Sorting the Memories

Okay, I was just going to make space to shift some furniture in two different rooms of my home. I didn't intend to get into sorting through stuff, just move some storage boxes into other areas. But hey! How do I know where they are to go if I don't look into them?

Big mistake! I ran across several envelopes of photos I took during trips in the past, along with maps, travel folders, and notes I'd made about our activities. There are also some half-finished and almost-forgotten scrapbook pages which were supposed to incorporate those pictures and memorabilia. It may be time to renew my efforts along that line before I cannot remember who the people are!

There were family photos too. It was a special treat to see my grandchildren at Christmas when they were five and three, and later at seven and five. Kids at Christmas are so much fun! I am ready now to recycle the catalogs and wallpaper sample books from which they created masterpieces when they came to Grandma's house. The days are gone when they were easily entertained with a box of crayons, a scissors and some construction paper!

Not everything I found in the boxes brought back happy thoughts. Sometimes I remembered, "Oh, that was the trip when . . . " or "Wasn't that the year that . . . ?" Memories have to be sorted too. Some need to be kept forever. Others need to be acknowledged and felt but, at the same time, given little opportunity to crowd out the wonderful blessings that make up my past.

MaryMartha

Art from http://www.sxc.hu/

Things Mama Taught Me: "Work First, Then Play"

I have my parents to thank for a sturdy work ethic: "Work first, and then play." On the farm, I learned valuable lessons about the importance of fulfilling obligations in a timely and thorough manner. If you don't bottle-feed an orphan lamb, it will die. If you don't gather the eggs, the hens are apt to break them. If you don't pick the beans, they will become tough and inedible.

What I didn't learn so well was how to play. Life was not easy for my depression-era, wartime parents. There was little leisure time and discretionary income while they reared a large family. My mother enjoyed reading and my dad listened to (no, not watched!) pro boxing, but those were the only diversions I remember their having. It was late in their lives before they began to enjoy television, a little travel, and some entertainment purely for entertainment's sake. They were good examples of the lifestyle Richard Bolles wrote about in The Three Boxes of Life and How to Get Out of Them: An Introduction to Life/Work Planning. Although this book was published in the '70s, readers find its principles still workable and valuable in this generation. Many people, he said, have a linear progression for life: get your education, work forty or fifty years, then retire. That is what I learned from my parents. A better plan is to do all three all throughout life. Never stop learning, never stop working, never stop playing.

Some people discover this in kindergarten—at least one person did. Robert Fulghum wrote: "Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some." (All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten) Some people take a little longer to gain understanding. I was mid-life before I realized how important this balance is. Now, barring actual disability in body or brain, I intend to keep my priorities ordered so as to continue for the rest of my life to "learn some and think some . . . and play and work everyday some."


MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

You may be interested in a related article, Three Little Lambs.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Autumn Colors and Others

Although the Midwest does not have the glorious colors on the trees that some other parts of the country have, I have been enjoying October immensely. As I drive around the city, I've had fun trying to come up with as many names as possible to describe the colors I see, without naming other similar things, i.e. buttercup yellow or pine green.

Yellow—golden, sunny, cadmium yellow, and ocher
Orange—rust, and copper
Red—scarlet, crimson, burgundy, cerise, and vermilion
Brown—tan, beige, sepia, henna, umber, russet, puce, and sienna
And of course, there is still some green—chartreuse, kelly, emerald, and celadon

OK, I admit I looked up some of these! (I’m still learning.) But I did not make up any!

When I was in grade school, I had a treasured box of 16 crayons, without fancy names. There was yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red, purple, etc. I knew just exactly what to look for. Do you recognize these Crayolas, new this year? What’s a kid to do when the teacher says “Color the tree trunk brown?” (Answers below.)

     1. Bear Hug
     2. Fun in the Sun
     3. Best Friends
     4. Happy Ever After
     5. Giving Tree
     6. Awesome
     7. Super Happy
     8. Famous

Seriously, what a beautiful, colorful world we live in!

Key to the colors above
     1. a dark brown
     2. the old orange-red
     3. orchid
     4. turquoise blue
     5. a very bright green
     6. “watermelon” red
     7. ultra-bright yellow
     8. hot magenta (I’d call it “hot pink”)

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Three Little Lambs

I have three tiny little lambs on the top of my computer desk, given to me by a good friend. They remind me while I am working that there are other things in life besides work, even though I find that interesting and rewarding.

One little lamb is just lying there, looking relaxed and pleasant. She doesn’t appear to be anxious about where to graze next or following the flock somewhere or anything else. She’s resting.

I used to think sleeping was a waste of time. It took quite a few years for me to realize that life is supposed to have rhythm, and if I disregard any of its aspects too greatly, I will pay in almost every other area. “He makes me lie down in green pastures,” the Psalmist wrote. (Psalm 23:2) That tells me that God expects me to stop my activity sometimes, and just rest.

But more may be happening with this little lamb than just resting. A sheep is among the group of animals called ruminants. Part of her stomach is a large storage area for food that she has consumed quickly, then later regurgitates, re-chews, and re-swallows in the process called cud-chewing. Rumination or cud-chewing is done mostly when the animal is resting and not actively eating. Healthy mature sheep may chew their cud for several hours each day.

Part of the rhythm of my life, I’ve learned, needs to be “ruminating”: thinking, dreaming, planning, pondering Scripture and what I have read elsewhere, processing the events of my days. The meaning of things escapes me if I only take in (graze) and never make time to think (chew the cud). So when I am quiet for several hours, I may be resting or I may be ruminating. (And you’ll never know which!)

The next little lamb has her eyes closed and little hoofs folded—well anyway, they’re together. I think she’s praying. She has a serious expression on her face, but it doesn’t look like worry. She must know that she has a Good Shepherd who is watching out for her and knows all of her concerns.

I know I’ll never learn all there is to know in the realm of prayer, but it’s something like breathing. I don’t have to know all the technicalities of my respiratory system in order to breathe satisfactorily. James Montgomery wrote in the words of a hymn, nearly two centuries ago, “Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath, the Christian’s native air.” When I’m short of breath, I get anxious, and likewise when I get anxious, I grow short of breath. Pretty much like praying! Sometimes I know I need to breathe more deeply, or I need fresher air. Sometimes prayer too takes extra attention and effort.

The third lamb is grinning and kicking up her heels. She is ready for play—a game of hide-and-seek or tag, or maybe just a run through the pasture. She is the one who has the most to teach me!

I grew up with a strong work ethic: “Finish your work first and then play.” This served me well during my years of schooling and early in my career. But as I grew older, I found myself with so much to do that when I worked first, I often never got around to doing the other things I wanted to do like reading, or needlework, or gardening, or taking a class. I don’t think it’s necessarily a good idea to play first, but I am learning to leave some time for “kicking up my heels.” Robert Fulghum (author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten) had good advice for balancing life: learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. He just may have three little reminders on the top of his computer desk too.

MaryMartha

(All rights reserved)

email: mrymrtha@gmail.com