Grandma and Buttons

My grandmother was a hairdresser and a seamstress.  There was a button factory in her town.  She would often take me with her to buy buttons.  There were huge (at least they seemed huge to a kid) baskets of buttons that were sold by the handful.

Grandma would hold out her hands and ask me to fill them with buttons.  I would gravitate to the pretty, shiny buttons and not want to pick out the drab white or black buttons.   Of course my grandmother made far more shirts with plain buttons on them than she did party dresses with the fancy buttons.  She would tell me that all the buttons were important.  Each button had a different function but everyone was important.

Then the life lesson came.  Buttons are like people, we all look different.  Some of us are attractive and others are more plain.  God values each of us no matter what we look like.  God has a use for each of us.

Thank you Grandma.  God loves us all.

Revenge is not always sweet

I remember as a child getting mad at someone and wanting revenge.   When I was 4 years old my mother was taking care of other children in our home.  One of the boys she cared for was not a nice person.  He did all kinds of mean things.  Finally he really upset me when he killed my goldfish.  He stabbed them with toothpicks.  I was so angry and wanted revenge on that kid.


Later that day I was ironing handkerchiefs for my dad.  This same boy kept putting his fingers on the edge of the ironing board.  My mother told him to stop and I told him to stop.  He just kept doing it.  Guess what I did to get revenge?  I ironed over his fingers.  I remember how good that felt. Of course I didn't kill him or do anything to him that wouldn't heal in a few days.


All these years later as an adult I can remember how angry I was when he killed my fish.   I can remember how good it felt to take revenge.  Every time I remember I have to cringe at what anger and hatred allowed me to do.   I was not a mean child and would never have harmed another child. However, the anger I felt built up and had no where to go but to have an outburst of revenge.


Osama bin Laden has been killed.  People are rejoicing.  They are even jubilant.   They have allowed anger and hatred to take them to the point of being happy someone is dead.  The posts on facebook are not posts by radical wierdos.  These are posts by my friends, colleagues, church members...  


At the same time, how can I judge anyone when I did not have a loved one die on 9/11?   How can I criticize anothers feelings when I have not lost a friend in the war?


I do feel that I am somewhat at fault.  I and the church have not helped people to deal with their anger and hatred toward Osama bin Laden.   We must do better in the future.


I really like to quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that has also been posted on facebook: "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." --Martin Luther King, Jr. 


May God help us to love even our enemy and may peace begin today with me.‎