Be Ye Kind

Robertice Hobbs
better known as Dear

This past week as I counted my blessings and enjoyed being with some of them, I was mindful of one the greatest blessings in my life. Maybe it was the chocolate pie or cooking and cleaning with her granddaughter, but my mind went several times to my husband’s wonderful grandmother.

My daughter playing on the blue
floor while Grandma Dear
cooks lunch

I had known her all my life, but for 5 years I was blessed to watch her up close and personal often from the coveted place on the chest in her kitchen. From this place I watched faith lived out in the common things of life; preparing a meal, folding the laundry, sewing or repairing a garment. The art of caring for one’s family and others was always on display at 405 East Ross in Waxahachie, Texas. Hemming a wedding dress for a grandson’s bride, making a special hot air balloon for her youngest granddaughter, sewing up a pretty pink dress for her new great granddaughter, making a favorite cake for a birthday and adding an extra piece of fried chicken for her brown eyed grandson were all acts of kindness that I witnessed. And they were not random acts of kindness, they were intentional and often.

Saturdays were for chores, mopping, vacuuming and scrubbing the bathrooms and Sundays were for rest and visiting with family. The only time this changed was when someone had an emergency or as she would say when there was “an ox in the ditch”. She understood that an act of kindness was an act of worship.

One of the first memory verses I remember learning was “Be ye kind one to another”. I memorized this when I was probably 5 or 6 years old. I watched it when I was 20 something at 405 East Ross.

This verse is found in Ephesians 4:32, “Instead, be kind to each other, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” (NLT) “Instead” is one those words like “therefore” that insist we read what came before. Here’s what came before, get rid of bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words and slander, and all types of evil behavior. Back up a little further to verses 25 - 29 and we find more instructions; be truthful, use your hands for good hard work, give generously and then there’s this one “Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” (verse 29 NLT) Everything?!  Let’s back up a little further to verse 23 for some insight into how this might be possible. “let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes…”

I can honestly say that in all the time I watched Grandma Dear, I never heard her speak a harsh word or act in bitterness or anger. It was not that she had no reason to be bitter, angry or unkind. She had plenty of opportunity to choose that type of behavior. She was orphaned as a small child spending much of her childhood in an orphanage, as a teenager, she was adopted by a family to care for a blind woman, she experienced the grief of the loss of a child, knew the sorrow of sickness, knew the stress of little financial resources, experienced the death of a grandchild and more.

Ginny & Grandma Dear
in one of those dresses
she made.

In my bedroom, I have a small cane bottom chair that came from her home. It sat by the bed and each night when Dear and Papaw knelt to pray this is where he knelt. We all loved to hear him say grace at each meal we enjoyed there. Life was orderly and it included pray and bible reading each night and with every meal. Might I suggest that this allowed the Spirit to renew thoughts and attitudes! I know it did mine good each time I was there.

In Chapter 2, Paul reminds us of the source and reason for kindness. "So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us... we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

Somehow I’ve managed to make life more complicated and less orderly! I pray I will do more this holiday season than enjoy the precious memories but honor them by allowing the Spirit to renew my thoughts and attitudes that I might be kind to those whom I love and those whom God places in my path. I pray I can be an example for future generations of the greatness of his kindness lived out in a life filled with goodness, remembering doing good things is often the simplest of things; a meal prepared, a dress hemmed, a birthday cake baked.

"Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying." (Romans 12:10-12 NLT)

Thanks for listening
See you next Sunday,
Ronda
　
From Webster:
"Kindly implies a sympathetic attitude toward others, and a willingness to do good or give pleasure. Kind implies a deep-seated characteristic shown either habitually or on occasion by considerate behavior"
　

Jesus Loves Me, this I know

A child my Daddy loves and who
no one could deny belongs to him!

Ask my Dad what he preached about this morning or what I should talk about today and his answer will always be “Jesus loves me, this I know.”. And so today, I’m taking my Dad’s advice. It’s been a wonderful weekend spent with friends and family in western Kansas, but as I sit down to write today my body is tired and my mind less than sharp. Ideas are whirling in my mind from the retreat I participated in this weekend, the wonderful stories I heard, the feelings I felt and the Sunday school class I attended this morning. Every thought seems to inspire a blog entry, but ultimately it all comes back to my Dad’s standard answer. So all those inspirations will just go on the list for another day when my mind is better prepared and we’ll keep it simple.



“Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so, little ones to him belong”  “See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are.”  1 John 3:1 (NLT)

I cannot imagine a love stronger than that of a parent for a child. And to think that God allows us to be called his children is overwhelming. That he says, this one belongs to me is an amazing thought. Just this morning, I had one of those moments when I as a parent I wanted to stand up and say “Yes, those two, they belong to me!” While I only have one daughter who has belonged to me all her life. I have a son-in-law who now belongs to me. I choose to call him my child and love him as my own. ( I’m fortunate that it’s not hard! He’s great kid.)

When our daughter was born, Stephen and I where struggling to find the denomination where we felt we belonged. My father-in-law, a lifetime Assembly of God pastor, said to my husband. “Son, it doesn’t matter where you go to church as long as you teach her that Jesus loves her.”

I think my father and my father-in-law are right, every sermon comes back to this simple, yet overwhelming truth. Jesus loves us!  and we belong to Him.

If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Romans 14:8 (NLT)

Thanks for listening

See you next Sunday,

Ronda

Another of my favorite hymns, led often by my Aunt Bonnie when I was growing up,



Now I Belong to Jesus

Jesus, my Lord will love me forever,
From Him no pow'r of evil can sever,
He gave His life to ransom my soul;
Now I belong to Him;

Now I belong to Jesus,
Jesus belongs to me,
Not for the years of time alone,
But for eternity.





A child my brother loves and
no one can deny belongs to him.



A Mess

Michael, aka Big Bubba
Timothy aka Other Bubba
(pronouced utter bubba)
Marcus aka Baby Brother



My baby brother &
a few of his favorite toys.

1977
 My family and I had moved to Tioga, Louisiana where my dad was pastoring Alpine Assembly of God. All 6 of us were living in a 2 bedroom house which meant the dining room doubled as a bedroom for my brothers. One day my oldest and youngest brothers, Michael and Marcus, had finished playing and it was time to put the toys away before supper. Being the older brother, Michael told Marcus he needed to help clean up. Marcus, who was always coming up with the funniest lines, replies with this. "Uh, uh, big bubba, the bible says he that maketh a mess shall not have to clean it up!" That verse can be found in the Book of Marcus, which we quote faithfully in our family. Even my daughter and son-in-law have their version, he that cooks does not have to clean up! (I’m not adopting that translation for fear I might have to do one or the other!)

Can’t find that in your bible? Try Romans 3:23 & 26. “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. … and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.” Everyone has made a mess, but God has made us right! Nothing we can do for ourselves.

A few years ago I was reading through familiar verses in the Old Testament and came across this verse in 2 Samuel. “Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved the child.” (2 Samuel 12:24 NLT)

I don’t remember this part of the story from Sunday school. David slaying the bear, David killing the giant, David running from King Saul; those are the stories I remember on the flannel board. Maybe it was that this story usually required the “G” rated version. You don’t put lust, adultery, deceit and murder on the flannel board! As a teenager, we learned the “PG” version of story and studied Psalm 51 learning that this was written after the death of the son conceived with Bathsheba. We learned that it was his contrite heart that God loved. We saw his deep remorse and the high price that he paid for his sin. But I think I must have not been listening the Sunday we learned that Solomon was the son David and Bathsheba conceived after the death of the child they had conceived in sin! Solomon, the wisest man on the face of the earth, the one who rebuilt the temple of Lord, the king who ruled over Israel for more than 40 years of peace. This man was the result of the union of David and Bathsheba.

“During the lifetime of Solomon, all of Judah and Israel lived in peace and safety …God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sands of the seashore. In fact, his wisdom exceeded that of all the wise men of the East and the wise men of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone else … His fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations. He composed some 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. …And kings from every nation sent their ambassadors to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. (I Kings 4:24,29-30 NLT)

That's redemption -one more piece of evidence that God is the only one capable of cleaning up our messes. We as David only make things worse when we try to clean them up. So what do we learn about God from David‘s most humiliating experience? I think it’s two things, obedience and a repentant heart when we fail. When David was selected as King, God said “He will do everything I want him to do”. (Acts 13:22 NLT). In Psalm 51, we see the broken and repentant heart of a man who had failed to live up to God’s expectation. “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:17)

Going back to the Book of Marcus, maybe we could say it this way, he that maketh a mess can not clean it up. And I would add, but God helps those who cry to him in repentance. David said it this way in Psalm 107, Some were fools; they rebelled and suffered for their sins. They couldn’t stand the thought of food, and they were knocking on death’s door. “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.”

Got a mess? Been the fool? Join me in crying out, Lord, help!

Thanks for listening

See you next Sunday,

Ronda

Hymns of Glorious Praise

The first summer I lived in western Kansas I witnessed "amber waves of grain" for the first time. This week I watched as the billowing waves of the Pacific produced an "ocean white with foam". Nothing makes me more aware of the presence of the Creator than experiencing His creation. The beauty and smell of the pine trees in North Louisiana, the cool streams in the Ozarks, the majesty of the snow capped Rockies, the vast blue sky on a clear day in western Kansas; they all inspire me as they did the Psalmist to worship and bow down before the Lord, my maker.
 
These are a few of my favorite experiences with worship inspired by creation. 



Lisa, my brothers & I
in the West Virginia mountains.
(and Dad)

 Walking down a path in the mountains of West Virginia with my mom and my best friend, Lisa and realizing we were all humming the same song, "How Great Thou Art".

"When through the woods

 And forest glades I wander

 I hear the birds

 Sing sweetly in the trees;

 When I look down

 From lofty mountain grandeur

 And hear the brook

 And feel the gentle breeze; "

 Then sings my soul, My God, how great thou art!

Sunflower fields of Western Kansas
against the biggest, bluest sky!

 Watching year after year the beauty of the crops of western Kansas, gave me a new appreciate for a Thanksgiving Hymn I first heard at Red Oak UMC.

"Come, ye thankful people, come - Raise the song of harvest home:  All is safely gathered in. Ere the winter storms begin. God, our Maker, doth provide, For our wants to be supplied: Come to God's own temple, come - Raise the song of harvest home."

 Sitting on a rock in a cove surrounded by the Coastal mountains in central California, listening to the roar of the waves and watching the spray of the water as it broke against the rocks, I found myself humming a line from another favorite hymn, “sweep over my spirit forever, I pray in fathomless billows of love”. Watching as those waves rose and rolled again and again and again, each one seeming taller and stronger than the last, I could almost feel the waves of His love roll over my soul again and again and again. I sat amazed at the strength and endurance of His love and it brought to mind one of Stephen’s favorite hymns.

The Love of God

The love of God is greater far

Than tongue or pen can ever tell

It goes beyond the highest star

And reaches to the lowest hell

The guilty pair, bowed down with care

God gave His Son to win

His erring child He reconciled

And pardoned from his sin

Could we with ink the ocean fill

And were the skies of parchment made

Were every stalk on earth a quill

And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky

O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure
The saints' and angels' song

 

But mightier than the violent raging of the seas, mightier than the breakers on the shore—the Lord above is mightier than these! Psalms 93:4 NLT

It's easy to miss in the busyness of our daily lives, but if we listen His creation speaks to us every day.  It speaks of His majesty, His provision, and His strength.

Thanks for listening,

See you next Sunday,

Ronda

 

Talking about all these hymns makes me think about cleaning the church on Saturday nights with my dad when I was a teenager. One of the things he always insisted on was “straightening the hymnals”. This task was not as simple as making sure they were all standing upright. We carefully placed each one the same distance apart in the holder so that when one stood at the back of sanctuary they lined up perfectly! I learned something from my Dad on those Saturday nights about honoring the house of the Lord.