DH went on a business trip last week, and obviously I was on his mind while he was away.  I mean…what other reason would there be for him to bring me a ‘gift’ when he returned?  He does fairly well with the major days like birthday or Christmas.  but he’s just not one to randomly bring me a surprise.

So, imagine my reaction when he walked in and said, “I brought you something!”  Surely, he is kidding.  He never does gifts for no reason!  What could it be?  I love surprises!  NOW, imagine my reaction when he handed me this…?

Friends, I have learned many things in my life.  I have learned lesson upon lesson upon lesson.  I am so much more mellow than I was when I started my journey.  I am so much wiser.  And, one of the most important of these lessons is this… ‘there are times when words are just not necessary, appropriate or appreciated.’ You see, there are times when none of the words and phrases that make up our language will add anything to the moment.  There are those times when the greatness of beautiful word will not convey adequately how you feel about the situation.  Silence, then, is just best for all concerned.  And, this was one of those times.  (I did mutter a ,”Gee, thanks”).

I am a Southern girl, born and bred…never lived anywhere else except 200 miles north of here for college. Visited lots of the world, but lived only in the Deep South.  I am about as Southern as you can get.    So why, pray tell, do I need to know the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing?  I have visited Japan twice….and they are very organized…and uncluttered in their way of life.  Oh, I loved their country and their culture, and way of life, but I wouldn’t go to them for any ‘life changing magic’…or anyone else I know, for that matter!

And, while I am extremely proud of myself for my restraint when I was presented with this ‘gift’…that surely doesn’t mean I haven’t had a lot of things running around in my head just dying to get out….

Shall I share?

And, in accordance with the life lesson I alluded to earlier…that’s all I have to say about that!

PS…No.  I have not read the book.

This morning (Monday), Levi was looking for a teeny, tiny, itty, bitty gun that goes with his Star Wars creature.  Now the deal was, on Friday as he was cleaning up, I told him to put ALL the little guns in the box so he would not lose one.  Really, they are so tiny, you could easily think it was a piece of trash!  And when he wants me to find one…not fun!  When he went to the box this morning, that one particular gun was not there.  CRISIS

I asked him if he put it up on Friday.  He said that he did but he got it out again when his mother and I were talking.  He showed me where he thought it was…but, alas, no gun there.  We looked and looked…in several places.  But no gun.  TEARS

Don had come into the kitchen to fix breakfast…as he does every morning.  It is a tradition that he and Levi started long ago and no one can fix the breakfast now, but Pa!  Which is ever so fine by me.  Of course,  I do the getting dressed and combing hair and brushing teeth and driving to school part!  (And, we all know how fun it is to wrestle a pair of jeans and boots on a four year old who would rather be doing anything else!!!)

Well, my dear hubby usually has a word or two or ten to interject into how I can do life better or more efficient or faster or like him.  So, he told me that I should have gotten a specific place for Levi to keep all his Star Wars things, so they could all stay together.  It did my heart good to tell him that I did that. ( Nah! Nah! Nah-Nah! Boo-Boo!)  SMUG

Levi walked into the kitchen and I reminded him that he had the big box to put all his Star Wars things in and if he would just do that every day when he left, they would not get lost!

Don was looking at me like a goon and said, “Lulu is right, Levi.  That’s why she can always find what she’s looking for and never loses anything.”  SARCASM A MILE LONG  He did say it with a smile, but …you understand!

So, I sang, to the room at large..a strange, little silly song….”LuLu is not perfect. She loses things. She makes messes. She forgets where things are!    Oh, well, Big deal….Lulu is not perfect!”

Sweet, innocent, angelic Levi then took me by the hand and looked into my eyes with all the seriousness in the world  and said, “Why did you not tell me that before now?”

UH OH…slipped a little off that pedestal…

“Sorry, Levi.  I’m not perfect.  I mess up big time…lots of times.  But, one thing’s for sure…Messes can be fixed or cleaned up or done over.  And, I don’t mind doing that.  Believe it or not, some of the best lessons you will learn in this life come from when you really mess up bad!  We just clean it up and start over!  Besides, aren’t messes the most fun, sometimes! And, in the grand scheme of things…what’s a few messes?  I don’t put things away like I should.  I know I need to, but I get so busy.   I lose things.  And, they may stay lost for a while.  But, it’s so exciting when I find them again!  Oh, well, this is me. I love you.   I love your messes.  I love seeing you so involved in a project that everything else fades away! We can always clean up after…and we do!  And, we’ll try to do better keeping up with the Star Wars guns.  OK?   Your Not Quite Perfect Lulu”

My mother loved to sing. She sang all the time.  She sang in the car.  She sang at the kitchen sink.  She sang while dusting and vacuuming.  She had music in her and it had to come out!  I think that’s a wonderful thing, because all she ever sang was hymns or other Christian music….but hymns mostly or songs they were working on in choir.

Our family was a church going family.  Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, every revival, every associational meeting, ever Week of Prayer (twice a year), every committee meeting, every choir meeting, every Sunbeams, GA’s, Acteens, Every social, every special missionary speaker,   every winter Bible study, every VBS early bird clinic, every association wide sing, every youth meeting on Saturday night,every circle meeting, every class meeting, every BYW, every children’s choir, every Mission Friends, every Sunday night after church fellowship, every dinner on the grounds after service on Sunday morning.  Every single thing that was made available to us, we were there and on the front row!  The only exception to this  rule was the one night a year that The Wizard of Oz came on TV.  That night Daddy and Joy and I were allowed to stay home and watch the movie.  Mother fixed us snacks and settled the three of us in front of the TV…before she went on to church.  And, we watched.  And, Joy cried at the same spot every year!  Ahhh! Those monkeys were not that scary!

Now, our church attendance was not a bad thing.  Actually, it was a good thing….though I didn’t realize it at the time.  Our life existed in learning about our Lord.  Our dearest friends were right there in those meetings with us.  This is what we put our time and talent into.  And, we were very happy.  My parents had wonderful friends, and their children were our friends.  They liked to get together when we weren’t at church, and so we got together with them.  And, so at almost all times of my life I was surrounded by people who thought like us, and talked like us and worshipped like us.  My parents friends became extended family to us.  (Ours all lived far away)  They were Aunt Katherine and Uncle Allison and Aunt Eunice and Uncle Robert…and others.

My Mom always sang in the choir and occasionally would sing solos.  My Aunt Eunice Williams was my piano teacher for 12 years (,,,I’m sorry Aunt Eunice, for not practicing more…)  She was also our church organist.  And, our Youth Choir director for a while!  I can still recall an anthem she taught us in choir some 45 years ago.  Joy and I can still do a pretty good rendition of it when we are together…in the car…by ourselves.

But, though my Mom was forever singing…I could not remember a song she taught me to sing.  Now she had a couple of fun songs she always liked to sing…like Shoo Fly Pie, Gonna Dance By the Light of the Moon.  And, she had a few poems she would recite…The Moo Cow Moo.   But, as far as a song she taught me the words and how to sing, I could not remember a single one.

What brought this up is I found a file of songs I have taught to Levi.  Some you would know and some came straight out this convoluted mind of mine…and only Levi and I would understand.  We’ve been making up our own songs since he was a baby!  All along he will ask me to sing the song about the chicken or the Hands Song, etc.

Because I am such a stickler for him listening to the right kind of music, I have several CDs and DVDs that we listen to in the car.  He knows them all by heart now!  But, I purchased a new one a few weeks ago and this week, we played on the way to school.  A song came on that was vaguely familiar to me.  I knew it was a song I had learned long ago…but the words were a little different.  They were alike enough that I knew it was the song.  After Levi got out of the car at school, I sat and listened to the song a few times…rewinding and listening again.  And, then I had the most beautiful remembrance.

It was a song my Mother had taught me.  I can see us sitting together and her singing a line, then me repeating it. Then changing up the words and singing it again.  You may even know it…with slightly different words.  But this is the way Mom taught me.

OUR HEAVENLY FATHER

Our heavenly Father made the BIRDS, He showed them what to do

If God so loves the little BIRDS, I know He loves me, too.

He loves me , too.  He loves me, too.   I know He loves me, too.

If God so loves the little BIRDS,   I know He loves me, too!

Wow!  what a sweet memory I had sitting in the car, in the cold, in the parking lot at FPP.  That’s the great thing about memories, isn’t it?  They pop up out of nowhere, but take you right back to a moment in time long ago.  I just wanted to be still and revel in it!  I was thinking of that as I drove home, and to my surprise, I remembered another song Mom taught me.  I have not heard this song in forever, but there it was seared into my memory bank.

WHO CAN MAKE A FLOWER?

O who can make a FLOWER?

I’m sure I can’t, can you?

O, who can make a FLOWER?

No one but God; It’s true!

Yes, there she was singing that song and teaching me the word and motions to it!  So sweet! So comforting!  I remember it vividly…now!

Don’t ever think that the things you teach your children are for naught.  What goes in this brain of ours, is there.  And, at some time, it’ll just rise to the surface.  Perhaps at a time when we need a lift.  Or maybe at a time God just wants to give us a little wink and say “Remember this?”

Oh the responsibility it is on us as parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles,teachers, friends.  Someone… sometime… somewhere… will recall a memory of us.  Will we be pleased with what they remember?  Will we be ashamed?  Will it be a memory that is worth sharing with others?

Well those decisions are all up to you.  But as for me…I am thrilled when I can share such happiness and remembrance with you!

I think those of you that know me well know how I feel about the way music is presented in the modern church.  I miss the hymns.  (Our present minister of music does a great mix of both).  I miss singing hymns and those familiar words that are seared in my memory from years of attending a Southern Baptist Church.

I love the theology of hymns.  So many times, the right hymn can be like a mini sermon.  It can say in a few lines and a chorus just what you need to hear.

Being  a preschool teacher for 40 years, and a preschool music teacher for 20 of them, I know that what we put into the minds of our little ones, is what they will pull up throughout their lives.  I see these videos on TV of kids dancing  to and singing ungodly songs, and people comment how cute it is.  To me it is sad that this is the kind of music they are exposed to.  How will these songs help them in later life?

Last night our family had a medical emergency.  The patient was 200 miles away, and in great distress.  We were helpless.  Trying to get him to the hospital and speaking to emergency personnel, making sure he was safe and getting proper care, we were up all night…worried as could be.  But, there was no time for us to get there and take care of things.  All we could do was pray.  We prayed separately.  We prayed on the phone.  We prayed together.  And, then we tried to lay back down and wait…and trust…and believe…that God would step in and do what He said He would.  As I lay in the dark…alternately praying and trying to figure out a way to get there NOW,  the sweetest words started flowing through my mind.

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,       

Just to take Him at His Word;

Just to rest upon His promise,    

And, to know, “Thus saith the Lord.”

*Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him      How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;

*Jesus, Jesus precious Jesus!      Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

Yes, tis sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just from sin and self to cease;

Just from Jesus simply taking

Life and rest and joy and peace.

*Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!    How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;

*Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!      Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,

Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;

And, I know that Thou art with me,

Wilt be with me to the end.

*Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!     How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;

*Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!       Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

It was as if Jesus was speaking to me and saying, “That’s right, Tonja.  It IS sweet to trust in me.  You HAVE proved me many times.  Now, do it again…trust in Me.”  And, that’s when the peace came.  Whatever was going on with our loved one was being controlled by the one who loves him more than we ever could.  Friends, let me tell you an absolute truth…there is no peace like the peace God gives.  His peace is perfect, and it is always available!

How many times have I sung that song through the years?  It was a favorite as I grew up.  But, in all honesty, I can not remember the last time I sang it…or even thought about it.  But, there it was when I needed comfort and a gentle reminder.

(I must confess, I did not remember the second verse printed here.  But when I looked up the lyrics to be sure I got them right, I just had to share them with you, too.)  Isn’t that a beautiful thought…“Just from Jesus simply taking life and rest and joy and peace.”

Well, all is well this morning.  4 kidney stones are nothing to breeze through…I know I’ve been there.  Actually, now that he’s been initiated into the club…we can all commiserate with one another…he’s the last of the family circle to experience this ailment.  I’m betting about now he’s wishing he’d never joined!

This was a big day in the Owens’ family….A rite of passage…A symbol of continuity.  Today, Levi got his first motorcycle.

Motorcycles have been a part of my life since I was born.  I actually have a picture of Pop holding me in his arms with one hand and driving a motorcycle in the yard with the other.  Mother, obviously, was taking a nap!  Anyway, Joy and I grew up riding, and I rode to high school some.  Don and I had a motorcycle while we were in college at Samford in Birmingham.  Then our children came along…and as soon as they could hold one up…they were riding, and loving every minute of it.  My boys and Joy’s girls both rode.  Sure, they had falls and broke bones and cuts and scrapes.  They hit trees and the backs of parked cars.  But, they learned the right way to ride. *** Never without a helmet. *** Never with a passenger.  ***Always with an adult present.  And always knowing misbehavior while riding would warrant losing the privilege.  Ask Adam if we stuck to that.

***Adam on his first motorcycle…***

They rode most often off the road or only on a quiet cul de sac where my parents lived…until my boys got older.  The motorcycles were always kept at their house.  Then Adam began to ride to school, and out to Wallace Community College…and then his Pop took him on a two week trip from Dothan through Atlanta to North Carolina and on to West Virginia.  Wow..they made some great memories.  I think Adam was 17.

Ian was also quite a rider and rode frequently in school and while he was in college in Birmingham and back and forth to Birmingham.   I would ride anywhere with those two, they are such careful, skilled operators.  But, that doesn’t mean I did not worry.  I sure did.  Not so much about their skills as the fact that cars do not respect motorcycle riders and don’t look for them on the road.

Well, Levi has been riding with his Pa for a good while, off road only.  He is already developing a love for the sport just like his dad and uncles.  We decided to get him this tiny machine for Christmas…with his parent’s blessing.  But, it’s for off road use only.  As you see in these pics, he is riding on the little lane we live on.  But, there is very, very little traffic here.  He will never be allowed to ride without his Pa or his Daddy here with him.  And most of his riding will be in our wooded lot.  And you’ll see it has training wheels on it, and it will for a while.  He’s learning to balance, but this will give him more stabilization for a while.  Since Adam was working on Christmas Day, we made the day after Christmas the day of the big reveal!

“What’s in this box, Pa? Another Christmas present?”

“Wow!  it’s a real motorcycle helmet!  A real one!  Like you wear!”

“Look! It fits!  I like it!  And, it has a face shield, too!”

Don then told Levi there may be one more package under the tree for him!  He got the paper off that thing in a hurry,  “It’s a motorcycle!  A real motorcycle!”

“It fits me! It’s my size!”

Adam had some words of wisdom for Levi…

…they both had things to tell him…

…and some more things to tell him…Like where the BRAKES are!!!

Finally, he gives it a little gas…and off he goes…down the front path.

Eyes on the road…always look ahead…

Big turn here…Pa and Daddy close beside.

A few more words from Adam…and a little reassurance.

And there he goes!  Like a pro!

Now Uncle Ian is helping watch!

And Uncle Alex is close by, too!

“I did it Pa!  By myself!  I love it!”

“Thanks, Pa.  I’m going to ride some more, now!”

“Don’t worry Mommy and Lulu.  All is well!  I’ll be careful!  I’m a big boy now!”

It was a day for family and a day for fun.  Cherishing the beautiful gift of this little boy, and his Daddy and Uncles and Grandpa and Great Grandfather in whose footsteps he follows.  And Suzanne and I along to watch over it all…and shed a few tears.  Not sad ones…just wistful ones.  Time moves so quickly……and little boys become big boys and men right before your eyes.  Way before you’re ready for it!  Oh, that we remain wise in the leading!

“But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children’s children…”   Psalm 103:17