I’m guessing that almost everyone has a week that gets that label. And various types of things give reasons for saying “what a week!” This was a good week for us to say, “What a week!”
At the end of last week, we realized that our extra refrigerator in our basement, which is one we depend on more than just being an extra, was on the last days of its life. To properly understand our dilemma, you need to understand that getting into our basement we have to use a stairway that has a flight of several steps, a landing with a corner, then down another flight of stairs. They are many years old and are definitely stairs to an unfinished basement and very unfinished themselves. As we have aged, it has been easy for us to keep certain things on them and on a shelf along them. Aging takes a toll on what one can or should attempt to do. We quickly realized that removing a decrepit refrigerator wasn’t something we ourselves could do. Getting a replacement to put in its place wasn’t something we could physically do either. Shopping for one, yes, we could do that!! The purchase was made but could not be put in place until help could be found. Life was so much easier when we had no worries about strength, balance, back and knee pain. Now we have all those things to think about and more. We have people who are able and willing to help but they are busy people, and we hesitate to add extras to busy schedules.
This situation gives me reasons to be thankful for the promise of the future with none of these problems. I love the promise of no more death in the New Earth! I know, no more death for living things. But no more death for appliances would be good or whatever we will be using in the future! I don’t know what we will use in Heaven, but I am going to appreciate the fact that food won’t spoil and die so I won’t need a refrigerator that will come to the end of its life. This particular refrigerator had been working continuously for nearly 53 years. It has served us well. It never complained about working too hard, being too tired, needing a vacation. It had been faithful to its masters, giving service without complaint. I have imagined that if I were a refrigerator, I probably would have started whining about having to do my job in the first week of my life, let alone doing it for over 50 years. I will be so thankful that we will never age, no matter how long eternity will be!!!!! There will be no physical problems for those who get to experience eternity. Old will never be old! What will we call those stages of life? Like what will we call the length of time we have been able to spend in eternity for 1 year, 20 years, 1000 years, even a million million years and more. I wonder how we will refer to or talk about the past part of eternity and the future in eternity? Funny questions for me to have I suppose. Experiencing and dealing with getting older with the problems that often come makes me so glad to know that getting older will have a whole new aspect. How can we imagine getting older without ever getting older? My thinking about this can’t really even begin to imagine what it will be like. But, oh, how I look forward to it.
Yes, we have had a very interesting week at our house and on the farm! The farm I call home is in the midst of changing and trying to comprehend the changes is hard. Daily I think about what the future means and what it will be like. Change is hard. There are changes planned for our house, for the house next door, changes coming to what will happen to things on the farm that have been “forever” and now will be different. There has been planning and document signing, work crews on the acreage and work crews in the house next door. We have enjoyed having family come home for a visit and to help continue working on a project started several years ago! When our needed refrigerator needed removed and replaced, we decided that God planned the timing of all this happening together. Our son came for one purpose but was an unexpected answer to our need for help. We were so so thankful that God had the timing perfect for our needs. Our son so willingly changed his project plans and willingly gave his time for our emergency.
One of the bonuses of our son’s arrival is that his son came with him, and their family member—Luna dog. She knows her master and follows him everywhere. She doesn’t willingly stay behind or in a different room. She somehow manages to stay as close to him as possible, and it usually means she is continuously lying exactly where we need to walk! No matter how many times she gets told to get up, move, you’re in the way or she gets stepped on, she still will not find an out of the way place to lay in safety. I, too, have a Master. I profess to call Him my Master, and I have often said that I follow Him and that I will follow Him everywhere. But I’m not nearly as good at this as Luna doggie! I fear that sometimes I leave my Master out of sight. I don’t make absolutely sure that He is always in my sight. How sad is it that a dog is way better than I am. We think we were created a step above the animals, but are we? Maybe we need to rethink some things.
Besides having a dog to “step on” or around, we have had a fun time with a nearly four-year-old who loves everything machinery. Tractors, trains, construction things, planes and helicopters—they all are his favorite things. And they have appeared all over our house! He is very good about cleaning up when clean up time comes but, in the meantime—–he can’t properly “farm,” or “fly” or “play Thomas train and friends”, or Legos unless they are all out! Out and all over the open floor areas where we need to walk. While he can put size four-year-old feet in the open holes among the toys and can step over his doggie pal, we think about where we can walk and try to keep balance and not trip and fall. Like I said, it has been an interesting week, and we would not trade most of it. And continuing with my theme, I absolutely know that I won’t trade any part of eternity and the things in store for me there.
When a special dog comes to visit us, life for our two cats changes from their normal cat life that they have indicated is what they like and need and enjoy. We can’t give them food in the normal way that they have come to expect—the dog gobbles it up if given a moment of forgetfulness on our part. All three animals can share the same water dish—if the other animals aren’t looking. Due to the construction getting finished in our bathroom, I relocated their water bowl to the kitchen and in front of our freezer. Me! I did it! I even thought about what I was doing! The next day I wanted some frozen
strawberries—from the freezer! Naturally I opened the door to get them. Too late, as I heard spilling water, I then remembered the relocated water bowl. I was in the middle of fixing breakfast and was in a hurry with no time to take to mop up a quart of water that was rapidly spreading west and north and south on the floor. Knowing that I move rather slowly and with pain, maybe you can imagine my frustration with this incident. And my frustration did not stop—other things took advantage of my frustration and increasing mood destruction and began to spill, fall, etc.
I know what I need to remember every day. I know what I need to do every day. Things to remember that God has instructed me about. Things that I need to do that God has given me to do out of love for Him. But even so, I get forgetful. I don’t do them, I forget that I need to remember. And then trouble happens. I have to clean up the mess that I caused. I get frustrated with myself. I have to ask God to forgive me. Then He comes and helps me by getting the spiritual cleaning and mopping rags. He even begins the cleaning for me.
This week ended trying to squeeze in one more part of the bathroom project. Par for the week, it was not easy. What could go wrong did go wrong! Just when you think you have thought through all the possible problems, along comes a dog that runs right through the wet glue, getting it on her paws and across the floor. She immediately got picked up and dumped outside. Obviously, another lesson from God. Our plans are very easy to go astray. We forget to take God into our planning. We forget that we are not in control. There is another who wants to cause us pain. He wants to upset us/me. He wants to cause anger and frustration. He wants to distract us away from allowing God into our plans, to let God get everything under control for us/me!
Yesterday came and it was time to say goodbye after a busy and eventful week. Saying goodbye and leaving to go home is good for some. Saying goodbye for those left behind is not good for them. We miss our loved ones even when they are still leaving the yard and driving away! There is a day coming when there will be no more goodbyes! We will have no more partings from our loved ones. We will never fear separation from God our Father. We will always live with Him, forever and forever!
Our week ended, we enjoyed our time together, we have great improvements to enjoy
and we have learned some lessons.
Goodbyes are not forever. Forever is forever!!!!!