Xanthodontous. How Do I Look?

Xanthodontous: (zan-tho-DON-tuhs). Those of us still living in our eight and ninth decade, know we are slowing down. Our hair is becoming thiner and turning gray and we are becoming xanthodontus.

I did not know, until a few minutes ago ( A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg). I am also becoming xanthodontous. (Greek xanthos (yellow) + -odon (toothed).

So our subject is "Looks," How do I look? Someone said, and it is often quoted; "You do not have but one time to make a first impression." My generation of women, generally speaking, were judged and misjudged on their physical appearance, including a nice smile.

In our recent prosperity years, the nice smile has been made fabulously white and bright with the help of costly cosmetic dentistry.

It is nice that my World War II generation has been labeled, “The Greatest Generation.” Our generation is also said to be ‘dying out” and “dropping like flies” and "not looking good" and becoming xanthodontous or yellow toothed.

Senior Citizen Jokes

I have friends who send me Senior Citizen jokes that fly though the web. The ones below keep making the rounds. We can all use a laugh?

A distraught senior citizen phoned her doctor's office.
"Is it true," she wanted to know,"that the medication you prescribed has to be taken for the rest of my life?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so," the doctor told her. There was a moment of silence before the senior lady replied,"I'm wondering, then, just how serious is my condition because this prescription is marked 'NO REFILLS'."

An older Jewish gentleman was on the operating table awaiting surgery and he insisted that his son,a renowned surgeon, perform the operation.As he was about to get the anaesthesia he asked to speak to his son."Yes, Dad, what is it?" "Don't be nervous, son;do your best and just remember, if it doesn't go well, if something happens to me.…your mother is going to come and live with you and your wife...."

Ageing: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it

The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for

Some people try to turn back their odometers.Not me, I want people to know "why" I look this way.I've travelled a long way and some of the roads were not paved.

When you are dissatisfied and would
like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.

You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.

One of the many things no one tells you about ageing is that it is such a nice change from being young.

Ah, being young is beautiful,but being old is comfortable

Old age is when former classmates are so grey and wrinkled and bald, they don't recognize you.

If you don't learn to laugh at trouble,you won't have anything to laugh at when you are old.

First you forget names, then you forget faces.Then you forget to pull up your zipper.It's worse when you forget to pull it down.

Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft..Today, it's called golf

Two women met for the first time since graduating from high school.One asked the other, "You were always so organized in school,Did you manage to live a well planned life? "'Yes," said her friend."My first marriage was to a millionaire;my second marriage was to an actor; my third marriage was to a preacher; and now I'm married to an undertaker."
Her friend asked,"What do those marriages have to do with a well planned life?"
"One for the money,
two for the show,
three to get ready,
and four to go.

TWO DOZEN SENTENCES ABOUT SENIORS.

1. God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.
2. Now that I'm older, here's what I discovered: I STARTED out with nothing...I still have most of it.
3. When did my wild oats turn to prunes and All Bran?
4. I finally got my head together, now my body is falling apart.
5. Funny, I don't remember being absent minded.
6. All reports are in. Life is now officially unfair.
7. If all is lost, where is it?
8. It is easier to get older than it is to get wiser.
9. The first rule of holes: if you are in one, stop digging.
10. I went to school to become a wit, only got halfway through.
11. It was all so different before everything changed.
12. Some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant.
13. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
14. A day without sunshine is like a day in Seattle.
15. I wish the buck stopped here...I could use a few.
16. It's not the pace of life that concerns me, it's the sudden stop at the end.
17. It's hard to make a come-back when you haven't been anywhere.
18. The only time the world beats a path to your door is when you're in the bathroom.
19. If God wanted me to touch my toes, he would have put them on my knees.
20. When you're finally holding all the cards, why does everyone else decide to play chess?
21. Health is only the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
22. It's not hard to meet expenses...they're everywhere.
23. Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty, but everything else seems to wear out, fall out or spread out.
24. There are three signs of old age. The first is your loss of memory; the other two, I forget.
******************************************************

Aging Mildred was a 93-year-old woman who was particularly despondent over the recent death of her husband, Earl. She decided that she would just kill herself and join him in death.


Thinking that it would be best to get it over with quickly, she took out Earl's old Army pistol and made the decision to shoot herself in the heart, since it was so badly broken in the first place.

Not wanting to miss the vital organ and become a vegetable and burden to someone, she called her doctor's office to inquire as to just exactly where the heart would be on a woman. The doctor said, "Your heart would be just below your left breast."

Later that night, Mildred was admitted to the hospital with a gunshot wound to her knee.



Submitted by Adiastar00


Women over 50 don't have babies because they would put them down and forget where they left them.



Three old ladies were sitting on a park bench talking amongst themselves when a flasher comes by. The flasher stood right in front of them, and opened his trench coat.

The first old lady had a stroke.

Then the second old lady had a stroke.

But the third old lady had arthritis and couldn't reach that far.



~~~~~



My husband was bending over to tie my three-year-old's shoes. That's when I noticed my son Ben staring at my husband's head. He gently touched the slightly thinning spot of hair and said in a concerned voice, "Daddy, you have a hole in your head. Does it hurt?"

After a pause, I heard my husband's murmured reply, "Not physically." -- Reader's Digest



~~~~~



The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good frie



Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.

The Language Barrier.

One of my grandsons, as an ungraduate in college, tutored other students in Latin and Greek. One of my granddaughter, after graduating from college, traveled for a few weeks in Europe, communicating with non-English speaking people.

I readily admit, they did not get the gene for learning languages from me. In fact, I stand in awe! I am a person who did not find learning another language easy.

So I read with interest, "FUNNY SIGNS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES" when a friend passed it along.

"FUNNY SIGNS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES"

In a Tokyo Hotel: Is forbitten to steal hotel towels please. If you are not person to do such thing is please not to read notis.

In another Japanese hotel room: Please to bathe inside the tub.

In a Bucharest hotel lobby: The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.

In a Leipzig elevator: Do not enter the lift backwards, and only when lit up.


In a Belgrade hotel elevator: To move the cabin, push button for wishing floor. If the cabin should enter more persons, each one should press a number of wishing floor. Driving is then going alphabetically by national order.

In a Paris hotel elevator: Please leave your values at the front desk.

In a hotel in Athens: Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 A.M. daily.

In a Yugoslavian hotel: The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid.

In a Japanese hotel: You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.

In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox monastery: You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.

In an Austrian hotel catering to skiers: Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension.

On the menu of a Swiss restaurant: Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.

On the menu of a Polish hotel: Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion.

In a Hong Kong supermarket: For your convenience, we recommend courteous, efficient self-service.

Outside a Hong Kong tailor shop: Ladies may have a fit upstairs.

In a Rhodes tailor shop: Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation.

Similarly, from the Soviet Weekly: There will be a Moscow Exhibition of Arts by 15,000 Soviet Republic painters and sculptors. These were executed over the past two years.

In an East African newspaper: A new swimming pool is rapidly taking shape since the contractors have thrown in the bulk of their workers.

In a Vienna hotel: In case of fire, do your utmost to alarm the hotel porter.

A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest: It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose.

In a Zurich hotel: Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose.

In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist: Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.

A translated sentence from a Russian chess book: A lot of water has been passed under the bridge since this variation has been played.

In a Rome laundry: Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time.

In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency: Take one of our horse-driven city tours -- we guarantee no miscarriage'

In the window of a Swedish furrier: Fur coats made for ladies from their own skin.

On the box of a clockwork toy made in Hong Kong: Guaranteed to work throughout its useful life.

Detour sign in Kyushi, Japan: Stop: Drive Sideways.

In a Swiss mountain inn: Special today -- no ice cream.

In a Bangkok temple: It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man.

In a Copenhagen airline ticket office: We take your bags and send them in all directions.

On the door of a Moscow hotel room: If this is your first visit to the
USSR, you are welcome to it.

In a Norwegian cocktail lounge: Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.

At a Budapest zoo: Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty.

In the office of a Roman doctor: Specialist in women and other diseases.

In an Acapulco hotel: The manager has personally passed all the water served here.

In a Tokyo shop: Our nylons cost more than common, but you'll find they are best in the long run.

From a Japanese information booklet about using a hotel air conditioner: Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of warm in your room, please control yourself.

From a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo: When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor.

Two signs from a Majorcan shop entrance: - English well talking. - Here speeching American.

A Wedding Poem

The Wedding Poem below was written at the request of my grandson Steven and his bride-to-be LaDonna. They asked me to write a poem and read it as a brief part of their beautiful wedding ceremony on June 23, 1990 in the church were her father was pastor in Atanta. They told me they had been reading the Love Chapter of the Bible, I Corinthians 13 together.

A Wedding Poem

"I wish you Love and More.

(Based on the "Love Chapter of the Bible" )

In a world of noisy gongs
And clanging cymbals in the air,
I wish you quiet love and more!
More than human love can bear
That spark of Love Divine
That truly molds two hearts as one
The flame of perfect love.
The essence of God’s Son!

In a world of idle, thoughtless words
On tongues of men and poets and seer
I wish you sounds of love and more
More than human love can hear
I wish you covenant with One
Who one day in a baby crèche
The Alpha and Omega spoke
The Word of Love made flesh!

In a world of knowledge unsurpassed
And technology advances
For you I wish a wedding gift more rare
Than instruction kits on love…or classes
The spark of Love Divine,
That truly molds two hearts as one
In perfect faith and hope and love;
The essence of God’s Son!

by Ruth Baird Shaw ><>

1 Corinthians 13 : 1-7
1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.
3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, I am nothing.
4. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Love never fails.

Children at Risk

Janice Shaw Crouse's latest book, Children at Risk, is released by Transaction Publishers, the publisher of record for social science research. Janice is a weekly columnist and a popular speaker at national and international events.

Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D., is a recognized authority on national and international cultural, children’s and women’s concerns, including sex trafficking, the United Nations, and U.S. domestic issues.

Janice was the Centers for Decency 2008 Woman of the Year. She has twice served the President as an official delegate to the United Nations (2002 and 2003).
The National Press Club’s compendium of experts describes Dr. Crouse as having “brought insight, keen perception and wisdom to domestic, family, political and women’s issues since the early 1990s as a Presidential speechwriter for Bush 41, United Nations delegate, think tank fellow, television commentator, speaker, author and columnist. Her common sense, refreshing honesty and intriguing perspective on cultural and political issues expose spin to reveal truth in a way that has earned respect and made her a popular cultural analyst. Known for applying her strong intellect and articulating her solid faith with candor and humor, she is a leader who appeals across ideological and religious barriers.”

“Everyone claims to care deeply about the well-being of children. But what would we, as a nation and as a society, do if we really cared? In Children at Risk, her passionate and scholarly new book, Janice Shaw Crouse does our nation’s children a great service by grabbing the rest of us by the lapels and forcing us to confront those questions.”
Robert P. George
Princeton University

“’Children are the future.’ I can’t tell you have many times I’ve heard that statement. Yes, it is true, but very few of us believe it enough to really get serious and be proactive with our time and money to make a real difference. Children at Risk accurately makes the case for getting involved. This book will cause you to see children in a different light . . . a great opportunity to act and save a kid; or if we do not act, we all will suffer, especially a very precious child. . .”
Stuart W. Epperson
Christian Association of Youth Mentoring

“Janice Crouse has captured in a compelling way the urgent need in our culture to more effectively protect and nurture our children. Having spent the past twenty-five years counseling pregnant women who bear the wounds of society often deaf to the dignity of a human life, Ms. Crouse offers hope for parents seeking a safe haven for their children. Having ‘broken through the glass ceiling’ in the eighties and left Wall Street behind to raise a family and home school two children, I am reminded from a personal perspective that the message of Children at Risk could not be more timely or important.”
Mary Cunningham Agee
President and founder, The Nurturing Network

“In Washington, D.C., Dr. Janice Crouse has long been considered an expert on family preservation. She knows the fierce challenges facing our children today –– and what must be done to protect not only their present but to guide their future. From the need to defend and promote marriage to the mandate for a solid and well-grounded education, Dr. Crouse truly does know what is in the ‘best interest of the child.’ Moving children from a place where they are at risk to a place where they can thrive is not just a good idea –– it is THE mandate for the twenty-first century!”
Janet Parshall
Nationally Syndicated Talk Show Host

“Dr. Crouse reveals numerous risks that children face, but unlike most researchers, believes that the solution comes from informed moms and dads –– not the government.”
Michael P. Farris
Chairman, Home School Legal Defense Association and President, ParentalRights.org

A Mothers Day Glimspe of My Mother.

Happy Mother’s Day! We are all either the son or the daughter of a mother. So in that capacity all of us fit into a Mother’s Day Celebration.

As a Mother myself, I have had a difficult time with some of the sermons I have heard on Mother's Day, They make us all …all mothers “angels.” One would get the idea that to become a mother is to become a saint.

Erma Bombeck said, “The easiest part of being a mother is giving birth. The hardest part is showing up on the job every day." And I might add it is showing up 24/7.

We all know there are loving, hard working, good mothers and there are also selfish and neglectful and not so good mothers. Most of us as mothers find our place somewhere in between.

At the same time, there is something about motherhood that tends to bring out the best in us. The seemingly endless nausea, misery and pain of pregnancy and childbirth mixed with that incredible love that we have for that helpless and amazingly beautiful baby when it is finally born is awesome.

It is awesome to be a mother. No wonder so many of us feel so inadequate we fall on our knees and seek the wisdom of God.

Many of us, probably most of us as adults have an emotional attachment and love for our mother. And in cases where the mother has such personal problems as to neglect, abuse or abandon the child there is always unbelievable sorrow. In case where the mother dies while the child is young, there is a great feeling of loss.

Just the thought of "mother" brings about great emotion in many of us. I remember one morning a few days before Mothers Day when I was sitting in the sanctuary at Grantville with our church music director.

We were discussion the music for Mother’s Day and got into conversation about some of the old time songs about mother. She mentioned two of the old gospel songs from her childhood, "That Silver Haired Mother of Mine" and "If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again," and we both choked up with tears in our eyes.

Mother seems to see possibilities in us that other people seem to not notice. Just as God sees possibilities in us that we do not see in ourselves and others fail to see.

My father died when i was nine so i was raised by a bright, loving and hard working widow in the 1930 depression years.

Neighbors were an important part of life in the twenties and thirties. My mother used the term "We were neighbor to..." instead of saying "We lived near ... the So and So's."

We did not locked our doors even at night when I was a child. Neighbors were in and out of our home all the time; often to borrow a cup of sugar or flour or an egg to finish out a recipe for a cake. Often a neighbor would stop in to share vegetables or cookies.

Sometimes the visits were just to sit and talk. Our house was usually the gathering place after dinner at night on our front porch. Our porch had several rocking chairs as well as a swing that seated two or three.

While the adults were talking, the children played "hide and seek" or "kick the can" out in the front yard or on the unpaved road in front of our house.

I have fond memories as a child of being in and out of the homes of the Finchers, the Parnells, the Moores, the Hornings. And they visited with us daily.

Then there was a quaint lady from out of town, who, with her children, would visit us overnight and sometimes for two or three days several times a year. I remember sitting on our front porch (along with various friends and neighbors) near sundown one afternoon.

We looked down the street and saw this lady and her children coming toward our house. I said to Mama, "Here comes Mrs. Johnson (I'll call her).

Someone asked Mama why Mrs. Johnson and her children often came to our house. They lived miles away. The answer seemed simply enough to Mama. "We were neighbor to them on the farm," Mama said.

The lady was short and heavy with her dark hair pulled straight back in a bun. Her only daughter and older child was "Mae." Mae was thin and very subdued. She was even more timid than I. Mae walked just a little behind her mother on the sidewalk as they made their way down our street. The three little brothers followed in a procession.

I can visualize them now as they walked toward our house. Mama welcomed them, gave them supper, found a bed for the lady, and put pallets of folded quilts and a feather pillow each on the floor for Mae (and me). Mrs. Johnson sleep in my bed. Mama also put a confortable pallet of quilts on the floor for the three little boys.


I do not remember what, if anything, Mae and I talked about before we fell alsleep side by side on the floor. The lady had a husband but we never saw him. I overheard someone say her husband was "sorry’ and “no account”.

Children were "seen and not heard " in those days. So, of course, I did not ask. But I learned by listening.

In the days before TV, this was a mystery somewhat like a soap opera. The lady would always get up early, and she would come to the place where Mae and I were sleeping on the floor and say, "Rise, Mae." I thought this was "funny."

Incidentally, we sometimes referred to mentally ill people as someone who "acted funny" or had "gone crazy." I thought the Johnsons "acted funny" and we both laughed and cried for them.

Looking back it may have been wife and/or child abuse that caused them to leave home so suddenly, walk four or five miles and show up at our house. As far as I know they came and went without explanation. If Mama knew, she kept her own counsel and always treated Mrs. Johnson and her children with respect, preparing food and bedding for them as respectfully as she did when her own sisters visited.

After all, they had been "neighbor to us" on the farm.

New Mothers In our Family

Each Mother's Day on Ruthlace since 2005, I have honored my mother Eula Baird (1885-1973) with stories about her life and a ballad I wrote for her in 1983. I started the Web Log to pass along family history for my children and future generations.
For Mother's Day 2010, I would like to honor all the mothers in the Shaw-Baird clan and especially the three new mothers.

Emma Lynn Hearn's mother is Michaela Kolbe Hearn. Michaela is the wife of my grandson, Captian Joshua Hearn.
Emma (pictured at first birthday celebration April 24 ) is walking and already speaking two languages ( English and German)

Evey's (Evelyn Ann Johnston) mother is Meleah Jones Johnston. Evey was born on March 12, 2010 to Meleah and my grandson Joey Johnston.
Evey is the granddaughter of Ron and Carol Shaw Johnston of Franklin Tennessee,

Alexander James Rogers was born to my granddaughter Jessica Shaw Rogers and husband, Philip Rogers on April 6, 2010. Alex is the grandson of David and Vicki Brown Shaw of Annistan Alabama.

Happy Mothers' day to all!

Swine Flu!

It's enough to make you sick!

The "Going Away" Shower.

I don’t like “goodbyes.” Leaving is “change” and “change is difficult.”

The last time my mother saw her mother, several years before I was born, Mama said, she stood in the dusty road in front of their farm house and watched and waved as her mother's horse-drawn carriage could be seen as just a puff of dust down the long country road.

A few months later she got word that her mother was dying and she took a train to go to Griffin from their farm near Covington and when she got there her mother had already died. It was so traumatic for my mother that she would never again watch anyone out of sight.

Even when she was old and we would visit, Mama would kiss us goodbye in the house or on the porch but she would always turn to go back inside before we got in our car. Mama was never a superstitious type person. But this continued to be a sad memory of the long goodbye to her dear mother for the last time.

It occures to me as I write, that my way of saying “goodbye” is not to stand in driveways and wave as my husband always did. And it probably goes back to this model from my early childhood.

Most of us are not that extreme about goodbyes, but we often say “I’ll see you again” or “you all come” or something besides “goodbye.” Actually the word “goodbye” is a comforting thought. In just about every language it is a blessing. It is really a shortened form of “God be with you.”

I could stand up here and bore you with many accounts of goodbyes and “going away times” because Charles and I were in the Itinerant ministry of the Methodist Church for 35 years and I alone in the years since 1986 when my husband died. We never said goodbye from any pastorate without tears and prayers. Often we have received "going away" gifts.

When my husband and I and our family were moving from Rome Georgia in 1968 after nearly 6 years at Trinity, the ladies of the church gave me (as their pastor’s wife) a surprise “Going Away Shower” of personal gifts like gowns, jewelry and hose.

Today I want us to look at this Scripture in the Gospel of John about Jesus going away from his disciples. The disciples did not give Jesus a “going away gift” but Jesus gave them and all of us a gift and it occurs to me it was not just a gift but a shower of gifts that keeps on giving!

Jesus had great concern for these frightened, grieving disciples. He called them His “little children” and he told them He is not leaving them comfortless. Jesus is not leaving them “orphans” with no one to care for them. Jesus assures them and us that he is sending a “helper.”

Have you ever wished for a “helper?” Husbands and wives are often helpers to one another. When I think of all the things I used to do for my husband, especially when he was to conduct a funeral. A funeral is so very important to most people, and the pastor doesn’t have much notice and there are all kinds of emotions, Often, he/she has many other things to do at the same time and his or her other work goes on.

I used to check and lay out my husband’s clothes to wear. Even when he had a secretary, he usually prepared at home for a funeral, would often ask me to type up a poem or an order of worship so as to give a copy to the organist, the soloist and the funeral director. I have cleaned out and sometimes washed his car so it would not be the dirtiest car in the funeral procession.

Much of this, people can now hire someone to do, but to have someone at our fingertips to anticipate the need and do whatever needs to be done is what many good wives and husbands do for each other.

There are times when we need help beyond just a physical helper. So Jesus anticipated our greatest need and he sent us a “helper”. He sent the Holy Spirit, closer than breathing and nearer than hands and feet.

This helper, this Paraclete is God’s gift to us…a going away gift from Jesus to His disciples and to us who come after them. PARACLETE is the English translation for the title John uses for the Holy Spirit…this “Holy Companion.” Paraclete is a wonderful word. There is no single word in our English that can express the rich and powerful meaning of “paraclete.” “Para” in the Greek means “alongside” and the root of “kletos” is “to call, ” So this Paraclete, the HOLY SPIRIT, is a helper “alongside,” When we try to describe the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the Helper, we need a bunch of words, not just one word; Encourager, Counselor, an Advocate, a Witness , truly a “shower of gifts”

In verses 18-and 19 Jesus says, “My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” We all search for peace. We all search for something to help us cope with the problems of life. This peace that Jesus gives is not always a force to protect us from the wounds of life, but a force inside to empower us for living. Jesus said, “You shall receive Power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”

This “going away” gift of the Holy Spirit is not only for the Disciples but for all believers who come after them. POWER, PEACE, ENCOURAGEMENT, HELP, COUNCIL, ADVOCACY . . .this is the wonderful going away shower of gifts that is just right for all and more far reaching and wonderful than any loving spouse or pastor or friend. This is not a gift to the world because the world neither sees God nor knows Him. As the world is blind to Jesus, so they are blind to the Holy Spirit, The Paraclete, the Helper.

A story I like to tell, is about a little girl in the days when people rode trains with sleepers. She was put to bed in a top bunk and because she was very fearful in her strange surroundings, she was told that that God would watch over her. As everyone got quiet trying to sleep, the little girl became afraid and called out, “Mommy, are you there?” The mother assured her that she was there. A little later, she called out louder, “Daddy, are you there?” The father tried to reassure her that he was nearby also. After this went on for a while, one of the other passengers on the train lost his patience and said, “Yes, we are all here. Your mommy, your daddy, your brother, all your aunts and cousins. Now please settle down and go to sleep!”
The little girl was silent for a moment and then quietly asked, “Mommy, was that God?”

Jesus, in offering us the gift of peace, does not say, “I’m here, God is here, the Holy Spirit is here. Now be at peace!” In other words, Jesus does not treat us like a frightened child saying, “Shut up and get quiet. I’m giving you whatever you want"

Sometimes God has to say “no” to our requests…like a loving parent who understands our needs and who wants to “grow us up. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to grow us up to “Christian maturity”. … maturity that manifests itself with love, joy , peace and the other fruits of the spirit.
Too many of us are still babies in Christ. God wants to grow us up into mature and happy, witnessing Christians

I am a long time student and taught Methodist and Christian history in many of the churches where my husband served as pastor. The early Methodist circuit riders rode west with the first settlers in this country… and their spirit filled sermons were used of God to changed the face of America…there is at least one Methodist church in every county in the United States.

We read that early Methodist sermons had 4 points:
1. All of us are sinners,
2. All of us can be saved. In contrast to the Calvinist doctrine that some are predestined to be lost and are never quite sure if they are among the "saved."
3. All of us can know we are saved… “the doctrine of Assurance .
4, The 4th point had to do with the work of the holy spirit in daily life… that is …that people can lived like “saved” or Christian people, This is not “ sinless perfection” but “perfect love” or Christian maturity.

None of us are without sin but too many of us like to wallow in our sins, saying, "Well none of us are perfect" and “He’ll understand and say well done.”

John Wesley talked about “perfect love”…not always perfect judgment or perfect ability …but perfect intentions and “perfect love” for God and others.

I like the story the little boy who was tagging along in a field as his dad was plowing on a hot humid day. Soon the little boy ran to the house to get his dad a glass of ice water. He returned to the field smiling as he gave the glass to his dad. The dad noticed the little boy’s muddy fingers had been holding on the inside of the glass and mud was seeping down inside the large glass of water. The child’s love for his dad was perfect, his intensions were perfect but his performance, his ability, sometimes like ours was not perfect.

The boy’s father took the glass, and thankfully drank every drop of the ice water. The Lord can use even our imperfect actions when our heart is right.

Jesus said, “My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” The peace that Jesus offers is a gift that is a by-product of faith. We receive this gift by faith in Christ. As some of us have been blind to Jesus, so we are blind to the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the Helper.
One of the reasons all the bad things happen in our world… The “world” is blind to the “Helper.”

Many of us see peace as an end in itself and search like “orphaned street children” searching for food in garbage cans. We struggle to find peace by taking pills and/or alcohol and other drugs, in all kinds of entertainment and activities, new wives, new husbands, or affairs. We frantically drive seventy miles an hour for hundreds of miles to get to a vacation spot and grit our teeth and say, “I’m going to have a good time if it kills me!”

I read this week that college students interviewed about what they most wanted in life stated’ “What I want most in life is love, happiness and peace.” I have wonderful news today

The 3 most prized possessions student are seeking in life are found in the first 3 of the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galations 5: 22. The list is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

While America has never been a quote Christian nation, unquote. This basket full of fruits of the Spirit of God was practiced by enough of our founders; they were able to build the greatest nation the world has ever seen. God bless America and may we see this kind of change again in our great country again.

Carl Frazier received a call that his church had been broken into. He rushed over to see what was missing. He and a church member and the police went through the building and saw that nothing was missing. When they got outside, he realized that his car had been broken into and the robber was still in his car. They called to the burglar and he stood up and pointed a gun at them. Frazier said he was not sure who was more frightened, the robber or them, but the robber for some reason chose to turn and run.

Later when someone said to him, “Somebody sure was watching over you,” Frazier said that was a comforting thought that God was watching over him. And later he thought about it and wondered what the attitude would have been if the guy had pulled the trigger.

Carl concluded that even if the man had pulled the trigger, God would have been watching over him because the love, joy and peace that God offers to us is not the absence of all conflict not the absence of all sorrow, not an escape from worry, but the power to overcome it. The Christian dies like everyone else, but the Christian lives through his death. Paul said, for me to live is Christ but to die is gain.

The Helper that Christ gives us, the peace that the Lord showers upon us in the power of the Holy Spirit, is something that the world cannot give and cannot take away. Even in the midst of an uncivil world of terror and suicide bombers and fanatic enemies.

Into our burdened world of war and terror, of “dog eat dog” work places, of hospitals and nursing homes and funeral parlors, and war, Jesus offers the Paraclete, the Helper alongside us with a shower of gifts like love, joy and peace.

It is more than a beauty rest mattress, or a Lazy Boy recliner at the end of a long and tiring day. It is more than a devoted husband, a cleaning lady, a gardener or a secretary. All of which I sometimes wish for: they are valuable but transient. God is a Helper always present. He abides!.

I love the old camp meeting hymn, “He Abides.”
I’m rejoicing night and day,
As I walk this Pilgrim way.
For the Hand of God in all my life I see.
And the reason for my bliss,
Yes, the reason is all this;
The Comforterer abides with me.
He abides, He abides!
Halleluia He abides with me!

Paul tells it like it is in Romans 8. “Nothing, neither life with all it’s problems and pains, nor death with all its fear and uncertainty, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, nothing can separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus.”

A.Z. Tozier, a theologian and author, said, “The heart of the world is breaking under a load of pride and pretense.” “Pride and pretense” fuels much of our terror and sorrow. “Pride and Pretense is often so strong in our life that if you push it down in one place, it will come up somewhere else. There is no release from this burden apart from the humility of Christ.

On May 24, 1738, John Wesley was a highly educated Oxford don. He was fearful with no peace in his heart. He went quite unwillingly to a church meeting in Altersgate. Someone was reading Luther’s preface to the Book of Romans. Wesley tells us he felt his heart strangely warmed and he knew that Christ had died for the world and also died for him. He knew God had forgiven his sins and saved him from "the law of sin and death." And as we say, the rest is history. Wesley went out from this encounter with the Living Lord to change the World.

I don’t know about you, but I say again, “O God, shower my life with the gift of the Comforter, the Advocate, the Helper to walk with me every day of my life, to fill my heart and my life with your love, Joy and Peace (your shalom)
As we surrender our burdens to God, They are replaced with the going away gift that Jesus left for us, His followers...a shower of gifts that keeps on giving every day of our life and on into eternity with him, Amen.

Helen Keller Quotes

1. Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.

2. Keep your face to the sunshine and you will not see the shadows.

3. One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

4. I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

Picture (made in 1888) of Helen Keller, blind and deaf from age 2 with her teacher, Annie Sullivan.

5. The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor touched but are felt in the heart

6. When we do the best we can,we never know what miracle is wrought in our life,or in the life of another.

7. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature...Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

8. When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed doorthat we do not see the one which has been opened for us

9.We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.