By Doris Schroeder
The word “love” is used a lot in society today, isn’t it? It would be wonderful if it was always in the right context. We have all heard people exclaiming “Oh, I love your dress, or hair, or your jewelry!” If one really took that literally, we would know they are not telling the truth…material things will not last and can be changed in an instant, for that reason, we really don’t love it with that intensity.
Newly married couples just love whatever their spouse does ‘until they get tired of it or it doesn’t work in the realm of everyday living. We all say things like
“ I love your recipe for desserts and could eat them all the time!” In actuality, that would make us sick and we know it.
I know I’ve use the word love many times in writing or talking…I love Hawaii, or seeing our family or having my cake and eating it too. John and I both loved traveling to Hawaii and it was new to both of us. God must have arranged that when one of our Carpet Dealers came up with a trip for all his clients and we could go for free. We even enjoyed a church service under the Banyan trees behind the old Moana Hotel, located by the ocean. That to us was a little bit of heaven, and I will always remember the magic of that land. We loved meeting people from different lands and getting to know them but that was really a temporary liking. He made it possible for us to go to Hawaii ten different times so you can understand our favoring it.
In marriage, it works both ways, and adapt to the one we love. I always loved to write in one way or another. In our younger years, John even tried his hand at it and actually came up with an adequate memoir. To him, however, he loves sports and fishing
It does work both ways. I’ve never really enjoyed watching basketball and football games to the extent hubby does. Knowing how he takes pleasure in it,
I have tried to watch at least the games I know something about…like K-State. I can actually say truthfully, I love watching them when they are winning. When they played in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 27, however, I lost interest rather quickly during the first half when they could hardly score.
John also loves fishing and I don’t mind it if we can talk while we are waiting for the fish to bite but hubby says you have to be quiet so they will fall for the lure. That is not any fun and God did not create in me a desire to be quiet all the time!
I must admit that I don’t always spend enough time talking to God. When I do, however, He really gives the answers I seek! Of course, He has his own opinion and I realize sometimes I have had to change my own mind because my ways were selfish. It has been proven to me over and over again that however God works a situation out that I had asked him to do, it was always way beyond my comprehension and it was always a perfect way. My trouble is, I sometimes try to do things on my own without seeking God’s wisdom.
The great thing about getting older is you can look back with some clarity and see how God has worked things out in your life and now you can see what He had in mind. It is now I can even see why my parents did some of the things they did and how they tried to teach me important life lessons. I can even begin to evaluate different pastors we have had and how they taught us important Bible truths, either by what they said or didn’t say.
It is truly a calling from God to become a pastor…no one in his earthly mind would want to even try going through all the things that is asked of him without God doing the leading. If a pastor leaves God out even sometimes, he will really have to work hard to right the situation.
We members of Medora Community Bible Church are blest to have pastors who love the Lord and follow his leading through thick and thin. We are truly fortunate in this age of modernism.
John and I have enjoyed following God and doing what He has led us to do through the years. We have done some things that could only be done in the power of God. Of course, we were not always perfectly in accord, but we knew what we had to do when we “messed up. Through it all, I know I have learned some patience.
I am, however, looking forward to a time when I will have all patience, and that, of course, is when I am in heaven.
As time flies by, as does our years, if we are still on this earth, I am convinced God has a reason for it. There is still something He wants us to do. Perhaps it is a time to point the way to someone, a time to share how God looks out for us through our years on this earth. We need to keep our eyes on Him as we keep on knowing it is definitely a time to love the way God has loved us.
Doris appreciates your thoughts and can be reached at [email protected]
