On bumps and scars

My son got married a week ago. I’m feeling nostalgic about his days of living at home with us. I miss him when I’m grocery shopping because of foods I no longer buy; I miss him when I’m doing laundry because of clothes I no longer fold.

My son had a big ring of keys. When he used his house key to open the door, all the other keys would spin around. The other day I noticed that above the lock on the back door a little of the paint has been scratched off.  There’s a small knick on the bottom of the door, too, where he pushed the door closed with his foot so that he could lock it at night. 

I painted that back door less than a year ago. But I’d rather have the marks of my son’s comings and goings than have a perfect door. I cherish the scratches because I love the person who made them.

My house has other spots besides the paint on the door where keys and feet used to touch. There is a black mark on the wall besides the stairs where my daughter’s suitcase bumped as we carried it down to leave for the airport and a grease stain on the driveway where my husband and son changed his car’s oil together. These marks jog memories and make me smile because they are reminders of times shared with people I love.

In the same way that houses are marked by experiences, our bodies bear the marks of being lived in, too. Going the extra mile, putting others first, working through things, valuing togetherness, and being there can bring us a shortage of rest. Putting other’s needs first may result in our needs sometimes being overlooked.

There are times in life when we focus on our houses or our selves, when we work on looking good, cleaning well, getting repaired. Keeping after things is fine, but we shouldn’t forget that the nicks are valuable, too. They are the signs of life being lived and of love being shared.   

In her classic children’s story about The Velveteen Rabbit Margery Williams gives love the power to make toys real. But the velveteen rabbit was quite banged up in the process. Love is costly like that.

Jesus’ body bears the marks of his love for us. The sacrifice that His scars represent makes real Life a possibility for us. He is our example of how to spend life on a wonderful future return.     

We are cheered on by those who have gone before us (Hebrews 11). And we are encouraged in Christ, who knows all about worthwhile bruises. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, scorning the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12: 1-3

4th of July Thoughts

Holidays are times for memories. In my case the 4^th of July brings European memories to mind. My enormous appreciation for American freedoms grew through a summer experience on the other side of the Atlantic.

One summer when we lived in France we decided to drive to England for our family vacation.  We cut the trip in half by spending the night at a camp ground in the north of France. While we were there we visited a World War II cemetery to help our kids understand history. I found the endless rows of small white crosses unforgettable.

It wasn’t even an American graveyard that we visited.  The one we found as we were making our way toward the ferry was a Canadian memorial.  As we walked the rows and rows of white crosses, I reviewed some of the facts about the war with the kids. 

I’d felt I understood the enormity of the cost of freedom in Europe. But pictures, movies and books can’t declare liberty’s price in the same way a memorial ground does. The white crosses stretched out as far as we could see, and kept going and going. They seemed to spread endlessly in every direction.

As my kids walked in front of me, I began to read the names and to calculate the ages of the people represented by the crosses. Most of the white crosses were for young people. Many of the soldiers had been the same age as my oldest son, who was walking just ahead of me. 

I couldn’t keep myself from crying.  I’ve always been thankful for my freedom, but this was deeper.  This was a waking awareness that people whose families I’ll never know, people who weren’t even thinking of me benefiting from their sacrifice, people who were not even from my country, people who wouldn’t necessarily have agreed with my take on life, had died, and had made my world a better, freer place through their sacrifice.

A similar sober-and-enormously-grateful feeling overtook me on another summer visit, this one to Reformation Wall in Geneva, Switzerland.  There are four central statues on that large stone memorial: Guillaume Farel, a Frenchman who was the first to preach the Reformation in Geneva, John Calvin, leader of the Reformation movement and spiritual father of Geneva, Theodore Beza, Calvin's successor, and John Knox, a Scottish preacher and a friend of Calvin. Behind the statues runs the motto of the Reformation and of Geneva, Post Tenebras Lux, “After Darkness, Light”.

The four Genevan reformers are flanked by smaller statues. These are other major spiritual protestors and reformers.  There are also inscriptions connected with the Reformation carved in the wall. One scene shows Roger Williams and the Pilgrim Fathers praying on the deck of the Mayflower; another features the 1689 presentation of the Bill of Rights to the Protestant King William of Orange by the Houses of Parliament.  Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli anchor opposite sides of the wall.

So many people have sacrificed so many things to make my life what it is today.  The white crosses are part of my political heritage. Reformation Wall is part of my spiritual heritage. 

Christ’s painful death on the cross is harder to look at than the white crosses or Reformation Wall.  Christ knew he was dying for me.  God’s Son willingly died for me because I cannot free myself from sin. His agony on the cross bought me life, paid my freedom. 

Other’s sacrifices have given me the options I enjoy today. It’s awful to think about, but the truth is that their deaths make my life good. I can honor the soldiers and the thinkers who have changed my life by being thankful for their gift and by enjoying and exercising my expensive freedoms.  I honor God by admitting I need his sacrifice, by accepting the enormously costly gift of salvation he provided through his Son’s death, and by enjoying the gift his life provides in mine – LIFE, holy and better and free.

This year, another place on the globe draws my July 4^th thoughts. As well as seeing the overwhelming volume of past sacrifice, I’m taken aback by the heart cost to current military personnel. I’m learning that all sacrifices are really personal to someone -- my daughter’s husband, my granddaughter’s dad, is currently serving in the US Army in Afghanistan. My daughter is serving in North Carolina. I have nephews in the military who are serving in different places around the world. This 4^th of July I send special thoughts to my family members “on duty” for us all.

On Time

Yesterday I left for work early so that I could run a few errands. After going to the dry cleaner’s to pick up the clothes we wore to our son’s wedding, I went to the pharmacy to refill my prescription for cholesterol medicine. Neither business was very busy; it looked like I’d make it to work on time.

The light turned green and I pulled onto the main road. I noticed an odd vehicle up ahead, pulling slowly out of a driveway or side street. As I got closer my thoughts of, “What on earth is that guy doing?” turned to, “Oh dear, it’s a funeral procession.”

The odd car was a hearse, and it was driving slowly because it led a procession of 11 vehicles. Though the road was a major thoroughfare, the traffic from both directions stopped respectfully. As I watched the cars and SUV’s with their little flags pull out of the funeral home driveway, I thought of how busy I get and how caught up in my daily tasks, sometimes living as if I’ve forgotten that my time on the planet will end, too.

I was surprised by the tears that stung my eyes as I watched the cars. The procession was a poignant reminder that life comes and goes for everyone. This busy summer is already very much a summer-of-reminders that my life is marching on: my oldest son got married 10 days ago, this weekend my daughter will graduate from her residency program, and we’re counting down to my youngest son’s wedding. Some times in life thoughts of aging are easily forgotten, but for me, this is not that time.

Being reminded that life is limited is good for my perspective. It allows me to remember that God is working His plan. It recalls the fact that life is a privilege.  And it helps me to ask: what is important enough to use up my limited time?

Ecclesiastes 3: 11-14 God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

Proverbs 16: 31 Gray hair is a crown of glory if it is attained by a righteous life.

Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Classy Coat Syndrome

Our pastor recently preached a sermon series about women of the Bible. He very creatively called it “Chick Flicks of the Bible.” The sermon on Rahab reminded me that I hadn’t read the book of Joshua in a while, and so I started reading it in my devotional time.

One of the things that really jumped out at me this time as I read Joshua was the phrase “dedicated to the LORD for destruction.” I know that many things in the Bible are dedicated to the Lord. The biblical concept of holiness is explained as being dedicated to, or set apart for, the Lord. But the idea of being set apart for the LORD for destruction was a twist I hadn’t often thought about.

The phrase “dedicated to the LORD for destruction” popped out at me as the story took an unexpected turn in the 7^th chapter of Joshua. The Joshua-era was the beginning of a “new phase” for the nation of Israel. The wandering in the wilderness was over because all the people who had refused to obey and believe God, i.e. had refused to believe the positive report form the spies and refused to go into the promised land and take it from the people who were already there, had died (5:4).  The new generation had seen the LORD do the amazing miracle of holding open the Jordan River for them to cross it in flood season (chapter 3); they had dedicated themselves to the LORD by all being circumcised (5:2-9); they had seen Him use their shout of obedient faith to knock down the walls of Jericho (chapter 6).

Right after Joshua led the nation in obedience and victory over the fortified city of Jericho, he followed the same basic procedure—spies, favorable report, go take the city – which he had used in Jericho to take the city of Ai. But instead of the easy victory he was expecting (7:3) -- the victory he felt God had promised (chapter 1) -- Joshua and his men found themselves thoroughly defeated, scared and running away from their enemy (7:5).

An anguished Joshua fell down in prayer before the LORD. He asked the LORD why He was destroying His people (7:7), why He had turned His back on them (7:8), why He would let the nation bearing His name be wiped out (7:9).  God told Joshua to get up – it wasn’t about God not holding up His end of things; the problem was that the nation of Israel had sinned (7:11). They had broken the covenant they made with God, had taken dedicated things, stolen from God and lied about it and put the things with their own belongings. It was the incorporation of things God had devoted to destruction that was causing the nation of Israel’s defeat. By mixing things devoted for destruction with those devoted for blessing, all became devoted to destruction (7:12).

Clean-up was needed; the people needed to re-consecrate themselves to God. The nation had to agree to assemble and pass before Joshua. Using a system of lots, God showed Joshua the tribe, clan, household, and man who had sinned (7:13-21). Turns out it was a man named Achan.

The story is achingly human. Achan saw a beautiful cloak from Shinar among the things, and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold. When he saw them he wanted them, so he took them. He hid them in the earth inside his tent (7:21). He didn’t think about the fact that these things belonged to God, that they were dedicated to God for destruction as part of the removal of a sinful culture. He wasn’t thinking about God making a place for godliness in a Promised Land. God was focused on a cosmic plan for the good of all; Achan saw something that would make a few of his days a little nicer.

And so, for a classy coat and some cash, Achan forfeited victory for his nation and ultimately the lives of all his family members and himself (7:22-26). It is so easy to understand Achan even knowing he was so wrong. I have the same problem Achan had: I lose sight of the knowledge that there is big picture God is working on, I don’t remember to trust Him and to use things for the purposes to which He has dedicated them.

Which got me to wondering about what things in my world have been “dedicated to destruction”?  Right away a verse from 1 Corinthians 6:13 came to mind: “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

Romans 8:19 and 21 tell us …the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God…in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Revelation 21:1 says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…

I do need to use my body and my planet wisely, but I know that neither is permanent in its present state. And neither my body’s needs nor my planet is the focus God wants for my life. HE is the focus of life.

So today I am reminding myself not to love dwelling place or location, not to love food or drink or any provision, but to love the God who provided them all—and who will destroy them at the right time. The upgraded replacements will be amazing and are worth waiting for. I can trust God for now and for later.

It’s something to remember if a classy coat and cash are in front of me but are not in the plan for today...

Weeds about Life

It’s raining today.  It’s been raining lots this spring. There have been summery, sunny days, too, but the rain comes back often.

The mixture of sun and rain has been great for weeds. I try to keep the weeds at bay, but they aren’t easily discouraged. I get especially annoyed at one vine-y kind of weed that seems to think it owns the fence around my back yard.

I’ve decided that I want to keep the fence clean this year. I can almost hear the weeds laughing at that decision. I get down on my hands and knees and work my way around the fence line with an old paring knife. I slide the blade under the weed and go as far underground as I can so that I’ll get at the root of the climbing weeds. When I’m done it looks really great -- for maybe a day and a half!

Those amazing weeds are back and beginning to reach for the fence in just as little as 36 hours. So I go through the process again, and again love the way it looks when I’m done. But I won’t have time for this process two or three times a week all summer!

A friend of mine whose son is a landscaper told me that her son thinks weeds are easy to control. He says that spending just minutes daily or half an hour each week using a good weed-killer will keep things looking good. I bought some of that weed-killer and I tried it, but the fence doesn’t look as good as when I use the knife.

The spray kills the weed as it is absorbed in the weeds’ leaves. It travels down to the roots to kill the whole plant. But it takes time to work.

When I use the spray, it doesn’t look like anything has been done to the weeds initially. And then even when the product does begin to work, the fence line doesn’t look good because the weeds are wilting and yellowing. But in the end the spray actually does a better, more thorough, longer-lasting job of controlling the weeds.

Sometimes the fast, outward-result way of taking care of an issue doesn’t really fix the problem. Things may look great for a while, but the problem’s root is still there and still growing. Usually a slower-to-show-results and more far-reaching process is necessary for long-lasting change.

Life changes have that in common with weeds. You may be able to make problems go away fairly quickly if you don’t mind them coming back quickly. But getting to the root of a problem is a longer process. Deep-reaching help is needed when permanent change is the goal.

God-help goes deeper than self-help. God can re-create us. He makes us new by forgiving the old and infusing us with new.  …if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17).  He gives us a new nature to put on.  …you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (Colossians 3: 9 & 10). Knowing God is the work of strength, the investment that pays dividends of deep, real change in our lives.

The things we do in our own effort don’t last -- the Apostle Paul compared them to wood, hay, and stubble. But things done with God are permanent. Paul compares them to gold, silver, and precious stones.  So today, when I went outside to make that quick round with my bottle of weed-killer, I was thinking about the garden of my life and asking myself if I’m concerned with outside changes or if I’m working with God for deeper changes, real and solid...

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. 1 Corinthians 3: 11-15