Joy wearing a shirt that my brother, Dan, painted for me over 30 years ago! My girls wore it first and then Ruth said that it was in a hope chest and then back into circulation with her girls... Why so special? It is the illustrations that my brother did to a book I wrote when I was about 8 years old called Mitty the Pretty Kitty.
An adorable kitty in the bathtub? The story follows her on a big adventure where she gets very dirty and has a bath to get perfect pretty and clean once again.
Reading the words of Christ to us today in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus... it struck me that we are getting a glimpse of the afterlife from someone who knows! Jesus is the Son of God and was with His Father when the world was created and knows the Truth of Heaven and Hell! How we can take to heart this warning to us of how we are to give without counting the cost!
My morning has been spent on the farm with Luke and Joy while mom is out helping her dad...
Ruth with bottle and tuber heading out to help her dad... willing and cheerful! Farmer Ruth is a blessing to us here on our farm.
Luke was just telling me that he sneezes when he is around snow. Allergic to snow? Me too, Luke!
My brother's artwork is so special! I shared Joy in the shirt with him, and he was very surprised to see it on another little girl in fairly good shape 30+ years later!
Mitty on the sleeves, too!
Cow TV and a little girl in the sunlight with her baby in stroller. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to realize that I am given the life I had with Ruth and her siblings now with her kids!
Even the same clothes that my brother painted for me from the stories I wrote when I was a little girl! This she modeled next - Berry the Seasick Cherry. After our summers spent on Lake Michigan down the road from a cherry orchard... this story followed a cherry in a can and getting seasick when it was shipped across the ocean. White orchard was where we helped pick cherries with the migrants in the summer, and Elk Rapids was the name of the town 7 miles away from our cabin on Lake Michigan. Very happy family memories for sure!
The simplicity of a child who is me!
How do we witness heaven and hell thanks to Jesus in Luke 16?
"The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus at his side.
And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me.
Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
for I am suffering torment in these flames.' "
What if after his death he had those friends and family of Faith, who were praying for his soul? Would he have come to see his sinfulness and cried out for forgiveness rather than being oblivious to the fact that he clung to possessions rather than to share from with those in need, and dying to self so that Christ may live in him and bring him into Heaven forever? I take very seriously praying for my dead, and love to envision them coming closer if not with Our Lord and Savior, His Mother of God, and all the glorious Saints forever in heaven!
Jesus, Jerimiah today reminds us of how we are to give our all to YOU and find our ALL in YOU!
Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings,
who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the LORD. May we die to self so that you may help us come ever closer to you, as your Holy Spirit dwells in us and fills us with LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT. Jesus, we love you and long to join you in heaven forever. Bless-bless, Barb
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