Category Archives: Adult Children

Maintenance Chores

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This week Louisa, our cosmetologist and hair stylist, kept her scissors snipping by giving haircuts to 6 family members. She’s good at what she does and has an endless string of clients because of it. The littler the customer, the more difficult the task, and she cut two preschoolers this week. Working with sharp blades on a moving target isn’t easy.

All of us spend a great deal of time on life-maintenance, just to stay even, and it’s not only haircuts. If we listed every daily stay-even chore we shouldn’t miss, the list would be arm’s length and would include everything from brushing teeth to changing diapers to walking dogs. Yet these things have to be done. If we fall behind, the consequences pile up much longer than an arm’s length, and we pay a high price for neglecting what would have been manageable on a daily basis.

The opposite is true, too. If we tend to something every day, with time our goals can be met. For example, Nate was a big reader but felt compelled to spend most of his reading time on professional work and 4-5 daily newspapers. But just before bed each night, he’d open what I called “pleasure reading,” books so thick we used to use them as booster chairs for young children. By reading several pages at a time, day in and day out, he completed hundreds of challenging books.

The simple truth of tending to our lives bit by bit, day by day, applies to our spiritual lives, too. If we’ve always wanted to read through the Bible but the project seems too daunting even to begin, we never will. But if we read even one page a day, in time we’ll finish.

In another example, if we crave conversation with God but don’t carve out time to pray, we’ll be sacrificing an important supernatural dialogue. If our relationship with the Lord is the “some day” kind, by the end of our lives we will have forfeited something precious and life-shaping.

Once in a while the relentless nature of daily tasks seems overwhelming, because they never end. I’m sure when Louisa packs her hair-cutting equipment at the end of a busy work week, there are times when she thinks, “I just can’t get away from it.”

But interestingly, God rewards our patient persistence to do the right thing. He likes that character quality, and when we work at it, he lets us get better and better at whatever we’re trying to do, especially if it’s in the spiritual realm. And best of all, he lets us know that we’re pleasing him.

When Louisa willingly gives one haircut after another, approaching each new cut with eager interest, the people she works on are drawn into her good cheer. And I believe God is nodding his approval, too.

“Patient persistence pierces through indifference.” (Proverbs 25:15a)

What about The Bean?

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The Bean has been a part of our family for many years, has clocked 200,000 miles, and has been repainted six times from a can, with a brush. (“The Bean,” June 26, 2010) Because this tiny car has become a legend in 9 states, admirers have occasionally helped finance its needs. One generous friend from Texas actually bought 4 new tires a couple of years ago, more than doubling the value of the car. (Thank you, Debbie!)

This week, though, all of us got a shock. When Nelson arrived home from 10 months in a Youth With A Mission Bible school in Montana, he pulled into the driveway in (gasp) a minivan! When we waved goodbye last September, he was driving The Bean. It was wearing a new coat of snow-camouflage appropriate to Montana’s snowy climate, ready to climb mountains with its new tires. (“Back, and Better than Ever,” July 14, 2011)

Then, during the school year as Nelson and 50 others studied the Bible from cover to cover in mind-boggling depth, The Bean performed faithfully, transporting students, making airport runs, being the reliable ride it had always been. But more and more its small size became a hindrance. So as license and registration expired, an inexpensive van took its place. The Bean had earned a rest.

This week, though, there’s been mourning in the family camp. Will we ever see The Bean again? “Why didn’t you bring it home?” we all asked Nelson, but of course none of us volunteered to finance new license and registration or pay to update several mechanical issues. In other words, if we really wanted The Bean to come home, we should have put our money where our mouths were.

Scripture says something similar, that we’re to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. We can listen to everything the Bible teaches and nod in agreement, but if we’re not acting on its principles, maybe Scripture’s truth has gone in one ear and other the other. After we hear it, God watches closely, hoping we’ll do something practical with what we’ve learned.

Of course it would be easier to study the Bible and then just keep it to ourselves. I’m a pro at that: “Thank you, Father, for such wonderful knowledge.” But if I take it in and lock it up, I’ve missed God’s intention.

When Nelson’s school ended last week, the staff told all the students, “You’ve worked hard these 10 months and learned a great deal, but God didn’t bring you here to stockpile knowledge so you could keep it to yourself. He wants you to do something with it.”

That’s what’s motivated Nelson (and others) to plan on returning to Montana in September for “The Titus Project,” an outreach focused on teaching them how to be teachers of others. And maybe when Nelson gets there, he’ll even be picked up at the airport by someone driving The Bean.

“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” (James 1:22)

Abundant Giving

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When Nelson drove home from Montana this weekend, he came by way of a visit with my nephew Luke and his wife Emily in Wisconsin. After he got here, he brought in a giant storage bin and two big shopping bags, plunking them down in front of Birgitta. “From Emily,” he said. “For your baby.”

Inside were baby girl clothes to outfit our October baby for an entire year: infant gowns, onesies, booties, hats, dresses, sleepers, bibs, tights, shoes, 3-piece outfits, socks, towels, wash cloths, burping cloths, a snowsuit, and more. Emily even sent a typed inventory of larger items for Birgitta’s “yes or no:” a car seat, stroller, exer-saucer, Baby Einstein cds, Bumbo seat, baby carrier, Boppy, toys, and many other things. Everything was washed and neatly folded, the smaller items in labeled baggies.

As Birgitta held up one adorable outfit after another, we oooed and awwwed with delight at such unexpected bounty, high-quality, well-made baby clothes the likes of which she probably wouldn’t have been able to buy. Because of Emily, Birgitta won’t need to buy anything but diapers. We are humbled by this incredible generosity.

Emily is a stunning example of what God hopes all of us will do but many of us don’t. I remember the frustration of trying to teach our young children to share while I was making a meal for friends who’d just had a new baby. As I was packing up the dinner along with most of a batch of freshly-baked cookies, one of our younger boys said, “Hey! Don’t give away so many of those. You’re not leaving enough for us!”

“It’s important to share,” I told him.

“Why?”

“Because God wants us to, and because if we do, God will share with us.”

My little boy frowned.

Right after that I found this instructional verse for the kids: “Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:16)   I made them memorize it, hoping they’d swallow the message. What I’ve learned since then, though, is that I’m not all that good at sharing myself, even now. Rationalizing still comes easy: “I’d better not give that away; I might need it later.” Or, “That item has sentimental value. Wouldn’t it be wrong to part with it?”

Scripture says, “Be generous.” It doesn’t say, “If you feel like it” or “if you’re sure you don’t want it anymore” or “If it has no sentimental value.” It just says, “Give.” God knew it might be difficult for us to share, so he told us how to learn: force ourselves to do it.

And precious Emily has shown us how. In the handwritten note to Birgitta she’d tucked in with the clothes she wrote, “Keep what you want…

…and give the rest away.”

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)