The same message, just a different way

I just realized that, even though I had said that I was going to do whatever I could to make this Advent season more relaxed and calm. I seemed to have failed.  My last couple of weeks have been really full and I have even gotten home really late some nights.  I know that 9:00pm doesn't sound late, but at my age (and getting up at 5:30am), that IS really late.  Yet, as I was thinking about this blog, it became clear to me that my schedule these past weeks has been all about Advent and doing what is really important.  I have attended several Christmas gatherings, that all have brought me much joy and laughter.  So, in spite of the way my calendar might look, I have been more focused on the true meaning of Christmas. 

This week I spent Tuesday with Gwen and the kids since it was their home school co-op Christmas program.  That lovely young lady, Lia, in the picture above (who is almost as tall as me) sang with her choir.  I have to admit that sitting in the pew, hearing her sing brought me back to some of Gwen's early programs.  Let's face it, there is nothing better than Christmas songs, sung by children.  Earlier in the day, all of the kids were busy making Christmas cards for their co-op friends.  Ellie decided that they should make crayons to include in the cards.  So she worked on finding all of the broken crayons around the house, peeling the papers off and deciding which colors to mix together in the crayon mold.  She managed to make enough for all of her friends, as well as all of Anna and Zeke's friends.

Before long, Ellie decided that she also wanted to create beaded crosses for her friends, so Lia and I helped her sort out specific colors from large vats of beads.  Zeke and Anna worked had making cards for their friends.

And then Ellie decided that she also needed to color a picture for each of her friends.  

While this was going on, Lia decided to make cookies for all of her choir and her friends.  

As I watched these kids spending time on these hand made goodies for their friends, I was thinking about the love and care that they were putting into each project.  This wasn't some small trinket or toy from the store, by their parents.  Each gift had a hand made card and an item that had required some effort and thought.  That is what the season is supposed to be about.  It was a day well spent for me.  One that filled my soul with peace and calm and love and joy.  

One of the best early "Christmas" presents that I received last week, came flying into my life via a Facebook message.  I was invited to join a Facebook group, started by someone that I had never heard of until that day.  Turns out, we are related!  Not only that, he lives less than 5 miles from my house. Dave Anderson has been doing much research on his own family tree and decided that he would like to find out more about his "Johnson" relatives - all descendants of Axel and Betty Johnson - my grandparents.  It turns out that Dave's grandfather was a nephew of Axel Johnson and came from the same town in Sweden to settle in western Minnesota at the same time as my grandfather.  

Axel and Betty Johnson

Now I know that you might be thinking that this is a really distant relation, but for me, having any relative living so close is quite fun.  Not only that, he has been sent boxes and boxes of pictures and family documents from Sweden that he is trying to sort and identify.  Most were sent to Sweden by those families who all settled in western Minnesota before 1900.  I saw pictures of my aunts and uncles that I had never seen before.  I am so thankful that Dave is taking the time to sort through all of this stuff.  Not only is he sorting it, he is connecting us through pictures and stories.  He has a heart to keep these memories from being lost.  Thanks to this Facebook group, in the last week I have connected with several of my cousins.  I had a phone conversation with a cousin that I know I have never talked to as an adult.  During the phone call she referred to me as "Lynnie" and said that she only remembered me as a little girl.  That short call brought me so much joy.  This genealogy stuff is really interesting, the idea of seeing a family tree is wonderful, but it is the stories that are so important.  

I have shared on this blog that I believe that all of us have been given a unique destiny.  Part of this destiny, is a spiritual heritage that has played a part in who we are and the direction our lives have taken.  Over the last several years, I have become more and more convinced that this is a message that needs to be shared.  This blog has been part of that prompting by the Holy Spirit to share that message.  Additionally, I have begun writing a book with the central message that our prayers can and will impact our future generations. This fictional based on facts book is focused on my mother's parents.  I don't think it is an accident that I am now looking at my dad's parents and learning more about God's plan for our family line through them.  Getting to meet Dave and his wife was quite a gift for me.  Through Dave's work,  I heard the message from the Holy Spirit, loudly and clearly, that I must keep on sharing.  Yes, it was the same message I heard so long ago, just delivered in a different way.      

Yes, it is really amazing to look at my grandkids and think about their great great grandparents.  These loving, caring, young children carry a piece of Axel and Betty and Arnold and Nora in their spirits.  The spiritual heritage that was centered on their love for Jesus, has been sown into this distant generation.  There is so much hope in this message.  We can make a difference in the future as we pray for those who are yet to come.   Tonight I want anyone who reads this blog to know that you matter.  Not only for right now, but also for generations to come.  Don't let the stories from your family get lost or forgotten.  Make it a point to tell and retell those family stories.  Take lots of pictures and preserve those photos with journaling that tell the story. (A shout out for scrapbooking!)

 This is a great season to begin doing this.  As we tell and retell the Christmas story, let us all remember to share family memories.

Jesus, thank you so much for this season.  Holy Spirit, keep our hearts open to love and care for all those around us.  Give us courage to smile and talk to those we meet on the street.  Help us to keep Christmas memories alive in our family.  Thank you for photos and documents that help us know the past and appreciate our family heritage.  Thank you Jesus, for children and Christmas carols.  Amen 

    

These people are on my mind today....

All of this thinking about Africa has had me remembering and dwelling on this couple.  This is Johann and Anna Toensing, my great-great grandparents.  Have you ever thought about people in your family tree and wished that you could have met them?  That is where I have been in the last few days.....thinking about Johann and Anna.  This picture is actually a photo of an oil painting of this couple, done in the early 1800's.  It is most likely their "wedding picture".  Johann was born in 1801 and Anna was born in 1806.  They were married in 1827.  And this was in Germany.  What is so interesting about this couple is that 3 of their children went off to the "mission field".  Their daughter Marie married a man that was set to go to Africa to bring the Good News to the Zulu nation.  Their two sons set off to "the new world" - the United States of America - to bring the Good News and establish churches.  This all happened around 1870.  I don't think this was very "ordinary" for families in Germany in 1870.  In fact I imagine that it was very, very unusual.  But they were committed to mission work.  They encouraged and supported their children to GO!

I never knew my great grandparents, or even my grandparents.  So I never got to talk to them or ask them about this.  I never talked to my dad about this subject.... but I did talk many times with my mom.  She was so encouraging!  I know that the same spirit that must have made Anna Toensing be willing to send her children off into the unknown for Jesus, was operating in my mom - Nona Etta Toensing Johnson!  She listened over and over to my stories from the various mission trips I experienced.  More than that, she asked me to share with her friends and her church.  She told me that she could never have gone "out of her comfort zone" and experienced the things that I had.  But she knew that there was a mission sending seed sown in her lineage.  She had heard her father tell the history of his own family. She knew about her great aunt and uncle in Africa.  I have been so blessed by my family tree.  By those prayers prayed for the sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters and even for me.

So here I am.  With a place in my heart for Africa.  More than that, I feel that I have a message to share.  I don't know what is ahead in the next weeks and months.  But I know that Jesus is leading and directing and bringing together all that needs to happen.  And I am more convinced than ever that my life is on a path that was designed long before I was born.  And that began with Johann and Anna Toensing!

Jesus, thank you for the reminder that you have everything under control.  Even when it may seem really grey (or maybe even totally black) you have that path all laid out.  Holy Spirit, help us to see our family tree with your eyes!  And remind us to pray for all of those future branches and leaves that will be added in the years ahead.  Amen

Walking in the (hidden) footprints of another great lady....my aunt Avis

This picture is my mom (on the left) and my aunt Avis.  I can just imagine my mom and Avis sitting around, right now in heaven,  having a cup of coffee with some kind of wonderful baked sweet roll, and they are laughing.   Because that is how I remember my mom and Avis together.   They had a very special bond since they were the only "in-laws" in my dad's family (Avis was my dad's brothers wife).  There were four sisters so this was a "special club" so to speak.  And our family and Avis' family were similar ages.   Avis had four children, my cousins John (who was similar in age to my brother Jerry), Marvin (who is similar in age to my sister Julie), Corrine (who is the same age as my brother Greg) and Thoralee (who is just 2 years older than me).  Let me tell you a bit about this favorite aunt of mine.

Avis was a teacher in the one room school not far from our lake home in northern Minnesota.  She met and married my uncle Walfred and they had a home that included a house for my grandparents.  And I believe at one point, they also had Avis' parents living with them.  Walfred was not well physically, and after he could no longer farm, they rented out the land.   By the time I was old enough to remember, Walfred was very sickly and spent most of his time on the couch.  He died when I was 7 or 8 years old.  Avis and the children continued to live in the house that had at one time, been my grandparents home.  It was small and not modern.  And by this I mean....no running water, no indoor plumbing, and a WOOD cookstove!   Some of my very best memories are spending time with my aunt Avis.  When my dad would want to go on a run to acquire wood for some project, I would beg to spend time with Avis.  And she was always willing for me to come and stay with her for a few hours. She would take me out to the garden and I would help her pick vegetables.  For this "city" girl, I couldn't believe how wonderful it was to eat peas right out of the garden!  I can still almost taste them.  And then we would pick berries (I'm not exactly sure what kind of berries but they were delicious).  She had one of those old phones that you would "ring up" the operator to make a call.  And her "ring" was two longs, a short and a long (I think!)  And it was a party line where you might hear someone's conversation when you picked up the ear piece!  And Avis was an extraordinary baker.  Yes, on the wood cookstove.  I remember her looking for exactly the right piece of wood to put in the stove for the bread and rolls to bake just right.  I remember her punching down the dough to make rolls - something I had never seen done.  These were the years that my mom worked full time and the only bread I knew was "Wonder Bread" that came in a wrapper!   And she also sewed (you might remember my blog about the Barbie clothes that my cousin made and sent to me). And I remember that she loved to read and she loved music.  As the years went by, there were improvements made to the house.  They added running water and a bathroom.  And sadly, the wood stove was also replaced.  Just before my uncle died, they had added a bedroom on the front of the house so he wouldn't have to walk up the stairs.  That room had a view of the church, just across the road.  I remember well, the day that I asked Avis if it bothered her to look out the window and see the church graveyard where so many of our family were buried, including my uncle Walfred.  She took my hands and said, "Lynnie, (She always called me Lynnie - even after my kids were born!) those are just remember places.  The people are not there!  They are up in heaven with Jesus!  Don't be afraid of cemeteries and graveyards.  Because we know that our loved ones are not here anymore."  And then she told me how important that church was to her.  That it represented so much to her and how comforting it was for her to see it there, just across the road.

This was the only time I ever remember having a conversation with Avis about church, Jesus or anything spiritual.  But there was so much about Avis' life that spoke volumes about her character.  She loved her family and cared for them before herself.  Her parents and her in-laws were her concern.  She had two sisters that never married and she watched out for them in their later years. She really had a heart of gold.  My mom was very sad when Avis began to lose her memory and become confused.  Eventually, she went to live in a senior residence.  Mom always visited her on her trips to the lake.  But here's the thing, mom said that Avis always knew who she was was and they would have great conversations about things from years and years ago.  She was always glad to see her and had a big smile on her face.  After Avis died, mom always said that she knew she would see her again in heaven.

Sometimes the footprints we follow from our childhood are not obviously deep spiritual footprints.  At least not on the surface.   When I was thinking about people who had a profound impact on my walk with Jesus, I thought of Avis.  I remembered that conversation about death and the faith and trust I saw in her.   So while I never heard her quote a Bible verse, or really talk much about Jesus, I know that she had a deep faith.   And it is those footprints of deep faith, that I am walking in today.

Maybe this will cause you to take a closer look at the people in you life.  At first glance you might not think of the spiritual implications from someones life, or the impact on your own spiritual walk.  But there are lots of diamonds in the rough out there.  People with deep faith and convictions that might not be very "out there" with their spiritual walk.  Let the Holy Spirit lead you to uncover your own hidden footprints and the amazing people who made them.

Jesus, thank you for reminding me of these hidden footprints.  Thank you for causing me to dig deep into my past to uncover this amazing part of my path in following you.  Thank you for family and the memories that encourage and grow our faith.   Holy Spirit, help us all to see the gems in our family tree.   Amen