before she could make her way back home. i was thinking of all the people i knew who have been lured to the "greener" grass next door and how deceived they were and blinded. that while with their eyes the grass was green and there was much light, yet underneath it all was merely rotting decay as you peeled away the artificial light and the artificial sun.. the only true Son is the creator of heaven and earth.. He is the truth and the only one that will set a person free.  i struggle at times and lapse, looking with shaded glasses.. in my case there is noone to blame but my own earthly flesh.

a good reminder that i have a part to own up to:

How may I know I'm elect?

First, by the Word of God having come in divine power to the soul so that my self-complacency is shattered and my self-righteousness is renounced.

Second, by the Holy Spirit convicting me of my woeful, guilty, and lost condition.

Third, by having had revealed to me the suitability and sufficiency of Christ to meet my desperate case and by a divinely given faith causing me to lay hold of and rest upon Him as my only hope.

Fourth, by the marks of the new nature within me - a love for God; an appetite for spiritual things; a longing for holiness; a seeking after conformity to Christ.

Fifth, by the resistance which the new nature makes to the old, causing me to hate sin and loathe myself for it.

Sixth, by avoiding everything which is condemned by God's Word and by sincerely repenting of and humbly confessing every transgression. Failure at this point will surely bring a dark cloud over our assurance causing the Spirit to withhold His witness.

Seventh, by giving all diligence to cultivate the Christian graces and using all diligence to this end.

Thus the knowledge of election is cumulative."

A. W. Pink

Someday.. i am going to take a journey solely for me. go where i want to go, do what i want to do, stop, look, breathe in all that is around me. while its fun to share adventures, i need to go alone. to stop at the top of the mountain and spend as much time as i want just to take it all in.. to spend time meditating on God's creativity and the wonders of His hand. to sit on the banks of the river and watch driftwood float by. to stop at each and every flea market that my spirit says stop. just to sit and chat awhile with whoever comes along. i suppose though that i would feel the need to hurry home and take up my cross. and do my thing. that thing that revolves around other's needs.  i've almost put that whispering to dead. almost.  smile.  almost.  once in awhile i remember a time that i did as i wanted. 

listened to a lot of jack johnson a little mark knopfler some santana on our trip and a book by sidney sheldon.  i would've swore he was a woman if i hadn't looked him up online.  the man is odd. and writes rather strange.  i think it was a glorified romance novel. (if i was reading it rather then listening i would've immediately skipped half the book)

oh back to what i was thinking. i was meditating on being content in all things. as paul wrote in Phillipians~

4:11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

and i was thinking about the various trials i have had in my life and how they differ from the trials of sisters i have on holy ground, yet no matter what, we are called to be content.  how difficult is this?  it's a process like any other character building lesson.  i think i am finally on the mark, yet that whispering will say content or resigned?

i say the whisperer is not my friend. what say you?

so as i read back over what i have written, i see that only i may actually understand what i have written. no problem~ as i have also taken a mallet to that wicked whisperer perfection and cracked her firmly on the head.