It's all good

It was cookie making at grandma's house.  Five of my seven grandchildren gathered in my garage and with the help of their mothers, we rolled and cut Pillsbury "Slice and Bake" cookies, baked and decorated them.  It has become a family tradition.

In the meantime their daddies were rearranging my some of my furniture getting my house ready for what I keep calling my new normal.

I told my children how I feel like I am the heroine in one of the books I love to read.  Books by Dorothea Benton Frank, Karen Kingsbury, Jan Karon.

"It's so exciting", I told them.

And then they all left.

And here I was - by myself.

Oh my.

They are all grown up.

I thought back to our first Christmas as a single mom and three children and felt a tear run down my cheek.  How in the world did we ever survive?

And so I went to bed - sad.

I woke up sad.

I thought I cannot stay sad. I read the Upper Room, still sad;  I looked at Facebook, the newspaper; I made the bed and started to get ready to go to work. Still sad. 

Gotta get on top of this.  I reread the Upper Room, including the suggested Scripture.  At the top of the page were these words: Five Days of Hope by Max Lucado.

Hum I needed some hope. . . not something that is a normal need for me.

Without quoting the whole devotional, I can tell you Lucado told of meeting a young waitress who was very sad.  It was Christmas and her parents had just divorced for the second time.  He said he wished he had spoken words of encouragement to her.  He had not.  But he said that if he had told her what he should have said (that sounds like me) he would have told her that she was going to get through this rough time and he believed God will use this mess for good.  He cited the Biblical story of Joseph.

"In God's hands intended evil becomes eventual good".

Hum

When my first marriage ended in 1982, I was absolutely bereft.  I could not for the life of me see how any of that pain was ever going to be something good. 

However... as I think back over the 31 Christmases since then, I remember the time my children played Santa Claus and put my presents under the tree, a waffle iron, a train, a watch, some pretty sweaters . . ..the announcement of a new grandchild, the joy of three more grandchildren that came in one fell swoop and how I love to see any of them in a program at church or school - singing, dancing, playing the flute.

Let me be clear - I don't for one minute think that my children's father had intentions of evil.  I just think that what was supposed to be a marriage that lasted a lifetime got messed up because of evil.

And I'm pretty sure that if Rebecca, Renee and Tray were adding their thoughts to what I am writing they would all say --

"In God's hands intended evil becomes eventual good".

Thanks be to God -- and Merry Christmas!






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