A B C D 12/4/10

ALL LITTLE girls, at least when I was a little girl, when given an apple, would twist the stem and say her ABC's and the letter, the stem came off with, was the first initial of the boy she would marry. Do you remember doing that? I really don't know if the boys had a similar system for knowing who they would marry, but little girls had several. To this day, when I have an apple in my hand, I automatically start twisting the stem and saying my ABC's. I still try for J, because when I was a girl, the boy's name I had the biggest crush on, began with a J. Today, I want to be faithful to the man I married who's name begins with a J; even with twisting the stem on an apple.

WE LEARN so well when we are children. We learn and remember! I am not saying that all children are smart; I am saying that when we are children we learn more than we do, when we are older. Children learn to crawl, walk and talk. Children learn colors; how to write their name; to add and and subtract and even to tie their shoes. Most of these things they retain all their lives by doing them every day. Circumstances only can keep a child from learning these things and even losing the ability as they grow older. But on the whole, most start out well prepared.

I WAS REMINDED about the stem on the apple a few days ago. I was preparing Jennifer's lunch for her to take to work and before I washed the apple I began to automatically twist the stem. I said to Jim; "I do this every time I pick up an apple!" Without even looking at what I was doing, he said; "doing your ABC's?" He knew! I suppose I had mentioned that to him before. He seldom forgets!

WHY IS IT I can remember to do that, but have trouble remembering what I am suppose to be doing; like fixing Jennifer's lunch. Oh yes, sometimes I forget and remember when I hear her in the kitchen putting it together. I still know how to tie my shoes, even though I have difficulty doing it. We take this gift, God has so expertly instilled in us, for granted! Oh yes we do! We take everything for granted when in fact, we should be thankful for the way God has put us together, in such an unprecedented way; that is still baffling the greatest minds of all time.

AS I GET OLDER and wiser, these thoughts come into my mind; how I have been able to function all these years. My life is becoming, apparently more fragile. My hands don't want to work as they use to. My tongue gets a little twisted when I am speaking. My eyes don't see as well and in a few years I probably will need hearing aids so I can distinguish the correct sounds of words. Until then my hearing is normal, for a woman my age!

"FOR YOU formed my inward parts, You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You, for You are fearful and wonderful. Wonderful are Your works! You know me right well; my frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret; intricately wrought in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance that was being formed. And in Your book were all the days fashioned for me; when as yet there was none of them." Psalms 139:13-16

I HAVE pondered this passage because, some believe it indicates that God has ordained all the days that I should live. I wonder! Sin has caused the death process and sin is what takes it's toll on the body. We begin the aging process as soon as we take our first breath! I have witnessed newborn's, children, young adults in the prime of their lives and the elderly living beyond their years and yet they die at such inopportune times. What determines when it is time?

"IF NO ONE knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen? No man has authority to restrain the wind; or authority over the day of his death!" Ecclesiates 8:7-8a Our trust and obedience is required here, not our understanding! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 12/1/10