May Day....

May Day...

When I was in kindergarten-3 rd grade, we did maypoles..circling a tether ball pole again and again with brightly colored strips of crepe paper, intricately braiding the paper on to the pole...we would practice again and again to get the right look...I think the teacher must have been a saint to help us do this or else she was just ready for a break to the outside and fresh air  after being cooped up with wiggly 5-7 years olds ...

We would also make cute little door hanger paper baskets for flowers to take home to our mothers...

As I look back on this scene from my early school days, they were so innocent and fun, we laughed and played...days were carefree and sunny...we watched very little  TV, saw very little violence, playing outside as much as possible, roaming the pastures near us, catching grasshoppers, riding bicycles, climbing trees, learning to sew doll clothes on miniature sewing machines....

When I was younger, I just assumed that everyone had a wonderful childhood, I was blessed...the other day some people were sharing about their lives and the dysfunction they experienced and I again thanked God for His provision for me...I had a great childhood, a great marriage, wonderful parents, grand parents, wonderful children.....oh yes, there were ups and downs, but there was commitment to one another, a commitment to work things out...a faith that saw us through the good times and bad..

As years went by, my "Rose" colored glasses through which I looked, saw many dysfunctional lives, hurting people who didn't get to experience the goodness I had been shown...whose lives were torn, shredded emotions, broken pieces of humanness...more violence, rampant fears, .....

I look back now and I see that there were problems in my family, we had our quirks, and dysfunctions, ....and we still have,  but we have had God's grace woven into our family fabric as well...helping us through the rougher times...hugs for everyone..smiles in the sorrows...the fruit of the spirit amidst the worldly attitudes ....

Thank YOU for the maypoles of wonderful colors of life....the braiding may have not been perfect...but the laughter still rings through the years ....thank You for the family You gave me...the baskets of flowers hung with care for a surprise....the giving, even the dysfunction which draws us nearer  to Your loving arms...

Psalm 103:13-18, 22 As a father has compassion on his children,so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed,he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass,they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone,and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlastingthe Lord’s love is with those who fear him,and his righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul. 

Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:“I have loved you with an everlasting love;I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. 

Galatians 5:16-25 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 

Wikipedia.  "Traditional May Day origins and celebrations...

The earliest May Day celebrations appeared in pre-Christian times, with the Floralia, festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, held April 27 during the Roman Republic era, and with the Walpurgis Night celebrations of the Germanic countries. It is also associated with the Gaelic Beltane, most commonly held on April 30. The day was a traditional summer holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures. While February 1 was the first day of Spring, May 1 was the first day of summer; hence, the summer solstice on June 25 (now June 21) was Midsummer.

As Europe became Christianised, the pagan holidays lost their religious character and May Day changed into a popular secular celebration. A significant celebration of May Day occurs in Germany where it is one of several days on which St. Walburga, credited with bringing Christianity to Germany, is celebrated. The secular versions of May Day, observed in Europe and America, may be best known for their traditions of dancing around the maypole and crowning the Queen of May. Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the giving of "May baskets," small baskets of sweets or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbors' doorsteps.

Since the 18th Century, many Roman Catholics have observed May — and May Day — with various May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In works of art, school skits, and so forth, Mary's head will often be adorned with flowers in a May crowning. May 1 is also one of two feast days of the Catholic patron saint of workers St Joseph the Worker, a carpenter, husband to Mother Mary, and surrogate father of Jesus.^[4] Replacing another feast to St. Joseph, this date was chosen by the Pope Pius XII in 1955 to create as a counterpoint to the Communist International Workers Day celebrations on May Day."