Let Us Eat Pie

In TV Land, the “Friends” fellowshipped over coffee in their favorite café, while the “Golden Girls” gathered around the kitchen table for cheesecake. In our home, it’s Edwards pies.
These gatherings are rarely organized. Instead, they happen when family members and friends fill the chairs around the kitchen table. One minute, we’re talking about work, school, or relationships, and then someone says, “It’s time for pie.”
I really should anticipate these moments and always have a pie in the freezer, but I don’t. When the time for pie arises, a couple of people take a trip to the store, then we all settle in for another round of conversation.
My daughter, Lauren, said that from now on, we will haul our kitchen table to every family shower or wedding, since so many of our memories have been created there. If she does that, I’m warning everyone right now, it won’t be a pretty sight. When new, it was a large, beautiful table that could accommodate seven chairs. Now it bears the marks of many meals, birthday parties, and science fair projects. A closer look will also reveal fingernail polish, bare areas where someone used acetone to remove the fingernail polish, which also removed the finish, and stains from hair dye. The table’s not perfect, but neither are we.
Recently, Lauren and her friend walked through the front door with a plastic bag that held yet another pie. Soon her sisters and a few cousins appeared. When they found out that homework prevented someone else from joining them, they quickly delivered a slice of pie and a few minutes of conversation to their studious cousin.
This traveling comfort took a trip across the river this past week when my oldest daughter, Monique, asked me to drive to Thibodaux with her to visit her sister, Elise. Lauren was also available to join us, along with Jackie, my college roommate. I thought Jackie would enjoy seeing how the dormitory situation at Nicholls had progressed in the last 30 years. Before leaving, I did what the girls would have expected me to do, I bought a pie.
After dinner, and after getting the approval of the restaurant staff, I pulled the box of chocolate pie from my purse. (I chose a very large purse that night.) The look on Elise’s face was worth the effort and the drive. Monique distributed the plastic forks that I had also brought, and we dug in.
We all realize that the pie has no power to console or to soothe. It has just come to represent times when family members that are best friends, and friends who are as close as family members, join to encourage one another. What a blessing it is for my children to grow up surrounded by supportive people who make themselves available to offer the wisdom of their counsel and the comfort of their company. King Solomon would agree, for he wrote, “If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:10)
I’m determined to stand firm against the busyness of life so that I can always be available to nurture the relationships of family and friends. And I’ll bring the pie.

Hearts in Touch

I’ve washed a lot of dishes in my life, and chances are my future will include many, many more hours of standing in front of my kitchen sink. Do I enjoy dishwashing? I don’t stop to think about it. It needs to be done, so I do it.
My Nanny, Lillie Reno, whose memory I still cherish, once told me that putting a bird bath in front of your kitchen window is therapy. So I did. I thought about Nanny a few days ago as I stood before my sink and watched a bird land on the bird bath. This was probably the most determined of the flock for she wasn’t deterred by what looked like a dry bird bath. She persistently poked her beak beneath the dead leaves that the silver maple tree had shed, finding something that I couldn’t see. Water lay under the leaves, and she was not going to fly off until she had her fill.
Something about watching the activity in the bird bath made me forget my worries of the future, complaints about the present, and frustration over nonstick pans that do not quite live up to their name. I stopped washing dishes and simply allowed my mind to relax and enjoy nature’s entertainment.
Was my Nanny right? Is that therapy? If therapy can be defined as an activity that causes the body or mind to return to a state where it operates properly, then pausing to watch that bird was indeed therapeutic.
In Luke 12:24-25 Jesus said, “Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
I have faith in God. I’ve experienced His health, provision, and direction in abundance, so I really get aggravated with myself when I allow fear to cover up the faith that I know is there. The good news is that I’m really determined to poke beneath the negative thoughts until I tap into that life-giving faith and trust in the One Who cannot fail.
If God can take care of that bird outside of my window, surely He can take care of me. And you.

Are You Ready?

Although I’m not working outside of my home this year, my alarm rings at 5:30 in the morning. I enjoy spending the first part of my day quietly, for that’s usually the only quiet part. After cooking breakfast, something that I never had time to do when I worked, and watching everyone leave for school, I get ready. Sometimes I have errands to run, friends to meet, or appointments to keep. Other times, I get ready just so I’ll be prepared for the unexpected.
If my husband's lunch meeting is canceled, I'm prepared to fill in.
If my Mom wants to go shopping, I don't have to keep her waiting.
If my Dad is going to lunch with my brother and asks me to meet them in ten minutes, I want to be able to grab my car keys and go. That happened this week, and I'm glad that I was available. All I had to do was put away my broom and dust pan, and I was out of the door.
On my way to meet with them, I thought about how I had instantly responded to my father's phone call. I wish I could say that I answer my Heavenly Father's calls that quickly. When presented with a need, I don't always pray immediately. When I feel impressed to call a friend, or write an encouraging note, I sometimes get sidetracked. I'd like to say that I eventually get the job accomplished, but not always.
Now my new goal is to always be spiritually ready, and respond instantly when called to pray, to encourage, and to give. In addition, the instructions in 1 Peter 3:15 tell me to "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." I should always be prepared to share God's word.
Finally, I must always be ready for the day when my Heavenly Father calls me home to the eternal life promised for all those who have believed in Jesus. (John 3:16) On my last day on earth, whenever that is, I must be ready to meet Him.
Are you?

The Right Time

Solomon was inspired to write, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”(Ecclesiastes 3:1) The editors of Woman’s Day magazine apparently agree with him for they devoted an article in the February 17th issue to listing ideal times for various activities.
When should you exercise? According to the article, the best time to workout is in the evenings between 4:00 and 6:00, while a good time for a walk is after dinner.
In the mood to shop? Wednesdays seem to be the best day for grocery shopping. If you’re going to shop in the mall, chances are that Mondays or Tuesdays will have the least amount of fellow shoppers.
Ever hesitated leaving a movie to go to the restroom? You no longer will if you consult www.runpee.com. There you will find the best time leave the movie. There’s even a synopsis of what you will miss while you are out of the theater. The only bad thing is if everyone in the movie has checked the website, there will be a huge line in the restroom.
As I read the article, I wished that it had included advice from the Bible.
When should we encourage each other? Daily.
What’s the right time to forgive? The minute you experience the offense.
When’s the best time to ridicule one who’s made a mistake? Never.
What’s the best day to ask God’s forgiveness for sin and turn the control of your life to Him? Today. “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Open My Eyes

I hate putting away the Christmas stuff, then finding one more thing that I didn’t see. More often than not, the day after I pack up the decorations, I find one more ornament on the floor in the corner of the room, or one more snowman on the kitchen counter. This will be the year, I thought. This will be the year that I put away all of the Christmas decorations.
Despite my best efforts, not long after the last box had been packed and put away, I found it. A tall, slender, blue vase with silver glitter was there on the floor of my living room. The vase that usually makes me smile sat there reminding me of how easy it is to overlook something that you’ve seen every day for a month.
That the vase is not the only thing that I’ve overlooked. God’s blessings are all around me, but I sometimes don’t see them. I take them for granted and allow my problems and pettiness to loom larger on the landscape of my life. When I do that, I miss the blessings.
I’m not alone in overlooking something. Genesis 21 recounts the day that Hagar spent in the desert with her son. Out of water and hope, she sat down and sobbed. “Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.” (Genesis 21:19) Her frantic desperation had blinded her to God’s provision. The well filled with water was there, but all she could see were her problems, until God opened her eyes.
That’s my prayer this year. I want God to open my eyes so that I can see, really see, all that He has lavishly provided. I want to fully appreciate the people in my life. I want to embrace blessings, rather than question loss. And I want to pray with my eyes wide open to see the answers.
I picked the vase up from the floor, and rather than put it away, I placed in on my desk as a reminder to pray. Seeing it there once again makes me smile.
Ronny may be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.

Watch What You Fall Into

When you walk into my living room, chances are the first thing that you will see is a large chair, commonly called a chair and a half. It’s overstuffed, very comfortable, and even has a matching ottoman so that you can put up your feet. If you get cold, lift the lid of the ottoman to select one of many blankets including a Snuggie, whose appeal I fail to understand. (But Victoria wanted one, so her friend, Megan Landry, gave her one for her birthday.)
Getting into the chair? Easy. Just plop down. Getting out of it? Well, that’s a little trickier. At least for me. It’s takes more strength to get out of the chair than to get into it. Or if someone’s passing by, I grab their hand, and rely on their strength to lift me.
As I sat in that chair this morning, I thought of the similarities between that chair and sin. So tempting, so easy to sink into, so difficult to rise from. Then the words of a sermon that I heard over 25 years ago by Carl Delatte began to float through my mind. “Sin will take you farther than you wanted to go, keep you there longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you were willing to pay.”
For those reasons, I pray for the strength to avoid sin today. It’s so easy to write these words now when the house is quiet and no one has yet ruffled my feathers. I just hope that I remember them a little later. I like to think that I act like Jesus, then one of the kids says something and I realize that I don’t always react like He would. Or I see something on the Home and Garden channel and suddenly I’m no longer satisfied with what I have and whine about wanting another house. And will I really put away the Christmas decorations today, or just sit down and finish off the fudge? Okay, so maybe that wouldn’t be a sin, it just breaks my New Year’s resolution.
Lying? Coveting? Stealing? Gluttony? Adultery? Although the opportunities to sin are many, I Corinthians 10:13 reminds me that, “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
The good news is that even when we choose to fall into it, there is always a way out of sin. Maybe we can’t get out of it with our own strength, but Jesus is always there, ready to lend His hand. His nail-scarred hand.

Words are Permanent

I graduated from high school in 1977. Although I can rarely remember where my sunglasses are, I have pretty clear memories of those days, which I don’t hesitate to share with my children. If I wanted to change the television channel, I had to walk across the room and turn the dial. Phones were attached to the wall by a cord, so all calls were taken in the kitchen or living room, where everyone could hear your conversations, and I learned to type on a manual typewriter.
I loved typing class. I enjoyed the steady noises produced by the tapping of the keys, using the carriage return lever to advance to the next line, and finally reading what I had typed. The worst part of typing class was correcting mistakes. Every wrong letter had to be completely erased, then retyped. When carbon paper was used to type multiple copies of a document, the mistake on every copy was individually corrected. The correction process caused me to become a careful typist.
About this time in my life, I read something that instantly struck me, and has stuck with me. It’s one sentence that has corralled many of my conversations. “Don’t say anything that you wouldn’t write down, and sign your name to.” Have I always lived by that? Of course not. But the times when I have spoken too much have produced regret that I would love to live without.
Sticks and stones may break bones, but words can really hurt, too. They can hurt my friends, my spouse, and my children. After a conversation, I sometimes think, What if the last words I said to them were the last words they ever heard me say? Regardless of how lively our conversations become, I want them to end well, with no misunderstandings, or doubt of my love.
Erasing a mistake in typing class was nothing compared to trying to take back words. Although invisible, spoken words can never really be erased. That fact should make me think very carefully before I speak.