Embracing Instruction

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Margaret

The other day I was walking down our narrow stairway with Emerald in my arms. She pointed to the wall in front of us and “verbalized” the familiar squawk she makes when she wants to stop and examine something. Posted in my stairwell is 2 Corinthians 5:7, God’s advice for us to walk by faith and not by sight.

Emerald and I stopped and stood on the steps while I read the words to her, pointing to each one. At 15 months she has no understanding of their meaning, but I put lots of animation into the reading, and when I finished, she put her pudgy hands together and applauded. We laughed and moved on down the stairs. And that was that.

Later I thought, why can’t I read those words to her every single time we go down the stairs together? Eventually she’ll begin expecting me to stop and read, and one day (after she learns to talk in more than single words) she’ll start reciting the words along with me. Though she still won’t understand them, a lovely thing will have been accomplished: the memorization of an important, practical piece of God’s truth. And eventually she’ll want to know what it means.

How great it is that the God behind Scripture’s words is the same Person today in 2014 as he was 2000 years ago when that letter to the Corinthian church was put on parchment. And his unchanged nature is the reason we can post pieces of the Bible in our homes (or anywhere else) with confidence in its value and power.

Of course we should be careful never to take verses out of context or twist their meaning to fit personal purposes. But when we post these verses with a sincere desire that God himself permeate our homes and families, I believe it pleases him.

He strongly encourages us to do it in Deuteronomy 11 where he says, “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds… Teach them to your children… Talk about them when you sit, walk, lie down, get up… Write them on the door-frames of your houses.”

It’s that last part that has motivated me to hang up bits of the Bible in every room.

If we intentionally soak our minds in these potent words, it’ll gradually shape our thinking and then our lives, how we act and what we say. And when we miss the mark (as I often do), visible Scripture can bring us back to center.

Every time I walk downstairs, with or without Emerald in my arms, my eyes fall on God’s advice to walk by faith and not by sight. And even a thick-headed person like me eventually finds herself folding this principle into her life.

I pray it will one day be the same for Emerald.

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11)

Parcels of Love

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Margaret

When my brother, sister, and I grew up and got married, all three of us settled fairly close to home. We didn’t plan it that way but landed within quick driving distance of our old stomping grounds and also of our mom and dad. The 17 children between us had the benefit of nearby grandparents who loved spending time with them, and we parents took advantage of every opportunity to be together.

My children, however, have taken a different approach, and 8 of my 9 grands live far, far away. People have said, “Isn’t that hard?”

Yes.

But I can’t do much to change it. Although I visit England annually and get to Florida a couple of times each year, I’m a long-distance granny more than a hands-on one. I’m thankful for our local post office, though, and love sending trinkets to my young relatives thousands of miles away.

Most often the padded mailers I send are packed with inexpensive trinkets that aren’t worth as much as the postage to mail them. But all children like to receive mail, especially chunky mail, and it’s one more way I can feel lovingly connected to my grands.

Interestingly, God is in the business of love-mail, too. That’s one of several things he had in mind when he inspired the authors of Scripture to write what he told them. And because the Bible has been accurately preserved for thousands of years, we can “check our mail” and receive his “chunky love” by way of countless biblical promises.

But it’s up to us to open the package.

Our world bombards us with lots of attractive alternatives to opening our Bibles. There are colorful magazines, cable TV programs, and that great gobbler-of-time, the internet. If we’re going to enjoy God’s love, we have to be intentional about using the love-gift he’s given us. Without steady determination, we’ll set it aside unopened.

Years ago on another Florida trip, our family visited The Holy Land Experience. Part of that biblical theme park was a walk through an animated time line of the Bible’s history and how it’s been accurately preserved. I’ll never forget looking at an actual Bible someone had protected by using his body as a shield, losing his life in the process. His blood still marked the pages.

The fact that we have access to all the Bibles we want shouldn’t cheapen the treasure each one is. Even when God seems thousands of miles away, his loving promises are close-by daily, hundreds of them. And as Scripture says, none has ever failed.

As for my love-parcels to grandchildren, Skylar inadvertently let me know today how eagerly she receives them. While playing in the Florida sunshine she suddenly said, “Midgee! Let’s see if the mail came!” Jumping up and down she said, “Maybe you sent something!”

“God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us.” (2 Peter 1:4)

Weeping and Wailing

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Margaret

Nobody can holler like a newborn. They make an abrasive noise-pollution sort of sound much like a crow cawing or a cat in fight-mode. Pegging it perfectly is difficult, but new babies all seem to agree on how it should sound.

Parents agree on something, too: that it should stop a.s.a.p.

Baby Isaac celebrates his one week birthday tomorrow, and like all babies, he has his moments of wailing. Diaper changes are his least favorite activity, during which he voices his opinion at full volume. When that happens, even grandmas are distressed by the crying.

It’s not that the noise level is intolerable. Isaac’s three older siblings contribute plenty of that, but it never reaches the fever-pitch of a newborn’s cry. When Isaac is wailing, we wonder if he’s in some serious pain or is in another kind of desperate need.

But we have to continually remind ourselves that newborns don’t have much to offer between silence and full-on screaming. They haven’t learned anything about that middle ground, whining, and certainly can’t use words. Hard-core hollering is the best they can do, and it’s usually overkill in comparison to their needs, i.e. major outbursts over minor problems.

Sometimes I wonder if God views our flare-ups against him the same way. Of course we don’t see it as “screaming” directly at him and might even say, “Heaven forbid I should do such a thing!” But when we loudly object to the circumstances he puts us in (or allows us to be in), he’s probably thinking, “Major outbursts over minor problems.”

Although baby Isaac has nature on his side when he’s hollering over every need, we don’t. As adults, especially Christian adults, we ought to know better than to rail against situations just because they’re not ideal. When frustrations and annoyances come, God is hoping we’ll resist the temptation to object and will square off with our needs responsibly, improving what we can, and accepting what we can’t.

It’s good to know, though, that God doesn’t put a complete ban on crying. He knows we’re emotional beings that need to show our feelings. If we look to Scripture for guidance, we see all kinds of godly people in tears: widows, mothers, fathers, oppressed people, Jeremiah, Job, Mary, Hezekiah, Peter, Esau, David, Paul, and Jesus himself, to name a few. The difference between weeping that’s welcomed by God and wailing that’s not, is the condition of the heart behind it.

God’s heart is always tuned in to what’s going on in the hearts of people… all people. Nothing slips past him, and everything matters. That’s why a bout of crying that emanates from a sincere, unselfish heart is a call for help he will always answer.