WELCOME TO MY OWN PERSONAL PARADE

You know the ole' sayin', "The behinder I go the further I get." That statement is the sum total of my last
year's life events, especially the last few months.

Soooo, I decided to give myself the day off to get a much needed hair-cut. With another birthday looming ahead, I desperately needed to contemplate the latest turn of events in my life.

Over the years I have been in every scale of hair salons. My hair has been whacked up by the best!  I accidentally finally found the best little hair dresser at our local Mega-Mart. I can safely sit in her chair with assurance that I will not have to leave  the salon wearing a false nose and glasses, nor do I have to spend a week in fasting and prayer to make sure none of us are traumatized.

I actually had very little shopping to do...just for my weekly bananas. I was relieved that I had an appointment and would not have to wait.  I had one of those head-aches where you feel like you need to stop the world and get off. I even considered going back home, but decided the world would be a better place if I pushed thru the pain and gave this bush a bouffant.

My hair dresser was running late, and said she was sorry but it would be 45 minutes or more.  Did I have any shopping to do?  "Yes, as a matter of fact." How long could that take?

With each step my head pounded more. So I was not in a very social mood. About that time I hear a booming man's voice, "Hey Ms. Cathy! How you doin today?"  It was my new BFF, the manager of the produce department. I waved back as I was heading to the bench outside of the salon with my swollen head.

Although, I am a deluxe people watcher (My husband says I can tell you how many eyelashes people have), I just needed to sit very quietly and nurse this headache.

The parade began. I decided to make the best of this delay and pretended the mesh bench was a reserved seat or better yet, my own float. I was nodding my head, smiling and giving my best pageant wave to many of the employees who, after many years, have become some of my favorite peeps.

I observed the newest trends in physical attire...PAJAMAS! People of all ages, red, yellow, black and white, male and female were wearing their night clothes in the middle of the day.

The lady ahead of me getting her hair done was at least my age. She stood up to pay and I nearly fell off my float! She was wearing Disney Character flannel pajamas in conjunction with what appeared to be her husband's camoflauge hunting jacket. On the bright side, she had a newly coiffed do of barrell curls...OF COURSE! As liberal as our society is, I don't think it is ready for my coming out of the closet in my most comfortable pj's.

My hairdresser winked at me and said it would be a few more minutes there was some waxing to be done. Sigh... I sit back down. Obviously, my parade was to be continued.

Seemingly, out of no where, this lady comes wheeling her buggy up beside me at about 50 mph. Before I could utter a word she said, "Since you are aleady sitting here could you please watch my cart?"  She throws this thing in park dangerously close to my foot and does the 50-yard dash to the bathroom.  I have been asked to keep watch over a lot of things....

I turned around to discover at the end of my range of vision, someone was trying very hard to get my attention. An adorable toddler with about fifteen pigtails and a yellow binkie was waving very aggressively at me. She would wave once and then 'pee-pie" once... then it was my turn. We had it going on! So much so this man, I did not recognize, walked up to shake my hand! He thought I had been waving and winking at him!

I was speechless!  Good thing. Before I could figure out how to get out of this, he says, "WELL HEY THERE! I THOUGHT I RECOGNIZED YOU! He reached out and gave me a hearty handshake!

(Me) "You did?" This stranger continues as though we had planned to meet for coffee. "I had a far (fire) last week in the cold, and wudn' ya know it...it affected my sinuses, but that's ok. I went and got a cocktail shot today, and I am feelin' a little woozy." 

I thought to myself, "SO DO I". My old - new friend says he better be off, and I better be good. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

My hairdresser sweetly tells me it's finally my turn, and she asks, "How are things going for you today?"

"Wel-l-l," I begin... "Never mind. You wouldn't believe it."

Why do I share these episodes from the ordinary days of my life? The word of God says in Proverbs 17:22  "A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired." 

He well knows I need a dose of laughter every day...and perhaps, you do too...even at my own expense.

P.S. I forgot and left the bananas in the below freezing weather in the back of my car! AND, oh yeah, if you have not had your shower for the day, it is possible to stand close enough to the lettuce to get one!

t-t-f-n  (ta-ta-for-now)
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Jenna's Rose

As I observe the growth of my children and grandchildren, I ponder the admonition of the scripture…
Proverbs 13:22a “A good life gets passed to the grandchildren;” The Message

Not being a woman of noble birth or born with a silver spoon in my mouth, in what ways will this be accomplished?

Over the years, my husband and I have had numerous opportunities to minister and share about the restoration of our marriage, “Roses Will Bloom Again.” No place have we shared it more than in our own home. I have shared portions of the story in previous Blogs, but some things bear repeating.

This Christmas I received the most meaningful gifts ever. I didn’t think anything could top the gift of 'Hot Meals' that was given in my name to a ministry in Calcutta, India or  the "Bible Stick" that was purchased in my name for our troops that are serving in Iraq.GASP!

Our twelve year-old granddaughter said we (my husband and I) had one last gift. I unwrapped and opened the box to find a photograph of a single pale yellow rose in the most beautiful frame. Tears stung my eyes as I read the words that had been carefully added, “Roses Will Bloom Again, Love Jenna.”

Our granddaughter had taken a picture of one of the roses from my precious grandmother’s fifty plus year-old rosebush. We had transplanted the rosebush to my son’s yard when we were in the process of moving. My grandmother’s roots were in Middle Tennessee, and thought this would be fitting.

I was so moved that our granddaughter had the sensitivity to photograph something so meaningful, but more than that, was the priceless story that preceded the gift. It is as follows….

As we gathered around to hold hands and pray before our Christmas meal, I felt a special comfort and assurance. Inheritance does not always have to come in the form of a check, lands, jewelry or houses. My Lord allowed me to not only see our inheritance, but experience it first hand. The love of family, the sensitivity to the things of the Lord, compassion, and creativity in many forms....MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
t-t-f-n (ta-ta-for-now)

"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)

The High Cost of Favor

Mary’s pregnancy tests were not celebrated with little test strips turning pink, baby showers, toys or embossed birth announcements. The nursery for Jesus was not remodeled, papered, painted or furnished with the latest Jenny Lind furniture. His bassinet was a feeding trough. He was not born in the latest new tech birthing center with soft lights and the best of doctors, but a stable that was cold, uncomfortable and smelled of hay and manure.

Mary and Joseph’s first born was not brought home in designer baby gowns to a gathering of doting grandparents and family. Joseph and Mary did not read through all the latest baby books or consider their family tree in deciding what to name this mystery child.

This child was born in obscurity. His birth was announced only in the supernatural realm. Heaven had a mandate to protect Him from the murderous sentence that had been pronounced on all the male children 2 years old and under in Bethlehem and the surrounding districts by King Herod.

The most innocent of innocents burst through the Virgin womb with a death sentence around His neck. The place of His birth began the prophetic fulfillment that He was born to be slaughtered - Migdal Edar, “the tower of the flock”. In ancient Israel this was the exact location where lambs were raised for sacrifice and ceremonial slaughter. John 1:29 truly “He was to be the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world.”

His first outfit may have only resembled swaddling clothes, but in truth, He was clothed in the unseen mantle of Destiny. Only a select few of God’s creations recognized this Gift of God!

By social standards he was considered illegitimate, cloaked in shame. The nagging question always plagued Him, who really was the Father? No DNA testing was available. The only place I can locate any record of Jesus being celebrated during the 9 months of pregnancy, was by another unborn baby that had also been destined for a life of isolation, misunderstanding, rejection and premature death…John the Baptist, and his mama.

DEFINITION OF  FAVOR
(1): friendly regard shown toward another especially by a superior (2) : approving consideration or attention


: BEHALF, INTEREST : in favor of
a : in accord or sympathy with
b : to the benefit of :
 in support of A VERDICT IN FAVOR OF THE ACCUSED!

Much has been taught and written about the “Favor of the Lord.” The subject of favor has even been the foundation of ministries.

Psalm 5:12 (Amplified Bible) For You, Lord, will bless the [uncompromisingly] righteous [him who is upright and in right standing with You]; as with a shield You will surround him with goodwill (pleasure and favor). This scripture indicates that favor is a separate blessing to be desired, and bestowed by the Lord as a reward for the righteous.

How many times have we cried out and prayed for favor in every conceivable situation without much consideration for the cost of this grace?

The Birth of Jesus Foretold


Luke 1: 26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
** Favor put demand on Heaven. ** Favor is not delivered by the lower echelon of God's army but, God's own messenger angel, Gabriel. **Favor may take generations to manifest.** Favor may require you to put on your seatbelt and a helmet. **Favor will require an extra measure of God's grace, mercy, and total faith that He will be with you in whatever He requires.


29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel[e] forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
**This new found blessing was causing great turmoil in this child's soul. 


34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”


35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.”

38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
**This teenage girl, with reckless abandon and faith, sealed her fate and that of her child's with her own words.**

Luke 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
** If she could have been totally honest, I am sure there were times she wondered if she had made the right decisions.**

Luke 2:34-35 (New Living Translation) Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”
** A bittersweet prophecy about  this child produced as a result of God's favor. A prophecy that would strike fear in the boldest of mother's hearts.**


Luke 2:40 (New Living Translation) There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.
**The same grace and favor that had come on the mother of Jesus the Christ had now come on her beloved child…..The same favor that cost the mother of Jesus her future would NOW cost her Son his.**