Speak to be Understood Not to Impress.

A few years ago I was waiting to board a cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. For some reason they had been late getting the ship cleared to disembark the folks just returning from the cruise just preceding ours and we had to wait outside th terminal. While there I struck up a conversation with a man who was a number of years older than myself. Turns out he was there with a group composed of the members of three synagogues from New York and New Jersey. 

Turns out, as we exchanged niceties, I learned he had several terminal degrees but was now retired from a career of teaching both Theoretical and Quantum Physics at some university. We had a marvelous discussion of just plain old every day things.

Later, once we were onboard and in our cabin as Susan and I were talking she said to me, “It was nice to have someone so willing and interesting to talk with while we waited.” I responded in the affirmative. Then she added, “He talked just like regular people.”

Now to give that context you need to understand that we have spent a large portion of our lives with academics who don’t seem to know that every language has a vernacular that enables us to converse with “ordinary” people - people outside of our area of expertise. In short she was saying he was not only a man of high intellect in his field but that he was also a man who could move easily with people who had not the foggiest of idea about the realm of study in which he had invested his life.

Contrast that with the young theologue from Baylor University who stopped by my office one day just to visit. He spent the first ten minutes using just about every theological buzz word I could imagine. I had the distinct feeling he was trying to impress me with what he learned at Baylor. At some point I remember saying to him, “You know we can go on speaking in theological jargon or we can actually have a conversation.” 

Here is my point, The old man I spoke with on the dock in Fort Lauderdale knew instinctively that I knew nothing about the field of his expertise so when I asked about what he did he told me and then went on to talk about thing ordinary people talk about. He saw no need to impress me with what I did not understand. You see over time he had added wisdom to knowledge. My young friend felt the need to display his newly obtained knowledge without realizing it was “old news” to me. I already new he was bright. I am happy to say that with time he also added wisdom to his knowledge.

In my world view it is the wise man who learns to communicate great thought in the vernacular.  Speak to be understood not to impress. The Apostle Paul managed in his day. I would rather speak five words that can be understood by all than use ten thousand words only a few will understand.”   

P.S. Try to listen more than you speak (try to understand). The world will not come to an end if the air is not filled with the sound of our voice waxing eloquent.

How Is Your Hospitality?

My friend, Bill Murphey, in his morning devotion pod-cast mentioned Hebrews 13:2 where we are told that "some have entertained angels unawares." He could have just stopped there because my mind was off to te races with this idea. 

The Greek word ἀγγέλους (angels) means "messengers." In vernacular language the word angels is a reference to the rank and file of the Heavenly host. In addition Scripture mentions three archangels, Michele, Gabriele and Raphael.   

It is used here in Hebrews 13:2 in the context of the Christian showing kindness to people that they do not know. I think narrowly understood “entertaining strangers” means demonstrating brotherly love in your treatment fellow Christians whom you do not personally know as is they were beloved family members. One way believers can do this is by pitching in to care for the needs of Christian ministers and missionaries, showing hospitality and entertaining them in our homes.  In a broader sense “entertaining strangers” could well mean anyone in need that you do not personally know. 

First-century accommodations for travelers were often unavailable, especially in smaller towns. If lodgings existed, they were typically expensive, immoral, and unsanitary establishments. It was much more common for travelers to stay in the home of a friend or family member.

The incentive for doing this is the fact that in doing so you may well be showing kindness to and angel (messenger) from God. One of the reasons for showing kindness to people who are essentially strangers to us, other than kindness is to be the rule in the believers life, is because in and amongst those strangers who come in and out of our lives God may very well have placed some of His angels. 

Now since some of these strangers you entertain might be messengers from God we must at least acknowledge that messengers are about the business of delivering messages. I think given the fact that ἀγγέλους are messengers sent from God it behooves us to pay careful attention to the strangers among us because God may well be saying something to us through those strangers about our faithfulness in the business of hospitality.  A kind of testing not to confirm what He already knows but to prompt us to be diligent. 

Have you ever done a kindness, shown hospitality, or rendered some sort of aid and then later wondered if, maybe you had just unbeknown to you at the time, the person you aided (extended hospitality to) was an angel of the Lord. If so, what did you learn?

Success In Marriage Begins At The Foot of the Cross

Just some of my mental wanderings this morning . . . .  I know, it is too long . . . . Yep, it is one of those never ending stories of Jesus and His love.  Hope these ramblings make some sort of sense to you . . . . they do me.

Ever since my dear Susan passed from this life to the next I have spent a lot of my time looking at the creation of man and the becoming “one flesh” in Genesis 1-2 with an eye toward how getting a good understanding of that event illuminates the whole of Scripture. 

Understanding how and why God created man in the first place will go a long way toward helping us understand where God is going with the human story. Our lives are indeed in His hands but they are there with purpose. In my mind that purpose is to bring us back to where we started . . . . namely, man’s pre-fall condition.

God has not changed His mind about mankind. God still wants fellowship with man; He still wants man in the Garden of Paradise; and, He still wants man there in innocence. To this end he set in motion His plan for our redemption.

I seems clear to me that when God says that man and woman become one flesh He is saying that they are no longer two free agents but they are a new living unit. I will say a great deal more about that down the road.  Suffice it to say that I have come to believe that a right understanding of the creation of man as recorded in Genesis 1-2 will shed a great deal of light on the rest of Scripture and what happens when one is reconciled to God and restored to his original state. The marriage sanctified by God becomes a reflection of God’s love.

Keep in mind Scripture states emphatically that God is love (the converse of that is not the case, i.e., love is not God). Scripture abounds in expressions of God’s love for his creation. Additionally God has a particular focus on loving Man. We are, if I Corinthians 13 is correct and it is, to both experience, reflect and demonstrate God’s work in our lives as He purposes. And that is where I want to pick up on the love that Susan and I shared.

David and Susan
December 23, 1966

Loving Susan came so easy to me. As time passed I realized fairly early in our marriage that the love we shared was exceptional. Over time that love grew deeper, stronger and more abiding.  I know as Dean Martin used to sing, “Everybody loves somebody sometime.” That may well be true for everybody else . . . . truth is I don’t know that everybody loves somebody sometime. I rather think you either love or you don’t love.  Real love, like God always finds away.

What I do know is that the love Susan and I shared was “deeper than the ocean and wider than the sea.” We had reached the place where we completed one another’s thoughts. We still felt that little tingle when we held hands and I so miss the way she would say, “I love you” with an ever so gentle squeeze of my hand. 

I’ve thought a lot about the love Susan and I shared over the years and how it developed and matured . . . . how it moved from the earthy to the heavenly. I am not sure the kind of love we shared with the depth of commitment it engendered is humanly possible. It is something that God does in us.  I have come to believe that God works in a handful of human relationships to demonstrate what His love looks like. 

I remember in response to a young man who asked what the secret to a long marriage was I said to him that , “for marriage to be what God intended it to be it has to be a threesome . . . . namely a man, a woman, and Jesus Christ.” I rather suspect that what Michael W. Smith wrote in his song “Friends” is true of marriage. “Friends are friends forever if the Lord's the Lord of them . . .  And a lifetime is not to long to live as friends.” Keep in mind that there was no life in man or woman until God’s breathe was breathed into them It is the Spirit that gives life and it 

Susan & David
in 52nd. year of a 54-1/2 year marriage

Don’t misunderstand, the love of which I speak is a reflection of His love . . . . . something akin to a display of the “Love of God dwell in you richly” to the point that it is viewable. God did not allow us to develop this kind of love for our own betterment, though it certainly worked out that way. I believe His purpose for our experience went beyond our redemption to a demonstration of how love is to work between a husband and wife and to reflect how the love of God works in ones' life.

However, for us our experience with God’s love in our shared life is the kind of love we have.  I say "have" because this kind of love never ends. It is akin to eternal life. The body dies but we live on.

What I do know is that I, for one, now understand better the meaning of Ephesians 3:18-19. . . . . I believe I have a better experiential grasp of “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” Such love opens the door to so much richer an experience with the love of God and a fuller “measure of all the fullness of God.”

I have mentioned how as Susan and I looked back over our lives we came to see everything that happened from the day we were born until this present hour was choreographed by the hand of God. That process seemed to give positive meaning to both the good times and the not so good times. Perhaps that explains in part why Jeremiah 29:11 was her favorite verse . . . . .  “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.

So here is my “take away.” No one can have the kind of love that Susan and I shared except that love be born of the love of God. That does not mean that life is all giggles and smiles. In fact it may very well be just the opposite. It is a life filled with the experiences of both pleasure and pain; of gain and of loss; of want and of plenty; and just the every day verities of life. However, in all of that is a demonstration of the truth that Love never fails. 

I am grateful that God has allowed us to walk the journey with Him that has been ours. And, here is the best part . . . the journey continues as my dear Susan walks the streets of gold with our Lord Jesus and I walk the streets here below with our Jesus and I look forward to joining them on that walk there in Paradise. Truly one in the Spirit and one in the Lord.  

Let me make clear, what Susan and I share is a pattern for what others can have it is not a replication of what we have. Your experience with the love of God and how it finds expression in  your life as a couple (really a new living unit) will be colored by the specific purpose God has for your life but also how He determines to bring that purpose to completion in you. It will be uniquely yours. Remember, He has the right, the will and the power to use us as He chooses. Be grateful he does so within the context of Jeremiah 29:11. 

But regardless of the day-to-day details we all begin at the same place . . . .the foot of the cross. That’s where the real journey begins for all of us.

You say that sounds terribly exclusive and I tell you, “Indeed it is.” It is exclusive to God’s children . . . . namely those of us who by faith have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord.  You see this is the essential experience required to have such a relationship as Susan and I shared. It was a gift of God’s love to us and not us only but “unto all them also that love his appearing.”

When did I realize what God had been doing for the last 75 years of my life . . . like just about everything else in life not until it was taken.  I specifically learned two things:

First, until Susan left for Heaven I did not fully comprehend the height, depth and width of our shared love and how significant it was to who I am and who Susan and I together are.

Second, I learned something about the height, depth and width of God’s love expressed Calvary. God the Father and God the Son experienced something that day that they had never experienced . . . the pain of separation. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus . . . . the one who died for me.

  

“I Have Found The One My Soul Loves.”

Song of Solomon 3:4 “I have found the one my soul loves.” Unfortunately to many people try to either make the Song of Solomon a strained allegory or an almost pornographic poem. It is neither. Oh, to be sure it has allegorical (probably better metaphorical) elements and it certainly expressive in it descriptive language. I see it as an effort on the part of Solomon to share the depth of the mutual affection between him and what I can only call the “love of his life.”

The New Testament speaks of love in three dimensions. 

• There is the passionate love which speaks of the physical splendors of love making. This is expressed by the Greek word eros (Έρως).

• Then there is affectionate love. This would be the love shared by friends. It carries the idea of being “Kindly affectionate toward one another.” This aspect of love would be expressed by the Greek word pheleo (φελαιο).

• The third expression of love is generally referred to as Godly love and is generally considered the highest level of love. This would be expressed by use of the Greek word agape (αγάπη).

I have mentioned those because the phrase “My soul loves” (הנשמה שלי אוהבת) seems to me in this context to include all of the above. Solomon, rather than starting at the lowest and working upward starts at the apex and then goes on to make all of the Greek ideas about love flow from what he might call “Soul Love.” 

In the phrase, “I have found the one my soul loves” the Hebrew word translated as “soul” (אוהב)  refers to the innermost core of the person. It I that which gives a person breath and life and is the seat of all emotions and passions. 

The Greek words for love look for precision while the Hebrew word for “love” is versatile and can refer to romantic love, familial love, and love from God and can represent all three rolled into one. Hence, the soul-deep love the woman is experiencing is the deepest possible connection and yearning one can feel. 

This “soul love” is what God intended when he instituted marriage and commanded that the man and the woman become “one flesh,” i.e., one being. “Soul love” is the most Godlike like love that humanity can experience and it is rare. 

It is this “Soul Love that is at the heart of Biblical marriage.  Both parties desire each other deeply. Both find rest and peace in no other person than their beloved. They are physically and sexually attracted to each other and freely and without guilt share and enjoy every part of the other’s body. “Soul love” turns experiencing the joy of a God-honoring expression of sexual love into a spiritual experience. 

The couple that possess “Soul Love” will always feel a hole in their heart that only the other person can fill and it is only when together do they truly feel complete. When they come together, the world disappears and troubles simply fade away. 

This is why when one or the other dies the remaining spouse cries out that something has been ripped from their soul. Something has. It explains why we dream of our beloved; why we cannot wait to see them at the end of the day; and why we smile when we see them as we wake each morning. 

When Adam first laid eyes on the woman he essentially said I am now complete and when death takes one of the partners they are no longer complete but following the resurrection He who began the good work in us will bring it to completion. Oh, what a glorious day that will be.

I have a feeling that when the surviving spouse dies it is going to be as if they both awakened in the morning and at the sight of each other a smile is born. So . . . . 

I will meet you in the morning by the bright riverside
When all sorrows has drifted away

I'll be standin' at the portals when the gates open wide
At the close of life's long weary day

I'll meet you in the morning with a 'How do you do?'
And we'll sit down by the river and when rapture of the plane is renewed
You'll know me in the morning by the smile that I wear
When I meet you in the morning, in the city that is built four square

I'll meet you in the morning with a 'How do you do?'
And we'll sit down by the river and when rapture of the plane is renewed
You'll know me in the morning by the smile that I wear
When I meet you in the morning, in the city that is built four square

So Your Pastor Retired . . . Now What?

I recently learned of a church, with which I am familiar, that even before its present pastor had left, albeit he had announced his retirement, had hired a “Christian” pastor search consulting firm to work with their church elected pastor search committee in locating a replacement for the retiring pastor.

Consulting with churches about finding pastors and other senior staff members is apparently a lucrative field. I came up with a list of 11 without any effort at all.

• Y Scouts
• Halftime Talent Solutions 
• Vanderbloemen Search Group
• Faith Search Partners
• Agora
• Recruiterie
• CarterBaldwin
• The Dingman Company
• True Path
• Shepherd's Staff
• Slingshot

Learning this raised a number of questions in my mind. The first question that came to mind had nothing to do with searching for a pastor. It was the idea that a company could be a Christian firm. It always bothered me just a little that we would identify for-profit companies as being Christian. I would personally prefer to refer to them as a firm owned and operated by Christians or perhaps a firm that caters to Christian people and churches.  Okay that’s out of the way now to the subject of hands. 

I must confess at the very beginning that I am pretty much old school Baptist when it comes to calling a pastor to a church. So, let me stay at the very beginning that my underlying presupposition in regard to the calling of the pastor is as follows: 

I believe that the Bible teaches that God calls, equips, commissions and assigns pastors to His churches. I also believe that it is not the job of the pulpit committee to find a pastor for their church. Their job is to find the man that God has already selected to be the under-shepherd of His church. I also believe that, regardless of the process, a committee comprised of spiritually-minded people will discover that God will reveal His choice to them with a remarkable clarity. 

Now, having said that I need to flesh it out just a little. I have an acute awareness that Scripture does not give a process for this. There are no specific instructions for the process a church uses when filling a vacancy in the office of the under-shepherd of the church. However that does not mean that the church can just choose any process to make that selection. Whatever the process of a church chooses for selecting under-shepherd it must meet certain criteria.

Clearly, it is not efficient for the church to act as a committee-of-the-whole. Therefore, the church should elect from among its body a number, chosen by the church, of spiritually minded people to serve as a pastor search committee. I would suggest that you will not find a better model that Acts 6 and the choosing of the original Deacons.  This would be a good model for this committee and how this process should work. It is the process used in Acts to which I speak and not the specifics. 

The basic requirement for such a committee is that it consist of people who are “full of the Holy Spirit” (spiritually minded) and of “good report” (have a good reputation both in and out of the church). Pulpit Committees, Pastor search Committees and Pastor Search Teams (as we are now calling them) above everything else you can say about them MUST be composed of people who are sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Remember, the committee is not trying to find a pastor for their church. They are trying to find the person God has already selected for that position. A committee attune to the Holy Spirit will know that person when they see them. Their spirit will bear witness with the Holy Spirit with unanimity within the committee. So when making the recommendation to the church the can say with honesty and integrity, "We recommend this person to be the next pastor of our church believing them to be God's person for our church."

As a practical matter the church should decide on the number of members for such a committee.  If a list is generated from which members are chosen that list should be twice the number needed. For example: let’s say the church decides on six as the number of people on the committee. Any list presented to the church should contain at least 12 names listed alphabetically. From that list church members will select eight names. The names selected shall then be listed in order of the number of times they were selected with the top six selections forming the committee and the two below that as alternates. 

Contrary to what most might think with the first responsibility of the pastor search committee is not to obtain a list of potential pastors nor is it to begin the process of screaming a list of potential pastors. The first responsibility of such a committee is to bring themselves together spiritually. This means meeting together to share experiences and prayer. Pray for one another; to pray for the guidance of the holy spirit; and to organize themselves as a committee. I recommend that the committee at least choose a chairman and a secretary to record what they do as well as a spokesperson to speak for the committee. It is my conviction that the committee when asked by a congregant about their work could always tell the truth I’m trust the people but when telling the truth and trusting the people they do it through a single spokesperson.

Now, let us suppose that as in the church mentioned in the first paragraph the committee decides that they want to employ an outside consulting company the help them discharge their duties regarding finding the under-shepherd for the church. The question that must be addressed is, what is the role that this consulting company will play in selecting the right person for the church? 

I would suggest that the only role of the consulting firm would be to narrow down the field of candidates to a group that fits within the parameters 1st Timothy 3:1-7. This could include things such as background checks regarding criminal backgrounds, financial responsibility, domestic stability, educational accuracy and other such items. All of this in aid of narrowing the field of candidates down to the qualities the enumerated in 1st Timothy.

I also want to point out that simply because someone has had difficulty in their past does not rule them out as being God’s choice for your church. Quite frankly, not very many of the Apostles could not pass muster based on the background checks that we perform today. Such a process does not make allowance for the redemptive and reconciliation priorities placed upon the church. Besides such reports contain a lot of inaccurate and in many cases just plain wrong material.  

For example, did the negative background data predate or post date the candidate’s salvation and calling to ministry. The committee must be very careful that they do not designate what God has cleansed as unclean or unfit (See Acts 10:9-16 ). The committee must always remember it is their responsibility to recommend God’s choice not their own personal choice for under-shepherd.

In addition the committee will want to hear personally from not about each candidate on their “serious” list concerning the following:

1. Their salvation experience
2. Their call to preach (Not just to “ministry.” Ministry is too broad for the under-shepherd)
3. The nature and role of Scripture
4. Church governance
5. Their stance on Moral issues of day
6. Here them in the pulpit and not just on a recording. You want to see them in a live presentation and get the whole context. 
7. Just about anything else you want to know about.

Remember, as a representative of both the Lord and His congregation you are interested not only in their answers but in how they answer and their body language as they answer. 

So tell me, what do you think?

 

Successful Marriage: Well yes, If The Lord is Lord of Them

I watched a brief video about Ben and Erin Napier of the HGTV show "Home Town" and discovered why Susan loved that show about her home town, Laurel, Mississippi, so much. I thought it was because of it being focused on her hometown. But after watching this short bio about Ben and Erin Napier I now know it was about the similarity she saw in their relationship to ours. The relationships are not the same but they were oh so similar.

That led to me remembering an interview I had a few weeks ago in which after the formal interview was done the young man doing the interview said to me. "I am getting married in February and since you were married for 54 years what would you say is he most important thing to having a marriage that lasts that long?" 

He seemed surprised at my answer and I guess anyone would. I said, "My wife and I believed that the only way to have a long and blessed marriage is to keep God in the marriage relationship." As he sort of stuttered I continued, "everything about marriage is better when the Lord is included . . . . and I mean everything from the romance to the heartbreaks . . . . everything is better."

He then told me that he had asked a lot of long term married Christian couples in the project for which he was interviewing me and I was the first to say putting God in the center of the marriage relationship is the key to a long successful marriage. 

He told me he had heard things like, "have a sense of humor," "Don't take yourself too serious," and give your spouse priority."  One person even said, "learn how to transition from hot sex to sweet caresses."  No one had said, "Put God in the middle of your marriage."

All of these are probably important ingredients but I don’t think they are crucial to having a long successful marriage. I have a notion that it takes a lot influence from the God who instituted marriage to do that. 

I went on to say, “You need to  spend a lot of time together. Trust me on this . . . there is no such thing as quality time without quantity of time. Anyone who thinks you can have quality time as a couple without quantity of time is sadly mistaken. 

Don't become co-dependent but it really helps to be interdependent. Without going into a long discussion about becoming “One Flesh” marriage is the context in which God brings together  two entities, a man and a women, and creates an entirely new entity identified as a married couple whose objective is to become one flesh. This cannot happen without God in the mix.

Michel W. Smith wrote a wonderful line in a song entitled "Friends." It was about the death of his daughter. 

And friends are friends forever 
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end

This is true of genuine friendships and it is true of a marriage that has achieved or is approaching the goal of Oneness.  If the Lord is Lord of them every aspect of marriage gets better as the years pass. Then somewhere along the journey you realize you have arrived at what God calls "One Flesh" and now everything in your marriage becomes a spiritual experience . . . . yes I said everything. Everything in the relationship, including the physical aspect, have a spiritual component. How could it be otherwise. 

ADDENDUM

That may seem like a tall order but like everything that grows it starts small. Though there is much that can be done I will offer one suggestion that I believe is important in a Christian marriage. 

From the moment you enter marriage (I call it a covenant of companionship) begin including the Lord in all that you do. Yes I said from the beginning. If I had my way marriage ceremonies would include the Groom and the Bride praying a prayer of thanksgiving for their new spouse and asking God for wisdom in becoming the person their spouse needs to become the spouse they need them to be. This is the helpmate aspect of marriage. 

Commit to praying for each other. Preferably in each others presence always thanking God for the precious gift He has given to you in the person of your spouse. The sooner this becomes a life practice the better. However, it is never too late to start. 

Man and Woman: Competitors or Companions

We have raised a generation that is intent on proving that women can do anything a man can. Unfortunately as a consequence of that drive women are losing their femininity and the uniqueness of their creation.  

The God-given femininity and uniqueness of their creation is what enables women and I might add men to fulfill the purposes for which they were created. God never created women to be equal to do everything a man can do. Quiet the contrary, women were created to do everything a man can't do." 

Before I go further with this theme let me point out that this has little if anything to do with whether or not women work outside the home or have a career. However, it does have everything to do with God’s design for the relationship of a woman to a man and vis-a-visa.   

This is clear from the meaning of the words translated “helpmate”(עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ)  It means “to make up what is lacking” and carries the additional idea of strength and equality. Nonetheless, there is a subtle hint of voluntary submission in describing woman as her husband’s helper. None of this denigrates but rather elevates both the man and the woman by pointing to each ones uniqueness of creation.

As one who is called alongside to make up what is lacking woman is man’s paraclete . . . . one called alongside to help to shore him up or help him achieve his creation purpose. This must be understood in the context that what God is doing by creating man as male and female is creating the conditions whereby they shall become one flesh.

Now what does that mean? Becoming one flesh means that as husband and wife you live a shared life. It is not simply the sharing of a bed and consummation of a marriage. That is a part and an important part of becoming one flesh. It is important enough so that the Scripture speaks plainly about the physical and intimate fleshly relationship of a husband and wife. 

Yes there is more than just sharing a bed . . . . . it involves the joy and sorrow; your hopes and fears; successes and failures; money and possessions; as well as bodies and souls. You share everything with each other. And in the process, God weaves you together as one. You’re two people truly united and become one flesh. 

More importantly becoming one flesh only intensifies over time. I really like the idea of making up what is lacking in one another. To those rare couples who achieve the biblical one flesh death feels like you have literally lost not just a part of your body but part of your soul and spirit as well.  When you rip your body apart, it HURTS.

This explains in large measure why I feel so lost without my Susan. We were certainly companions; we were also compatible, but more importantly we were complimentary. Were I am weak she was strong and where she was weak I was strong. Over sixty years of relationship and 54 plus years of marriage we became one flesh. 

To be sure we understood that each of us was uniquely created by God and capable within ourselves. However, we also believed God chose us from our birth to be together and that he put us together as husband and wife and then brought us into a oneness that can only be described as becoming one flesh. 

But Susan and I also knew that together we were stronger. As she battled pancreatic cancer she would clasp right hands and she would say, “Stronger together.” Hence, now that she has entered into her eternal and heavenly reward I am discovering daily . . . . sometimes moment by moment . . . . where she was making up where I am lacking and so, I intensely miss her presence.

Consider the lioness . . . . . the lioness does not try to be the lion. She embraces her role as the lioness. She is powerful, strong, and nurturing. She does not mistake her meekness for weakness. The world needs more kind, compassionate, humble, faithful, persevering, confident, fierce, bold, pure, and tender-hearted women.