“Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.”
In this fourth verse of Psalm 23 David talks about going through a valley. All us of have lived through difficult times; they are an unavoidable reality of life. Although we’d much rather go over, under or around them, sometimes the only way is through.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength.” (NLT)
These familiar words begin Psalm 23, a Psalm attributed to King David that contrasts God’s loving care for His children with the way a shepherd loves and cares for his sheep. He makes sure that they are fed, rested and protected. Sheep are gentle and harmless creatures, so the shepherd guides them toward lush pastures. They are easily startled so he tries to keep them in peaceful settings. They spend about fifteen percent of their time sleeping, but may lie down and rest at other times. If they become stressed or agitated, the shepherd encourages them to lie down and rest.
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Do you recognize the names Joey Chestnut, Takeru Kobayashi, or Patrick Bertoletti? Although they may not be featured on magazine covers or network TV programs, they are celebrities. They are the world’s top competitive eating stars and are all Major League Eaters.
Major League Eating is the world body that oversees all professional eating contests. It is governed by the International Federation of Competitive Eating and helps to develop, publicize and execute world-class eating events. MLE conducts approximately 80 events annually throughout the U.S. Read the rest of this entry »
I didn’t learn to swim until I was a freshman in high school. Admittedly that sounds a bit odd since even babies and toddlers are taught to swim. But for me it was a cosmetic issue. When I was a little girl my mother spent an hour each week straightening and curling my hair. So getting it wet would not have been a wise decision. As I recall, my sister and I were the only little girls on our block that had to wear swim caps while playing in the sprinklers. Yes, it was that serious in the 60’s. Read the rest of this entry »
Child development is a very interesting subject. If you are a parent, teacher or childcare worker you are familiar with the phases or stages of development.
Here are some of them:
Newborn or Neonate – birth to 28 days
Infant – 1 to 12 months
Toddler – 1 to 3 years
Preschooler – 3 to 5 years
School Age – 5 to 11 years
Preteen or Tween – 11 to 12 years
Teen – 13 and older
Each phase has its own unique set of joys. Who can forget the wonder of gazing down into the face of the miracle that is your newborn son or daughter? And what a joy it is to feel that tiny hand grasp onto your thumb. That first toothless smile can literally melt your heart. The stages continue in rapid succession as he or she learns to crawl, walk, ride a bike, swim, and before you know it they’re driving the car and leaving for college!
When I was a little girl toys were much simpler than they are these days. They weren’t electronic, they were manual. One of the favorite toys of very small children was the jack-in-the-box, which was basically a box with a crank on the side. When the crank was turned it played a melody (often “Pop Goes the Weasel”). At the end of the song, the lid popped open and a figure, usually a clown, popped out of the box. This was quite hilarious to little children who soon learned to stuff the clown back into the box and start the game all over again. As I mentioned, those were simpler times.
“And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. “ (Matthew 24:6-7)
Music is all around us; it’s an integral part of our lives. We ar
e surrounded by music everywhere we go, on television, on the radio, in movies, at restaurants at sporting events, in elevators and department stores; it is woven into the very fabric of our lives. It evokes emotions and sets moods. For instance, if you happen to turn on the television in the middle of a program and hear ominous music, you can tell that something bad is about to happen. Or if the music is schmaltzy it‘s obvious that it is a tender moment.
Education has changed significantly since I was in elementary school. In those days the curriculum focused on the 3 ‘R’s “Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic”. Teachers spent lots of time on subjects like grammar and penmanship. They also put lots of emphasis on spelling. Each week they issued a new list of spelling words and there was always a weekly test. There were school-wide and even district-wide spelling bees. The closest thing we had to spell check was a dictionary and you had to have a pretty good idea of how a word was spelled in order to look it up.
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is they faithfulness,” Lamentations 3:22-23.
It is exciting to realize that God has something new for us EVERY day. Today is not just a warmed-over version of yesterday. God has new plans, new ideas, new directions.
