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One of my earliest and happiest memories is of our family’s little reddish-blonde cocker spaniel. We have pictures of him with us in about 1958 in which you can see my hair is the same color as his. Then we had a black and white doggie named ……what was his name? Spot? Tippy?

Another one I remember well was our next-door-neighbor’s dog. He was a big, husky, long-haired dog, who followed our friend Velta around all the time. He was very over-protective of her.

Our little dog when I was a teenager was black with a tiny bit of white and brown. Probably part dachshund, with short legs, short hair, and the prettiest eyes. She was a mouser. She’d start nosing around, sniffing, whining, and we’d just let her go. Soon she’d be dragging a mouse out of the closet.

We are so attached to our little pets, as they become part of our families. Some people might not consider our pet animals to be a very spiritual thing, but in the New Testament Jesus spoke about dogs. A little lady came to Jesus asking for healing for her daughter.

 ^“Then he said to the woman, “I was sent to help the Jews—the lost sheep of Israel—not the Gentiles.” But she came and worshiped him and pled again, “Sir, help me!”

 “It doesn’t seem right to take bread from the children and throw it to the dogs,” he said.

 “Yes, it is!” she replied, “for even the puppies beneath the table are permitted to eat the crumbs that fall.”

 “Woman,” Jesus told her, “your faith is large, and your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed right then.” Matthew 15:24-28. The Living Bible.

She had the wisdom and audacity to believe that he would want even the little pet dogs under the table to have the crumbs from the master’s table.

We are not just his little pets, we are his children, so it is our privilege to sit at the Master’s table and eat the good things God has prepared for us, and not just settle for the crumbs that drop off the Master’s table.

When I was a kid, the 4^th of July Fireworks show was held at the Vinita rodeo grounds and we could watch from our front yard. Oh, the joy of watching the colors burst against the dark evening sky!

We ooh’d and ah’d as each display was more beautiful, more spectacular, that the one before. A pause between each brought us the expectation of another light bursting forth, then a long pause, followed by more displays. We always agreed this fireworks show put on by the American Legion of Vinita was better than the year before.

Many people I discovered actually went to the rodeo grounds to watch the fireworks show, but we were satisfied to enjoy it from our own yard.

The 4^th of July and the fireworks show was always special to me, more so than some other holidays, with company from out of town. There were always hotdogs and hamburgers, along with watermelon and cantaloupe, eaten outside. We ate our watermelon the old-fashioned way—without forks, and with juice running off our chin and spitting the seeds out into the yard.

Many people went to the rodeo grounds to watch the fireworks show, but we were satisfied to enjoy it from our own yard.

When I was a teen, I went with friends to the rodeo grounds to watch the fireworks for the first time, and imagine my surprise when I realized that the long pause in the middle of the fireworks show was actually a presentation of the US flag on the ground and not in the air. Just think of all that I had missed out on all those years by watching from a distance and not in the arena.

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.  But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.” I Corinthians 2:9-10. NKJV.

Many of us are missing out on things that we don’t even realize. What are you missing out on in your journey through life? God will reveal it to you if you ask.

THE HONEYSUCKLE VINE

We kids loved to play around in our yard. Our mama had a variety of flowers and plants.

We had a rose bush right outside the back door that we called the Edward rosebush named for our little brother. With tiny red roses and thousands of tiny sharp thorns, it was hazardous, but we learned how to get close enough to pick the tiny rose. Pulling each little petal, we licked our little fingernails and put the petal on, to pretend our fingernails were painted red.

The clover was all around the yard, soft and sweet, so we lay in the yard going through the clover, looking for that lucky four-leaf clover. We picked the white flowers from the clover, split the stem, and linked them together to make a necklace.

Mother had honeysuckle vines too. I think she probably planted it on purpose, but soon found that it tried to take over the fence row. I can remember her working in the heat of the summer trying to chop out the honeysuckle to keep it from breaking down the fence. Once the honeysuckle took over, it tended to kill out the bush it was growing on.

We kids loved the honeysuckle too. We picked the little flower and sucked the nectar out of the neck of the flower, and sometimes wondered why Mama was working so hard to get rid of such a pretty flowering vine.
“ By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,  choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.” Hebrews 11:24-25 NKJV. Yes, sin does have pleasure for a season, but after a while sin breaks everything down and then kills.

When we make the choice that Moses made, we will become the person God intends for us to be. Moses first refused to enjoy the pleasures of sin and then he chose to join the people of God as their deliverer, even if it meant giving up all the things he could have had in Egypt.

What a good way to live. Refusing sin and choosing to follow God.

I find myself quoting my mother a lot lately. Like when someone had a run in her hose, mother always said, “Just keep them looking at your face.” Or she would say, “No one will ever notice on a galloping horse.”

Mother loved to quote the Bible, “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye alo to them likewise” Luke 6:31. Or “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin” James 4:17.

There is no arguing with a mother who quotes the Word of God to you.

With all the rain that we’ve had lately, it brings memories of the Bull Creek floods of 1959, 1960, and 1999 in Vinita, Oklahoma. We lived through them all.

In about 1947, Mother and Dad bought a piece of property on North Second Street that was backed up by Bull Creek. Granddad and Dad built a 2-room block house on the new property. My mother who is 97 this year still lives in this home, which was added onto in the late 1950s and again in 1980s.

In the early spring of 1959, the creek started rising while we were in school. My sister talks about walking home from Riverside Elementary School, wading water, holding onto the bridge rail hand-over-hand on the sidewalk over the creek until she reached the end of the bridge.

I remember carrying a little girl we babysat for out of the house in water up to my chest and walking with her in my arms up to the north end of the block where the ground was higher. Quite an experience for a 10-year-old girl.

We were flooded again in 1960 and I remember putting my feet on the floor into water up to my ankles.

Our last flood was in May of 1999, the day after the tornado of Moore, Ok., which so many people remember. When Mother was interviewed after the flood, she said, “I’m fine. I just feel bad for those people in the tornado. They lost everything. I still have my stuff, it’s just wet.”

Each time we were flooded, the creek got up 3 feet high in the house. God has taken us through all the floods. He’s never failed us yet.

Isaiah 43:1-2 NIV says, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

We’ve got a promise from God that He will be with us in the flood.