Diane Mickler's Blog

With the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.  2 Peter 3:8       Loosely translated, this verse says, God has perfect timing – never early – never late.  God is never in a hurry but He is always on time.                   

When we entertain friends at our house, the planning, set up, grocery shopping and cooking of sides is my job.  The grilling of the meat is Randy’s job.  Although there are things that we do well together. coordinating the grilling with the rest of the dinner is dicey at best.  Randy loves to laugh and talk with friends, which means he doesn’t always check the main part of the dinner.

Usually, the banter goes something like this…Randy, is the meat ready?  What – Meat?  Yes.  No, not yet.  Should I put the salad together?  No, not yet.  Please give me ten minutes before it’s ready.  OK.

Usually in less than ten minutes, the door will open, and Randy will announce that the meat is just right.  Great, but I needed ten minutes.  At that point, he will say, “Well, if we have to wait that long, it will be too late, and the meat will be overdone.” 

That’s just the way it is with us and God on so many occasions.  He asks, Will you trust me with this?, and oftentimes, we reply, No, not yet.  Later He asks, Will you trust me now?  We reply, No, not yet.  On it goes until you have done almost all the things you wanted or needed to do, worried needlessly, lost sleep, and are at your wits end, then you tell God that the time is just right.  Luckily, He never says it’s too late.  Rather, He takes us as we are and continues to love us.

Alexander Maclaren says, Christ sometimes delays His help to test our faith and energize our prayers.  Our boat may be tossed by the waves while He continues to sleep, but He never oversleeps.  He is never too late.

The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.   Proverbs 20:7

Father’s Day is coming, and I began to reflect on how much I miss my Dad and Randy’s Dad, but also how proud I am to be blessed with three great Dads in our immediate family.  Dads are sometimes not given the credit due them in the family circle, but their job is daunting and likened to Super Heroes these days.

They must be strong in both their careers and their family life.  Children of all ages depend on Dads to give them a feeling of worth in this life.  If Dad shows his pride and acceptance,  kids feel it.

Dads must be forgiving.  Words spoken in haste can often scar a child unless they know that Dad’s love is unconditional and forgiving.

Dads must be examples.  If a Dad has integrity, a respect for others, a love for country, and a love for God, lessons are taught by watching him in action.

Dads should be loving.  Love can take many forms such as hugs, discipline, words of encouragement, and the powerful spoken words, I love you.

Randy and I recently attended the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of two great friends.  We have watched their girls grow from childhood to adulthood, attain status in careers, and become exceptional women.  We also had the chance to meet and be charmed by their grandchildren.  I was so impressed by the children’s ability to stand when introduced, shake hands firmly, look adults in the eye, smile, and converse that I had to ask, “What life lessons are you teaching at home?”  The answer was simple, “These kids have learned so much from their dad and  granddad.  They see the healthy respect with which they treat their wives, their family,their friends, their business acquaintances, and their God.  They want to be just like them.”  That’s the best compliment a Dad could ever receive!

Happy Father’s Day to all you amazing Dads!

My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.  Isaiah 55:8

There’s nothing like a change in travel plans to point out how much I hate to be diverted from my original plan.  I’ve never really thought much about the word diverted; however, last week as we were flying home from a vacation, that word took on new meaning.  The meaning of “divert” is to cause someone or something to change course.  This can obviously happen in life as well as on an airplane.

Our trip home was going fine.  We had a flawless morning, and I was already planning what I needed to do when I got home ahead of schedule.  As we neared the end of our flight, our pilot came on the PA system to announce that there were two storms approaching Atlanta, but he was planning to sneak in and land between the two storms.  That didn’t happen, and before I knew it, the pilot was announcing that we being diverted to Huntsville because we were “dangerously low on fuel”.  Plans diverted.

We were at the end of our journey, but others had connections, rides waiting, scheduled meetings, and other things.   I expected angry, frustrated, disgruntled passengers who were terribly upset at this diversion, but what I found was people who took it in stride and even took the opportunity to talk and socialize with newly made friends.  Most were grateful to the pilot and crew for taking precautions to ensure our safety.

There have been so many times in our lives when the carefully laid plans of ours were replaced by the more important plans of God.  I don’t know anyone who ever planned to deal with cancer, job loss, divorce, addiction,  disease, depression, or sudden death.  I do know that God has greater plans when things happen, and he diverts us for a reason that we may never know in this lifetime.  His ways are not ours, and we would be remiss if we didn’t accept the diversion because He knows the plans He has for us.

Our job is to look for blessings along this diverted path and trust God with the rest.

Our Father’s God to Thee, author of liberty,  to Thee we sing.  Long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light; protect us by Thy might, great God our King.  

Several years ago, Randy and I had the honor to attend the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC as guests of Newt Gingrich.  We sat with Madeleine Albright, and Hugh O’Brien, met Billly Graham and other dignitaries, but the highlight was visiting the Vietnam War Memorial Wall.   We were in search of the names of friends who had given their lives for our country.  As we found each name, we used paper to  rub over the name and keep it.  We gave the paper to the families.  What a sobering experience.

I began to think about the flag of our country and the significance of the meticulous attention paid to it at a military funeral. I researched and learned a lot!  For example, I never knew that the 21 gun salute used at military funerals  is the sum of the numerals 1776!  Also, when a soldier folds the flag at a funeral for the widow or widower it has 13 folds.  My first thought was for the 13 original colonies, but that is far from correct.

The first fold is a symbol of life; the second fold is a symbol of the belief in eternal life.  The third fold is in honor and remembrance of veterans; the fourth fold represents the weaker nature, we, as citizens have as we turn to God in times of peace or war for His divine guidance.

The fifth fold is a tribute to our country; the sixth is for where people’s hearts lie as they pledge allegiance to our country.  The seventh fold is a tribute to Armed Forces while the eighth fold is a tribute to those who have died serving their country.

The ninth fold is a tribute to Mothers and motherhood, while the tenth fold is a tribute to Fathers.  The eleventh fold glorifies the Hebrew God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.

The twelveth fold represents the Christian God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The thirteenth and final fold shows the stars uppermost reminding us of our nation’s motto,  In God We Trust.

I never knew how symbolic each precise fold is to the family and should be to us as Americans.  I will never watch a military funeral again without being cognizant of the foundations upon which this country was built!

May God protect us always as one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you to all our veterans and service men here and abroad.

It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick.  Mark 2:17

This month Randy and I had the privilege of attending the graduation of our nephew, Scott, from the University of South Carolina at Greenville Medical School.  He received his doctorate in two tremendously impressive ceremonies.  Although, it was unsettling to hear the Gamecock  Train Whistle while in Columbia, we accepted it with a Bulldog Bark.

The speakers helped me remember the respect with which doctors should be treated, and the enormous job they face each day according to the Hippocratic Oath by which they live.  That oath covers just about everything, and many of its words are words that should apply to every profession.

The speakers were doctors themselves, but they chose to impart their words in a practical way rather than confuse the issue with terms the normal person could not understand.  I took away three C’s.

A professional should first be competent.   It’s not enough to walk away from a university with a degree, one must be able to show others that they know what they are doing in their chosen field.  All the degrees in the world don’t make one competent to do a job.

A professional should do their job with confidence.  Confidence comes with experience, but I know I wouldn’t want to go into surgery, a courtroom, a classroom, or follow a leader that didn’t have confidence in their ability to do the job.  Intimidation or second guessing yourself can’t be healthy for doing a task.

A professional should also exhibit compassion.  The speaker talked about how important it is for a doctor to call a patient by his or her name, look into their eyes when speaking, take time to listen, and hold that person’s hand when you deliver news.  These are the most important things to me – who wants to be treated as a number?  The same is true of a teacher, a lawyer, a coach, a minister, or any other professional.

As an illustration, the speaker used a cancer patient waiting for the diagnosis of her future from her doctor.  Before the doctor spoke, she said, “I want you to weigh the words you will use in the next five minutes carefully because they will change my life.”   This can be said of a student, a defendant, a player, a parishioner or others.

Jesus referred to himself as the “great physician” or doctor.  I’m thankful for all the doctors in my life, and for the many times they have made a difference with their competence, confidence and compassion.

Congratulations Scott and Ashley!

Above all else, guard your heart because everything else flows from it.            Proverbs 4:23

I’ve heard it said that if you want to see an example of God’s love, look to the human heart. The heart is the most unselfish organ in the human body.  On a regular day, your heart beats 100,000 times and pumps 2000 gallons of blood through your body.  Although it is only as big as your fist, it has the job of pushing blood to 60,000 miles of blood vessels that feed your organs and body.  It never takes anything from another part of the body to survive, but functions by itself by siphoning off enough blood to sustain itself as it pushes the blood through the arteries.

The heart is also courageous.  It will take abuse from lifestyles that are not acceptable, diseases that affect it, infections and, with care,  keep on beating until it wears out.

The heart is faithful as well.  If you care for it, it will serve you well all of your life.  It’s an organ that just does what it’s supposed to do and never asks questions or seeks reward.

What of those whose heart is attacked by infection, disease, or other maladies and struggles through no human fault?  There are doctors whose sole purpose is to save those lives through by pass, stints, or transplants.  This is where the unselfishness, courage and faithfulness of the heart and the unselfishness, courage and faithfulness of others enters in.

We know a family whose baby son’s heart was attacked with infection, and his only hope was a transplant. I don’t think there is anything dearer to God’s heart than a child. Through God’s grace, a family who had lost their small son, donated their child’s heart so that our friend’s son might live. Like the heart itself, an unselfish act.  It is amazing that the heart of one can stay alive long enough to bring new life to another.  One unselfish heart beating in the chest of another, God’s perfect design of the heart.

In this day and time, Christians are fighting for the hearts of men and women.  Hearts seem to be hardened toward Christianity and the saving grace that is offered if we only receive it.  There are selfish hearts out there who want only to care for themselves with no thought of helping others.  It’s a mystery to me why we all can’t just let God mend hearts of all kinds and put us on the path to complete healing.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  Ezekiel 36:26

The picture is of little Davis, the happy, healthy recipient of God’s blessing in the form of a new heart!

Her children will rise up and call her blessed..  Proverbs 31:28

A few weeks ago, I heard a speech on Mothers and the way they feel at times as they carry out their role.  I picked up a few words of wisdom, and I think it can apply to almost every mother no matter the generation.

Mothers come in all shapes and sizes, all nationalities, and all religions.  Mothers are created biologically, through adoption, fostering, or just grace.  As the old saying goes, “God couldn’t be everywhere, so he made Moms.”

Mothers have a huge job, and in the midst of all they do, sometimes they begin to feel invisible.  They get no recognition on a day to day basis as they run their household, work outside the home, work in the home, plan and cook meals, coordinate schedules, and basically hold the family together.  As they go about their jobs day to day, Moms can begin to think that no one sees or cares about the job they are doing.  The good news is that God sees and cares because Moms are “building cathedrals” through their efforts.

I love the analogy of that.  I’ve seen many cathedrals and never thought about the fact that you can’t name the people who built the great cathedrals.  If you scan down to find the names – most often it says “unknown”.  People completed their work not knowing that any one would notice.  That’s basically how I see Mothers.  We build character, instill love, teach manners, teach respect, discipline, love unconditionally, and exemplify love for God, just to name a few things, but we don’t think anyone notices.  Sometimes we wonder why we spend so much time on what we think no one sees.

As a mother and  a grandmother, I can say with great assurance, that people do notice and appreciate the efforts that mothers make, and that God sees and smiles on Mothers.  If you build those “cathedrals” well, God will bless them.

My prayer is that every Mom will feel especially visible on this Mother’s Day, and that each one can take the time to feel loved and appreciated.

It is with great admiration for the greatness of what you have built, are building, and will build when you think no one sees, that I wish every mother a Happy Mother’s Day!

Surely I am with you always, to the very end.  Matthew 28:20

When I read a book, I find myself visualizing each character – their appearance, their personality, their faults, their successes, their failures, and the components that make them tick.  I begin to identify with the characters, and I certainly want things to turn out in their favor in the end.  From my vantage point, I can see the mistakes they could make, the pain that awaits, and I want to help them avoid these.

This habit leads to the problem I sometimes have of the awful urge to skip to the end  of the book to make sure I like the ending and that things turn out as they should for my characters.  This is a horrible habit to have in almost any book, but especially when you are reading a story which has a twist at the end!  You miss the whole idea.

There are many times when I also would like to skip to the end of a situation, a close ballgame, a movie, an illness, a life altering decision, and so many other things, but then I would miss the beauty which leads up to the end.  I probably would have never read Gone With the Wind if I had known the way Rhett would leave Scarlett.

We all face challenges and difficulties in this life, and it’s easy to let our thoughts become negative.  If we let those thoughts control our life, we are defeated before we ever begin to fight.  If we are spiritually, emotionally, and mentally prepared, we don’t have to skip to the end because we can be sure that at the end of a great hardship lies an even greater blessing.

Mistakes are survivable, and they can become teaching tools to sharpen and make you a better person.  Don’t skip to the end of life – just enjoy it!

Garth Brooks said it best in his song, The Dance.                                                            And now I’m glad I didn’t know the way it all would end, the way it all would go;  Our lives are better left to chance – I could have missed the pain, but I’d have to miss the dance.

O for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer’s praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.  

This morning as I dragged myself to exercise class, I began to dread the class, not because of the exercise, but because of the awful music which has no discernable lyrics that is usually played.  To my great surprise, as I rounded the corner, I heard the unmistakeable chorus of My Girl,  and my mood brightened immediately – I felt energized and happy!  We continued the workout with My Guy, Stand By Me, Shout,  and more of my favorite songs.  I asked the young instructor why she chose this music, and she said, “I love these songs because they tell a story, the music is memorable, and I don’t think there’s a single generation that doesn’t love it.”  Thank you!  I know every word of these songs, and it makes me feel good to sing along.

I began to think of all the other songs that I love, and a lot of them are hymns.  Charles Wesley wrote over 6000 hymns, and many of them I grew up playing and singing as a child, a young adult, and an adult.  There is hardly one in the United Methodist Hymnal that I haven’t at least heard.  The lyrics tell a sweet story, each verse is different, the chorus is energizing, and they all speak of our God and King.  These are the “Praise” hymns to which I can relate.

The first hymn in the hymnal is “O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing”, and it speaks of voices raised in adoration and praise.  When you have a congregation or group of Christians lifting their voices in worship, it is a wonderful testament to our faith.

Last week, I heard a minister explaining to the people assembled for the funeral of a friend, that although hymns were not in vogue now, they were the foundation and essence of our faith.  He went on to say that the word “war” in the hymn we were about to sing, was referring to the Christian movement of winning people to Christ and waging “war” against the evil one. The hymn in question was “Onward Christian Soldiers”, and I was saddened to hear that this great hymn was under scrutiny of political correctness by those who don’t even know its origin.  It was written in 1865 to encourage churches to “put on the whole armor of Jesus Christ”.

I am proud to say that we sang it along with “He Lives” and it was a marvelous testament to a Christian man, a life well lived and a God well served!  Hymns are always in vogue.  

Onward Christian Soldiers marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before!

Life has a sweetness to it, and a beauty and power that I want to celebrate.”             Valerie Harper  

There are just times in your life when the presence of God is so real and enfolds you so completely that you realize you never want this feeling to end!  Saturday as we celebrated the life of a very special young lady, I was surrounded with a feeling of what can only be described as sweetness.  I felt the entire church gathering pouring out their love and care for a wonderful young lady and her family.  It was evident that God’s presence was there blanketing all of us, and it was such an uplifting experience.

It is sometimes in the hardest of times that God grants us grace to count these times as the sweetest ones.  We feel united in our faith in a Savior and in our heavenly home.

The thing is, you know this feeling can’t go on forever, but you don’t know how you’ll give it up.  St. Augustine called the time in your life when you feel God’s presence in such a real way and the time after  it leaves you as  the sweetness.   It’s such a sweet time that reveals a God that is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.   How comforting to know that God is present everywhere, that he is all powerful and all knowing.

No matter how long the sweetness lasts, when it leaves, you won’t be the same.  You might hate to see it go for now, but the result will leave an imprint on your life.  You will never forget the feeling of this sweetness.  The good news is that it can come again!

As I left the service, a familiar song kept repeating in my heart, and mind,   Jesus loves me this I know; for the Bible tells me so; little ones to him belong; they are weak, but He is strong.  Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me;  The Bible tells me so.