The steps of a good man (or woman)

"My prayer for you in 2013", he said in an email, "is that you will read, reflect and write".

Hum.  I love to read, I am reflective and I certainly love to write.  This will be one time that Coulter Schmitt's prayer will be answered with no problem.

Except for the fact that I have become so used to being busy that I feel guilty when I sit down to do anything - much less read a book, think about it (unless you count the thinking I do when I am driving or walking) and I can't quite get my head around that I should actually spend time writing - something that gives me this much pleasure.

Am I a "workaholic"? No, but I do thrive on the idea presented in the verse that says "Whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it mightily as onto the Lord" (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

January presented many opportunities as did February which is just four days from being over.  However, I started reading A Good Man, by Mark Shriver.  Subtitled, Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver, it offers much insight into the Kennedy in-law who started the Peace Corps, Job Corps, Head Start  and helped his wife, Eunice, start the Special Olympics.  I finally  finished the book this morning.

My parents are not celebrities.  They loved God and each other - and their four children, 11 grandchildren and now 16 great grandchildren.  And yet as I read Mark Shriver's accounts of growing up and being loved by parents who loved God and each other and their children, etc. etc, etc., my mind could easily slip into the way my siblings and I have felt about them. 

When my dad died in 2009, his minister asked me what was the best thing that I knew about daddy and I said that I am his child.  Might have sounded a bit pompous, but I appreciated what both of my parents did - because they loved God, each other, and us - to help us become who we are.

Shriver said that after his dad died, just 19 months after their mother, he kept hearing that his dad was a good man.  He wanted to know why people thought that so he spent time reflecting on his life  - delving into his dad's history, reading what had been written, talking to people he had known, but most of all reflecting on his years as the son of this man.

And - he not only wanted to know why his father was viewed as good - he was also searching - for a way to be the same kind of man his father had been.

Which brings me back to my siblings and me.  If you ask any one of us, what part of your dad's legacy do you most appreciate I think you would get the same answer - he lived by faith!

As I read A Good Man, I kept thinking of a verse in Psalms -  "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. . .", (Psalm 37: 23a ).  In my mind, that verse means when we allow the Lord to order our steps (as did Sargent Shriver and Earl Huffingham), then we will be knows as "a good man" - ahem  - or woman!

 

My Top Ten. . .Reasons I love Valentines

I am hopeless. . .

I am hopelessly. . .

I am a hopelessly Romantic.

While some count the days til Christmas, I have been known to count the days til Valentine's Day.

Even when I haven't had a Valentine - I love the Hallmark cards, the stories of love found and yes, even love lost, and all the mushy, sentiments of the day.

This morning I find myself in a list mode - so here they are  - my top ten reasons that I love Valentine's Day. Some are memories and some are present day

10 - My very first Valentine - Earl Huffingham.  Daddy loved to give my sister, Cindy, and me valentines - candy from Cohen Brothers.  We knew his first valentine was our mother - but we also knew how much he loved us.

9 - My childhood valentines - from David Sparks to Gary Mincey to Bobby Drashin.  They are still special to me.

8 - My high school valentine - David Winkles - he got away - but we had a good time.

7 - My children's father - Ray Parker;  that's the best thing I can say about him - he is my children's father - and if you know my children, you know he did a good thing!

6 - The men who were in my life between 1982 and 2012 - including Rich Suhey who was a dear and who had so much to do with making me who I am today.

Enough about the past.

5 - The strong bond of friendship that I share with many - so many that I hate to start naming them - but from my mother to my sister and sisters in law to daughters, aunts, cousins - and a long list of women that have been such a blessing in my life!

4 - Tray Parker - who is neither my first nor my last valentine, but such an unexpected blessing, who with lots of love and prayer has fought his way to the top.  My third child and only son has always known the way to this mother's heart.

3 - The valentine on my refrigerator that says "I love you, Grandma" that came the day some of my grandchildren made valentine cookies in my garage.

2 - The fact that I have no trouble deleting all those E-Harmony, Match.com, Christian Mingle emails that clutter my in-box.

1 - Coulter Schmitt!  What a privilege and honor it is to be his sweetheart! 

Happy Valentine's Day - 2013

OOPS - almost forgot my brothers - Jonathan and Lester - they are also very, very special to me!

A blessed Lent???

"You're never fully dressed without a smile. . .". Those words from a song of that same name as heard in Annie, seem like an odd way to start a blog on Ash Wednesday.

I also considered the answer from my daughter-in-law when asked what she used to make herself beautiful and she said the basics – soap and water and a smile.

Thoughts about smiles came to my mind when I read a Lenten message by the Rt. Reverend S. Johnson Howard, 8th Bishop of the Diocese of Florida.

Bishop Howard said Ash Wednesday should make us smile!

When you consider that I have been "churched" since birth – and have never had a time that I was not involved in worship and service in a local church, you may be surprised to read that I am a relatively new participant in the holy day of observation known as Ash Wednesday.

I believe my first Ash Wednesday experience was a mere 16 years ago when I attended a service at the Church of the Assumption with Rich Suhey. To my recollection, I don't believe I have missed an Ash Wednesday service since that one.

Prior to that, if you had asked me about Ash Wednesday I would have known nothing. I would have probably just said it's the beginning of a time for repentance, a time when people give up something they really enjoy as a sign of their repentant heart.

I would have thought it to be a bleak, dismal and sad experience and that the dark smudge on one's forehead represented all of that person's sin,

I now understand that repentance is not the first thing. God's Grace is.

In Bishop Howard's words, "when we recognize that Grace, it is the first step to our repentance which leads us to conversion and turning of our hearts toward God."

Which means the important thing about Ash Wednesday and about this Lenten Season should not be the dark smudge on our foreheads, but the smile on our faces... and the joy in our hearts on account of Him who died for us and rose again.

 

Maybe that's why some say "Have a blessed Lent". It's not about how bad we've been – instead it is about how good God is.

And I KNOW the author

"Birds of a feather, flock together".

That statement is very true.  At least when it comes to me and my friends - because many of them are also writers. 

I have written before about my friend, Deborah Fairchild Hansen.  She is a wonderful writer and in our five year friendship, I have learned so much from her - not to mention the fact that she has been one of my greatest encouragers when I try to imagine myself as a writer.

Deb's latest offering into the world of words (at least the one that is now a  published manuscript) is Nothing to Complain About an account of her endeavoring to overcome "complaining". 

A few weeks ago, my friend Jessica, posted a remark about that book on her Facebook page.  You can imagine my excitement as I read that Jessica had ordered it.  I was quick to send her a Facebook message. 

I know the author! 

And I've been working on creating the opportunity for them to meet.

This week I had coffee with Virginia Pillsbury (she's a contributing editor for Beson4). I had recently read a great story about her mother.

It was as if I could hear her voice.

After all - I know the author.

And then there's my friend, Dorothy Fletcher and when I read Growing Up Jacksonville: A 50s and 60s River City Childhood  -  it was as if  I could hear her voice

Or how about - Tuck Eudy, who writes for The Upper Room.  His words were in the February 1 edition. 

A mutual friend remarked that as he read Tuck's words that day it was as if he could hear Tuck's nice voice, telling the story.

Again - we know the author.

You know what else - when I read the Bible - it's as if I can hear God's voice -- maybe not audibly.  In fact, I usually hear that in my own voice - or someone I've heard read that passage. Sometimes I even hear my granddaddy Nesmith's voice reading the Scripture.

After all, he knew that author - and so do I!