Category Archives: God’s character

Excitement in the Pew

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Recently, on the first Sunday of the month, I slid into church a couple of minutes late and sat in the back row. As the service proceeded, I enjoyed watching a family sitting in front of me with four young children. My best guesses were: a boy of 12, girls about 9 and 8 and a boy around 6. All were well-behaved, and the mother, sitting in the middle, repeatedly quick-glanced in both directions to make sure.

Toward the end of the service, she leaned over to her youngest boy, probably a first grader, and whispered, “You can take communion today.”

It was as if he’d been told there was a new bike waiting for him in the parking lot. He wiggled and squirmed with excitement he could barely contain, gently tugging on his older brother’s sleeve as if to say, “Did you hear that? Mom said I could!”

CommunionAs the plate of crackers came, he didn’t hesitate but took one and passed it on. Soft music played as he studied his tiny treasure, looking back and forth between his cracker and his mother’s face. She smiled and put her hands together to let him know he should pray, and immediately he bowed his head. When the pastor gave the signal to eat, he looked at his brother, who gave him the go-ahead. A similar routine occurred with the cup.

I can’t stop thinking about this little guy’s enthusiasm for communion. He made a joyful mark on me, and I knew God was watching him with satisfaction. I prayed this child would always remember the happiness he felt as he took communion for the first time.

Children are naturally drawn to Jesus. Scripture says so, and it’s still true today. God must have endowed them with a special understanding of his love. They never question it and usually receive salvation as the uncomplicated gift it is. They have no thoughts of “what about this or that…” and simply trust that he is who he says he is. What delight this must bring to the heart of the Father. If only we adults could think in the same unfettered way.

This little boy’s behavior showed he’d been prepared for communion and schooled in the deep significance of the cross. I hope when he put his head on the pillow that night, his mom or dad asked for his thoughts about the morning. He might have taught them something special.

Once in a while, all of us would do well to think like a child.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. Praise for long, nourishing naps after chemo treatments.
  2. Pray for wisdom on Wednesday as we meet again with the GI specialist about the painful feeding tube.
  3. Pray that the mild nausea I’m experiencing tonight won’t flare up tomorrow.
  4. Pray for enough strength to have fun with 5 grandchildren this week.

Love Without End, Part 3

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Nate loved his Rolex and learned that every other Rolex-wearer felt the same. I remember a moment when the two of us were sitting on an ice cold bleacher-bench in a local park, watching Little League baseball on a winter-like spring day. The lady on the other side of him was bragging loudly to her friend about her new Rolex watch, a gold version she said had cost thousands. I knew that was true, having had my own gold Rolex several years before.

As I listened to her, I was awash in regret for having carelessly lost my watch. “Lucky her,” I thought. “She’s still got hers.”

Then Nate leaned over and whispered, “That’s not a Rolex.”

“What?” I said, knowing her watch looked exactly like mine.

“It’s a knock-off,” he said.

“How can you tell?”

“The hands. Her second hand is jumping with each tick. On a real Rolex it sweeps.”

Rolex knock-offI was impressed he knew that, and suddenly unimpressed with the woman’s bragging. It’s possible her watch was a gift and she didn’t know she’d been given a fake (like this picture), but whatever the case, all the boasting in the world wasn’t going to change that counterfeit into the genuine article.

Apparently every designer product has a knock-off version these days. I could buy a $2000 “Prada” bag for only $155 or a pair of “Louboutin” high heels worth $2400 for $68. Of course just as Nate recognized the fake Rolex, a Prada or Louboutin fan could quickly pick out the imitation.

That got me thinking about people, especially those of us who claim to be Christians. We’ve all known church attendees who parroted the right spiritual lingo, i.e. wore the right label, but who didn’t live out the philosophy behind it. Truth be told, we’ve all done it now and then. But just as a child can sense when an adult doesn’t like him, non-Christians know when someone is a “knock-off believer” trying to fake faith.

Scripture indicates that God doesn’t think much of that, which forces me to examine the validity of my own faith. Am I sometimes a phony Christian, acting one way but thinking another? Two-faced behavior like that amounts to a double standard in God’s opinion and is a serious offense to him.

A real RolexIt’s important to examine my thoughts and actions carefully and rout out any inconsistencies. I absolutely want to be the genuine article (like the watch at left). Although Nate loved his Rolex, several years after he received it, he put it in a drawer. Believing it was too ostentatious as we struggled to put food on our family table, he felt uncomfortable wearing it and went back to his low-cost watch. Even though I’d bought him the watch, I loved him more for making that choice.

And after that, if any Rolex-wearer noticed his timepiece was an inexpensive model, that was ok by him.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” (James 3:13)

Love Without End

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Nate once gave me a Rolex watch worth $5000. When I later lost it, I felt awful. It used to be the only people who were given gold watches had earned them by working forty years at the same institution. Retirement and the watch came together, but I hadn’t done a thing to deserve such a fine gift. As always, Nate had been generous to his wife but not to himself, buying the watch he wished he had, for me. His own watch came from Walmart.

When I tried to think of some way to show my remorse over losing the watch, my only idea was to buy a Rolex for him. But I didn’t work outside our home and had no paycheck. The weekly allowance he gave me worked well to manage our household, but the dollars were mostly spoken-for. The only answer was to save a little bit here and there until I finally had enough.

Rolex watch boxIt took me several years.

But the day finally came when I counted $2500 in my plump envelope of bills. I drove to Peacocks Jewelry Store feeling like a Depression-era child about to buy her dream bicycle.

As the salesman spread out the few Rolex designs my money would buy, I chose the one that most resembled the watch he’d chosen for himself years before, for which he’d paid about $25. Before I left the store, I asked if Peacock’s would engrave something on the back:

Love engraved“I’ll love you till the end of time. Your Meg, Christmas, 1985.”

I couldn’t wait for Christmas morning. When it finally arrived, my gift was the hit I’d hoped it would be. Nate was dumbfounded, and he loved my engraved declaration of love on the back.

God also testifies of his deep love for us with an engraving. He says he’s carved us on his palms. In an effort to impress us with the depth of his commitment, he compares a nursing mother and her baby to his relationship with us and asks, “Can a mom forget her nursing child?”

I nursed all my babies. When I’d go out for an evening, leaving the baby at home, my body would always tell me it was time to head home and coax him or her to have an unscheduled meal, just to relieve the pressure. No nursing mother can forget her baby.

God says that in the unlikely case a nursing mother should forget, he never will. To prove it, he engraved us on his palms. Nate’s watch has been set aside now, and eventually it will stop running. But the good news about God’s love is that it’ll never stop.

Not ever.

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:15-16)