Crows Have Landed  Luann Prater 

"She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come."
Proverbs 31:25 (NIV)

Devotion:
I was 45 when it hit me.  We were on vacation and the hotel had one of those cool magnifying mirrors in the bathroom.  Well, it was cool until it showed the truth. It seems my "laugh lines" were running amuck and creeping out of the sides of my eyelids. 

 "What in the world!" I shouted. "How long have I had these trenches in my face? And when were you going to tell me?" I yelped. My wise husband knew a death trap when he saw it, "Honey, I love your eyes," he replied. 

 Now that I've hit the fabulous fifties, they don't wait for a smile to show themselves; no, the crow's feet have firmly landed and are forever etched in my face. I knew it was obvious one day when a client who works for a plastic surgeon told me she could get me a good deal, then she patted my face. 

 No one escapes the fact that we all age. One day we wake up and realize the spring in our step has a bit of a squeak, gray hairs are sprouting in the most bizarre places (like cascading from your chin), and everything that was once perky has headed south.  Of course this is the exact moment I see a twenty-something bounce across the television screen and everything in me wants to burrow beneath a blanket on the couch with a warm chocolate chip cookie and pretend this will all go away.

 Then I hear my grandkids squeal and run into the room.  It's time for another round of "The Gramminator!"  I roll to the floor and put on my best Schwarzenegger voice and proclaim, "No one escapes the Gramminator!" and the pouncing and wrestling begins.

It's at these moments I realize how much I love being 50-something.  The road to get here was not easy; in fact, those lines in my face were earned.  Every gray hair represents a tough time of losing a loved one, stressing over finances or crying over a wayward child.  The main lesson I've learned along the way is everything in life is temporary.  Deuteronomy 31:6 says, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you" (NIV). Whether I'm on the mountaintop or in the valley, neither will last but He will always walk with me.

Today, I choose to laugh and let the lines dig in a little deeper because this is the only day I am guaranteed.  We are but dust, here today and gone tomorrow.  Besides, my grandson just gripped my face in his sweet little hands and said, "Grandma, you're beautiful." His view is better than the mirror. Come on, let's embrace this thing called age together and laugh!

Application Steps: 
Choose to laugh today. Take every care and give God thanks and praise for already taking care of it.  Then find someone to laugh with.

Reflections: 
What causes me to frown?
When will I see my age lines as triumphs?
How can I rejoice and not be afraid?

Power Verses:
Joshua 1:5, "No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." (NIV) 

Proverbs 16:31, "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life." (NIV) 

Related Resources:
*Spend Saturday afternoons with Luann on the air at Encouragement Café
*Instill these truths in your child with The Tale of Three Trees retold by Angela Elwell Hunt
*Instill these truths in your tween with The Divine Dance: If the World is Your Stage, Who are You Performing For? by Shannon Kubiak Primicerio
*Instill these truths in your twenty-something with Authentic Beauty: The Shaping of a Set-apart Young Woman by Leslie Ludy
*Instill these truths in your heart with Broken into Beautiful: How God Restores the Wounded Heart by Gwen Smith

Memo Board

Prayer Concerns:
Timothy Rhinehart~ Work & new leg.
Valarie cat Midnight died.
Miriam recovering for knee replacement.
Bonnie recovering from sinus surgery.
Grandmother Ruth recovering from shoulder surgery.
Ted wood feeling poorly
Breanna’s Paw Paw fractured vertebra.
Linda W parents & family traveling.
Carol’s grandmother.
Retha Wallace

Drill Team 

Yahoo !!! You are welcome to come ride with us!!
For more information call 803-230-8810.

Our  team has been meeting at B & B Arena Thursday nights at 7 PM. 

We have made a new faster / exciting drill! Come watch practice at B & B Arena on Thursday nights. Trailer-Backing Tip for Tag a long
Problem: You get confused when backing your horse trailer, because the direction you turn your steering wheel when reversing a trailer is opposite of the way you're used to steering without the trailer attached.
Solution: Place your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. When you want to back your trailer to the right, move your hand and the steering wheel to the right. Move the wheel left to back the trailer to the left.