A to Z challenge….. R is for Redeemer and Resurrection

The Christian world just celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We joined together with our daughter Mindy and her family to attend church and worship. The beautiful music and talks we heard during the Easter program touched my heart.

With these thoughts fresh in my mind, my choice for

my R post is  Redeemer and Resurrection

Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.

Richard G. Scott , one of our church leaders, expressed the feelings of Easter better than I can. He said …

“Easter is that sacred season when the heart of each devout Christian turns in humble gratitude to our beloved Savior.  It is a season that should bring peace and joy to all who love Him and show it by obeying His commandments.””Easter brings thoughts of Jesus, His life, His Atonement, His Resurrection, His Love.”

“This Easter, as you remember the resurrection and the price paid and the gift given through the atonement, ponder what the scriptures teach of those sacred events. Your personal witness of their reality will be strengthened.”

I have tried to take Elder Scott’s advice this Easter season by reading scriptures about Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.  There are many to choose from.

In the Old Testament in Job 19 we read “I know that my Redeemer lives and He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth”

We have a hymn that uses Job’s text and says “ I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort that sweet sentence gives.”  I am thankful that I know that He lives. Like the hymn says, it is a great comfort. It means everything to me.

In the New Testament, in John 11:25,  Jesus told Martha  "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

  In the 24th chapter of Luke  angels announce the resurrection of Christ after his death.  Romans 5 tells us that man is justified through the blood of Christ. Adam fell and Christ atoned that man might be saved.  That makes Jesus our Redeemer. He redeemed us from the fall of Adam. By taking our sins upon himself He satisfied the demands of justice and made it possible for us to repent and inherit eternal life. We will all be resurrected because Jesus broke the bands of death.

In Mosiah chapters 15 and 16  in the Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Christ, Abinadi tells us that after Christ is crucified He will break the bands of death, having gained victory over death and giving Jesus power to make intercession for the children of men.  In 15: 11 Abinadi tells us that all the holy prophets have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord. In 16:8 Abinadi tells us “…There is a resurrection therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.”

Today in church, my grand daughter Claire sang “I stand all Amazed” by Charles Gabriel. I love that hymn. The first verse says…

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me.

Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.

I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,

That for me a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.

The third verse says…

I think of his hands pierced and bleeding to pay the debt!

Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget?

No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat,

Until at the glorified throne I kneel at his feet.

Chorus..

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me enough to die for me.

Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me.

I do stand all amazed when I think of my Redeemer and his Resurrection.  I believe that He lives and loves us… and ….through Him, all mankind is saved from the bands of death.

Hugs, Lura 

Rejoice and be thankful smiles

My dear friend, Kris, who just happens to be our bishop’s wife and our Sunday School teacher, shared her favorite scripture with me. (She has many favorite scriptures but she says this is her very favorite favorite.)

It comes from the New Testament.

  It is 1Thessalonians 5:16…. ” Rejoice evermore.”  That is it…. just… rejoice evermore. It is just 2 words but gives me so much to think about. 

My smiles today come from that scripture and the 2 that follow it which are:

verse 16. Rejoice evermore

verse 17. Pray without ceasing.

verse 18. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

As I have been recovering from my gall bladder surgery I have been thinking about this. I am good at praying without ceasing. I pray about everything. I am sure that many of you do too. However, I am not as faithful about giving thanks in every thing…are you?

I'll admit that I was pretty bummed out about having my gall stone attack and surgery just hours after my daughter Erin and her family  got here. We had  many fun things planned that I was looking forward to doing with them that week. I’d been looking forward to their visit since they were here Thanksgiving.

When the terrible pain started while we were eating dinner, I just couldn't believe it was happening to me. I thought if I went home and took some medicine I would be just fine. When the pain became unbearable I asked Grampy gave me a priesthood blessing.  In that blessing Grampy said that I would know what actions I should take and my doctors would know what needed to be done to help me. I knew then that I needed to go to emergency at the hospital.  I was not rejoicing. I was in agony and very disappointed.

However, these scriptures say rejoice evermore and that it is God’s will that in everything we give thanks.

I've given that a lot of thought. I know that I can do better in rejoicing and giving thanks in everything.

I can rejoice that a hospital was near by

with technology to diagnose what was wrong with me.

Within one hour of me arriving at emergency they knew I had a gall stone stuck in my bile duct and I needed gall bladder surgery.

I can rejoice that I was rushed to surgery and within 12 hours I was back home again.

I can be thankful that there were good medical professionals to help me and anesthetics and pain medicines for me to use.

I can rejoice that Erin was here to be my nurse...

and the children to make me smile and forget about the pain.

I can be happy that I am healing quickly and feeling better every day. I was even able to work my regular shift at the temple last Thursday which was just 2 wks. after my surgery. I truly do have reason to rejoice and be thankful.

From now on I am going to try to remember 1Thessalonians 5:16-18 and apply it in my life because I know that is what my Heavenly Father wants me to do.

What do you have to rejoice about  this week?  I hope lots of good things.

Hugs, Grammy

Remembering Lyle with a smile

Lyle, our 3rd child and 1st son was born 42 years ago today.

Unfortunately he died during labor. His only cradle was a coffin.

His little room was empty. My arms and heart were empty.  His absence left a hole in my soul.

I almost died that night too. My labor was going well until the placenta tore away from the uterus cutting off Lyle’s oxygen supply and making me hemorrhage. I was bleeding so badly that they couldn’t take him by C-section for several hours.  After his birth they worked hard to piece me back together, stop the bleeding and save me. 

They took Lyle away while I was in surgery. They said it would be too upsetting for me to see him…. to hold him… to tell him goodbye. They were wrong but that is how they did it in 1971.  To this day I feel sad that I never got to hold my precious baby boy.

My heart was broken. Then one night I woke up with this poem in my heart. I got up and wrote it down. Afterwards I felt at peace.

Only Son (I’ve now renamed it First Son)

Your baby’s dead. How cruel the words! How shocking to my soul.

It can not be! It must not be! God would not take my son from me.

But it was true. My babe was gone….taken from my arms and breast.

I wept. I cried in agony. My torment knew no rest.

How could it be? How could it be that God took him in his infancy?

Before he walked or talked or cooed with joy, God took away my baby boy.

Then in His loving tenderness, God touched my heart that I might know,

I’ll have my son. I’ll hold his hand.

I’ll watch him grow into a man.

Though I wait to sing him songs of love,

I’ll sing them in our home above.

For now I’ll prove my faith and worth

and thank God he let me give him birth.

I miss my Lyle. I’ve missed him all these years. As I’ve watched my other children grow and develop into wonderful adults with fine families I realize more than ever how much I have missed by not having Lyle…. but I am smiling because I know he is still a part of our family. I know that life is eternal. As I stated in my poem, I know I will have my son again one day.

One of the main beliefs of the Mormon religion is that through the power of the priesthood families can be sealed together in our Holy Temples for time and all eternity. Families can be together forever.  To learn more about this doctrine please go to

Mormon.org

So today, on Lyle’s birthday I can think of him with love and smiles. I know that our son is in a wonderful place. He is with our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior. I bet his grandparents are taking good care of him.  I am happy that he did not have to suffer any of the pains or sorrows of this world. I am smiling because I know if I live a faithful, good life, I will have my son again.

Happy Birthday Son

Have a good week dear blog friends.

Hugs, Grammy Lura

 

Remembering 9/11 with Apple Pie

We will never forget the terrible events of 9/11 that took place twelve years ago in NYC or last year in Benghazi . I have been watching replays on T.V. for the past few days. My heart is saddened as I think of the lives that were lost and all the pain caused by these events.  None of us will ever be the same as we were before the attacks.

My heart is tender today…. I’ve been touched as I’ve seen flags flying. I love the United States of America. I’m sad that some countries hate us and want to destroy us.  But, instead of sitting around being sad today, I decided to do something American….

… Bake apple pie…. what is more American than that?

If you read my last post you know that our apples ripened early this year and I canned a lot of them last week. Smelling the applesauce cooking made John hungry for apple pie but after working 2 days canning, I couldn’t look another apple in the face until today.

 

So we got out the peeler again and got busy.

Apple pie is easy to make. I used 7 apples for each pie. I added 3/4 cup sugar, 2 Tbl. of flour, 2 tsp. of cinnamon, dash of nutmeg and a dash of salt.

I wanted to do a crumb crust so I mixed a cup of flour with 1/2 sugar, 1 tsp. of cinnamon and 3/4 cube of butter until crumbly

My neighbor, Katie, wanted to learn how to make pie so I got to pretend I was back at school teaching cooking again.

I wish all of my students had been as good as Katie at following directions and working hard. She is a fast learner!

We each made one crumb crust and one regular crust pie. We baked them at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.

They look good…..And they taste better!

I ask earlier what was more American than apple pie????

The answer is--- Apple pie and ice cream.

And my friends… that was my patriotic contribution on this day of 9/11 remembering. It might not seem like much of a way to be patriotic but it left a sweet taste in my mouth.

Hugs, Lura

Back to school smiles and thoughts

I am an expert on “Back to School”.

As a student for 20 years I went back to school 20 times. ( No I was not held back …. I had 12 years in public school, 5 years in college and 2 3/4 years  in graduate school.)

As a mom I also had 4 children that I sent off to school each year for a total of  30 times, including their college years.

As a teacher, I started new school year classes 22 times in high school, 3 times at college and 10 times at the University level.  I have had more than my share of “Back to School” (This number does not count the new classes I started the second semester of high school. It would be mind boggling to add those in.)

Now that I’m retired from teaching and raising children, I only see “back to school” through my grands.

My DIL, Marla,  posted this pic on Facebook of her 3 going off to school last week while the youngest cried all the way home because he missed them. I know how he feels. I remember how sad I was when his daddy, my youngest child, went off to school and left me alone at home.

My Lynell posted this one today of her youngest 2 heading off to school. She said she can’t believe she only has 2 of her 5 children left in public school.  She commented that time moves too fast….. I ditto that. I love this picture of Lonica and Johnny.

I often feature Loni on my blog as a beautiful dancer…..

…and Johnny as a champion gymnast…

…But in this picture they are just being cute kids. I like that.

Even Erin’s little ones….Cal and Ellie….. are all set to start preschool.

My CA grands started back to school today too. Even though they live the closest to me I don’t have pictures of them to show you. (My Mindy doesn’t do Facebook and I did not get up at 6:00 a.m. and drive 20 miles to get some…. bad Grammy!) But, I am sure they all looked darling as they headed off.

In some ways I miss “back to school” now that I am retired.  I use to enjoy getting my room ready with pot plants, pictures,  new bulletin boards etc. I enjoyed getting all my papers run off and feeling “ready to start”. I think one really nice thing about being a teacher is getting to start over every year or semester.

I liked teaching. I always had great plans to improve on the previous semester and try new things. It didn’t always work out but I always tried.

However, there were some things I dreaded about “back to school” and I do not miss them.

I did not like having to set my alarm for early in the morning and then the feeling of always being rushed through the day being ruled by “the bell”. It seemed no matter how carefully I planned, my lessons and the clock were always at odds with each other.

I do not miss the endless hours of writing lesson plans, grading papers and doing administrative work and reports. I do not exaggerate when I say that my work day usually went from 6:15 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. or later during the school year. That was especially true during the years that I taught both high school and college classes.

I do not miss the constant disciplining and fight to maintain classroom order. No one told me when I was in college getting my teaching credentials that I would have to spend more time disciplining that teaching.

Without class room order no learning can take place. Some high school students make a career out of interrupting the teacher and causing disturbances. The administration does not help the teacher out much so I had to handle 95% of those characters myself. It was exhausting.

I do not miss that part of “back to school”. In fact, I would still be teaching today if maintaining order hadn’t gotten to be such a hard job. After 22 years, I was literally worn out both physically and emotionally from all of their shenanigans. (I started teaching full time when I was 41, after my kids were older, and retired at 63.)

So…. here we are at another “back to school”. As a 69 year old, I am glad that I don’t have to work any more but I do have mixed emotions. I had purpose and drive when I was teaching that I don’t have any more.

Teaching made me feel like my life mattered. I did not get much respect from my high school students but I felt like I was teaching them important things that would better their lives.  My college students did respect me. They made me feel smart, valued and important. I kind of miss that… but not enough to go back to teaching..lol.

These are my thoughts on” Back to School”. What are yours?