Category Archives: God’s plans for us

Watching

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As Birgitta, Emerald, and I flew from Florida to Michigan on Monday, our 3 suitcases went a different route than we did. I glanced back after our curb-side check-in, just to be sure all 3 pieces of luggage made it to the conveyor belt, because we had high hopes of seeing them again at baggage claim.

They made it, and we did, too.

TSA note

Later that night when I opened my suitcase to unpack, I found a note left inside by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Apparently they’d taken the liberty of opening my bag and digging around inside for contraband, and they wanted to let me know that.

It said, “At the completion of the inspection, the contents were returned to your bag.” It’s a bit unsettling to picture a stranger pawing through my personal effects without my permission, but nobody asked.

Then again, nobody asks any of us if they can inspect us as we go through life, and many people are doing that. We’re all being watched by someone, parents by their children, teachers by their students, neighbors by other neighbors, clergy by church members, and even strangers by strangers. People are inspecting us, whether we give them permission or not.

But it goes the other way, too: each of us is watching others.

I remember as a young mom carefully observing women who were a bit ahead of me in their child rearing, watching carefully how they handled their babies. I had many questions, and seeing how they did things helped immensely. As I watched, I learned.

Jesus knew we’d have the need to watch the examples of others, so he saw to it that the Bible was written accordingly. Its pages are filled with stories of people he wants us to observe, hoping we’ll discern which ones we should emulate and which examples we should shun.

But people aren’t the only ones doing the watching. God is, too, not because he needs an example to follow but because he wants to help us. In other words, he’s watching over us much like a shepherd watches over his flock. For those of us being watched over, this is a priceless gift. He’s keeping track of us, is listening to our cries, and is surrounding us with his care. Our desire, then, ought to be wisdom-living that pleases him, which is the natural response to his loving watchfulness over us.

Suitcase content

TSA was watching me by inspecting my luggage, and thankfully they found nothing illegal inside. What they did find was a suitcase overflowing with stinky, dirty laundry: poopy baby outfits, dirty socks, spit-up-on bibs, used underwear, and the like. Maybe I should have left my own note for TSA:

“Inspect if you dare.”

“The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers.” (1 Peter 3:12)

Homebodies

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Some people are energized by the thought of traveling the globe, loving adventure, change, unusual food, and new friends. Then there’s the rest of us.

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A homebody through and through, I find traveling stressful, but add an infant, and the challenge looms large. Although Emerald is a model baby, she, too, has her limits, and boarding a plane at 7:00 pm last night was a plan to which she objected.

As she screamed full-tilt midway through our flight from Orlando to Chiccago, we apologized to nearby passengers, but 4 month old babies don’t “get” bribery, and delayed gratification doesn’t exist. She tested our limits before finally falling into an exhausted, twitchy sleep. By that time we were twitchy, too. Birgitta said, “Was that 4 minutes or 14? It seemed like an eternity.”

Agreed.

Getting revved up

Little babies love “bland.” They do best following a simple, repeated routine at home with the same sights, smells, people, and procedures each day. I can relate. But for babies and adults alike, if we want to spend time with the people we love and arrive at the destinations where they are, traveling is a must.

Something similar happens in the spiritual realm. From birth to death, all of us are travelers, like it or not. Each day pushes (or drags) us forward, which includes squaring off with new experiences on a steady basis. We can go with hissy-fits as Emerald did last night, or we can move with a sense of excitement for one reason: it’s God who has set the itinerary.

Even knowing that, though, for some of us it’s still difficult. Stops along the way can be scary or painful, and it’s easier to snuggle into the familiar, which doesn’t involve taking chances or flirting with failure. But the pivot-point of signing on to follow God is that he’s God, the best of all travel guides.

To blindly follow anyone else would be foolish, but because the person asking us to trust his sense of direction and choice of destination is the All-knowing One, we can travel with him despite not having a complete understanding of where we’re going or what will happen when we get there.

Emerald’s screaming didn’t get her off last night’s flight, but today she’s been her usual agreeable self and is, I believe, aware of being back home in familiar surroundings.

It encourages me to know God has plans for all of us to stop traveling one day and become homebodies, living together with him in the place he’s currently making ready for us. Just as Birgitta and I knew that Emerald’s destination last night was the home she loves, God sees our future home and is sure we’ll love that one, too.

So, despite the uncertainties of his itinerary, I do want to travel this life partnered with God, And I’m going to make a real effort not to have too many hissy-fits along the way.

“The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.” (Psalm 121:8)

Ready and Waiting

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In the New Testament when children joyfully referred to Jesus as the Messiah, the religious rulers of the day were incensed that he didn’t stop them. Instead he did just the opposite: “Don’t you read your Bibles?” he said. “From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise.” He was telling them, “These youngsters get me, and you don’t.” (Matthew 21:16)

How did those children become that devoted to Jesus? They were so sure about honoring him that they went against powerful local authorities without blinking an eye. How do we cultivate such certain faith in ourselves and in our children?

Hmmm...

Last night I received an email from our firstborn, Nelson, with some interesting thoughts about “signing on” with Jesus as Lord of our lives. He wrote about our natural reluctance to cooperate when the Lord directs us to move in his direction. Then, when we’re finally ready to comply, we do so only “little by little.” What Nelson said next gave me a new way to think about that, not from a human perspective but from the Lord’s.

Some of us, reluctant to step toward God, say, “But I’m still waiting on him,” and Scripture definitely encourages that kind of waiting. It’s possible, though, that when we say we’re “waiting on him,” it’s just a ploy to procrastinate on making a difficult change he’s already asked us to make.

Nelson wrote, “Funny how we sometimes get that mixed around, saying that we are ‘waiting on God.’ I think he’s waiting on us much more of the time, ready to bless us and move us to the next thing. God is ready. We are not.”

His words rolled around in my head for a long time, statements that were well-put and truthful.

In thinking about the scriptural children honoring Jesus with their words, we Christian parents think of our own children and how important it is to us that they one day choose to follow Jesus. We spend unnumbered hours praying to that end, and we take them to church, grill them on Bible memory verses, pay for Christian summer camps, and do our best to live Christian-ly in front of them. But sometimes children choose a different path anyway.

Though that saddens us, we should never despair. As Nelson wrote, all of us can be slow to walk in God’s ways. The good news is that he is always ready, whenever any of us steps even slightly in his direction. He is thoroughly prepared to bless us, and we’ll never have to stand waiting on him once we’ve come to the point of willing surrender. He’s already there, waiting on us… and our children. He wants all of us to come, and he looks forward to hearing “words of praise from our lips.”

None of it, however, happens on our timetables or through the circumstances we dictate. As Nelson wrote, “God often works in ways we don’t expect.” But one thing we know for sure: he is always ready and waiting for us.

“Honor the Messiah as Lord in your hearts.” (1 Peter 3:15)