T.J.I.F.A.

THANK JESUS IT'S FRIDAY AGAIN!
PASS IT ON...& ON...& ON...& ON

MAY 9, 2003

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  TJIFA SALUTES ALL MOTHERS...SALUTE!

SUBJECT: MOTHER'S DAY - LOVE

MOTHER'S ARE PRECIOUS TO ALL OF US.  GOD HAS COMMANDED US TO HONOR THEM ALONG WITH THE RESPECT THAT YOU GIVE YOUR FATHERS.  
MOTHERS GIVE UP MUCH OF THEIR PHYSICAL AS WELL AS THEIR SPIRITUAL MAKE-UP TO ENROLL US INTO LIFE.  SHE BECOMES SO MUCH A PART OF US THAT WE FORGET THAT SHE TOO IS HUMAN AND DESERVES MUCH ADMIRATION AND MANY THANK YOU'S.
ONE DAY ISN'T ENOUGH TO SAY "I LOVE YOU MOM." BUT, PLEASE TRY & DON'T FORGET.

NOTEWORTHY: BMCC SENDS OUT TRIBUTE TO HER MOTHER WITH A PERSONALIZED POEM.   

FRIDAY'S WORD: PERFUNCTORY

IN THE MIRROR: A   MOTHER'S KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE LIFE OF  HER SON                  

TASTE AND SEE:   ITS SUMMER.  TIME TO CUT BACK ON THE POUND CAKES AND CHECK OUT THE NO BAKES.  
LOOKING FORWARD

SEE YA NEXT TIME

TER  

MOTHER'S DAY 2003
LOVE

From GOD's Throne up above,
Came the touch of Mother's Love.   TER

When I think of my Mother, I think of her hands.  They were always warm and strong.  Her nails were clean and short, just above the tips of her fingers.  Her nails were rounded and on Sunday she would put a little color on them.  Just enough to make them look like they were naturally pink.  

These hands were busy all of the time.  My mother smelled like Tide detergent or Clorox bleach. Only on Sunday would she sprinkle a fragrance on her neck and her wrist.    There were times when we didn't have a washing machine and she would wash  the clothes by hand, wringing them out  and putting them on the clothes line.  Then she would make meals.   She always set the table.  We never ate from a standing position or in front of the TV.  

The table was set with precision.  Mother would proudly bring out the one course meal and then with her own plate turned upside down,  she folded her hands to give thanks. After the Grace was said and we began to eat, Mother would sit there for a few moments, then hands unfolded she would pick up her plate and carry it back into the kitchen and it found its place in the cabinet along with the other clean dishes.  

She would begin to sing.  (She sang all of the time.)  Then we'd hear her in the bedroom, turning pages in her Bible, humming and reminding us of whose turn it was to do the dishes.  

My Mother's hands were usually warm, but this day, they were cool.  She took me to the hospital where I was placed in an Oxygen Tent.  It was very cold and lonely.  I heard them tell her that she couldn't stay, she said "Good-bye to me, and I thought I heard her leave.  Going in and out of  conscience I remember crying.  Even though the nurses had told me not to... I found a way to stick my hand out underneath the cold Oxygen Tent, and when I did, a familiar warm hand grabbed mine with two hands and a tearful kiss.  "It was my Mother!"  

My mother's hands rocked the cradles of her Grandchildren and taught mothering to their mother.  Her hands turned the pages of many Children's Books   and supported feverish little bodies when ear aches brought pain and restlessness.  

Her hands changed diapers and potty trained and taught them to talk, walk and sing.  Her hands taught her grand children to pray and know that Jesus would answer their prayers.  

My Mother never stopped loving us.  

A Mother's Love is most powerful; she corrects; teaches; corrects; prays; corrects; leads; corrects; comforts; corrects; feeds; corrects; encourages; corrects; chastises; corrects; punishes; corrects; LOVES.  She is the only person who has corrected you as much in your entire life.  And she still LOVES YOU.     
I will never forget the hands of my Mother.

Happy Mother's Day!

Looking Forward

See Ya Next Time

TER

NOTEWORTHY:

Thanks to TJIFA for allowing me to share   this tribute to my Mother, Ruby Strickland Davis.  A daughter lovingly remembers that mother's Day when GOD called her name.

MOTHER'S DAY OFFERING 1993

GOD gave a special gift this  year to all the Mothers in Heaven.
A child of His was guided home to represent His best.
 Her earth-bound form of clay was etched in  peace and promise.  
On that Sabbath morning, cool and bright, GOD chose to take her Home.
 
Her out stretched hand with child-like trust, touched her Master's own.    
The shroud of death no longer reigned.  
Her Spirit soared with life.  
Though we mourn her leaving, our hearts are joyful too.
For GOD reserved a Sacred Place, for this special child of love.
 
I know that she is waiting and I'll see her by and by.  
For she was GOD"s special gift to Mothers everywhere.  
I still can feel her presence, when children kneel to pray.
In my memory  she's still here, as I kneel each night in prayer.
 
I know that she is waiting, as she always did.
To greet our safe arrival, and watch us safely leave.  
Great sorrow only comes, when a love has been so great.  
No scale can measure grief, it simply is endured.
 
Look around and you will know, it is the Master's plan.
The darkest night is followed, by His Grace and Truth and Light.  
I know that she is waiting, as I drift to sleep each night.
What a Homecoming that will be, when I finally make it Home.
 
By BMcC

FRIDAY'S WORD:  perfunctory; per*func*to*ry: (adjective)  mechanical, routine;
done merely as a duty; halfhearted, or done in a superficial manner; bearing no real interest, or enthusiasm.

IN THE MIRROR:

The Sunday coming is one that only God is able to tell the whole and complete story about. It's about Mothers. I was recently reminded about an old proverb I read some time ago, "God couldn't be everywhere, so He invented Mothers".(smile) Some of you already know what I'm talking about!

I have to pause before going any further, and recognize two of the greatest women in my life. A Mother of unparalleled love, strength, courage, and tenacity to try and see to it that my sister and I had everything she was possibly able to give. When I attempt to discuss it with her to this day, she continuously gives God all the credit, and I've gotten well old enough to identify with, and to thank her for her witness.

There's the second "Mother" in my life, she's called, My Wife! The first word that comes to my mind, my heart, my whole being in every though of her is "extraordinary".  I refer to her as, "the eighth wonder of the world," because I've never known a woman like her. Through watching her and loving her over the years, I've been able to see all the wonderful attributes in which God created in woman. She is truly my greatest inspiration given unto me by God.

It's about a mother-son relationship that I want to share with you today. The Mother being Mary, the Son, JESUS. In the first chapter in the book of Luke we are given a very good description of the birth of Jesus, even to the point of the Mother, Mary, asking the Angel, Gabriel,"How can this be, seeing I know not a man?" We shouldn't really stumble at her amazement realizing that any one of us would have more than likely asked the same question.

Jesus was born of the virgin Mary and carried out His mission, God's plan of Redemption all the way to the Cross.

In reading God's word, I saw something in the book of John 19th chp. how Mary, the Mother of Jesus was so close to Jesus as He hung on the cross being crucified for our sins, that He was able to look down at her and say,"Woman, behold thy son!" Shortly after meditating on how that Mother must have felt during such a traumatic, emotional event for her, the Spirit of the Lord challenged me to look for any record of Mary going to the grave-sight after the burial, and there were none.

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, Joanna, and other women came to "prepare spices and ointments" for His body. Many disciples came to assist, and also to mourn the death of Jesus, and yet, there's No record of the one person, Mary the Mother of Jesus, whom it  would seem most likely the one to be there.

When you take a look at scripture, and then go into your own imagination and see throughout a three year ministry how many times Jesus must have told His disciples,(men+women) "I'm going to the cross. I'm going to be killed. But on the THIRD DAY  I'm going to RISE AGAIN!" [paraphrased] I WON"T BE THERE!

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was the only one who KNEW that her Son could not, and would not, be found lying in the grave.

Let's look at some of the  the particularities that preceded Mary's most hurtful moments in seeing her Son. I believe as Jesus hung on that cross, Mary the Mother of Jesus was only witnessing the culmination of something she knew for a long time. She could never forget the immaculate conception in which Jesus came into the world, and Gabriel's word's explaining God's plans for her womb. She must have remembered the doubt she truly experienced, but with the awesome courage to yet proclaim"Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word." I don't believe any of us doubt the many intimate, confident, and revealing conversations He must have had with His earthly Mother, knowing what she would one day have to witness at the foot of that "Old Rugged Cross".

This what you're reading today is no different than any other message in the Bible, and that is we can stand to learn and gain so much by way of revelation of God's Word.
Just as God revealed the life of Jesus Christ through the virgin Mary; First in the Spirit, and manifested in the flesh; He desires to take our fleshly, earthly bodies and manifest the Spirit, the true life of Jesus Christ residing within us.

Oftentimes I wish I could tell you it's all about ‘living large', and having it all now, only because I've heard it so often, but it's not... No, It's all about our willingness to understand the life, the message, and the  purpose  of Jesus Christ. It is the Resurrection of  Jesus that gives life it's truest meaning and value.   

I'd like to close with a special note to every Mother, Grandmother, Wife, Sister, Aunt, Niece, or Friend. I would like to compliment you for the unique way in which God made you as something so beautiful for all the world to view. I've never seen a woman incapable of being  lovely. You are a genuine  portrait of God's direct creation.

I want to say to those whose Mother may have gone on as you come into another Mother's Day that every warm and wonderful memory is a legacy, and can also serve as a incessant reminder that she is never very far away.

A Mother's love is never perfunctory, because it always stems from the heart.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

S.L.C.  

O TASTE AND SEE!

PINK SALMON SPREAD OR DIP

1   4OZ. CAN (REFRIGERATED 2 HRS.)PINK SALMON CHOPPED
2   HARD BOILED EGGS CHOPPED
½   CUP SWEET PICKLES
½   CUP DILL PICKLES SMALL SLICED OR CHOPPED
½   CUP SLICED THINLY  ONIONS
½   CUP SLICED BLACK OLIVES
3/4   CUP KRAFT SALAD DRESSING OR MAYO
DASH    PEPPER
POWDER OR 1 DASH OF GARLIC POWDER OR 1  CLOVE CHOPPED
1   SLICED HONEY WHEAT BAGEL (PER SERVING)

DIRECTIONS:

PLACE REFRIGERATED SALMON IN MEDIUM BOWL CHOPPED TO DESIRED CONSISTENCY.
ADD ALL PICKLES ,SLICED  ONION GARLIC STIR TOGETHER
ADD THE SALAD DRESSING OR MAYO ALONG WITH DASH OF PEPPER .

OPEN SLICED HONEY WHEAT BAGELS ON PLATE
SPOON MOUNDS OF SALMON ON TOP OF OPEN BAGELS
SPRINKLE SLICED OLIVES OVER EACH MOUND
HAPPY EATING!

OPTIONS: YOU MAY WANT TO USE GREEN STUFFED OLIVES AND SLICED CHIVES IN THIS RECIPE ALSO.  
YOU MAY SUBSTITUTE TUNA FISH FOR THE SALMON ... STILL GOOD.  
YOU MAY WANT TO USE A DIFFERENT TYPE OF BAGEL.  GO FOR IT!

THIS IS A GREAT AND QUICK RECIPE WITHOUT COOKING EXCEPT THE BOILED EGGS.
 
SERVE WITH YOUR FAVORITE COOL DRINK- LIKE ICED TEA.

TER.