by Macy Johnson
“Since, then, you have been raised
with Christ,
set your hearts on things above,
where Christ is seated at the right
hand of God.”
(Colossians 3:1 NIV)
Songs were
written over many centuries to help believers recall scripture. The lyrical
words guided worshippers to think about God and how the Holy Spirit works in
their lives. As a teenager I sang popular Scripture Songs while driving,
walking, and working through my day.
by Macy Johnson
“May your father and mother be glad;
may she who gave you birth rejoice!”
(Proverbs 23:25 NIV)
My husband,
Jeff, and I drove to South Carolina the day before Mother’s Day. His sister flew there from San Antonio to celebrate their Aunt’s ninety-first birthday and visit
with cousins. Our daughter drove down from North Carolina with her children to
join in the celebration. We laughed about times gone by as we enjoyed
everyone’s favorite submarine sandwiches on the warm, sunny deck and mouth-watering
cake in the air-conditioned home.
by Macy Johnson
“The grass withers and the flowers
fall,
but the word of our God stands forever.”
(Isaiah 40:8 NIV)
My husband
mowed the grass in our yard one spring morning while I walked my regular route
near our house. The fragrance sent me back to childhood days of tumbling in the
front yard with friends. I love the smell of a freshly mown lawn.
by Macy Johnson
“His sons used to take turns holding
feasts in their homes,
and they would invite their three
sisters to eat and drink with them.”
(Job 1:4 NIV)
On the
first weekend in May our son, Alex, and four high school friends gathered at
our home for a Crawfish Boil. It was a joyful, fun reunion for everyone.
Jeff, my Louisiana-native
husband, has dreamed of hosting a Crawfish Boil at our house for a long time,
but could never quite get it together. God made it happen in a better way by
having our son and his friends bring it to us. We could never have laid it out as
well as they did and been able to relax and enjoy the festivities. It was God’s
perfect plan.
by Macy Johnson
“The high mountains belong to the wild
goats;
the crags are a refuge for the coneys
(rock badgers).”
(Psalm 104:18 NIV)
There is a
large island nestled close to the dam in Alabama’s Lake Martin. When the lake
was formed in the 1920’s goats were stranded on the island, so the locals named
it “Goat Island.” You can cruise around the island in a boat or on a jet ski
and look up its steep, rocky landscape in search of goats. Some vacationers
pull their boats up on the island’s sandy shores and pitch a tent for a holiday
weekend or afternoon picnic. There are no bridges to Goat Island, no ways for its
original inhabitants to escape.
by Macy Johnson
“A time to search and a time to give
up,
a time to keep and a time to throw
away.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:6 NIV)
Life is
like a puzzle tray. We come across things to do or create from our experiences,
then toss them into a tray, a schedule of sorts. Once all the pieces for a
project are collected, we gather them from the mental trays and form a picture,
a plan to complete the task.
Often we have to search our minds for the best next thing. Sometimes we possessed the item already, but it slipped away.
Jeff’s favorite, expensive clippers were lost.
The last time he remembered using them was when pruning a plant in the front
yard. After hours or searching, he gave up. Later in the day while raking in a
flower bed, the clippers magically appeared from under a pile of leaves.
Some people
organize puzzle pieces by color, like the Goodwill store’s layout. I like to arrange
them by items in the picture: a house, the water, groups of people, etc. I used
to separate pieces by the grid sections of the puzzle, allocating them evenly.
Puzzle
trays can be like chapters of a book. I gathered information from a 2007
interview with my aunt. After tossing facts around for weeks, I decided to categorize
them by person and tossed facts into unique family chapters.
After not
playing Bridge for over a year, my friends are back together for our weekly fun
time. During the pandemic, we experienced a time to give up, to let our desires
go, our relationships go, but we held on to hopes of gathering again. Yesterday
we played bridge in person again for the first time!
I will strive
to put my plans into appropriate mental trays according to my heavenly Father’s
perfect will. I hope you will, too!
by Macy Johnson
“‘Yes, Lord,’ she said, ‘but even the
dogs eat the crumbs that fall
from their masters’ table.’”
(Matthew 15:27 NIV)
I was
startled from a deep sleep by the sound of empty cans banging against the tall
aluminum pole at campsite #69 in Mistletoe State Park near Augusta, Georgia.
Rocky Raccoon, balanced on his hind legs, exposed his big, white, furry belly,
and clawed on the large, hanging, garbage bag.
