Mary has made it through this first day after surgery, the most difficult day of her life in terms of physical challenges and their accompanying emotions. And she did it valiantly.

Hospital beds no longer find patients resting for hours on end without interruption. A post-op patient, even only a few hours post-op, is questioned, pestered, poked, and prodded on a steady basis, woken from sleep every few minutes, asked to perform certain tasks.

Less than 12 hours after surgery, despite Mary’s insides still being “angry” from extensive scalpel and stitch work, she was asked to get out of bed and take a walk. Never mind the 6 tubes with accompanying computerized screens that had to accompany her. It was time to rise.

But by the end of this long, arduous day, she had earned 8 smiley faces on her status board for 4 successful episodes of sitting in a chair and 4 energetic walks down the hall and back with her pole of tubes and screens.

Though she was feeling woozy, battling severe nausea, and suffering from abdominal pain, she refused to let those irritants hold her back. “Pushing through” to excellence is one of Mary’s character qualities, and though the nursing staff was astounded by her determination, the rest of us knew she’d approach her post-op challenges in exactly that way.

All of us will bump up against major challenges in this life. The question is, how will we find courage to handle them? I, for one, find it by watching someone like Mary: “If she can, maybe I can, too.”

It’s helpful to observe the good examples of others who are determined to triumph over difficulties. Paul of the Bible made this point repeatedly. “Follow my example,” he said, “because as far as possible, I’m following Christ’s example.” Mary is in Paul’s camp.

Ultimately, though, the one we should be following is Jesus. How did he handle the never-ending challenges that confronted him in his life as a human? For one thing, he never said “no” to any of them. For another, he didn’t get angry at God for allowing them into his life. Also, he faced them head-on while experiencing the same emotions we feel.

Jesus felt sadness, disappointment, joy, frustration, anger, satisfaction, you name it. If we feel it, we can know he felt it,too. So as we come up against the mountains we’re forced to climb, we can study what he did and say to ourselves, “He showed me through the pages of Scripture how to handle life, so I should try to follow his example.”

Following the exemplary examples of Paul and Mary in pushing through struggles is a good idea, but following Jesus’ example is an even better one.

Paul wrote, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)

Mary’s prayer requests:

1. For the nausea and abdominal pain to lessen
2. For a good report from pathology
3. For safe travels as Mary’s children come and go to visit her
4. Gratitude for each person who has been (and still is) praying

One of the delights of belonging to a church congregation is that when you have a baby, everybody wants to join the celebration. At Linnea and Adam’s church there’s something called The Meal Train, and people who want to bless a newly-expanded family with a dinner simply sign up online, letting everyone know when they’ll be delivering what food. That way a family is covered for a couple of weeks and doesn’t receive duplicates (though surely they wouldn’t mind).

As The Meal Train rolled into action celebrating our baby Isaac, the benefits have been great. Linnea doesn’t have to cook (or me either), and we’re enjoying creative, delicious dinners along with tasty leftovers. In my role as the out-of-town grandma, I‘ve also experienced another benefit: meeting many of Linnea and Adam’s friends, godly young couples with lively families, serving one another and being blessed in the process.

And isn’t that the way it works when we serve others? Originally we might sign up to take a meal to someone, thinking of it as an added chore to our already long to-do list. We spend much of that day shopping, cooking, and baking, wanting our contribution to be special for the other family. We drive it to their home and hope it helps them in some way. We might even shortchange our own family’s dinner to put together a nicer meal for the others.

And then we step in their door.

As God would have it, the delivery of our gift becomes a gift back to us.

We have the pleasure of oooing and ahhhing over a new baby, touching the soft skin and hearing about the birth. We set our meal on their counter and quickly forget the work of making it, focusing instead on the family that’s undergoing fresh stress with a new baby who is causing temporary overload. And we listen to their wholehearted gratitude over our food, realizing that our meal-prep was nothing compared to the appreciation with which it was received.

We step out the door and feel pretty good.

Linnea mentioned that one friend bringing a meal to us had just had a baby herself, and another was due in 3 weeks. But that’s the beauty of God’s system. We are blessed to bless others, and Linnea has cooked and will cook for them, too. And now, since she’s been blessed, she’s eager to pass it on. It’s a good system.

Tonight we feasted on chicken pot pie, a green salad, toast, and brownies for dessert. A family of 4 delivered it, coming inside for a few minutes to meet Isaac and greet the rest of us. After their young boy had taken a quick peek at Isaac I said, “Do you like babies?”
His answer: “I’m 7 years old, and I’m gonna get a go-cart.” I guess he’s not riding The Meal Train after all.

“Remember that our Lord Jesus said, “More blessings come from giving than from receiving.” (Acts 20:35)

It’s been a week of celebrating for our family: Klaus and Brooke’s wedding, three family birthday parties, out-of-town company, and unnumbered festivities wedged in between. But when all the excitement is over and life settles into its new normal, what will be remembered most?

Today I re-read the notes Nelson used to officiate the wedding, taking another look at his more serious comments to the bride and groom. He agreed to let me quote him here, as he addressed Brooke and Klaus:

Although having fun together, having good chemistry, and having lots in common are great places to start a marriage, these are not the bedrock that will hold you guys together over the long haul. Consider the words of Christ from Matthew 7. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house. Yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”

Today you’re starting to build a house. It’s a spiritual house. From this day forward, you’re not building alone, but together. The Lord uses everyday images to teach these simple principles. Consider the big beautiful houses built right on Lake Michigan. What if a builder constructed a multi-million dollar house and then set it on a sand dune without a foundation? It would be certain failure.

But the Lord’s words are reassuring and empowering on this wedding day. He says that while “the winds blew and beat against that house” the house didn’t fall. We might say, “When trouble comes into your lives as a couple, you won’t fall, because your foundation is on the rock.”

That rock is Jesus Christ and your building blocks are his words. The Christian couple stays together because their faith is in someone far greater than each other. Walking this faith out one day at a time is building on that solid foundation. Marriage is meant to last a lifetime, not a week or a year or even ten years. It goes well into the unknown future.

Many marriages begin with a contract contingent on the performance of the individuals. “If you make me happy, I’ll love you.” It’s performance based. This may work for a few years, but when storms come, people pack up and leave. They’ve built on sand and the house collapses.

A God-centered marriage will last a lifetime because it doesn’t stand based on the performance of either person. It’s built on the bedrock foundation of Jesus Christ. Today you’re starting to build that house.

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Although our recent wedding day included lots of wonderful words, these from Jesus surely are the most significant, not just for Brooke and Klaus but for all of us.

 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.” (Matthew 7:24-26)