Just the mention of one's mom and my mind's eye immediately sees your face and tears rise. How could it be that it has been eighteen years since we last talked? To simply say, I miss you would be an understatement. The hole in my chest has never healed, nor found matter to fill the void left that dreadful early morning looking on as you breathed your last.
Christmas with poinsettias will always remind me of you. A Christmas Eve anniversary for you and Dad, the red leaves were a symbol of your love for each other and a staple among our holiday decorations. The crimson potted plant sat on top of the TV cabinet or your sewing machine cabinet. Although, the sewing machine cabinet would not be its pedestal until company arrived, because you were likely sewing some dress or pair of pajamas for yourself, me or my boys. Your sewing machine now rests in one of my bedrooms. Your presence is felt as I stand near the machine, thinking of the many bridesmaid dresses, school clothes and pajamas you painstakingly stitched as the machine needle quickly plunged in and out of the fabric. The clickety-clack of the Singer lives in my mind and I see you seated in the little chair during late night and all day marathons diligently sewing as a special event approaches.
As this Christmas season wraps us in ribbon, toys, and the joys of being with family, I'm nostalgic with memories of you, apron clad, standing in our kitchen mixing up tasty pies and candies. No one could infuse as much joy and love in their baking as you did, especially during the Christmas season. Oh, to recreate those warm feelings of safety, love and acceptance I felt on chilly mornings in our kitchen, your eyes brimming with love for all of us, serving breakfast while baking pies and cakes for the holidays! Always busy, you embodied the woman of noble character.
Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. - Proverbs 31
Dedicated to my mother, Louise Bernice Bond Ritchey b. 03/02/21, d. 05/04/93.
November 30, 2011
November 5, 2011
Falling Back
As I think about falling back, the meaning that readily comes to mind is that this first Sunday of November most of the U. S. except Arizona, Hawaii and Navajo tribes will fall back to Standard time. It is a time the working class anticipates as they relish that extra hour of sleep. Although, as a Christian, our weak flesh has been caught up in temptations and I hear falling back as drifting backwards on promises made to remove harmful practices in my life. What comes to my mind is falling back into tempting habits once put away.
Matthew 26:41
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
We are imperfect. As much as we want to do right, live right and exercise a Christian example to others, our flesh is weak. In times of weakness, an old habit once put away, tempts me and I allow it back in my life. Today, as much as I regret yesterday, it is a blessing to know that I worship a merciful, forgiving God. A God who will pick me up when I fall back and hold me closer today. As we fall back, let us pray:
(Matthew 6:9-15)
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’ 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Matthew 26:41
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
We are imperfect. As much as we want to do right, live right and exercise a Christian example to others, our flesh is weak. In times of weakness, an old habit once put away, tempts me and I allow it back in my life. Today, as much as I regret yesterday, it is a blessing to know that I worship a merciful, forgiving God. A God who will pick me up when I fall back and hold me closer today. As we fall back, let us pray:
(Matthew 6:9-15)
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’ 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
October 22, 2011
Respectful Generations: Part 2
Happily, the first grade students were coloring a heart outline red,
but my teacher didn't approve of my haphazard red crayon strokes. She
proceeded to pick up another student's heart to show how we should color
in the same direction within the lines of the drawing. A little 6-year
old's artistic inclinations squashed; I began to question my attempts.
On another day, I made jewelery out of buttons and thread and brought
them to school for "show and tell". Proudly, I displayed my creations on
a desk near the front of the classroom. My peers seemed to like my
jewelery and I felt happy. I don't recall if the teacher liked them.
What is embedded in my memory is the swat on the bottom admonishing me
for not going straight to my seat after lunch, when all I was doing was
admiring my little button jewels on the table by the door.
Children and adults alike are so very different than they were in 1958. A teacher's pupils are not as apt to be coloring in the classroom or showcasing homemade jewelery during "show and tell" because in 2011 teachers find it hard to schedule such free time. The first grade teacher, while not as attentive to my feelings as she might have been, garnered our respect. My first inclination, with bruised feelings, was not to lash out at my teacher hurling accusations that she was mean. On the contrary, my thoughts were to do a better job of coloring in the lines and to obey her words, returning to my desk, without talking back. Since my retirement five years ago, my experience while substitute teaching, is that some children do not understand the meaning of talking back. Angry children wanting not to be disciplined, will continue to talk back when I've repeatedly told them not to talk back. A concept that has sadly gone away in the realm of parenting should in my opinion be taught to children today. Although, their parents would do good to learn the concept first.
Many children of economic letdown are too often left alone at home with disconnected fathers and mothers who did not learn the skill of good parenting. Their parents are tired from the business of keeping a job, working long hours, putting food on the table and if they have to, will steal to get it. The next generation of their families followed the example of their parents. Those are the people filling up our jails, teaching their children by example to disrespect authority. Teachers are no longer revered role models. They are an authority not to be taken seriously or to give a respectful ear to their heeding. The misguided minds of the children is wreaking havoc on their learning process. When students who do not understand academic concepts on a test, they rebel against taking the test and expect teachers to give them assistance. The children will pout, scowl, talk back and even walk out of the classroom because they are mad. They are angry because they didn't know how to learn their subjects and their parents didn't know how to help them. Now they are such a disruption in the classrooms, teachers must remove them in order to keep the rest of the class on task.
The two stories of contrasting decades. They do not say 1958 was better or worse than 2011. In some ways, the teachers of 1958 were not as forgiving and loving as they should have been. Their public reprimand or correction was not always the best way to deal with the situation. Although, many of the children knew a better way to take disappointment, correction, instruction without being rude or disrespectful to persons in authority. My point is blurry as to what exactly my message is in these stories. It is apparent that somewhere a ball was dropped and children for generations have suffered for the fumble. May heaven help us to correct our children in loving kindness and teach them Jesus' way of reacting to other people in this world. This should be our prayer and action for the future of our children and grandchildren to come.
Children and adults alike are so very different than they were in 1958. A teacher's pupils are not as apt to be coloring in the classroom or showcasing homemade jewelery during "show and tell" because in 2011 teachers find it hard to schedule such free time. The first grade teacher, while not as attentive to my feelings as she might have been, garnered our respect. My first inclination, with bruised feelings, was not to lash out at my teacher hurling accusations that she was mean. On the contrary, my thoughts were to do a better job of coloring in the lines and to obey her words, returning to my desk, without talking back. Since my retirement five years ago, my experience while substitute teaching, is that some children do not understand the meaning of talking back. Angry children wanting not to be disciplined, will continue to talk back when I've repeatedly told them not to talk back. A concept that has sadly gone away in the realm of parenting should in my opinion be taught to children today. Although, their parents would do good to learn the concept first.
Many children of economic letdown are too often left alone at home with disconnected fathers and mothers who did not learn the skill of good parenting. Their parents are tired from the business of keeping a job, working long hours, putting food on the table and if they have to, will steal to get it. The next generation of their families followed the example of their parents. Those are the people filling up our jails, teaching their children by example to disrespect authority. Teachers are no longer revered role models. They are an authority not to be taken seriously or to give a respectful ear to their heeding. The misguided minds of the children is wreaking havoc on their learning process. When students who do not understand academic concepts on a test, they rebel against taking the test and expect teachers to give them assistance. The children will pout, scowl, talk back and even walk out of the classroom because they are mad. They are angry because they didn't know how to learn their subjects and their parents didn't know how to help them. Now they are such a disruption in the classrooms, teachers must remove them in order to keep the rest of the class on task.
The two stories of contrasting decades. They do not say 1958 was better or worse than 2011. In some ways, the teachers of 1958 were not as forgiving and loving as they should have been. Their public reprimand or correction was not always the best way to deal with the situation. Although, many of the children knew a better way to take disappointment, correction, instruction without being rude or disrespectful to persons in authority. My point is blurry as to what exactly my message is in these stories. It is apparent that somewhere a ball was dropped and children for generations have suffered for the fumble. May heaven help us to correct our children in loving kindness and teach them Jesus' way of reacting to other people in this world. This should be our prayer and action for the future of our children and grandchildren to come.
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