Odor, Smell or Fragrance.......What am I?

How do odors, smells or fragrances effect you? Smelling fresh dill in a grocery store in the summer reminds me of great summers in the Ozarks. Every summer for my first 14 years of life we visited cousins, double cousins of my dad's....it was wonderful...my only girl cousin, small town with the water tower land mark, the lake for swimming and boating, playing dress up, visiting Aunt Mandy, who was always so glad to see me, and watching the morning glories open while trailing over the trellis on her front porch. Walking down the hill to the town square and having a 20 cent strawberry soda while my cousin always had chocolate. Buying new clothes at Ropers, the dry goods store with the wooden floors. Gathering eggs from the chickens that all had names, eating fried chicken and grabbing what I thought was the gizzard off the platter, so my cousin wouldn't get it, only to find I grabbed the chicken's liver. Well I sat there until the liver was finally eaten. All I remember is I was at the table a long time and shed many tears before that liver was eaten. I will not eat liver to this day. All these memories flood over me when I smell fresh dill, POWERFUL! We visited in the summer and there was always a bounty of fresh vegetables, especially, tomatoes and cucumbers. Those were the days of preserving for winter, and one of the  results  was home canned dill pickles. While I never cared for the homemade dill pickles I loved the place they were canned and it's aroma, Caroline's kitchen.
Other aromas that bring pleasant memories are roses, from my Grandmother's rose garden. Do you notice how roses today rarely smell like they use to?  "Old Spice"....reminds me of John and when we first met.  "English Leather"....made me sick when I was pregnant. Still don't care for it.

Well all this being said.....recently a friend was reflecting on a certain situation in which we're both involved.   After expounding on the situation she said....."it's just smells!" She was saying she didn't like what was going on. I was in agreement with her about the problem and after she said it smells I thought, what a good observation and very accurate too.  It is a situation that should not have an odor.  As followers of Christ we should have a fragrance, not an odor or a smell! Since we live in a fallen world situations we find ourselves involved in sometimes do have odors or smells and not a fragrance.  Chapter two of second Corinthians verses 14-17.... Paul says to the Corinthians, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.  For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.  To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God."

Several weeks ago I heard a well know Christian speaker, Becky Manley Pippert.  In her talk she used an illustration of a woman who had been in a seeker Bible study with her.  The woman moved to live in a country closed to Christianity.  The woman later told Becky of meeting a couple at a market place.  They became friends.  The woman  also told Becky, "they had your aroma!"  Approximately 16 years passed before Becky heard from this woman again. She had become a follower of Christ.  We, you and I, don't know what happened during those 16 years.  Did she find others along the way who "had the aroma"? We do know God was drawing this woman to Himself through many means, aromas being just one.   I have to ask myself.....do I give off the aroma that will draw others to the fragrance of life?  My prayer is to have this aroma!

THANKFUL.....AM I?

November is almost over. This is the month we Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. Seems like we ought to be the most thankful people in the world,  yet I'm not really sure we are. I am making a general judgement call on others but I'm making it on myself also.

I'm in a study with two other women. Right now we're studying  Jerry Bridges's book called Respectable Sins, Confronting the Sins We Tolerate.  The book is convicting as the author looks at sin .....subtle sins in the lives of the believer.  Not only are we shown areas of our lives we might not realize are sinful, the author gives us hope in how to recognize and confront the sin.  

One of the sins he talks about is unthankfulness.  The author tells of the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19) Jesus heals and only one comes back to Him to give praise and thanks.  He goes on to ask how could those other nine who were healed be so ungrateful?  And yet are we not guilty of being ungrateful for what God has done for us, spiritually and physically?   Can we not acknowledge that everything we have and are is from God?  As spirit filled children of God, Paul reminds us in Ephesians 5;20....to always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Note the 'always' and 'everything'.

I'm quoting from the book now "Giving thanks to God for both His temporal and spiritual blessings in our lives is not just a nice thing to do--it is the moral will of God.  Failure to give Him the thanks due Him is sin.  It may seem like a benign sin to us because it doesn't hurt anyone else.  But it is an affront and insult to the One who created us and sustains us every second of our lives.  And if, as Jesus so clearly stated loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind is the great and first commandment, then failure to give thanks to God as a habit of life is a violation of the greatest commandment."

I'm trying to make thankfulness to God a habit.  I want thankfulness to become second nature.   Let me share some of what I'm thankful for right now:  

My husband John, for his faith and love for me, for my faith also.  Thankful for the journey we've traveled together.

My family, children and grandchildren, for their lives, vocations, love for one another, thankful for Ian's successful knee surgery, thankful he wasn't injured when he a a deer collided recently.  Thankful for health, shelter, friends, freedoms not known in so many parts of the world.  Thankful the washing machine conked out on the last load this week and not the first.   Oh so much more!  

Trusting that any who might read this blog will take a new look of how thankfulness impacts your life.  And may we all give God the glory!

Family....making a difference...a choice

We received a call from a cousin of my husband the other day.  She and her husband were in town and wanted to come by and see us.  As we chatted (I've only seen her a couple of times in 45 years) I asked if she'd seen John's other bothers and wives etc.  She hadn't so I said I'll give them a call and have you all over for dinner.  She appreciated the opportunity to see everyone. As an aside John's sister moved from the hometown a year ago. She is the glue in the family even from a distance. We miss her on a day to day basis. Part of Anne's reasoning for their trip was to retrace family history, cemeteries, homesteads etc.  Since this side of the family doesn't have "much documented history" the conversation led to a lot of questions and rememberances and some speculation.  Since I'm the last one to enter the family (in this generation) and that was 45 years ago I  listened and was somewhat saddened.  Families are broken and spoken of lightly, grandchildren living with someone, having babies and no talk of marriage,  not remembering greatgrandchildren's names.  Commenting we can't have any influence on them....they just do what they want!  That's just the way life is now.  The families are professing Christians.  What has our culture done to us or should I say to our thinking?  What is wrong with this picture?.....seems like life is spiriling out of control.

As I've thought of the evening and my own immediate family, I am oh so thankful for how God has worked and is working in and through us.  Not that we don't, haven't or won't have our difficulties.  Circumstances may not turn out the way we would like them to but because of our relationship with the Lord, knowing He is soverign and wants only His best for us we can be confidant in His love and care.

Here is a website a friend has published,  http://www.fromgrandpawithlove.com I think anyone who is serious about how God works in our lives and how we can influence subsequent generations will find it beneficial.

FAMILY....all in the same decade!

Well today marks my little brother's 60th birthday. Kevin is the 'tall one' in the photo on the left. My other brother is Philip, he's 18 months older than than Kevin. Others in the photo are Phil's family except for the bearded one and he belongs to me. My sister in law is Christine. Their children are Justin (r) and his wife Lori and daughter Madison and their daughter Katie (l) and her husband, Ryan, and baby Jackson. Sadie has joined Madison since the picture was taken. You are looking at the end of the Ganzer family name at least from this line. Kevin has 2 daughters and Justin has 2 daughters. This picture was taken 2 years ago. As I was looking for a picture of Kevin I realized we're kind of like "the shoemakers kids who go shoeless." We have lots of pictures but not many of family. Guess we'll have to make some changes! Anyway I'm always glad when 'the boys' hit my decade. Not that it makes any difference but it does make me feel better. I try and think age is a state of mind and only occasionally a feeling in the body.
I welcome both my brothers to this decade and trust we all make it to the next!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Kevin.

A beginning

I guess one has to begin before one can finish.  For several years now I've admired and probably envied, if I'm honest, blogs I have read.  The interests, insights, writing abilities, thoughts and honesty of bloggers has intrigued me.  My first thought was I can't do that.  Well maybe not like others but I'm going to try.  My first challenge was coming up with a blog name.  I called my daughter-in-law, Barbie,  I was just thinking  and she asked several questions to which I had no answers.  Her questions did stir some thinking and I was reminded of where I am in my life.  I am a finisher.  So a question is how am I going to finish?  You ask, finish what?  How am I going to finish my life here on earth?  Thus the title to my blog is,  Finishing well, is it a question or a statement?

Two years ago my life changed, just as it has changed periodically over the last 60 some years.  Those changes included, but are not limited to, growing up oldest in a family of 3 children, going to college, getting married, having children, moving several times from where I grew up, children growing up and moving away, aging parents, being a caretaker, deaths, births, serious illnesses and finally retirement.  I didn't officially retire but my husband, John, retired after some 40 years of engineering.  Once again my life changed.  I have not been a person who had a lot of goals or who deliberated much on the future.   In hind sight I regret this.  God has been gracious to me over my lifetime in spite of my passiveness.  As we look at the stages of life, retirement usually comes in the latter stages of life.  Fortunately we're still healthy and have years ahead of us, so how are we going to use them? I want to be more deliberate in my choices.  I don't want regrets.
 I've admired people who have a life verse they can claim.  I would like to be able to say with Paul (2 Tim 4:7-8) "I have fought the good fight.  I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."....And verse 8, what a promise...."Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. " 

I hope this blog helps me focus and keep "running the race".