A Good Idea

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Margaret

When I last visited Linnea and Adam’s family, their children’s ages were Skylar-3, Micah-2, and Autumn, just 6 weeks. All of them, parents included, were still in the throes of adjusting to a new baby.

One day after Skylar, Micah, and I had come home from a quick trip to the store, I suggested the kids open the toilet paper 12-pack we’d bought and use the soft rolls like building blocks. My own little ones had enjoyed this, and it would keep them busy for a few minutes.

In short order Skylar was constructing a beautiful tower, adeptly lining up the TP rolls one atop the other. “Take a picture, Grandma Midgee!” she said. Even little Autumn was fascinated, quietly focusing on the TP from the safety of her infant seat.

After snapping a picture and complimenting Skylar’s fine engineering skills, I walked around the corner to put my camera away and came back to find this:

… a good idea gone bad.

We can all remember initiating projects (or relationships) that in the end went sour. Most of us can cite experiences that started well but resulted in our being robbed of time, emotions, or money. And all of us have choked down a piece or two of humble pie after making errors in judgment or decisions that were just plain stupid.

But… (we said), “It seemed like a good idea at the time!”

Scripture tells hundreds of tales about foolhardy people acting recklessly against God’s counsel, stories that could have ended with the quote above.

Eve thought it was a good idea to eat the forbidden fruit.
Abraham thought it was a good idea to say his wife was his sister.
David thought it was a good idea to sleep with a married woman.
Peter thought it was a good idea to disassociate himself from Jesus.

How could so many bad ideas have seemed good… at the time?

It was probably a result of thinking that personal judgment outranked everyone else’s. But God included biblical stories of failure to show us what not to do. It’s up to us, though, whether or not we act differently.

Sometimes we make the same thoughtless mistakes expecting something different than the same miserable results. And it doesn’t help that when our botched ideas “seem like a good idea at the time,” God’s ideas often “don’t seem like a good idea at the time.” But if we follow his wiser way anyway, the bottom line has a much better chance of turning out good.

I did learn something from the TP tower episode: grandmas don’t always have the best ideas either. After all, it was my idea to put baby Autumn on the floor to watch Skylar’s TP construction. It sure seemed like a good idea at the time.

“Pray that our God will make you fit for what he’s called you to be; pray that he’ll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something.” (2 Thessalonians 1:11)

It’s time to flower.

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Margaret

For 63 years I lived in the Chicago metropolitan area and was accustomed to every possible convenience: endless shopping options, museums, convention centers, sports arenas, plentiful public transportation, theaters, and more. Life was fast-paced, if not sometimes over-full.

Then Nate and I relocated to a very small town in southwest Michigan, and a much simpler life came along with our move. He barely had time to adjust before he had to move again, but this time it was to a paradise unlike anything we’d known on earth. He had to leave me behind, though, and I’m still a resident of that tiny Midwestern town.

Small towns may not have the options of giant cities, but they do have their perks. Today I took advantage of one of them, pulling off the road in response to a sign inviting me to help myself to some blooming daffodils. An old-fashioned flower cart with cheery yellow wheels stood by itself, loaded with jonquils, daffodils, and hyacinth. The sign read, “SELF SERVE” for $1 a bunch. A slotted metal box directed my deposit, and I folded several dollars into the opening.

Buying gorgeous flowers on an honor system? Only in a small town.

Later a friend told me about the trusting woman behind the flower cart, a person who has similar carts in multiple locations throughout the area. She owns a flower farm out in the country and shares excess blooms with the public each year.

Looking through my camera I was struck by the beauty in the frame, not just the flowers themselves but the invitation to help myself, no questions asked.

During Holy Week we’re thinking about all Jesus had to go through to secure salvation for us, and the bottom line is much like the action of removing flowers from the cart: we have to reach out and take what’s being offered. I could drive past those flowers every day, admiring their beauty but never stopping to bring some home with me. If I don’t pull over, get out of the car, and make a personal choice, they’ll never be mine.

God extends his offer to everyone passing by and sincerely hopes each one of us will choose him. And though I was instructed to put dollar bills into the lock-box for my flowers, God asks nothing of us. Jesus already paid the bill, and the gift he extends to us cost him a sum we could never provide through our own effort.

Free to us, it cost Jesus everything.

And one last note. Although flower carts like the one I saw today might be found in small towns where buyers are faithful to the honor system, salvation is freely available all over the place: in giant cities, in rural areas, and everywhere in between.