Messages for Madeline

Messages for Madeline- On Handling Tough Times

Sometimes life doesn’t go quite the way we want it to. It happens to all of us. Life throws you a completely unexpected curveball or the plan you so carefully worked out had completely the opposite outcome from what you anticipated and planned. Step back, take a minute to relax. Pray, take deep breaths, think happy thoughts. It’s going to turn out okay. It may not seem like it now or even a year from now but overall, it will be okay. I’ve lived it. This concept is found in the Bible, too. We can find our example in Joseph. Before Joseph’s dad died he made Joseph promise to forgive his brothers for what they’d done to him when he was a child. Joseph had already forgiven them years ago. I think that because of how he responded to them when God brought his brothers back into his life. He accepted them and made sure they were taken care of. In this particular instance though, he doesn’t just tell them they’re forgiven. He credits God for taking care of him.
Genesis 50:19-20
“19But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
They meant it for evil but God meant it for good. God can turn around so many situations in our lives. And when He does it in your life, it will be pretty amazing. So take heart. I know how faithful you are. God will keep you and take care of you. I know sometimes it’s hard to have faith, but I know you can do this.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Messages for Madeline #2

Madeline,
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
So last week, I talked about old friends and new friends. I want to expand on that a little this week. When I was a teenager, I was eager to get out of this small town and see the world. I wasn’t very good about keeping up with old friends. Now, 30 years later, I really regret that.
My best friend when I was growing up was Jenni. She lived about a block and a half away from me and if I wasn’t at her house, she was at mine. Always. We would play weeks-long games of Monopoly. We loved playing the game Life, too. Her mom was our Girl Scout leader- I talked about that a little last week. I miss Jenni.

This photo was taken at Girl Scout camp one year, if I remember correctly. Top row left to right: Kim C., Karen H.. Bottom row left to right: Me, Jenni P..
In the last few years of high school I let our friendship slide in favor of hanging out with my boyfriend. After graduation, we went our separate ways. There were a few letters and a couple calls over the years but life happens and we lost touch.
Around 13 years after high school I found out she lived near Saint Louis. I was traveling through there once so I called and arranged a visit with her. It was so great to see her after that many years. But again, we each had our own lives that didn’t intersect and we tried to keep in touch (with email this time, which was much easier). We were in touch more often but still, after a few years the emails dwindled to yearly Christmas cards with family photos and eventually there was no contact again. I searched for her occasionally on Facebook since that is by far the easiest way to keep in touch but I could never find an account for her. Then a few days ago I received a notification on Facebook that she had created an account. I was so excited to finally have the option to keep up with her life and stay in touch with her. But, she has her account locked down and isn’t even receiving messages.
I’m telling you all this so you don’t make the same mistakes I did. Sort of like an older sister who’s “been there, done that” trying to help you navigate all the parts of life that you don’t really think about.
Anyway, I hope to hear from you again soon, Maddie. I don’t have any messages for you but I think you’ve probably heard from everyone already. So, have a great week!
Your friend,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Welcome to the first blog post, Madeline and friends! These posts will always go up on Wednesdays. I’ll try to keep them fairly short since I know you all don’t have a lot of time to read. For this starter post today I wanted to put up a poem I learned when I was in elementary school. My best friend and I were Girl Scouts. Her mom was the leader. We learned this poem together in Scouts. I think it’s appropriate for today:

Make new friends,
but keep the old.
One is silver,
the other is gold.

Somehow I always remembered it as saying, “Silver and gold,/ Silver and gold,/ Make new friends/ But keep the old.” I actually made a quilt block on my friend’s 30th birthday that said this poem (as I remembered it) and included a photo of our Girl Scout troop from elementary school. I miss her lots these days. Old friends are the very best!
I had no idea (or if I did, I don’t remember it now) that this was part of a longer scout song. I found the longer version at the Scout Songs website. It goes like this:

So I wrote all this to say, don’t forget your old friends, Madeline! We already miss you. Hopefully next week some of the other friends will have a message or two for you. I will post them here next Wednesday and once you get settled in in your new place you can come back here and read the messages. If you want, you can even post a comment with messages back to us.
Your friend,
Lisa

Honeysuckle Farm, LLC

Category: Messages for Madeline

Messages for Madeline- On Handling Tough Times

Messages for Madeline #2

Messages for Madeline

Make New Friends (Submitted by Sue Lynch)