SEASONS - THE LOVLINESS OF SPRING

 

(PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHEILA GAIL LANDGRAF)

Spring is such a beautiful time of the year.  This year is passing by so fast.  Here are some of my favorite photos of Spring from this year as well as from Springs of the past.

SEASONS - A BEAUTIFUL MEMORY OF ANNUAL SPRING GATHERINGS AT THE FARM

(A special memory by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

My parents long ago moved away from the farm that they inherited from my grandfather, deciding like all people do when they get older to simplify their lives.  My Dad has moved on to heaven and my Mom didn't need to be keeping up a farm on her own.   I do not blame them for doing this at all, and I have always reminded them that memories never fade away.  I am so very grateful for all those wonderful memories, especially the spingtime memories, that we shared in my old childhood homes on that land.  The first homestead was  in an over one hundred years old rock house, then there was a new brick house built, then finally a move to a fine stately house that sat on top of a high hill.  All of these places were setting peacefully on land once owned by my grandfather, and life at each place was enchanting.

We always had such beautiful family gatherings and they were especially special in the spring.

So sometimes, I just like to stop and look at the photos and remember those special days and be grateful to God for allowing me and my family to have them.  Here is a brief sharing that I will share with you where I recorded a typical memory of one of our spring gatherings:

After a nice peaceful ride through the country, we arrived! 

The farm was lovely, all green and fresh for spring!

Mom and Dad greeted us, and the house was beautiful and full of delicious food smells.

The tablescapes Mom used were so lovely!

We joined company with my brother and his family, my uncle and my cousin (both of who now reside in heaven with my father) and gave thanks for all the blessings of the day.  

Then Mom fed us a feast.

After much good food and conversations, our daughter Christin and her husband Clay decided to take a stroll outside. 

I took their photo from Mom's kitchen window.

It wasn't long before everyone wanted to get into the act.  

We all went outdoors to enjoy the sunshine and take a few group pictures.

Here is a photo of me with my husband, my parents and our children and son-in-law.  I'm the one with only her head of wind blown hair showing!

Since this photo we have gained another son-in-law and two and one-thirds more grandchildren! 

Here are our girls and our first son-in-law.  Our son got cut out of this photo, but he is in the next one!

  These were the days before Lauren was married when Christin and Clay were only newlyweds.  There are no pictures of my other son-in-law (Vince)  because it was before the days of Vince and Vinny, our grandson by Vince.  Also, Olivia was only a thought into the future in those days.   It was during a time when Erin was foot-loose and fancy free.  Now we get to enjoy the company of her boyfriend Alex at most family gatherings. 

I'm so glad I have these photos to share with those others who have come to join us later.    They can now know a taste of the family history from these photos and our many stories.

Don't you know we had a good place to hide Easter eggs when the kids were younger? 

Have you ever seen greener grass or more lush land?  

Our kids were fortunate to have the run of this land when they were young children, building huts and dams in the creek, playing in the old treehouse and running through the pastures with our lab named Baby.

I think The Farm was glad to see us that day, maybe it was even marking memories too, suspecting that we would not be around forever.

We were certainly glad to be there.

It was a very beautiful day!

These good memories make my soul feel complete and resurrected!

God has graciously allowed us to share so many blessings!

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 118 - WHEN YOUR BEST EFFORTS ARE JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH

So by now Moses had his personal life with God straightened out, and both sons most likely had been circumcised (remember we think there is a possibility that the youngest son was not quite eight days old when God got mad about the first son not being circumcised, so probably he was circumcised shortly after that incident.)  

It seemed that Moses must have gone back to Midian, taking Zipporah and the boys back home for awhile.  They needed to heal and would not be able to make the long journey to Egypt until they recovered from the circumscism.  Moses would need to go without them.  They could join him later.   

God still had to deal with the fact that Moses was not wanting to be the speaker for him with Pharaoh.  Moses must have gone to Mt. Horeb to discuss this with God up on the Holy Ground where he had seen the burning bush.  We know that Moses was there because that is where Aaron found him when he sought him out because God had commissioned him to do so.  Possibly Jethro told Aaron where to look?  We are not certain how this transpired, but the two long lost brothers did meet on the Mountain of God.

So much of this reminds me of the relationship today of the Christians and Jews.  When will they find out they are REAL brothers?  When will one believe another?  It seems a lot of miracles take place up on The Mountain of God.  It will be like watching Moses and Aaron when this finally happens and the family is reunited.  Well - on with the current story.....

The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So Aaron went to meet Moses at The Mountain of God.   

It had been forty years since Moses had seen Aaron.  Aaron had been a slave and Moses had been a Prince of Pharaoh.  They probably had never accomplished that natural closeness that most brothers are able to develop.  They knew each other; but they didn't KNOW each other.   

Now that Moses understood that Aaron was his real brother, God brought the two together out in the wilderness on top of His mountain and then God began to instruct them on their mission.  The scriptures indicate that the brothers embraced.  The word used in the scriptures is "kiss," and it indicates that God was a part of this scene as well as the brothers.   God must have quickly repaired their relationship and brought them to the point of brotherly love.  It was customary for those cultures when meeting close friends and relatives to embrace and kiss both sides of the face.   

Moses explained to Aaron everything the LORD had been saying to him.  Perhaps that is why they went up to Mt. Horeb, so that Moses could show Aaron where he had this amazing experience with the burning bush.  Moses explained all the signs  and the things that God had commanded for him and Aaron to say to Pharaoh and the two headed off for Egypt together.

When they arrived, Aaron gathered all of the elders of the Israelites and told them everything the LORD had said to Moses.  They performed the signs before the people and the people believed.  The people were so relieved to hear that God was concerned for them and their misery!   They bowed down and worshiped God. 

So with the backing of the people of Israel, Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh and said:  “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:  ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”

Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go?  I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.”

Moses and Aaron told Pharaoh:  “The God of the Hebrews has met with us.  Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

The request to take a three day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to God is such a foreshadowing of the time when Jesus Christ was sacrificed for our sins and spent three days and three nights in the grave.  God was setting this pattern in motion with his people way back in the days of Moses speaking to Pharaoh.  Moses points out that without this journey there would be plagues or death by the sword, and this is what our salvation redeems us from.  Moses was so hopeful of redeeming the Children of Israel.   Pharaoh, however, was not in a listening mood.  

God's anger was the least of Pharaoh's concerns.  Pharaoh was disturbed that Moses and Aaron were taking the people away from their labor.  He told them all to get back to work.  He was angry with Moses and Aaron.   He gave orders to his slave drivers and overseers to no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks; but they had to go and gather their own straw, making their work much harder.  

This is so typical to what happens to someone desiring to worship God with all of their heart.  Satan is not concerned; except for his own causes.  He does all kinds of things to prevent this time alone with God from happening.  He might remove the essentials for survival, such as happened to the Israelites with Pharaoh's taskmasters.  He will do anything to make it hard for you to be totally dedicated to worshiping The One True God.  

Even though The Children of Israel had more work added on, they were required to make the same number of bricks as before.  This meant longer, even harder days of unreasonable labor without rest.    Pharaoh declared them to be lazy and claimed they were making excuses not to work by crying out through Moses and Aaron.  He called them liars and told his overseers to pay no attention to them if they cried out.  The slave drivers complied to Pharaoh’s demands.  When the people did not make their quota of bricks they beat them.  When the people complained to Pharaoh he just called them lazy and said they wanted to get out of their work and that was why they were saying they needed to go out to the wilderness to worship their God. 

When Pharaoh would not relent and The Children of Israel saw they now had twice as much work to contend with; they were angry with Moses and Aaron.  They complained to them that their suggestions had made Pharaoh even harder on them than before, and now they had lost any favor that they might have gained with working hard for Pharaoh in the past.  They were angry and frustrated!  Their faith began to crumble.  They told Moses and Aaron “May the LORD look upon you and judge you!”

So Moses went back to talk to God.  He had one question:  “Why?”  Why God?  Why have you brought judgment on these people instead of deliverance?  Why did you ask me to go and cause all of this trouble for them?

Now Moses was homeless, without any friends, tired and worn out and missing his family in Midian.  His mission now looked like a complete failure.  All he could do was sit with his questions for God as the people suffered more and more.  

What does one do if they have been obedient to God and things go south anyway?  

Should one be patient and keep trusting in spite of the horrible circumstances? 

Sometimes it always looks darkest just before the dawn.

SEASONS - MOTHER'S DAY 2016

(Writting and photography by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

There is nothing more exciting or rewarding than being a mother, except maybe being a grandmother.  That is my latest and greatest blessing!   A Mother's Day present coming my way in October will be the gift of yet a third grandchild!  I could not be more excited or grateful to God.   The thought of how wonderful the grandmother experience has been so far consumes my soul!  I love being a grandmother, and I’ve loved being a mother.  

My four children did not come to me naturally, I married their Dad when they were very young and they were raised in my home for most of their lives.  They still saw and loved their birth-mother on a regular basis, and I never discouraged them from loving her.  These special children that God gave me so unexpectedly have enough love in their hearts for both of us.  I know that is very rare these days, but I can only explain it by saying it is yet another miracle that God has worked out in my life.  I have learned over and over again how God takes hard circumstances and turns them into blessings.  

 In God's Kingdom no one is "less" and everyone is "more."  There is always enough love to go around, because God IS love.  With Him in our midst, there is nothing that we cannot work through, and most of the time when we do our blessings are even greater and more appreciated.  This is my family, and I wouldn't change or rearrange anything.

I am finally in that place of realizing that my kids are grown and raised and living well rounded God-centered lives.  Nothing could make me happier!  There is nothing more comforting than knowing that peaceful feeling of “mission accomplished.”   There is great peace in realizing that you have raised up children who have become productive, life-giving adults who are responsible and loving and kind and who are now out there every day making a difference in the world, each one contributing in their own special way.

These are my thoughts as we near Mother’s Day this year.  God keeps pointing out to me that all the years of struggle and hard work of raising four beautiful children is beginning to bear fruit.  It is very eye-opening, after watching struggle after struggle as they grew wings and began to leave the nest.  On Mother’s Day I will get all kinds of gifts and tokens of thanks for this, but the greatest gift of all is just knowing that they are living their lives out, each of them in such a beautiful, unique and individual way.  I have never felt more blessed or honored.  It has been my privilege to participate in changing the world through watching them grow and for this I am forever thankful.

Now that they are grown I cherish so many things that have happened along the way,  Since it is Mother’s Day and the whole world is pondering the things of motherhood in general, I bring out my treasured memories and lay them at the feet of Jesus and whisper “Thank You.” 

Thank you for the one who has worked very hard to overcome addictions, who is working on becoming more responsible late in life.  Thank you that he finally gets it!  He has not lost his heart or his sense of humor along the way in spite of  having to recover from some huge mistakes.  He has learned some things the hard way, but he has learned.   Thank you that he has been a fighter in hard circumstances, and thank you that he has developed an uncanny ability for loving the unlovable, the poor, the downcast, the ones that no one else will love.  Thank you that he sees through the superficial and gets to the real part of people, who they are and what they are all about and appreciates them for what God made them to be.  Thank you for his gift to encourage and inspire people.  I am constantly surprised and amazed at this. Thank you that he sees the good in everyone and is finally beginning to find his own joy in the midst of it.  Thank you for helping him to be brave enough to face his problems seek the proper help to work through them.    

Thank you for the one who has worked so hard to develop a career where she helps others to overcome their handicaps.  Thank you for the joy she finds in working with children as well as adults who are struggling every day.  Thank you for the way that she loves life and squeezes every ounce of happiness out of it every day.  Thank you that she has been patient and willing to wait for the things that she knows are right and just for her.  Her choice in a husband has been exceptional, and the way she loves his seven year old son melts my heart.  The new baby on the way in October will only make that joy overflow more!  She is an awesome mother and a loving wife.  

Thank you God, for that smile that is always there, never letting the little things drag her down, only moving forward in love, even if it is only an inch at a time.  How wonderful to see her surrounded by loving and caring friends for a life time.  Is this the same teary eyed little girl that looked up at me and said “I’ll never make any new friends?”  How funny to think that she ever thought such a thing; just look at her now!  How sweet to see her finding the love she has waited for many years to find.  How perfectly open to God she has been in letting Him form her patterns for life.  Sometimes it takes my breath away when I look at all of it coming together for her.

Thank you for the one who is always positive, never negative, always bringing grace and love into every little moment and creating magic with her charm and genuine beauty.  She has that uncanny gift of making magic out of nothing at all!  She comes bearing simple little gifts that delight the soul and make you smile on a rainy day.  Her smile can stop the world!  She is so eclectic, off-the-wall creative and a genuinely true artist of life.  She is such a giving loving aunt to her sister's children.   She thinks of all the little things that make life special.  She knows just when to come and go in order to lift your spirits and make you laugh.  She never forgets her promises.  I have watched her struggle, make mistakes, recover with grace, face hard situations and come out rejoicing! The smile and the love never leave her face and she has always kept her genuine heart of concern for others.  I doubt she has ever made an enemy in her life.   She is always looking outward instead of inward and she shines with genuine beauty.  She has wisely followed her heart and is very busy pursuing her dreams.  I am thankful to be in her life and to see the effect she has on everyone around her every day. 

I am thankful for the sweet and beautiful level-headed one.  What would I do without her constant inspiration?  If you could get inside that level head you would be amazed at how creative her thoughts are.  The first one to make me such a proud grandmother and the one who brings so much peace and calm and beauty into every life she touches.  I am amazed at her ability to make good choices in tough life situations.  I am pleased at the way she honors her husband and keeps her household.  She has an uncanny way of making plans and seeing them through.  I am amazed at how she works a hard demanding job and still puts her family first.    Her zest for music and travel are contagious, and her sense of balance is a true blessing.  She can draw and paint like Rembrandt, maybe even better.  Her natural beauty is amazing. She lights up every room she enters.  She brings the beauty and grace of life into every situation she encounters.  She has a quirky sense of humor that sneaks up on you when you least expect it.  She is blessed with the finest husband in the land, and she loves him with her whole heart.  What an awesome mother she is to my beautiful granddaughter! 

With all of these special personalities in these gift-from-God adult children, plus two awesome son-in-laws and two and one-half amazing grandchildren, there is never a dull moment in this family.  Every day in my life is Mother’s Day .  I have a bucket full of the memories and we are making new ones every day.  I will always cherish the memories of them growing up in our home and I look forward to making a million more both in our home and in their homes.

 They have all grown up so smart, beautiful and successful; each in their own way, I still cherish all of these blessings that come with invisible price tags, these blessings that can’t be measured in monetary value, and now I am rejoicing with the opportunity to do all the fun parts over with my grand children.

Mother’s Day has never felt more fulfilling or refreshing.  

At this point I have realized it was nothing I did at all to have these wonderful people in my family, but simply God weaving his wonder across our lives and putting all the pieces of the puzzle together at just the right moments.  For this I am eternally grateful.

No need for gifts kids - just keep being the lovable people you are!