NPO

For the past week and a half, I have been away from my husband and children to return to my parents as my dad becomes more and more frail.
His health has been in decline for over 3 years, and when I left my home to return to Wisconsin, I wondered if I would be in time to say good bye to him.

As it turns out, he is over the crisis, though not out of the woods.

NPO looks like a simple set of letters, but what it means for Dad is that he can no longer eat or drink. He told the nurse last night that being denied water was torture. Since he is mostly unable to speak, that word haunts me today.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that because he has become non verbal, his mind is elsewhere. Dad knows what is going on and still has his opinions. One of them right now is that he wants to go back home.

I pray that he can do that.

Thoughts from a Night Watch

The stars.

Can you even see the stars where you live? If not, they have very little part of your daily life. You know they are out there, but so is seaweed in the sea. But from time to time through the year, we become aware that perhaps we might be able to see a meteor shower if the night is clear and we are out at the right time.

Such an announcement came a few weeks ago. It was a cold night, but very clear, and since I don't live in the city with its light pollution, I thought I would give it a try to see some meteors.
First off, it get uncomfortable really fast if you are standing outside on a chilly night with your head thrown back to look at the sky. Gotta find a more neck friendly way to study the night. Ah, a reclining lawn chair should do the trick. I found something to use as a blanket and reclined. Now just to be patient and watch the sky. For a busy mom who always has something that needs my attention, lying down to watch and wait made me a little antsy. You have to be alert; there was nothing I could do to make anything happen. That requires another adjustment to my thinking.

As I lay there, flat on my back, just looking up, a feeling of the vastness of the universe came over me. There is no way to comprehend it. The order to the stars, and the thought of how many generations before me looked at these same stars, and named the constellations overwhelmed me. It was a part of the lives of untold numbers of people of different languages, cultures, and continents and they KNEW the stars in a way that we modern Americans with movies, TVs, computers, and generally snug homes with good walls and roofs don't. Our leisure time isn't spent unwinding under the night sky where we can become acquainted with the Great Bear, or Hercules
or the Hunter.

Genesis 1:16 reads, God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night. He made the stars also.
The vastness that we marvel at is written as though the stars are sprinkles on an ice cream cone.

So if your everyday life gets to feeling like more than you can handle, remember that you can go to the Creator of the Universe. He can see more than you can, and won't overburden you.

Oh, by the way, I saw only one meteor that night.

Enjoy!

Are there things in your life that are 'too nice to use'? Things such as fancy soap, nice linens, or some lovely holiday candles? Why do we do that?

Try going to an estate sale or an auction of an estate. Many times you will find every day items that were tools in the loving hands that lived simple lives. Kitchen utensils or towels that were made for function and put to use in someone's home will show the evidence of usefulness; worn handles or threadbare washcloths. It is understandable that something be left for special days that are set apart from the mundane daily life.
But what is the signal to let the good stuff to jump out of storage into the glory of being used?

I was recently at an auction where there were boxes of fancy soaps and candles that never had the honor of being put to use. It seemed tragic to me, that some unknown person had probably received gifts from family members of gift soap or hand dipped candles and never felt that there was an occasion to put them to use. All of us leave all of our personal belongings behind eventually when our days come to an end. Use that fancy soap! Light that decorative candle and allow it to fragrance your everyday tasks. Isn't that better than boxes of these things filling your closets?
Isn't it a sign of great regard to give a gift with function and beauty? When you see something being used that you gave as a gift, doesn't it put a lift in your step? What a high complement to the maker that an instrument is used to make beautiful music!

So go ahead, use the gift soaps that some loved one gave you for your birthday and light those expensive candles. They look so much better than in a box full of stuff that was too nice to use.