Sweet!

     "Kind words are like honey--sweet to the taste and good for your health." (Proverbs 16:24)  Awwww.  Isn't that just a really nice idea?  You say kind words and they taste sweet like honey.  And not only are they sweet to the speaker, they are sweet to the hearer!
      Oh!  And another thought!  Have you ever had allergy issues?  Well did you know that eating honey that was made in your own geographical region can actually help control those allergies?  You know what that made me think of?  "Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances." (Proverbs 25:11)
     Now you may be thinking I'm a little off my rocker about now.  But just think for a minute.  Local honey, honey from the right place, can make you healthier.  That means that honey from another region, while it might be sweet, probably isn't going to make you well.  Okay so now let's think about that in terms of words.  If we say something in the wrong place at the wrong time, even if it's sweet, well it's just not a good idea and doesn't help a thing.  But saying the right words at the right time are like a beautiful ornament of golden apples in a silver setting.....shiny and something to treasure.
     "Never eat more honey than you need; too much may make you vomit." (Proverbs 25:16)  Wait a minute.  Didn't we just read that honey was good for our health?  So now, still in Proverbs, we're reading that it can make us sick!  So, if we put it in terms of words like we just read, is this saying that too many good or 'sweet' words can make us sick?
     Consider this.  A 50 year old woman answers the phone at work.  On the other end, a 20 year old is calling for some information but is constantly referring to  the 50 year old as honey, sweetie.....you get the idea.  By the time the phone call ends, the 50 year old will probably be sick of all the 'sweet talk' and have to wipe the honey off the phone before hanging it up or the next call might get a bit sticky.  Besides the fact that the 20 year old carried on way too much in a effort to be nice but really was disrespectful.
     Or how about someone who 'sugar coats'?  Those words may sound good at first.  But what about when you bite into that, what appears to be sugar cookie, and find there was a worm in the middle?
     So just what is our lesson here?  My thoughts go back to part of a song I learned as a child..... "Oh be careful little mouth what you say.  Oh be careful little mouth what you say!"  Remember that one?   One day we will be held accountable for our words (Matthew 12:36).  With that in mind, I hope you have a sweet day!  But not 'too' sweet. :)

I Laughed Off All of My Mascara

     This has been a wild couple of weeks.  With school starting back up and temperatures getting cooler (a high of anything less than 90 in August is cool in our neck of the woods), well times they are a changin'.  New jobs.  New classes.  And kids who were kids in July seem more grown up now that August is almost over.
     Unfortunately, in the midst of all these changes, I'm dizzy.  Not from all the changes swirling around me but from some goofy diagnosis I was given almost a year ago.  You see, about every five or six months it hits me.  Out of the blue, I simply turn my head and suddenly my world is spinning.  So, when I was reading this week before retiring for the evening, I looked to the left and felt my world turn upside down.
     Walking is quite a chore right now.  I couldn't walk a straight line to save my life!  While I may take 4, 5 or maybe even 6 steps with nothing happening, all of the sudden with no warning, all or part of my brain seems to flip upside down, spin the opposite direction I am looking or just feel plain old gooshy.  I find myself grabbing furniture, walls or whoever is standing near me when that tilt-a-whirl starts spinning in my head.
     Now driving is a different story.  As long as I'm looking straight ahead and not looking around, I'm ok driving.  But turning my head at an intersection watching for traffic, oh boy.   While the phone companies often remind us not to text and drive, so far I haven't been told not to have a swimmy head and drive.  But I wouldn't be surprised that command is coming next.
     The first couple of times I had this issue, there was a level of fear mixed with embarrassment.  I even went through medical testing including a CT scan that revealed that, yes, despite what my family thinks, there is a brain in there and it appears normal.  I'm trying, this third time in just under a year, to deal with this and keep plugging along.  I get the usual jokes...."hey mom.....do we need to get you a life alert?"  "Hey mom.....do you need a walker with tennis balls on the legs?  Maybe we can get one with a horn."  Co-workers hold up their hands and grin as they ask how many fingers they are holding up.  And some even offer to be my legs and deliver to and from my desk. 
     In the middle of this brain tornado, something absolutely hilarious happened yesterday.  Well at least I considered it hilarious.  I was at work and trying to discretely text one of our sons.  He had sang at a funeral yesterday and I was asking how it went.  I tried to text back that I was sure the family appreciated what he did.  Now I'm not one to proofread my texts.  I figure texts are for convenience and I'm often in a hurry so whoever I am texting can figure out what I really mean. 
     Anyway, while texting with my phone under my desk, I sent a message to our youngest son that read "I sure they appreciated you."  He responded with "I same".  Of course I responded with "Huh".  His reply, "More bad grammar/omitted words" followed by a smiley face.  So I responded with "Oh" followed by "Well I'm at work and am trying to hide". 
     While I continued working, I noticed my phone received a text as it sat hiding under my desk.  That dear son had sent a group message to our family where he had taken a screen shot of my "Well I'm at work and am trying to hide" comment and added "Someone might need to go check on mom.  Something seems to be going down at the bank."
     Yes, I laughed so hard I laughed off all my mascara.  And not only could I not walk a straight line, trying to explain to my co-workers why I was laughing and crying to the point I couldn't speak, well it was just almost too much to deal with at once.
     Did anyone in the group text check on me?  Yes!  I did get another text asking if I was okay.  It was so sweet but made me laugh, and cry, even more.  The moral of this story?  Well I'm not sure there is one.  Except that maybe, if you see someone trying to walk a straight line and they can't, they may just be dizzy.  Or, if your mom is working at a bank and texts you that she's hiding, she may just be trying to not get caught texting at work, not hiding from someone in a ski mask with a fake gun in their pocket and a bag to carry out money.  :)

Majestic......Or Just Call Me August

     Majestic.  An adjective.  Grand, magnificent, impressive, superb, kingly, royal, princely, imposing, imperial, noble, splendid, elevated, awesome, dignified, regal, stately, monumental, sublime, lofty, august.  Wait.  What?  August?!?!?!?!
     Earlier this week our 1 1/2 year old Pomeranian Pippa was sitting on the bed.  Our middle son commented that she looked 'majestic'.  He uses lots of big words and is smarter than I could ever hope to be.  When he said she looked majestic though, I thought I knew what it meant. 
     Majestic.  The word just keeps popping up in my mind.  Psalm 8 and the Keith Green song "Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth" plays over and over in the background of my thoughts.  Then I saw a random picture of the Majestic Theatre.  So what's the deal with this word?
     That brings me back to this first paragraph.  I decided to look it up.  Majestic.  I get it that it means grand, magnificent, impressive and pretty much every other word used to define 'majestic'.  Majesty.  Worship His Majesty.  Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise!  Jesus is our King.  The word 'majesty' or 'majestic' fits.
     Tall trees are described as being majestic.  Sunsets, sunrises, rainbows.  Yep.  We could go on and on.  But one word used to define 'majestic' really surprised me. 
     August.  Maybe it's because my birthday is in August.  We have an anniversary in August and a son who was born in August.  In fact we have several family members with August birthdays.  August is an important month to us but just what does it mean?  It's the eighth month of the year.  School starts in August.  Peridot is the birthstone. August is hot.  Where we live the grass is often brown and crunchy in August.  So just how does August define Majestic?
     Well of course, like I looked up 'Majestic', I looked up the definition of 'August'.  And some of what I found didn't surprise me.  You know.  The usual stuff about the eight month and Augustus Caesar and all that.  But something else I found surprised me. 
     August, as an adjective, is defined as dignified or imposing; of noble birth or high rank;  inspiring reverence or admiration; of supreme dignity or grandeur; majestic.  Of befitting a lord; "heir to a lordly fortune".
     August.  While I never thought of myself as majestic and I doubt I (or anyone else for that matter) will ever describe me as such, I kinda think there are some things about being described as 'August' that I  like.  Consider this:  As a child of God, we are 'august'.  We are 'heirs to a lordly fortune'.  We inherit the Kingdom of Heaven! 
     As children of the King, we are of noble birth. August.  Because of the blood of Jesus, royal blood that covers our sins, we are of the most Majestic of royal bloodlines!  Our purpose is to inspire reverence and admiration....not for ourselves but for our Lord. 
     August.  Yeah........just call me 'August'.