My Choice

 

For the latest Bible study I lead, I chose the book by Dane Orthund titled, Gently and Lowly.

Christian knows what Jesus has done, but who is he? What is his deepest heart for his people, weary and faltering on their journey toward heaven? Jesus said he is, "gentle and lowly in his heart." This book reflects on these words, opening up a neglected yet central truth about who he is for sinners and sufferers today. (This is from the jacket of the book)

There are 9-10 ladies who meet every Thursday at my house to learn to be more like Christ. We have gone through several books of the bible and several books that are designed to help us grow in our understanding of God and His ways. Since its all women who attend the study, its always geared toward being a wise hearted women of God.

So, what can a group of women in their 60 to 80 have to learn about the Lord. All of us are asking God what do you want us to do at our age. Prayer is the first thing that comes up and we have a couple of women who are hard core prayer warriors. Because we have lived a long time does not mean we do not have trials and struggles. The one thing we all have is more time to study and reflect on the things of God. Time to pray more, time to come along the younger women in our lives. And as we are learning from this study time to go deeper in our knowledge and understanding of who Jesus is.

All of the ladies come to the study with years of experience of walking through life. We understand pain, we understand struggles, most could say, been there done that about whatever we talk about. All of us have felt the guilt when we fail, blamed ourselves way too much. All have felt alone many times, especially at our age when we suffer. As heaven gets closer, we cling to our hope of being there when we leave this earth. I tell them this every week, God is not done with us yet, we are not useless just because we are older. This old world needs us to bury ourselves deep into the love of God so we can help our family and friends and maybe a stranger we meet know there is hope. Just because our world is a mess does not mean Jesus is a mess. He is the most solid thing in we ladies life.

It's been my joy as I lead this study and hear how it is affecting each of the ladies. I try to be sensitive to each one because a couple do not say much but I see them write thing down as we go through the book. I have always led a Bible study where ever we have lived. The last move was to northern Mn. where are daughter and family lives. I looked for a Bible study to attend, no one was having one so I stepped out in faith and ask our pastor if he minded if I started a study in my home. Knowing only a few women from our church I did not know if any would come, my husband and I are pretty new to the congregation. About 10 of us gather every week and not just from our church, word of mouth works.

A couple of quotes from the book:

Our sinfulness runs so deep that a tepid measure of gentleness from Jesus would not be enough; but as deep sinfulness runs, ever deeper runs His gentleness.

When we sin, we are encouraged to bring our mess to Jesus because He will know how to receive us. He doesn't handle us roughly. He doesn't scowl and scold. He doesn't lash out, the way many of our parents did. And all this restraint on His part is not because He has a diluted view of our sinfulness. He knows our sinfulness far more deeply than we do. Indeed, we are aware of just the tip of the iceberg of our depravity, even in our most searching moments of self-knowledge. His restraints simply flow from His tender heart for His people.

A quote on this book from another of my favorite authors, Paul David Tripp, "On the rough, rocky, and often dark path between the already and not yet, there is nothing your weary heart need more than to know the beauty of the heart of Jesus. It is the beauty that alone has the power to over-whelm all the ugly you will encounter along the way. I have read no book that more carefully, thoroughly, and tenderly displays Christ heart that what Dane Orthund has written. As if I was listening to a great symphony, I was moved in different ways in different passage, but left each feeling hugely blessed to know that what was being described was the heart of my Savior, my Lord, my Friend and my Redeemer. I can't think of anyone in the family of God who wouldn't be greatly helped by spending time seeing the heart of Jesus through the eyes of such a gifted guide as Orthund.  

Fat

 

Determining the ideal weight for older people has been somewhat of a Goldilocks pursuit, with researchers looking for what weight is not too thin, but not too fat. Studies have suggested that being slightly overweight can be protective. In theory, having a few extra pounds could be good if you, say, develop cancer and need to undergo chemotherapy, which can lead to rapid weight loss.

This morning I was challenged by the above post about getting older and losing weight. As I sit down in my chair to type this post I was relaxed, content and feeling pretty good for a 77 year old women who does not worry too much about my weight. In fact there is not much I worry about at my age. I have been skinny and it was not all its cracked up to be and I am over weight now and its not whats it cracks up to be.

Lately my husband and I have been discussing our funeral arrangements. We are totally opposite in our thinking about the whole process. Where to be buried is the top thing we discuss. We have enough insurance to bury us so that one thing off the table. I am a planner so I want to plan it now, he does not even like to talk about it.

Here is the thing, it's coming, the day is approaching fast or so it seems. Just yesterday I was 76 and now I am, of course, 77 and 78 is right around the corner. To live in the present means we must deal with our age and the ailments that come with it and maybe plan for our funerals or not. Probably will be not.

I bet you are wondering where she's going with this, two subjects, weight, and death. Let me tie it together.

 Our medical world tends to advocate staying thin and healthy of course. Healthy is hard to come by past 70, body is showing massive age-related decline. Wrinkles and lose sagging skin tell our age and even the way we carry ourselves sometimes screams that lady is old. So why am I feeling relaxed, content and feeling pretty good with my extra body weight? We heard an undertaker say that he buried very few old fat people. I think I will stay in the overweight, not skinny or even lean as I head toward 78.

Hey, that tied up pretty good, don't you think?

I really wish we could live as old as they did in the Old Testament.

Does it bother you to talk about your funeral which mean you have to take about death?

AND JUST LIKE THAT

 

Today my husband and I went to a funeral of a dear friends wife who had been declining for a while. In fact my husband held the funeral for our friend. The afternoon before, we met with most of the close family to hear their stories of their wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. It was a sweet time of laughter, tears and grief expressing how giving she was.

One story that will stay with us forever came from her husband. We had just visited them about two weeks before, she was weak but was sitting on the couch with her husband as he teased her. But, this story came to be the night she died. By this time, she is bedridden and not talking but Hospice assured the family the hearing is the last thing to go, so she could hear.

As the husband lay in bed with her, the verses in Psalm 23 came to his mind and he begin to recite it. After he finished, he said, now hon, save a place for me in heaven.

AND JUST LIKE THAT, she closed her eyes and gave up her worn-out dress of flesh and her soul went to be with Jesus, leaving behind the ragged old body that housed it for many years.

It's hard not to cry when others are crying especially when a man cries. My husband and I did our best to assure them grieving is good; it means someone was loved enough to be missed. We are in good company when we cry for Jesus cried, He grieved, when He heard His friend Lazarus died. Tears can be such a comfort when the words leave us. We watched tons of comforters pour into the funeral home to love on those who had lost a loved one.

It was a good day. The bible says it's better to go to the house of mourning then a house of eats. My husband was able to give the sweet gospel to a room full of people needing comfort and HOPE. That husband, those adult children and grandchildren will never hug Pat physically again for she will not return to earth. But, oh but someday, they can have hope they will see her again. All it takes is belief in Jesus as the only way to heaven. It was a good day.

I pray for those who could read this, that when their time comes and it will, just like that. No body knows the second we will draw our last breath and our soul will separate from our body and journey to eternity. For our friend Pat, she had accepted the sacrifice of Jesus death on the cross for her and she is now with Him. Without Christ there is no hope. I hate typing those last five words, but truth is truth. If you are interested in knowing more, you can write me, and I will gladly share how you can have that hope too.