Pink Underwear

Good Morning!

I don’t know where the notion came that men were supposed to do yard work and women were supposed to cook and clean – but that doesn’t happen in our happy home. Miss N has always enjoyed getting out in the cool air to cut the grass, tend the flower gardens and just clean the yard up. I will do it … but it isn’t my cup of tea, so to speak. On the other hand, Miss N doesn’t particularly care for everyday cooking. Oh, she enjoys baking cookies and other goodies at Christmas – but the every day pot roast is just a chore to her. I, though, get a kick out of putting things together to make ordinary stuff taste good. So there is a happy balance there.

The one thing Miss N has held in reserve for herself in the house is the washing machine. Last year we one of those new fangled, low water use models that have all the button and gizmos that you have to have a college degree from Georgia Tech to operate. I mean, you have to hold your mouth just right when you push the button or it doesn’t start. And Miss N is very protective of her washing machine – so much so that I never have been allowed to learn how to operate it (and didn’t really beg to do so). But with her being in the hospital, it comes down to me leaning how or toting the laundry up to the washing place at the end of the street OR me learning how to run the machine. I chose the latter. And guess what!!! I actually have been able to do it – and I don’t have pink underwear! (I washed everything in cold water … a trick I learned from somewhere.)

I make no bones about it – Miss N being in the hospital has been tough on this old bird. I am not used to the quiet. I admit it – there are times that I am lonely. Adam was lonely in the Garden of Eden … at least that is what the book of Genesis tells us. So God made him a helpmate – well, Moses tells the story better:

Genesis 2:5-24 (The Message)
Adam and Eve
5-7 At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground—God hadn't yet sent rain on Earth, nor was there anyone around to work the ground (the whole Earth was watered by underground springs)—God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!
8-9 Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.
10-14 A river flows out of Eden to water the garden and from there divides into four rivers. The first is named Pishon; it flows through Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this land is good. The land is also known for a sweet-scented resin and the onyx stone. The second river is named Gihon; it flows through the land of Cush. The third river is named Hiddekel and flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.
16-17 God commanded the Man, "You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don't eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you're dead."
18-20 God said, "It's not good for the Man to be alone; I'll make him a helper, a companion." So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn't find a suitable companion.
21-22 God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.

23-25 The Man said,
"Finally! Bone of my bone,
flesh of my flesh!
Name her Woman
for she was made from Man."
Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh.
The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame.

God created us to compliment each other. (Hey, that’s a nice way to put it – and we should be doing more of the complimenting and less of the criticizing. Whoops, I jumped on my soap box – sorry.) And I am blessed that the lady He gave me completes me. So I thank Him on this new day when she is facing surgery. She is in His hands right now. Praise God for His goodness and mercy to me.

Agape’


Mr. Jim