Marilyn's Mussings

Miley Geelene Wallace Vail was born January 18, 1928. She was named after her grandmother who was named Miley decades before Miley Cirus was born! She was a lifelong learner. Her strong will served her well. She taught herself to cook, sew, crochet, freeze and can. After we all left home she ordered a mannequin and determined to learn how to be a ventriloquist. She loved to laugh and sing and play table games. She went to scrabble tournaments across the country after we became no competition for her. Because Daddy was in the Air Force, we traveled. Mother embraced every location we lived in or traveled through. She learned what was there and made sure we saw it. After Daddy died she traveled across the country with us to visit her grandchildren. There was always more she wanted to see. Mother loved her family and she loved her church. She served in almost every capacity. She taught Sunday School to adults and children. She served in the nursery. She sang in the choir. She was WMU di...

My mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. While the diagnosis is new, it has become evident to me that we have been going down this path for many years. The doctors finally told us what we refused to see. The first symptoms appeared not long after my daddy and brother died in November of 2003. I have spent the years since explaining away her behavior. She spent those same years covering her increasing inabilities. My frustration was only exceeded by her own. The diagnoses came when I could no longer offer excuses and she could no longer cover. I have entered a new kind of grief with the realization that she will never be better. But in church this morning, I experienced hope. Mother reached for the pew Bible and began looking for Psalm 23 with the rest of the congregation. I did not offer to help as previous attempts had embarrassed her but I watched while she was in Psalms, then not, then back again. She could not find the scripture before time to read. My heart ached....

Last week I took my mother to the hospital for an outpatient test. While we were waiting, I poured some lotion into my hand and realized I had poured too much. I asked my mother if she wanted some and she said yes. I reached for her hands and rubbed them with the excess lotion on my own. It was a sweet moment. Those 83 year old hands had served her family for many years. My heart warmed as I caressed them. While I was in Kenya, we did a seminar for the ladies. Because of the rustic conditions, there was little opportunity to do any of the feminine activities associated with those type of events in America. What we could do was massage their hands with lotion and polished their nails as they arrived. These ladies were much younger than my mother and even younger than myself, but their hands told of their hard work. I hope it felt good to them. It was nice to see them smile with appreciation and it blessed me to actively "love" the hands that had worked so hard to serve their ...

For many years, I have taught Bible to women. It was during those years that God directed me to enroll at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and pursue certification in Women's Ministry. I recently finished that certification with the completion of a project entitled Biblical Direction In A Woman's World of Choice. I thoroughly enjoyed researching Biblical Womanhood and was blessed by a group of young moms who traveled with me through the scriptures. We wrestled with some tough issues and reevaluated some life choices that are commonly accepted without question today. We took all questions to the Word of God. God reminded us over and over again that the tremendous love He had for us when He planned for us and created us as women is still as strong as it was then. God who is sovereign knows all, sees all, and can be trusted. His ways are perfect. Little did I know that in only a few months I would have the opportunity to teach some of those same biblical truths to women i...

When I begin a new document, I start with minimum but equal margins and full justification. Can you picture the page full of print? God has been speaking to me lately about that page. In some ways it is a picture of the life of today's woman. The page holds obligations, commitments, and other time eating activities. Most of them are good. Still, the page is full! On the best of days, life runs smoothly as scheduled. People and activities move in and out on cue. We finish the day with satisfaction and a sense of completion.  However,  if any one unexpected thing is added, or if something happens to alter what is already there, life begins slipping off the page. We frantically try to find more time in what we know is an already full, finite, twenty-four hour day. Sleep becomes the sacrifice. The world has told us we can do it all and just like Eve, we have swallowed that apple. Watch this retro-commercial from the late seventies. It is one of those that settled into the mind...

Women are funny. Maybe men are too but I know about women experientially. Is that a word? We are funny creatures! And we really love free stuff! Last week I went to the National Women's Leadership Forum in Nashville. Over six hundred women gathered at the LifeWay building to learn more about how to minister to women in Jesus' name. It was a wonderful time of worship, enrichment, learning, and bonding. I went with the leadership team from my last church (since I haven't found my place in women's ministry in Birmingham yet) so let me just add a huge amount of giggling to that list. I have not laughed that much in months! It was so much fun! The other bonus was the free stuff everywhere! At check-in we received a free canvas bag and in it - free books! It was exciting! Free samples of new Bible studies were plentiful along with free copies of LifeWay magazines. I received a free tee-shirt when I registered for next year's forum and did I tell you that free ...

Two weeks ago I sent a big manila envelope to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. It contained two very important things: a paper (stapled) and a check (my tuition). Then last week I went to Nashville to the National Women's Leadership Forum. It was wonderful! While I was in Nashville I had a chance to talk with the sweet ladies who received my manila envelope. The question they asked me? "Did you not send a check?" I immediately went into panic mode. I knew I put it in the envelope. I could see myself dropping it in - oops! I did just that! I dropped it in the envelope. I did not attach it. And now it was a very important piece of paper . . . lost in the envelope . . . lost in the trash . . . toted off somewhere . . . all by itself! All that turned out ok. I wrote another check. But I got to thinking about the importance of being attached. Each of us, as children on God, is so much more valuable than a check for any amount. Any one of us could easily slip away ...

I found two commitment cards in a drawer a few days ago. These were things God spoke to me at two different events, confirming what I knew He had told me in years past. Women Reaching Women Training Event at The Church at Brookhills on May 6, 2006. What God said to me today: God has called me to minister to women. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Three things I will do as a result of what God said: 1) Quit my job 2) Enlist women to help 3) Adjust my plans for the summer Women's Leadership Consultation at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary on February 9, 2008 (2 years later!) God has made it very clear to me that He wants me to begin classes and minister to women. Since that time, I took God at His word and was blessed to be able to be a part of His work in putting together a women's ministry at my home church. Then I moved. Birmingham is a big place and I am feeling mighty small. But God was here before I got here and He is not surpris...

I love a good fiction book and Karen Kingsbury can write them faster than I can read them. I have dear friends who have been so involved in her books about the Baxter family that they have had to stop themselves from requesting prayer for them! I knew this was a family I needed to spend some time with so during my move I became acquainted with the Baxter family. It all started with the Redemption series. I was a little out of touch with my "real" friends so bonding with them was easy. There are five books in the series. One of the saddest things about fiction is getting involved in the lives of the people in the book and then leaving them when the book is over. Not so with the Baxters! As soon as I finished one I dove right into the next! Then, I found that at the end of the Redemption series, there was yet another series about the Baxters! The Firstborn series which included five books also! I just finished the last of those five books and I am now completely involved in ...