"A Classic Christmas Song With A Fruity Twist"

Since I began this blog in May, I have had the privilege to write about a variety of subjects. I attempt to follow the leading of the Lord, even in the most challenging and ridiculous topics. We forget that God himself said laughter was like a medicine. The year of 2010 has been one of the most challenging years of my married life and for some of my dearest friends as well. Had it not been for the "joy of the Lord"... well, I'm just not sure. So being true to form, I choose to celebrate this most holiest of seasons by remembering everything that Christ purchased for me, including my joy.

My escapades with produce prompted more than one unexpected response. People have called, e-mailed, and stopped me to say they will never view produce the same. A new best friend that has followed the Blog from the beginning purchased a Wal-Mart Gift Card for ME to buy more produce!!!! How priceless is that?

Of all the reactions, I must admit this "Classic Christmas Song With A Fruity Twist," written by one of my new best friends, is my favorite. She said this was my Christmas Card from her and I could do with it as I pleased. I added a picture and am sharing it with you. So as they say, once your food has been served, "Enjoy!"

On the First day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...

A Pineapple in a Pear Tree....


On the Second day of Christmas of my True Love gave to me...
Two Apricots, and a Pineapple in a Pear Tree.


On the Third day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
Three Mangoes, two Apricots, and a Pineapple in a Pear Tree.


On the Fourth Day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
Four Personal Melons, three Mangoes, two Apricots, and a Pineapple in a Pear Tree.


On the Fifth Day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
Five ‘tangy’ tangerines...four Personal Melons, three Mangoes, two Apricots, and a Pineapple in a Pear Tree.


On the Sixth Day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
Six Grapes a hanging, Five ‘tangy’ Tangerines...four Personal Melons, three Mangoes, two Apricots, and a Pineapple in a Pear Tree.


On the Seventh Day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
Seven Stacks of Strawberries, Six Grapes a hanging, Five ‘tangy’ Tangerines...four Personal Melons, three Mangoes, two Apricots, and a Pineapple in a Pear Tree.

On the Eighth Day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
Eight Packs of Peaches, Seven Stacks of Strawberries, Six Grapes a hanging, Five ‘tangy’ Tangerines...four Personal Melons, three Mangoes, two Apricots, and a Pineapple in a Pear Tree.


On the Ninth Day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
Nine Bags of Lemons, Eight Packs of Peaches, Seven Stacks of Strawberries, Six Grapes a hanging, Five ‘tangy’ Tangerines...four Personal Melons, three Mangoes, two Apricots, and a Pineapple in a Pear Tree.

On the Tenth Day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
Ten Banana Bunches, Nine Bags of Lemons, Eight Packs of Peaches, Seven Stacks of Strawberries, Six Grapes a hanging, Five ‘tangy’ Tangerines...four Personal Melons, three Mangoes, two Apricots, and a Pineapple in a Pear Tree.


On the Eleventh Day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
Eleven Plums a Plenty, Ten Banana Bunches, Nine Bags of Lemons, Eight Packs of Peaches, Seven Stacks of Strawberries, Six Grapes a hanging, Five ‘tangy’ Tangerines...four Personal Melons, three Mangoes, two Apricots, and a Pineapple in a Pear Tree.


On the Twelfth Day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
Twelve Delicious Apples, Eleven Plums a Plenty, Ten Banana Bunches, Nine Bags of Lemons, Eight Packs of Peaches, Seven Stacks of Strawberries, Six Grapes a hanging, Five ‘tangy’ Tangerines...four Personal Melons, three Mangoes, two Apricots, and a Pineapple in a Pear Tree.

HAHAHAHAHAHA! HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! HEHEHEHEHEHE! Merry Christmas to all, and may 2011 be the most fruitful year yet!

The Gift of Time

The Christmas Season as wonderful as it is, not only heralds the celebration of the Christ child’s birth, but can serve as a poignant reminder that another year is fading. In between the hustle and bustle of Holiday preparation you take a mental inventory….deep sigh, “Where did this year go?”

Time...you can’t buy or steal it. Who knows if it really does any good to beg for it?????

It is amazing that as an educated society we are so controlled by an inanimate object known as the clock. Cuckoo birds sing about it, the fashion industry decorates it, and the stars record it - time.


Even God Himself used time to set boundaries. He stepped back from this creation and declared, "This is good."


Our mirrors, pictures, videos, hospitals, nursing homes, and cemetery markers serve as a constant reminder as to how fleeting time is. Our biological clocks are forever ticking in the background of our days and nights.

Time restraints ranks at the top of our stress lists. We stay up way too late and get up way too early trying to cram more of it into our lives. The demands of time wreak havoc in every arena.

We celebrate time with birthdays, anniversaries, Bar Mitzvahs, graduations, and feasts.

Regret is the painful reminder of how often we have misused and abused this gift. We curse, mourn, and recklessly wish it away. We are terrorized and tormented with it. The judicial system allows the guilty to be sentenced by it.

We allow the medical profession in their most educated guess to set terms and limits on our time. Multiple disease processes and trauma erases memories of it.

Time is like a shadow…elusive to the grasp. Unfortunately, after a night of frivolity, there are occasions we don’t even remember what we did with it. Time carries its'own load of  both lies and truths.

Managing time is an industry unto itself. They have designed day-timers, calendars, watches; and clocks to help us better organize our lives. Consultants are paid exorbitant amounts of money to help our companies better organize our time and make us more efficient. We can be penalized or compensated for our time.

Man’s own ingenuity has figured out a way to seemingly control and manipulate time. Man has devised a way to divide it into zones. Daylight Savings Time allows us to advance and reverse it. Typically we just waste it like the sands of the hourglass.

Men and women alike are looking for the fountain of youth to hide the ravages of time. Society has made it a criminal offense to reveal the truth of the amount of time you have lived here on earth. Time’s trademarks of wrinkles and gray hair are no longer symbolic of honor, but shame.

We are rarely satisfied with the dispensation of time that we have been allotted.

We spend endless amounts of money to insure it. We medicate, drown, ignore, and totally disregard the value of time. We take it for granted.

We carelessly spend it like there was no tomorrow and selfishly guard it like it was Fort Knox. We believe the lie that time is our enemy.

There is NOTHING..I REPEAT…NOTHING that escapes the effects of time, not even our eternal destiny.

Ultimately, time is the gift of God. In His all knowing wisdom if we had needed more or less of it don’t you think that He would have changed our portion? Time is a season for us to share, love, and to bring honor and glory to the ultimate Time Keeper.

At this late date, if you are still desperately seeking the perfect Christmas gift, turn life off and give the most expensive thing you have to offer—your time.

Prayer: Lord, please forgive me for believing my time was my own.

Without the gift of time I would NOT be writing this Blog, learning new computer programs, or about to launch a new website. Without a doubt, all of this would have been impossible.

Thank you to those who have given and offered so freely of their time and support. Thank you to their families who so generously shared their time.

Prayer is hard work and requires the sacrifice and investment of time. Thank you to the faithful intercessors who cover us with the 'fire by night and the cloud by day.'

Thank you to my Godly husband who has invested most of his lifetime supporting and encouraging me to go for the gold. My precious husband who unselfishly has given me his energy and time when he himself seems to be running on 'Reserve."

Thank you to the readers for your gift of time. With all of the choices available, I do not take for granted that you would take the time to visit Modern Orange and leave encouraging comments.

As I reflect on my own personal 'Time Account," I leave you with a few timely quotes.

The only gift is a portion of thyself.

Time the most precious gift one can give. Each moment is unique because it will never happen again…the gift of your time spent with others is the ultimate display of unconditional love.

“Since time is the one immaterial object which we cannot influence—neither speed up, nor slow down, add to nor diminish—it is an imponderably valuable gift.” Maya Angelou

"Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours. They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra hour. What will you do with this priceless treasure?" Author Unknown

"If there was ever a time to dare, to make a difference, to embark on something worth doing, IT IS NOW." Author Unknown, from Words of Encouragement for Teens

"Your greatest asset is your earning ability. Your greatest resource is your time." Brian Tracy

"Time and words can't be recalled, even if it was only yesterday." Yiddish Proverb

"An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can't buy that inch of time with an inch of gold." Chinese Proverb

t-t-f-n (ta-ta-for-now)

PART I: A Woman Never Outgrows the Need to Be Beautiful To Someone

Many, many years ago there was a young lady in our church who, to be politically correct, was a midget. People assumed because this person was unusually short, that she was also handicapped. SOOOOOOOO WRONG! She was very bright and articulate, but few had taken the time to find that out.

A dear friend of mine had befriended this lady and her husband. Their lives consisted of more challenges than the average person could endure. At the time her husband was both an alcoholic and was battling cancer, not to mention their financial difficulties.

After a few visits to the church, and just plain being loved on they both gloriously gave their hearts to the Lord. Their faithfulness was admirable. It was close to the Christmas Holidays and our newest church member had joined the choir and was going to sing in the Christmas Cantata. I felt the Lord impressed me to make an investment in this woman in the form of a shopping trip and a day of beauty. Little did I know she had NEVER had this experience.

When two of my best buds found out what I was up to they wanted to be included in on the adventure as well. The plans were made. I made an appointment for her at the local beauty school for the works…hair, make-up, etc.

I prayed about where to take her shopping. In the morning newspaper were the BEST coupons to one of my favorite stores. I also prayed the Lord would stretch our finances. He did! Without knowing it we all arrived waving the same coupons! We had three times the amount of money to splurge. The Lord also told me to bring my camera, which I promptly forgot. Being more obedient than I, my other bud pulled a camera out of her purse. YAHOOOOO! We were on our way!

I have never had so much fun in my life!!!! We laughed and cried everywhere we went. The entire beauty school sniffed and dabbed their eyes as they watched this precious soul get transformed before us all. They donated all of their services.

My “little” friend cried as well. She had the hair dresser turn her around and around in the chair to see her new ‘do’ from every angle. I had determined that she had naturally curly hair and if she would allow the girl to cut it quite a bit all of those glorious curls would pop into place. WA-LAHHH – Just as predicted!!!!

Once we arrived at the store we all three went in different directions to make our own selections for our beauty candidate. Just one little problem….she did not have a clue as to what size she wore. All of her clothes were hand-me-downs that someone would cut up and alter for her.

When the sales clerks realized what we were doing they were WILD! They were running in different directions waving their opinions in the air yelling across the store, “Hey, what about this?” Clothes, hangars, and price tags were flying. We looked like a game show!

Each time we threw an outfit over the dressing room door our ‘little’ model would step out and turn round about for our applause whether it fit or not. Even though we found the correct size, everything was still about six inches too long, both the arms and legs. A precious saint of the church agreed to do all of the alterations for free.

We worked every discount we could find. In addition to the new church clothes and a bit of jewelry, the coupons made it possible to buy her a red winter coat and gloves. We were high with excitement!

We were running out of time and money, but I felt the Lord prompt me to ask her what kind of shirt would her husband like. I nearly fainted when she very accurately described a plaid western shirt, but only with pearl button snaps. She knew his size. Where were we ever going to find anything like that in such a short amount of time?

I told the girls to hold on while I ran next door to the men’s department. There on the sales table was the shirt she had described just waiting for me to pick it up for delivery. I was hysterical!

These sales clerks were not privy to what was taking place next door and just probably thought I had missed my hormone shot. I don’t remember exactly if I kissed that shirt or not, but I would say from the strange looks, YES, I did.

Our newly dressed friend was so exhausted, she actually asked us to take her home!!!! We did not know she was ill. On the trip back to the church we prayed for her healing. By the time she crawled out of my vehicle, she had a complete makeover and a healed body. Her little face was flush with the presence of the Lord. WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY!!!!

The night of the Cantata I met my friend early in the church bathroom. Look out! I was a woman on a mission. Armed with every beauty paraphernalia I could single handedly carry I was going to help her get dressed for her debut. I felt like I was wrapping a present. When she stepped out on that stage she looked like the “Christmas Star.” I could hardly contain myself.

She has never been the same, and neither have I.

(To be continued)….

t-t-f-n ( ta-ta-for now )