Living on Rainbows

Reaching for the Nail Scared Hand

By: Lillian Carol Russell

Life goes on day after day,

Bringing changes our way.

Seasons of laughter, seasons of tears,

Yesterday is lost in the ebb and flow of tears.

Memories, so many memories I recall,

Looking back I thank God for them all.

Yes even the ones that still bring a tear,

For the chastening has always drawn me near.

The tears draw me nearer my God to thee,

Nearer to the cross of Calvary.

Reaching for the blood stained, nail scared hand,

Reaching for the strength from Thee to stand.

Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, so in my time of pain,

I ask Him for the sunshine, but fret not when I receive more rain.

I know that my God is with me and every burden shares,

I never take a step alone, I know my Savior cares.

In pain He bore the cross alone,

Took my sin upon Him as if it were His own.

Whatever I may suffer as I journey through this life you see,

It is nothing compared to what He did for me.

The price He paid, the blood He shed, the nails that pierced His hands and feet,

The sacrifice He made was total and complete.

How could He love so much a sinner yet to be,

How could He love at all a sinner such as me.

LIVING ON RAINBOWS

This morning it was time to refill my seven day pill packs holders and I thought, well here I am living on all these  colors of the rainbow. My pills are pink, blue, yellow, so many lovely colors, so many pills. Not fun to face every morning.  Seems seven days go by so fast now. My body needs help to keep going because of being, Diabetic, with Congestive Heart Failure, Epilepsy, arthritis, Fibromyalgia, back problems and there are other ailments but you get the picture. Life is one big pill, except for pain pills which I can not take.

The thing is, that we rush through our lives until we are all burned out. I guess it is our human nature. We never stop long enough to enjoy the dessert that God has placed before us. We charge forth wanting the main course. Our youth seems wasted when we get to these golden years, (they should be called our rusty years). One of my husband's favorite teachers, Bob Russell used to tell them to get busy, they were not living in the metallic age yet, that being; " Silver in your hair, gold in your teeth, and lead in your butt." Well, except for the gold in our teeth, here we are full blown metallic age.

We've hurried to raise our children, often missing out on precious joys we should have taken time to relish. Our children are only ours for such a little time, though it seems forever when we are trying to make a living, to put food on the table, pay the bills and all that goes with the rat race of life. They were dessert, we should have taken each day with them and wrapped our hearts around each precious memory. The thing is that we never realized that it would be so temporary.

Time that dragged by so slowly when we were young has now become a fleeting thing. I've watched my grandchildren grow up. They were the topping on that dessert of life. They work so hard in school and their grades are good and they are wonderful children, but they really don't need grandpa and granny so much any more, the rat race is beginning for them. One in collage, one soon to be, the baby headed to high school.

My children are on the thresh-hold of feeling the empty nest, they don't have a clue how much it will hurt, none of us ever do. One day you are going in circles trying to catch up, then before you know it, the house is quiet all day. No toys on the floor, beds stay made, laundry for two, meals for two and you then realize how quickly it went by. Now you would love to have a little hand to hold or hear a little voice wake you from your sleep to say mommy I had a bad dream and oh how you would treasure being able to rock them back to sleep.

Now we have time to watch the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. We admire the flowers and enjoy the birds. We gaze with wonder at the new fallen snow and we treasure the sound of rain. We finally have time to enjoy dessert but we went for the main course, why didn't we take more time to share the beautiful gifts from God with our children? It is forever too late now, no turning back the hand of time. If you still have children in your home please be aware that life is but a vapor as it says in the Bible. Take a bit of time out of each day to let each child and loved one know just how special they are to you. Speak softly, it is the harsh words they will remember. “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.”

I'm so thankful that my daddy, rest his sweet soul, was a memory maker. He loved life, taught us to see the world around us, and love and laugh and be happy. With each generation the world moves at a faster pace and it gets harder to share special moments. It will come as a shock one day to the younger generation though they can't envision it now, but they too will get old. Take the time to enjoy life's dessert before you find your bones are popping and creaking, your eyesight is going and your idea of a great outing is sitting in the rocking chair on the front porch or watching TV together in an adjustable bed.

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure." .Peter Marshall