A Unique Teaching Method

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Margaret

Christmas is 10 days away, coaxing us to think again about the baby of Bethlehem. How did the Trinity decide together on such an outlandish scheme to bring salvation to mankind? Divinity reduced to a newborn? And even more incredible, reduced to a single cell within the human body of a regular woman?

But that became the plan for one important reason: Jesus wanted to do everything we did, to be tempted like us, struggle like us, feel like us, and live with our limitations. Amazingly, he wanted to be just like us. But why?

One reason was to teach us what a well-lived human life should look like. Another, and of course the most important reason, was to save our souls, a rationale we still can’t understand but enormously appreciate.

I love thinking about Jesus as an infant, then a toddler and a little child. Surely he had an ordinary childhood relationship with his mother, and she did for him all the things we moms did/do for our children. Then as he grew, he lived a model life in front of relatives, friends, and neighbors.

Through Scripture’s pages, he became our model, too. But when did his teaching begin? Was it at age 30 at the start of his formal ministry? Or was it well before that? Is it possible his choice to become a born-baby was meant to teach us something, too?

My mom loved kids, preferring their company to that of adults. I think one of the reasons was her ongoing expectation that they could teach her something, even the newborns. She watched them closely, sometimes talking to them as if they were the Lord’s emissaries of wisdom. “Tell me about God,” she’d say, focusing on the squinty eyes of a newborn who was still a year away from answering with words.

But words or not, Mom expected to learn. And she absolutely loved the idea that our Savior was born a baby “in the usual way.” He didn’t arrive to save us dressed in the armor of a warrior. He didn’t inherit a throne through royalty. He didn’t conquer with guns or swords. Instead he entered the scene unremarkably… just by being born.

Mom used to tell us, “When you recite John 3:16, think about the word ‘begotten.’ God gave us his ‘only begotten Son.’ It means ‘born of parents,’ and Jesus was born just like you, helpless, dependent, needy.”

In the ordinariness of his infancy, she wanted us to learn something. She hoped we’d see that our Savior was approachable in his humanity rather than intimidating in his divinity. Years later we would learn the difference between him and us, of his sinlessness and our sin. But as children, she wanted us to relate to, and learn from, our common infancies.

Because Jesus willingly came in that humble way, we love him all the more.

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Praising and Praying with Mary

I’m praising God for the beautiful celebration of Christ’s birth at the Moody Church concert tonight.
Please pray for wisdom when I talk to the doctor tomorrow about my feeding tube pain.

Don’t forget.

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Margaret

A while ago Louisa and Birgitta were in reminiscing mode, harkening back to childhood and a certain Disney video they both remembered well. Since it had to do with Christmas, they decided to hunt for it in the basement, hoping to watch it.

They found it among the old VHS tapes: “A Walt Disney Christmas,” 6 classic cartoons from the 1930’s and 1940’s. I watched the girls as they watched the tape, enjoying their expressions and comments:

“Oh, I remember that skating couple when the ice cracked! Remember the poor children at the orphanage? And the stocking with the hole in it?”

As their favorite scenes appeared, they tried to recall how old they were when they’d memorized the details: the color of the ice, the lace on the pantaloons, the glow of a Christmas tree. All of it occurred for them more than half a lifetime ago.

Looking back at happy times is fun. It can also be instructive, and God wants us to make a practice of it. In the Old Testament he says, “Remember what the Lord did to Pharaoh and to Egypt. Remember how the Lord led you in the wilderness. Remember that the Lord redeemed you. Remember the days of old. Remember all the wonders he has done. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome. Remember the Lord’s great mercy and love.”

On and on his training-in-remembering goes as he coaxes us to look back. If he did great things for us “then,” he can do the great things “now.” His desire is for us to focus on his past capabilities rather than our circumstantial difficulties. When things aren’t going well, we tend to quickly slip into despair rather than count on him to come through, and reminding us of past victories is his way of lifting our sagging spirits.

Even better than our look back, though, is his: he never needs remembrance-prompting because he never forgets. When he makes a promise, he follows through. What he says he’ll do, he always does, without exception. God has never been into making excuses. Scripture says he “remembers his covenant, remembers us and blesses us, remembers us in our low estate” and many, many more. On and on his mindfulness goes, mindfulness of us.

If we were as mindful of him, our lives would be far less stressful and less cluttered with worry. Trusting God would be easier, and our faith in him would grow by leaps and bounds.

It’s enjoyable to remember a special Disney cartoon, but it’s even more meaningful to remember the real reason for all things Christmas: that Jesus was born as a human among us, because he remembered our need for a Savior.

“Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” (Isaiah 46:9)

Gettin’ Creative

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Margaret

Today I did something I bet no other grandma has ever done. I took 7 slightly used rolls of toilet paper, unrolled a couple of rounds, tore them off neatly, then Scotch taped along the seams.

Dementia? Art? Idiocy?

It harkens back to when Emerald was a one-year-old and we taught her to build tall towers out of fresh rolls of TP. They were soft, safe building blocks that tolerated the clumsy hands of a toddler perfectly.

Emerald loved the idea, and “tower” was one of her first distinguishable words. I figured it would be a brief phase in her development, but a year later (now a two-year-old), she’s still building. She’s capable of constructing towers taller than she is and understands that role-placement plays an important part in a high tower’s stability. And if there’s such a thing as being creative with toilet paper, Emerald is.

She lines them up on the edge of the bathtub, rolls them like wheels, and bunches them in symmetrical clusters. She erects walls with them and uses them as stools. I am one proud grandma.

Today while she was happily building TP-towers at my house, the bathroom suddenly became quiet, my signal to quickly check. When I rounded the corner I found a party-in-progress, complete with abundant confetti on the floor, in the tub, toilet, and stuck to the bath toys. Apparently one of the rolls had begun to unravel, and rather than Emerald’s usual, “Oh-oh, Mee Mee,” she decided to try a shredding project.

Tiny bits of TP were in her hair, on her hands, and hanging from her clothes (breakfast pancake syrup helped with that). She was quite proud of herself and said, “TP, Mee Mee!” as I stood in the door, not knowing quite what to do.

Which brings me to the Scotch tape. Rather than disappoint Emerald by putting TP supplies on a high shelf or in another room altogether, I decided to try securing the rolls so she can continue to build without the temptation to shred.

We can learn a great deal from watching young children. Their spontaneous creativity is something God established inside every human being as if to remind us of him, the Creator. Though we can’t create as he can, we can “be creative” in a mini-likeness of him. And isn’t that what he wants us to be, a reflection of him? After all, the word “Christian” actually means “little Christ.”

Now that I’ve thought it through, I can appreciate Emerald’s creativity in a new way as she uses what God gave her. Of course my TP-taping may have been for naught if she arrives tomorrow with shredding on her mind.