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Anointed with Oil

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Having little children in a house puts everyone on red-alert every minute. And when they can be heard playing just out of sight but then grow quiet, adults kick into high gear.

I remember when my two-year-old grandson Nicholas was visiting from England, happily chattering amongst the toys a short distance from three adults. It hadn’t dawned on us he’d grown quiet until I heard his mother’s voice: “Nicholas! No no no! You can’t have that!”

I raced toward the kitchen, rounding the cabinets in boots that slid across the floor as if it was a skating pond. We found Nicholas holding a spray can of cooking oil, pressing the button and christening the entire kitchen. Oil ran down his forearms and into his sleeves as he finished out the can.

Katy grabbed it, and Nicholas began rubbing his cheeks with his greasy hands. “Cream!” he said. None of us had told him the can was off limits, so he hadn’t done anything wrong.

NicholasShe grabbed Nicholas and headed for the bathtub while I dealt with the floor. Jack came around the corner and went sailing on the slippery surface, not once but twice, wondering why his legs no longer worked.

In the end, damages were insignificant, but this is a fitting example of why young mommies and daddies are often worn weary by their job. Parenting is open-ended and long-term with a finishing line that can’t be seen during the most difficult years.

God probably organized parenting in this way to give us a glimpse of our child-to-parent relationship with him. He’s “on our case” continually, just as we are on our children, and has no objections to the task being open-ended and long-term. As a matter of fact, he views that as beneficial, since most of us need all the time we can get to learn what needs to be learned.

Back in the 1970’s there was a movement in Christian circles: “Please be patient. God isn’t finished with me yet.” I had a button that said, PBP.GIFWMY, and a book came out with that same title. Although the fad passed, the concept is still true. God will never give up on us. When we fail, he doesn’t get frustrated but continues to encourage and nudge us forward.

Katy and Hans will never give up on teaching Nicholas, because they know his personal growth is a long-term project. Maturity doesn’t come in a day, and because they love him passionately, they’ll continue to clean up his messes and tell him “no” or “yes” thousands of times over the years.

But Nicholas is secure in their love, and when he had to surrender the can of spray oil, he did it knowing Katy’s disapproval didn’t mean she loved him less.

A child senses he is a work in progress, and as God parents us, we should sense it, too.

“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:4)

Fan Club

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Nate was a true-blue fan of Elvis Presley. Although he wasn’t musically knowledgeable, he never met an Elvis tune he didn’t love.

He loved to talk about his favorite songster, laughing at his extravagant ways and forever attracted to his down-home, country-boy charm.

But Nate was tone deaf, unable to carry a tune and embarrassed by his own singing. He often wondered if he was fully appreciating his Elvis music and one day said, “Does Mr. Presley have a good singing voice?”

I acknowledged he did, but to a true fan, such a simplistic answer was lackluster, and Nate wanted more. So I said, “I’ve heard he could sing in four octaves without straining his voice.”

“Is that good?” he said.

“Real good,” I said, which seemed to make him happy.

Over the years Nate amassed an elaborate collection of Elvis memorabilia, all gifted by others who knew he was a fan: posters, mugs, key chains, license plates, photos, t-shirts, postcards figurines and a copy of his driver’s license. The stand-out gift was an Elvis telephone. When a call came in, he sang “Jailhouse Rock” while gyrating his hips.

I was never the Elvis fan Nate was but could tolerate certain recordings, unlike some family members who had zero tolerance, like his mother-in-law. Nate got along with Mom exceptionally well, unless the subject was Elvis.

“What do you see in that guy anyway?” she’d say.

“Greatest recording artist of all time,” he’d say, then add, “and a Christian, too.”

Mom had her doubts.

All of us have life-heroes, but hero worship is always risky, a set-up for certain disappointment. Although Elvis may not have enjoyed living on a pedestal, his fans kept him there anyway.

Nate and Mom had fan clubs, too, people who admired them and as a result, put them on pedestals. Many were watching their lives, following their examples. The truth is, all of us are being watched by somebody.

It might even be true that we all have life-moments on pedestals, but when that happens, God usually doesn’t wait too long to nudge us off, knowing it’s neither a happy nor healthy place to be. In his view, there’s only one pedestal-worthy person, and that’s Jesus. He stands alone as an unflawed hero, which is the reason we ought to be watching him carefully, admiring his ways, modeling our behavior after his.

The difficulty is with his invisibility. Elvis was easy to see; his face and voice were everywhere. Our task in watching Jesus takes more want-to, more discipline, but there is no greater goal than following his example.

And as we’re working at that, it’s reassuring to know we’ll never be disappointed by his falling off his pedestal. That’s even better than owning a whole wall of gold records.

As to Elvis’ Christianity? Both Mom and Nate know for sure now, one way or the other.

“We [endure] by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion.” (Hebrews 12:2)

Resembling Who?

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A while ago I was searching for an eyeglass case to protect sunglasses in a beach bag. Since Nate was always careful with his glasses, I looked in his top dresser drawer, which I haven’t completely emptied yet. Sure enough, there were five snap-shut cases.

ScissorsOne had reading glasses in it. Two had prescription sunglasses. One was empty, and the fifth surprised me. Inside was a small, shiny pair of scissors.

Throughout the years of fathering 7 children, Nate had had trouble hanging onto a small pair of scissors he kept in our bathroom medicine cabinet and blamed different kids for its repeated disappearance. Eventually he’d always head to Walgreens to buy another one. Today I inadvertently discovered how he’d finally solved his dilemma. He’d hidden a scissors in a glasses case, which made me laugh.

Why did he want tiny scissors anyway? In all the years we were married, though I often heard about his scissors disappearing, I never asked what he was cutting. But now I know.

CombTucked in with the scissors was a tiny comb resembling a Barbie doll accessory that triggered a memory of  something that happened years ago.

We were enjoying a wedding reception when a young girl had approached Nate, asking if she could take his picture. Would he mind? His quizzical look made her finish his thought. “…because you look just like Donald Trump!”

Nate reluctantly agreed, even when the young photographer asked him to point his finger and say, “You’re fired!” He did it, albeit without enthusiasm. The rest of us enjoyed the moment far more than he did.

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On the way home he said, “I hope that picture doesn’t turn up on the internet.” But my surprise came when he added, “I get that all the time.”

“You get what all the time?”

“Get taken for Donald Trump.”

And that, I decided, was what the mini-comb and scissors were all about. When his brows got bushy and the likeness became strong, he’d trim and comb them neatly. He wasn’t interested in being taken for Donald Trump.

Folklore says everybody has a double. I don’t believe it, because God is creative enough not to have to “ditto” anyone. But the concept of doubles is intriguing. Celebrity look-alike contests abound, and the side-by-side photos grab our attention. Some people develop flourishing careers based on looking like someone they’re not.

In reality, each of us is exactly who God made us to be, and he wants us to be ourselves, with one exception. He gives permission, actually urges us, to be a look-alike of one other person: him. Although we don’t need a scissors or comb to develop the resemblance, we do need something much more difficult to acquire: a non-stop attitude of sacrificial love.

Too bad that’s not available at Walgreens.

“Imitate God… in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. Please pray for tomorrow morning’s tube procedure to relocate it. I pray the pain will be gone but am trying not to get my hopes up.
  2. Praise God for answered prayer that the nausea is once again mild.