Friday, July 1, 2016

June Lessons and Five Blessings

We ended a season of birthdays and celebrations in June in our family. May 8 begins with my son-in-law's birthday and then we have Elissa, Malia and the twins' birthdays with Mother's Day and Father's Day thrown in by the time June ends.

When birthdays roll around, I always think about the blessing it is to have that person in our family. Once we were a family of two; now, we are so much more. A birthday is affirmation of the family we are becoming.

Once, Jim and I attended his uncle's funeral who had lived to be a fair age. During the eulogy it was remarked that because his uncle lived, 91 DESCENDANTS EXISTED. 91!!! He had seven children, who had children, who had children and so on. I believe he already had some great-great grandchildren when he passed.

Obviously, we are nowhere as fruitful a bunch, but because Jim and I chose to live life together, there are now 5 people living who did not exist before. What an awesome and sobering thought!




Birthdays bring home the idea of legacy. I'm not doing well in the area of financial legacy; but can I leave a rich spiritual legacy?

Is it just me, or when you become 60, do you ponder these things more? What if we all started life determined to leave a wonderful legacy behind when we leave this world?

Speaking of pondering, here are some wonderful thoughts shared by awesome writers this month:

Shelly Miller on self-injuring … and why we drown ourselves in busyness


What do you really want? Susan Shipe gets to the heart of the matter.

Kat Bouska, over at Writer's Workshop, shared this awesome quote:

"You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page" Jodi Picoult

Joanne Viola talked about early morning prayer and included this great thought-provoking quote:

“Prayer is not a check request asking for things from God. It is a deposit slip – a way of depositing God’s character into our bankrupt souls.”– Dutch Sheets

Was it coincidence during June I saw writers encouraging me to hang in there and fight?

Carlie Lake shared some encouraging quotes and scriptures on spiritual warfare. Quotes like this:


Life is war. And the main battles are fought at the level of desires, not deeds. (John Piper)

Sharon Sharing God reminded me soldiers don't retire:

A soldier who is battle-ready never lays down his weapons. And after a battle is won, he remains on alert.


But what if you feel weak? Joanne Viola also reminded me of this lovely translation of 2 Corinthians 12:9:


“Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT)


So press on, don't give up, trusting in His grace! 


What lessons did you learn in June?


~~~


I also make it a regular practice to share on Fridays 5 blessings I've experienced in the last week and then I link up with the wonderful community at Friday's Fave Five hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Since this post is already so wordy, let me sum them up briefly:

1. The blessing of church family - we had a little celebration for our Pastor's wife's birthday Sunday night. Can I just say how much I am enjoying my new friends - as well as my old friends - at church?

2. It's a long story, but I was nervous about leading worship Sunday night, however, it went beautifully. God is so gracious!

3. A short week at work preparing for my stay-cation went smoothly and I felt good about leaving for a week.

4. Fresh Bing cherries!

5. I have today, and all of next week off! And there is a break in the extremely hot weather we've been having. So thankful!

What good things happened for you this week?

~~~

I'm also linking this post with my friends at the Grace and Truth community at Arabah Joy.

9 comments:

  1. How nice to have a whole week off! Your pastor's wife's birthday celebration sounds fun. Good thoughts about legacies.

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  2. you had quite a couple of months of celebrations! I loved your thoughts on the wholelegacy thing. I definitely hope my husband and I leave a lasting spiritual legacy for our daughters and their ( hopefully!) future families.

    My husband's small group JUST this week wrapped up their year and book on Intercessory prayer by Dutch Sheets. I had never heard of that author before.

    and i love the Jodi Picoult quote...good one!

    Happy Independence day and enjoy the weekend!

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  3. Glad all those writings and quotes spoke to your needs. May and June was blessed with celebrations of your family. Good times. Hope you have a great 4th of July weekend.

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  4. I think as we get older we start thinking of things like you mentioned. A very dear friend passed this week from cancer. I didn't realize the end was that close since hadn't been around her for a bit since we moved, but it has really affected me and made me think. Personally, I think you are leaving and making a great spiritual legacy, that is the only one that matters.

    Betty

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  5. Yep ... the cherries red and ripe have been the best ever!

    Enjoy!

    ;-}

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  6. Enjoyed reading your post. Family is so important but also how we interact with others. At my MIL's funeral earlier this year our extended family were gathered and it was so wonderful to hear the Priest acknowledge what an effect Maureen had had on them. My husband has 7 siblings, all married and all but one with children and now some grandchildren and all of them are decent people. A lot of that is due to Maureen's faith and the values she passed on to us all. I hope I can do half as good a job with my own offspring and their children.

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  7. Enjoy your week off and have a happy 4th of July!

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  8. We've had the most delicious bing cherries this past week too! Yummy. Love the thoughts about family and legacy at the beginning of the post. Happy 4th of July!

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  9. Hi, Jerralea! I so enjoyed your thoughts and ponderings. I gleaned wisdom on some specific things I felt I needed to hear in your post ♥ And wow, what wise and wonderful thoughts on leaving a legacy and the importance of a life in creating a heritage of family from two people. Wow, 91 descendants! That's amazing☺

    I also enjoyed hearing your blessings of your week. How blessed a church family is, and I'm so glad too that your worship leading went well!!

    Hope you enjoy your time off and relax and enjoy it, and hope you have a wonderful July 4th time with your family today!

    Blessings and hugs,
    Jazzmin

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