Psalm 63
1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary,
beholding Your Power and Glory.
3 Because Your steadfast Love is better than life,
my lips will praise You.
4 So I will bless You as long as I live;
in Your Name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips
6 When I remember You upon my bed,
and meditate on You in the watches of the night;
7 for You have been my Help,
and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to You;
Your Right Hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
they shall be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by Him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.
The Sunday before last, Edward gave me my first Father's Day Gift. On Father's Day, Edward was in Dallas in a Disc Golf Tournament, and he and a friend, rented a truck and, in the 3rd year of cleaning and building up, we moved out 17 more fairly large boxes from my Mother's house in Dallas. Which is for sale, so please pray for a sale, finding a buyer who will love my Mother's place as much as she did, since 1978. And then, we had 17 more boxes to sort.
7 boxes were immediate and came into the den. The photos I had put in a box and said I'd sort them out later, ok, then 2 summers went by until they were my first Father's Day Gift. I feel pretty special, I didn't have to be there and load this up and go with them. I'm extremely pleased with my Father's Day Gift. Edward was pleased to see me enjoy the luxury of not being involved - this time.
And so, Saturday, I sat down to look at the prolific photos from my mother's cameras. And her family collection from many decades past. (Isn't punctuation odd, you'd think you'd say my Mother.) And I thought this would be so emotional, and instead this was joy. In fact, I recommend waiting 3 years to sort photos for joy to be the main ingredient.
The downside was the dust. Edward and I woke up Sunday with twin migraines. I promise you, this was only the dust and not any lingering emotion. We dislike missing Church, and if we do, we head to the 6 pm Service. We watched Church that evening, when the migraines had fled and we felt healed. Love to worship and be nourished in the Lord.
Edward and I have a new stove. Edward asked me to plan the first thing we would fix. I'd intended to make my mother's Pistachio Pudding Cookies and did not. Something to put off for emotions. My mother was never a dessert person. The year my brother was born, she found, or thought, of Pistachio Pudding Cookies. I was pestered in 3rd grade to trade, every day. In our small Parish Day School, in Dallas, at Church of The Transfiguration, this became tiresome to the teachers. My mother sent 2 dozen of the cookies to calm things down, this went a long way in a class of 7 children. When we visited my Godmother Anne Gibson, her son, Jim, who was 6 years old, had begun making the cookies and wanted to discuss what should be modified. It was the year of Pistachio Cookies. Mother was so charged up about these cookies, it's amazing we ever stopped.
And then, I think it's been about 40 years plus, since I've even seen one. Today was the day. Pistachio Pudding Cookies and Photos.
This is my grandmother, Anita Richardson Willard. She was from Richardson, Louisiana, Born 1898, rode in 2 covered wagons to visit her grandmother, Melissa andJohn Birch, the grandparents everyone spoke of with Love. The Richardsons were known for their hair in Washington Parrish, all 12 children. 11 graduated from College. Anita was a teacher with a Degree in Normal School from Natchitoches, Louisiana She taught 42 years of Bible Studies at Kessler Park Methodist Church.
This handsome man is my grandfather, Alvin Ray Willard. Ray died in 1941 and Grandmother Anita wore her wedding band until she passed away during the most amazing electrical storm in 1992. The storm made no noise, lasted hours, and was the Headline of the Dallas Morning News. I will always think of this as Grandmother entering Heaven's Kingdom.
A very memorable gift from Maxine.
Edward accidently mashed Grandmother's after her passing on.
And as I lamented the loss, it turned out Grandmother
had given glasses to her sister, Eloise, for Christmas.
Grandmother Anita had been gone on to Heaven for a
couple of years, Maxine gave me the glasses back my
Grandmother had lovingly given.
I found more recently on eBay. No small amount of miracle there.
This is Maxine Graves Price. The beautiful woman in the hat. Holding hands with my mother for a Saturday out in downtown Dallas. One of my favorite photos. Maxine was 83 years old and had a huge stroke, of many. She never had children and became my Ward, I was her Guardian in the State of Texas. Until she was 94 years old. The Executor of the Estate with 66 heirs. Maxine loved comic strips and gardening. All animals. And always had glass Coca Cola into her old, old age. Oh, she loved Babies and my children as well.
Maxine got to be so old, with so many strokes, at least 25, she became aphasic. Her strokes caused her to become immobile. And she lived a long time. At her funeral, I asked the Senior Pastor of Kessler Park United Methodist what would have caused these years. Maxine lived with 2 hired attendants at CC Young, but still not abundantly. He gave a marvelous, truly marvelous answer about Dementia in all forms. Maxine had not been a believer. I prayed for her, but she was fairly adamant. In Genesis, God is building. As He does in His Word about Abundant Life. The Holy Spirit hovers over the waters. The Holy Spirit gave Maxine these years, we can count on God doing His Work to bring Maxine to Him. During the silent years.
When Maxine entered CC Young, she actually had an aunt alive. Maxine loved this so much. (Maxine's father was Uncle Cary. He was known as William C Graves and was head of the Texas Senate for 16 years. He was Governor of Texas for a day. A wonderful Uncle. Because of his job, my Aunt Eloise was invited to stand on the Grassy Knoll to greet President Kennedy in front of the Book Depository. My grandmother Anita and my mother were invited to attend, but were running late and heard the screaming, not the shots. Aunt Eloise was horrified and swore the shots came from the bridge. Aunt Eloise refused to speak of it as time went by. She lived to be 94 years old, and nothing fishy happened to her.)
This is my grandmother Bit! She is Augusta Elliott Wilson Anderson Young. And as she was born, her father said, "This one is a Little Bit of Love!" For her entire life, "Bit" was Love. She went by her nickname and steadfastly refused to be called Augusta. She tolerated being called Elliott. Grandmother has 4 great-grandchildren and 3 are named for her. She had the most lovely drawl. And in college, she let me know God did speak to her as she read the Bible. I was quite startled, and she said many people read the Bible because God speaks to them. She never did anything odd. And her second husband was my Tate, Stepfather Reverend Wm Tate Young. Bit is remarkable because she is remembered with being so loving. And she drank quite heavily. Privately. One in 3 Americans is an alcoholic. We should remark on this and allow people to say why they drink. More discussion would help and does help end the isolation of drinking. I will love to find my Grandmother Bit in Heaven.
Tate was a wonderful Episcopalian Priest. He was constantly doing something for his congregations in Sherman and Dennison. He wrote a book on Transubstantiation. Not a popular thing, so much now.
Tate's life should remind us to take today as a blessing. Tate's childhood occurred before antibiotics. His mother, father and brother died from Tuberculosis of the Bone. Tate was raised by his maternal Grandmother. Went to University of the South, and met Bit's brother, Bob, William Roberts Wilson, as his college roommate. Tate was a huge photographer and made a wonderful collection of my great-grandparents home in Rosedale, MS. And the reason for the levy put along the Great Mississippi River. Tate's photos explain the vast damage of flooding before telephone lines. The book, "Lanterns on the Levy" by William Alexander Percy, is a great understanding of this huge work.
You'd be surprised to find out I write a Blog, called Scripture for Today, Blogspot. We discuss things like Transubstantiation. Of course, I have an opinion of Transubstantiation. I went to Parochial School and my Tate pounded on the Sunday Dinner table to hear the dishes and glasses clank eating Sunday Family Dinner.
Transubstantiation. The belief that the New Covenant is Celebrated in the Eucharist as the renewed, miraculous Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. And if you travel to the Vatican, or saw this at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in 2001, you'd see that the samples of the Host, the Bread, have sometimes bled and have been kept in glass by the Catholic Church for .... centuries. In fact, now we know there are blood types and all the Hosts are AB+. Got to love the +.
Today, people just don't discuss this much. Ok, if you don't. But let me roll this to you, and you see if this stays with you. The woman who held on to the fringe of Jesus' robe. She felt if she reached out in faith, God would honor her faith. She had to walk through the crowd to touch Jesus. Not everyone did. But she reached out. Now a lot of people would say, I won't do that, I will be let down. We pray the Lord's Prayer, God's Will be done. And sometimes when we pray, we know this is a special prayer and we, indeed, indeed, indeed know this prayer is in God's heart.
Why wouldn't we approach God's Eucharist and say, I'm willing to stretch to believe. And if it takes decades to have this feel that something did persist, I'd mention my Grandmother Anita prayed for her adopted son, with Fragile X Syndrome, for all her decades. And in his 70th year, he let go of hatred for Christians and began to Love the Lord Jesus. Not everything is spontaneous. Yet, Abundance of Grace is in His Hands.
Psalm 119:103
How sweet are Your words to my taste
--sweeter than honey in my mouth!
Since this has been an emotional week, and good to see the old lives and ways, I want to leave our talk about Transubstantiation with my mother's Pistachio Pudding Recipe.
Anne Anderson's 1971 Pistachio Pudding Recipe
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar or Splenda or your choice
1 egg
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp of Milk
Crushed Pistachios 3/4 cup
Two 3.4-oz box instant pistachio pudding mixes
1/4 tsp almond extract or 1/2 tsp optional
2 drops green food coloring
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
(Jim preferred 2 cups of sugar and one of flour)
Put your hands in like you want Jesus to have
His Hands on your loved ones and mash this mixture until it is moist
and well mixed.
Preheat the oven to 325
and cook for 12 to 14 minutes, personal preference
Roll into balls and then powdered sugar, for rolling cookies
Enjoy these green cookies. They are excellent sprinkled on Ice Cream.
Abba, Father,
Dwell in us, please, Father.
Dwell in those we Love.
Help us to seek You first.
In Jesus Christ, we will finish well.
Thank You for Jesus.
Amen.
To You, our Father, be the Glory
Our God is an Awesome God! Amen
and Alleluia
in Jesus Christ and His Glory!
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