Kisses

Kisses

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)
"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine." Song 1:2

Not with a kiss--but with the kisses of His mouth. A soul once kissed by Christ, can never have enough of the kisses of Christ; His lips drop myrrh and mercy. No kisses, compared to the kisses of Christ. The more any soul loves Christ, the more serious, studious, and industrious will that soul be, to have the love of Christ discovered, confirmed, witnessed, and sealed to it. A soul once kissed by Christ, would gladly have . . . her drop turned into an ocean; her spark into a flame; her penny into a pound; her mite into a million. A soul who truly loves Christ . . . can never see enough, nor ever taste enough, nor ever feel enough, nor ever enjoy enough of the love of Christ. When once they have found His love to be better than wine, then nothing will satisfy them but the kisses of His mouth.

The End.

Sweet, sweet thoughts. How I love my Lord! More amazing yet--how He loves me! "All this, and heaven, too." For almost 33 years (glory to God!), I have been His and He has been mine. His love continues to amaze me. I want to KNOW Him (Philippians 3:10, my life verse). With knowing Him, and the power of His resurrection, comes "the fellowship of His sufferings," which is some of what the Lord is bringing me through right now. And I rejoice.

All these years I've loved Him, and yet I've never seen Him. This is faith (which is the gift of God), and it is MORE SURE than sight! Peter, after speaking of seeing the Lord transfigured on the mount, says, "We have a more sure word of prophecy" (II Peter 1:19). And I can't wait for the day that I go to be WITH Him, to see Him as He is, to be with my Beloved, to grieve Him no more, to sin no more, to "ever be with the Lord." This is glory, this is bliss. He is my glory, and knowing Him is bliss.

May you grow closer to Him today.

Yippee!

Greetings! These are the results of the photo contest at Comanche (TX) Pow-Wow Days. Sarah talked me into entering in the "advanced" category instead of "amateur." My pics on the left (I ended up competing against myself, as they changed one of my categories!) got first and second place! And Sarah's pic of Miggy (in another category, advanced also) placed second. Way to go, Mimi! We were so excited! The pic of the girls says, "I DON'T listen to gossip!" The other one above it is of Joses and Sarah expecting Miggy, taken at the depot. Those were in the "Picture Story" category. Sarah's was in "Children," I believe. A good time was had by all as Christy joined us on our funnel cake-consuming adventure! Perfect weather. Happy first day of FALL! Bliss....

Card-Making Time! and other ramblings....

This is a typical end to a card-making session at our Ladies' Night Out. When we finish, we decorate Mig! Sarah also conquered some ribbon for her ponytail. "A good time was had by all."

Greg's preaching tonight for prayer meeting. I love to hear him--it is such a blessing to have a godly husband. I reverence him! Aside from my Saviour, he's God's greatest gift to me. Thirty-one years together! We met and married in 3 months--not something I'd necessarily recommend, but God was gracious and helped us, and we needed help! Lots of adjustments when you barely know each other at the start. The Boss marries The Baby (I was NOT the baby!). Without the Lord, it could have been a recipe for disaster. I'd never seen marriage done right. It's CRAZY how happy we are so many years later. Empty nest is terribly underrated! (I think that's so the kids will be eager to go; reverse psychology!). He chases me until I catch him. Joy. Not to mention all the bonding we've done over Scrabble. Our first game was a hoot--I had something like "phoenix," and he had "cat." If I recall correctly, he dumped the board (before we got the fancy kind! Thanks, Ledbetters!).

Trying to hang a new ceiling fan. I'm pretty good with directions, and adventuresome, but I see NOWHERE to hang the fan while I do the wiring! GAK! And it's HEAVY! My living room looks like an explosion at Home Depot! Gotta wait for my lover to help me. I'm off to straighten up. Have a blessed day (I get kinda nervous when I say, Have a nice day, because I don't know what their idea of a nice day is, and it might not be good!).

PS Just finished, Eats, Shoots and Leaves, a marvelous book about punctuation. The author is a blast--my kind of humor! I'm trying to include a semicolon just for her; I did it!

Typical Evening at the Risses'

Here's what our typical evening looks like. Isn't that layout neat? Nice diagonal. Lots of points there! The cup we use for the letters (Greg doesn't like the bag) says, All work and no pay makes a housewife. Yes, those are an English AND a Spanish dictionary. We play for blood. That's our third Scrabble dictionary. Our regular dictionaries are in shreds, as is our Strong's Concordance--we're on our second one. The only thing missing is hot cocoa, which we save for cold nights. The kids tell us this is one of their favorite memories of us. (Please wake up--I'm finished posting!)