Yet Another Mother's Day Post, Plus Sunday Funnies
I'd like to wish everyone it applies to a very Happy Mother's Day--whether you're a new Mom, an old Mom, a "broken-in" Mom, a Grand-mom, a step-Mom, or "everybody's Mom." You're the care-takers, the encouragers, the supporters, the teachers, and the givers. I salute you all!
I had a wonderful day today!
In addition to a lovely locket with my daughter's picture in it and some flowers--both real and tissue--I got to spend a romantic afternoon at the movies with a dear, old love of mine. Yes, it was just me and Mr. Tub O' Popcorn Dripping in Butter all snuggled up watching the new "Star Trek" movie. ^_~ The movie was fantastic, btw, far surpassing my expectations. Mason took the kids out for ice cream while I rekindled my passion for greasy fingers and fell in love with the Enterprise's new old crew.
When I got home, lo and behold, there was one of the really cool Hiei plushies up for auction on eBay. They are very hard to come by these days, so obviously, it was meant for ME, being Mother's Day and all. So I splurged and bought it. Woohoo! (Now I need to find another pretty Kagome plushie to go with it. All of my Hieis have a Kagome. ^_^)
And, in other "news," I need to be gagged to sit in church these days.
I love our new pastor--I really do. But, he needs to stop asking leading questions of the congregation, especially since he seems to have a knack for choosing very interesting examples to make his points. This week, he wanted to talk about God's love for those no one else loves and how we should put love for God above love for family. (Interesting choice of topics for a Mother's Day sermon, isn't it?) So, we get the story of Leah. I'm sure this is familiar to many of you, but I need to sum it up the way my pastor presented it.
Jacob worked for Leah's father for 7 years to marry her younger sister Rachel, but her father tricked him into marrying Leah first. He worked 7 more years to get to marry Rachel. Not surprisingly, Rachel was the beloved wife, and Leah was not. But Leah gave Jacob a son, and rejoiced, thinking Jacob would love her now. But he didn't. She gave him another son. Still no love. She gave him a third son, and all the while, Rachel was barren. But Jacob just didn't love Leah. When she gave birth to a 4th son, she finally gave up on trying to win her husband's love and praised God. And from this son, we get the line leading directly to Jesus. Now, if the story had stopped there, I would agree with the pastor's points he was trying to get across. BUT, then Leah doesn't have any more children for a long time and Rachel, desperate to also give her husband a son, tells him to sleep with her female servant. Jacob gets two sons out of that bargain. At that point, even though Leah has decided she can live without Jacob's love, she is still fiercely competitive with her sister, so SHE tells him to sleep with HER female servant, who gives him another son. Finally, Rachel conceives and that son is favored above all the others, but falls into a life of hardship due to the jealousy of his brothers.
So, wrapping up his sermon here, and getting ready to reiterate how it's important to love God more than family, since that can lead to troubles, and how God loves and rewards the unloved, like Leah, my pastor asks, "So, which would you wish to be: Rachel, who had her husband's love, but God's disfavor, or Leah, who was unloved, but rewarded by God?"
I couldn't help it. I said, "Every man in this room wishes he was Jacob." ^_^
I had a wonderful day today!
In addition to a lovely locket with my daughter's picture in it and some flowers--both real and tissue--I got to spend a romantic afternoon at the movies with a dear, old love of mine. Yes, it was just me and Mr. Tub O' Popcorn Dripping in Butter all snuggled up watching the new "Star Trek" movie. ^_~ The movie was fantastic, btw, far surpassing my expectations. Mason took the kids out for ice cream while I rekindled my passion for greasy fingers and fell in love with the Enterprise's new old crew.
When I got home, lo and behold, there was one of the really cool Hiei plushies up for auction on eBay. They are very hard to come by these days, so obviously, it was meant for ME, being Mother's Day and all. So I splurged and bought it. Woohoo! (Now I need to find another pretty Kagome plushie to go with it. All of my Hieis have a Kagome. ^_^)
And, in other "news," I need to be gagged to sit in church these days.
I love our new pastor--I really do. But, he needs to stop asking leading questions of the congregation, especially since he seems to have a knack for choosing very interesting examples to make his points. This week, he wanted to talk about God's love for those no one else loves and how we should put love for God above love for family. (Interesting choice of topics for a Mother's Day sermon, isn't it?) So, we get the story of Leah. I'm sure this is familiar to many of you, but I need to sum it up the way my pastor presented it.
Jacob worked for Leah's father for 7 years to marry her younger sister Rachel, but her father tricked him into marrying Leah first. He worked 7 more years to get to marry Rachel. Not surprisingly, Rachel was the beloved wife, and Leah was not. But Leah gave Jacob a son, and rejoiced, thinking Jacob would love her now. But he didn't. She gave him another son. Still no love. She gave him a third son, and all the while, Rachel was barren. But Jacob just didn't love Leah. When she gave birth to a 4th son, she finally gave up on trying to win her husband's love and praised God. And from this son, we get the line leading directly to Jesus. Now, if the story had stopped there, I would agree with the pastor's points he was trying to get across. BUT, then Leah doesn't have any more children for a long time and Rachel, desperate to also give her husband a son, tells him to sleep with her female servant. Jacob gets two sons out of that bargain. At that point, even though Leah has decided she can live without Jacob's love, she is still fiercely competitive with her sister, so SHE tells him to sleep with HER female servant, who gives him another son. Finally, Rachel conceives and that son is favored above all the others, but falls into a life of hardship due to the jealousy of his brothers.
So, wrapping up his sermon here, and getting ready to reiterate how it's important to love God more than family, since that can lead to troubles, and how God loves and rewards the unloved, like Leah, my pastor asks, "So, which would you wish to be: Rachel, who had her husband's love, but God's disfavor, or Leah, who was unloved, but rewarded by God?"
I couldn't help it. I said, "Every man in this room wishes he was Jacob." ^_^