just do it.

dear emily,

i'm preaching to the choir here, because you are the 'fittest' person i
know, but you will look up someday and be 20 years older.    that's
when you will thank yourself for keeping your body in shape.

speaking of shape, my trainer (and great friend) was bemoaning how
many women our age have just let themselves evolve into a 'soft' pear
or apple shape.   fruit should only be smooshy in a pie.

it is harder to work out now, i admit.   sometimes my hip or back
aches, but that's no excuse.    there is always something i can do to
get my heart rate up and my muscles working.

someday, i want to be the grandma who throws a football to her
grandson and plays on the floor with her granddaughter.    how can i
do that if i don't strengthen my arms and legs now?

i will sit in the rocking chair with my great-grandbabies.

love,
lea

"therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees."   hebrews 12:12

dear emily,

one of our evangelist friends likes to tell a story about the dearest little,
old lady in his congregation.   she is his example of kindness, goodness, and
generosity.

google image

he said to her, "aunt minnie, you never say an unkind thing about anyone.
why,  i bet you even have something nice to say about the devil."

she smiled fondly at the young evangelist and replied, "well, honey, he sure
does try hard."

love,
lea

ps.   "let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,
so that you may know how to answer everyone."  colossians 4:6

"how can the Christ come from galilee?"

dear emily,

when did you last have your theology messed up?  you know, when it feels like
someone has roughed up your hair and smudged around your makeup, only it's
your heart?   can you imagine how the jewish people must have felt when Jesus
said, "if anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink."  what?  were they
even allowed to drink that sort of thing?

about like some republicans.   you mean Jesus isn't a conservative?

Jesus isn't confined to any of our shallow classifications, because He
supercedes them.   the huffington report recently featured an article intended
to encourage christendom.   one of the chief points emphasized that we need
to go a little easy on our Jesus talk.   Jesus seems to cause terrible offense
when we raise the subject.

i was huffed that someone would tell me when i can and can't speak the Name
above all other names.   but then, i pondered the matter.   maybe we are
guilty of saying, "Jesus" flippantly.   it is one of the quagmires of the kingdom
that while Jesus is the sweetest name we know, and we have been urged to
call Him 'friend,' He remains the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

who ever was allowed to call any other king by his first name?  "good
morning, henry."

anyway, i thought of some loose Jesus talk boundaries:  baby christians
could limit it to 'please and thank you' until they know Him better.  the rest
of us could use His name sparingly unless in reverence or cases of extreme
need, obsessive devotion, ecstatic gratitude, hopeless affection, hilarious
joy, delightful adoration . . .

love,
lea

painted lady

dear emily,

my precious daughter in law and i were watching crazy utube make-up
tutorials last night.    don't do it!   they are completely addicting, kind of
like bill gothard chalk talks but without the spiritual lesson.

anyway, the next morning i thought i would try to follow the make up guy's
tips.    i was hoping for jennifer aniston, believing for judy dench, but landed
on bozo the clown.   my face was a lovely orange shade of pretend, my eyes
were as dark as the zombies my friend brenda likes, and my mouth was 'nude'
as death.

the moral of the story:  color glows best from hearty souls not painted faces.

love,
lea

ps.   "and Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his
finger . . . if any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw
a stone."  john 8:6,7

the rise and fall of the united states empire

dear emily,

when i flip through the channels and pass by a "housewife" series, i have
conflicting responses.   my first inclination is to speed up, as one crazy lady
with gigantic green manacles will be screaming at a terrifying woman in an
enormous diamond collar.   who would subject herself to watch such horror?  
there is a perfectly good sci-fi channel for that.

on the other hand, it is somewhat intriguing (from a strictly anthopological
stand point) to realize that our curiousity about their inane lives is probably
the final signal of our nation's downfall.   when the apes take over, they will
display these housewives in cages as a lesson of our demise to their young.  

not the tea party.   not obama care.   snarling housewives.

love,
lea

"for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.   live as
children of light."  ephesians 5:8

you may have a heart of gold - but so does a hard-boiled egg

dear emily,

i had the frustrating experience of peeling a dozen eggs this week.  one
stubborn shell kept grabbing chunks of its nutritious 'white', no matter
how carefully i plied.   in agitation, i chucked it down the disposal.  that
was satisfying, until i realized i had just thrown the baby out with the bath
water.

many of my friends had counsel for me.  "pour a little salt in the boiling
water . . . pour some baking soda in the water . . . boil for 5 minutes . . .
boil for 20 minutes . . . let cool water run between the shell and the egg
after boiling . . . only use old eggs."

if i could have run cool water between the shell and the egg, then i could
have removed the darn shell instead!    why would i want to eat an old
egg?   and, how did i get to be such an old egg without knowing how to
peel them??

in many ways i am like those pesky eggs.   i hold onto my shell with such
tenacity that my very skin and muscle seem to peel away with its removal.  
thankfully, the Lord has put patient people around me who, hopefully, will
not throw me down the disposal.

love,
lea

"love is patient, love is kind . . ."  I corinthians 13:1