Recently when I flew to Georgia for my sister Maria’s college graduation, I went to visit my dad at his nearly 100-year-old house.

My dad, forever the workaholic, says he is now “semi-retired” as a CPA; instead of working from 8 or 9 a.m. until 9 or 10 p.m (like he has many years of his life), he now “only works” from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. This amuses me because he is 75 years old! He just loves to work and gets a lot of fulfillment out of it.

While I was there visiting him, he showed me some fruit trees and a grape vine he had planted in the back yard, which I will share more about in a minute.

My dad Leland Jr. was raised by a small tobacco farmer, Leland S. Moore, and worked hard on the farm every day with his mother Leola, his brother William and his sister Betty, and other relatives. They also grew other crops, such as cotton, watermelon, corn, and peanuts. Daddy laughed when he told me a relative of his told my dad that he’s the only person he knows who had actually plowed with a mule when he was younger!

My grandfather Leland, who died before I was born, believed in hard work. Daddy told me the story, laughing, of his uncle Jesse, who got mad because my grandfather once made him plow a whole field and then didn’t plant anything in the field; he had just made Jesse plow it to do the work to keep him out of trouble.

This vein of hard work runs in our entire family. My dad, my brothers, my sister and I all tend toward workaholism. As I was growing up, my father – who had his CPA business in our home – always made sure that us four kids were doing some kind of work. “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.” If he came upstairs to check on us after we were home from school and we were sitting in front of the T.V. watching the Flinstones or Gilligan’s Island as we were prone to do, he would immediately put us to work: washing the car, raking leaves, doing laundry or dishes, vacuuming the floors, dusting.

On Saturday mornings – our one chance to sleep in after school all week – our dad would come into our rooms to wake us up for some inane chore that would take hours of our day, like washing our house’s wrap-around porch. At the time, my brother Greg and I (who seemed to get the bulk of the work because we were older) disliked and resented it. Now I really appreciate my father teaching me a strong work ethic! My dad knew that laziness is a poor character trait.(Everything in moderation – sometimes we do need to rest, relax and just have FUN!)

Anyway, back to the fruit trees. Growing things – and doing hard work – is just in my father’s blood. So he was upset when the fruit trees he had planted – lemon, orange, and cherry – only produced small fruit, and then birds or something ruined the fruit on them. The grape vine had not produced at all. I could see the disappointment on his face as he showed me the trees and my heart went out to him. Of course, it could be that particular soil wasn’t conducive to growing those types of trees and the birds didn’t help. The orange tree eventually produced small oranges, and my dad was proud of that and took a picture with Maria’s kids with the oranges in their hands. But God immediately began speaking to me through these unfruitful trees.

What kind of legacy do we want in our lives and to pass on to our children? A godly legacy or none at all for our children, grandchildren, and future generations? It all starts with us – our decisions, our choices, today.

Will we obey God? Will we teach our children and grandchildren to obey God’s word? Will we be a godly example for them to follow, and experience God’s blessings – prosperity, divine health, joy, peace, love, goodness, self control, patience, kindness? Or will we show them instead strife, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, depression, discouragement, poverty, debt, struggles, unhappiness?

“Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 7: 16-19, NLT)

We can either produce good spiritual fruit in our lives, and have it live on through our children and future generations, or we can produce bad fruit and have that live on in our families. Which do you choose?

After my father showed me the fruit trees, though, he then pointed to a huge pine tree nearby that I was looking at and he said, “I planted that tree here just before you were born.” I gasped, “You did?” Even now, remembering this, tears fill my eyes.

I looked at the enormous tree and then up at it, reaching high into the blue sky. God spoke to my heart immediately and showed me that I had a choice: I could either be like those unfruitful fruit trees, that the birds of the air had eaten its fruit from, or I could be like this enormous, tall tree growing high into the heavens, steady and strong and lasting.

It blessed me SOOO much. I, Beth, could leave a lasting legacy for my children and grandchildren by following God!

Which do you choose today?

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15: 1-27)

Don’t you just love a cup of hot cocoa on a cold winter day or night?

I want to invite you to my Virtual Hot Cocoa call tomorrow, Thursday, December 29 at 11:00 a.m. Central Time (12 p.m. Eastern Time) at Talkshoe. I will be sharing on The 12 Things I Learned in 2011.

I invite you to join me for this hour-long show, to share at the end of the show your own stories from 2011 – the good, the bad, and the ugly – and receive encouragement and equipping with God’s eternal words of truth and empowerment with the wonderful Holy Spirit to take you into 2012 for an incredible year!

You can join me in the chat room by clicking here. Or you can call in with the call-in details below:

Phone Number: (724) 444-7444
Call ID: 98698
PIN: 1 # or Your Talkshoe PIN

I’d love to see you there – and bring a friend!

Image Resource:Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Today was a full day, consisting of reading from Isaiah this morning, talking to Ray after he got off his work shift, homeschooling Leah, a call with a friend, running errands in town, selling one of my ebooks (The Hands of A Woman), making a new friend, shopping a little at Kohl’s, and finally catching up with friends on Facebook tonight. I remind myself on days like this, “It’s not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” (Henry David Thoreau) But I believe that today I was about my Father’s business!
I want to make sure my moments are counting, and are not just wasted here on earth. I connected with people today, not a surface, just-passing by, “Hi, how-are-you”, kind of connecting, but a deeper connection that feeds the soul.
I’m thankful that even though Ray has worked a whole shift, often without any sleep at all on his down time there – he is still willing to listen patiently to me as I blab on and on about something on MY mind. Each time he listens, though, I feel a little closer to him -( he probably just feels tired!) 
I connected with my friend on Skype. Initially she wanted me to call her for us to talk about something business-related. The conversation quickly turned to spiritual meat. She shared with me how years ago, God had given her a very specific and  strong word, “Remember Lot’s wife.” He  told her to leave her family and everything familiar to her. In other words, deny herself, take up her cross daily and follow Jesus. (Luke 9:23) So often, we want to hold onto what is safe and familiar – what is comfortable. God hasn’t called us to be comfortable, but to be obedient.
We are often too busy staring back at the past like Lot’s wife, thinking how good it was, or feeling its regrets or what coulda-been-today, that we forget to focus on now and the great future God has planned for us. (Jeremiah 29:11) She and I also talked about following the path that GOD has for us – even if it is the road less traveled (which can sometimes be a lonely road, where others speak against you. But God is always with you and will never forsake you.) Follow Him. You answer to Him alone!
I also connected with the woman who bought my book, a fellow life coach and counselor. I discovered after emailing her, that she had been wanting to talk to me and hadn’t had a chance yet. We both had the exact same idea for a joint project, which I thought was interesting. It confirmed for me this was another God-moment. He astounds me the way He divinely orchestrates details of and relationships in our lives. There is no detail so small in your life that God is not involved in it, or is not interested in it.
And I made a new friend today, meeting her at Panera Bread. The atmosphere was warm and inviting, and smelled of coffee and sweet cakes. Here is one of the pretty paintings on the wall that I admired, as I waited a moment for my new friend to arrive.

Of course, I ordered coffee while I waited. I brought a colorful, spiral-bound notebook and a black gel pen, which later leaked on my hand and my friend’s as we wrote with it. But this woman was sharing such good stuff that I was VERY glad that I’d brought my notebook to capture and preserve what she was saying! She was in sweats because she’d been on a field trip with a school, and didn’t want her pic taken today because she knew then I’d post it on Facebook, lol…but next time!!!

It was so nice to be able to talk to a life coach IN REAL LIFE. I have MANY online friends who are like me: speakers, writers, life coaches, moms working at home, entrepreneurs. These are some of my fave people to talk to and learn from and teach/share with each day. We share hearts, we laugh, we encourage each other, we pray for each other on Skype, on telecalls, on webinars, in email, on Facebook, at virtual events. But I don’t know them IRL. I’ve never met them IN PERSON. Sometimes I wonder – if they met me, would they still like me?
It was just so COOL talking to a real live person about these kinds of things that energize me and fill me with joy – my faith in God, my upcoming Virtual Spiritual Spa in January 2012, working with clients, doing women’s retreats, writing, building a  business, my family, marketing, live events,  etc.  My family and my friends  IRL scratch their pretty heads at my “job” and just think I”m crazy. I’m kidding. But they really don’t understand what it is that I DO.  They have never run an online business and they don’t relate to it.  My friends online DO get it because they live it, breathe it, love it like I do.
So this new friend of mine, who I “met” first on Facebook, agreed to meet at Panera Bread restaurant at 3:30 p.m. and we did not leave until a little after 6 p.m.  I could not believe we talked that long with this being the first time we met! But why not ? She was outgoing, friendly, smart, funny, wise, and practical. She gave me great ideas and I shared mine with her.
It was like our own little mastermind right there in Panera, with me drinking coffee. The more coffee I drink, the more I talk. (Ask Ray!) She and I laughed, we fed off each other’s passion and positive energy, and we just had FUN.  We left, exchanging cell phone numbers and with plans to talk next week. I’ve made a wonderful new friend who inspires me, whom I would have never met if it wasn’t for the organization NACWE – God is so good!
My next stop: On The Border. (By this time, Ray was texting, “Where are you?”)  Have I ever told you how much I LOVE chips and salsa? It’s my treat every couple of weeks to go eat Mexican food. If I am missing, check the Mexican restaurants first.

I ordered the chicken fajitas tonight. I have never been to a restaurant where the fajitas arrived, nearly on fire – the thick, grey smoke ascending so heavily and quickly to the ceiling. People were coughing and staring and laughing, not just at my fajitas, but other people’s in the restaurant who had ordered them, too. A family moved their children to the other side of the restaurant to be able to breathe. Yes, the smoke was really that bad. But they were delicious. One woman on my Facebook page told me that she was jealous seeing this picture.

Finally, I went to Kohl’s “just a minute” to see if I could find a sweater with faux fur. Don’t ask me why, but I have wanted one SO bad ever since I noticed that fur is SO in this winter. FAKE fur, that is. (All animal lovers, do not send me hate mail about fur clothing. You can feel relieved that I am not advocating killing innocent, precious animals just to pamper myself.)  Here I am in the dressing room, trying on a sweater WITHOUT fur. I wanted to buy it, too – maybe next time.

Here I am wearing the faux fur grey sweater that I found on sale for $50 off – normally over $70, marked down to $28. I LOVE sales!

All in all, it was a most excellent day. I came home and chatted a minute with Ray and Leah about the day and theirs. We were all amused at something silly, and I heard the beautiful music of Leah’s laughter. I am so thankful to God for my family and love them so much.
I had received a postcard from my sister Maria, written on her recent trip to Boston, sharing about the unique  architecture of buildings there and long walks she and her friend made to the Commons, a huge park with an ice-skating rink. It blessed me that she had thought of me on her trip and sent a postcard – don’t ever discount the little things.
Then I checked my email tonight and a friend had written me, “I just love you!” It was the perfect day’s ending…now I can’t wait to wake up to tomorrow!
What was your day like? Make a good memory today with those you love, those you meet.
Please share your comments below.