Quote from Forum Archives on July 31, 2003, 8:38 am

Posted by: bigguyhereagain <bigguyhereagain@...>

<>< The Ragweed Lady ><>

 

Shortly after settling into a small community (Hudson) my family and I noticed daily an eccentric, well poised lady walking on our highway in front of our home. She would walk, then stop and seemingly inspect the ground or feel and sometimes smell the weeds on the side of the road. Very often she would pull up some weeds and toss them to the side as if they were interfering with some professionally planted and maintained greenery.

A lifelong resident on this farm-to-market highway, informed me that this woman (who had also lived there 30 years plus) was strange and just had no life for herself and she tried to look important by investigating that highway. I learned that day that this woman was know as the "ragweed lady".
I later found out first hand, that nothing was further from the truth.

I am an outgoing personality and made a point to be in my rural area yard when I saw this neighbor nearing my road frontage. She stopped and we visited a bit.I found her very delightful. Well informed on community and political issues. Totally dedicated to Jesus Christ and enjoyed talking of his word, and alone in caring for her lifelong, disabled husband.

Yes, she was different. Refreshingly so. She was completely unconcerned with whether or not her two gloves were of the same style, or if her plaid shirt matched her printed slacks. She usually wore a straw

hat that was very old and worn to protect her from the suns rays. <she had much info on that matter too and sometimes carried a plastic bag to hold her Highway findings in. Usually trash tossed out by traveling litterbugs. Other things like nuts and bolts found, she would put in her mailbox and call whatever neighbor she thought it could have belong to, to take a look at it and see if it was something that could have fallen off there cattle trailer etc... very few of these neighbors took the time in all the years to know this woman, they only knew her has Mrs. Ragweed.
 

I found myself making the time to walk occasionally with my new acquaintance convincing myself that I was doing her a favor by making time for her. She was obviously a loner and I felt it my place to invest some of my time with her. My occasional "good deed".

Boy did that ever pay off for me. That turned around right fast. I loved listening and learning from her. Learning about things in life that really mattered. Not the small stuff. I felt like I was in training of some kind. She was SO knowledgeable and practical.  She and her feeble husband joined my family for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner shortly before he died from a heart attack.  Being the No nonsense, frugal woman that she is, she insisted that her three children who all lived out of state and she had not seen in several years stay on their jobs and finish out the work week before arriving in Texas to lay their father to rest.

On the very evening of his death, she still carried on her mission to patrol our highway of whatever it was she secured it from. I walked with her, concerned that she may need company.

As we strolled along and made our numerous stops for her to pull up some weeds, she finally offered her explanation of the weed pulling. I was about to learn what every other occupant of FM 3258 had wondered all this time. What was she doing? 

Remember this was the same evening she had lost her husband that she had nursed and loved for years. Without the first tear or heaviness shown all day she began to tell me of all the places they had lived and

describe to me the homes themselves. As she talked of the first home they built together, she explained that Mr.'s allergies were very bad and the house was located in the country where the pollen and ragweeds

began to control his health. They decided to rent the house out and move into town where there would be more concrete to help subdue the growth of such aggravations.         

As life changed for them, they eventually ended up in an allergies heaven, Deep East Texas. The strange looking act of an Old, unusually dressed lady pulling weeds for at least a 4 mile stretch of highway was in fact an act of Love. A faithful love and concern for her ailing husband. She continued to pull that very evening just as she always had. As if she could possibly get the problem under control, stating that so many people suffer from this problem, she shouldn't stop pulling them now,someone else on that road surely had allergies, perhaps it would help them.

This lady, Mrs. McGuire, is odd, different, peculiar, and strange to other people. I too, found these wonderful qualities in her. In today's world, this sort of kindness, friendship and loyalty is odd, different from others, peculiar, and strange to find in the people that we meet.

She is an extraordinary wife, friend and neighbor.

 

**************************************************

<>< Achieving God's Perfection ><>

In Brooklyn NY, Chush is a school that caters to learning-disabled children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school career, while others can be main-streamed into conventional schools. At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.

After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out, "Where is the perfection in my son Shaya? Everything God does is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as other children do. Where is God's perfection?"

The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father's anguish and stilled by the piercing query. "I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like this into the world, the perfection is in the way people react to this child."

He then told the following story about his son Shaya:

One afternoon Shaya and his father walked past a park where some boys Shaya knew were playing baseball. Shaya asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shaya's father knew that his son was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him on their team. But Shaya's father understood that if his son was chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging.

Shaya's father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shaya could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his team-mates.

Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning."

Shaya's father was ecstatic as Shaya smiled broadly. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shaya's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya's team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded with the potential winning run on base, Shaya was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shaya was given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shaya didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However, as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shaya should at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came in and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of Shaya's teammates came up to Shaya and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shaya. As the pitch came in, Shaya and his team-mate swung the bat and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shaya would have been out and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, "Shaya, run to first. Run to first!" Never in his life had Shaya run to first. He scampered down the baseline wide eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would tag out Shaya, who was still running. But the right fielder understood the pitcher's intentions, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second." Shaya ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shaya reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base and shouted, "Run to third." As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "Shaya run home!" Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit a "grand slam" and won the game for his team.

That day," said the father softly with tears rolling down his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of God's perfection."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Have a Blessed Day

Dave and Barbara

Necessary Legal Information

I do not mail idea-central  unsolicited. If you are receiving this newsletter from me it's because you have subscribed to this mailing list. If you receive this newsletter and are not a subscriber then someone, other than me, has forwarded it to you.

Normal Subscribe:	idea-central-subscribe@welovegod.org
Normal Unsubscribe:	idea-central-unsubscribe@welovegod.org
Web Subscribe:	idea-central-allow-subscribe@welovegod.org
Web Unsubscribe:	idea-central-allow-unsubscribe@welovegod.org
Email Group Owner:	idea-central-owner@associate.com