Category Archives: God’s plans for us

Distracted

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Our 1993 trip to London, England, was full of happy surprises, including our encounter with the dynamic Diana. But our stop-over in this famous city also included one miserable experience.

While we were abroad I enjoyed buying trinket-souvenirs for the 6 children I’d left at home, things like toffee candy in a double-decker bus tin. As for Nate, I was planning a special purchase.

Our family was in the throes of a financial stranglehold back then and had eliminated all unnecessary spending. (The only reason I went to England was that Mom was treating.) I’d spent months setting aside small bits of money in anticipation of the trip, wanting to buy Nate a new pen. He loved pens, especially fountain pens, and used them all. Owning one from the UK would be unique.

By the day of our departure I’d saved $430 toward the pen and looked forward to choosing it. The morning our group of 6 decided to shop at the world famous department store Harrods, I knew my moment had come.

As we approached the 160 year old store, a commotion across the street grabbed our attention. We found a man hawking what he said was 24 karat gold jewelry displayed on the lid of a suitcase. “These necklaces are worth 10 times what I’m charging! If you took them into Harrods, their appraisal would bear that out. Hurry and make your purchases before security makes me leave!”

As he talked he laid out new pieces, each one glittering more than the previous one. Mom purchased a necklace and said, “I’m going to Harrods for an appraisal. If it isn’t as he says, I’m getting my money back.”

We crossed the street and went into Harrods, but when I reached down to check my purse, the zipper was open! I dug inside, but my wallet was gone.

“I’ve been robbed!” I shouted. “My money’s gone!”

We concluded that the jewelry guy hadn’t been working alone. A second man must have been moving through the crowd picking pockets and purses as we gawked over gold necklaces.

God wants us to hold everything lightly, every possession, opportunity, relationship, title, and every dollar bill. There’s not one thing on this earth that can’t be somehow taken from us, including our lives. It’s better to view “our” things as on-loan rather than owned, because if they vanish, our adjustment isn’t difficult. Everything we have, including each next breath, has its ultimate source in God.

Although 19 years have passed since I lost my $430, I still haven’t figured out why God let it happen. Nate never got his fancy pen, and nothing positive came from the loss. There is one consolation, though: when Mom got her money back for bogus gold, the hawker got a tart lecture from an American oldster for being so dishonest.

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” (Acts 4:32)

An Interest in Interruptions

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Last night when I snuggled under my own quilt in my own bed I thanked God I wasn’t over-nighting in a hospital like the night before. Not that Rush isn’t a beautiful facility with a solicitous staff, but all of us rest best in our own beds. My 14 hour stay in the ER was an unexpected interruption to my weekend plans, but when it was over, that’s all it had been: an interruption.

All of us like to plan our lives, even people like me who aren’t that organized. We enjoy predicting what’ll happen when, then watching it work out exactly that way. When interruptions rearrange things, we get annoyed. It feels like riding in a people-packed car and being asked to squeeze in a few more. Ugh.

Jesus was a champion at shuffling his day to embrace interruptions. If he resented them, Scripture doesn’t let us know. We might think, “Yes, but when someone stopped him it was for an important reason. My interruptions are small potatoes.”

But Jesus had a choice of how to respond in each case, just as we do. Although we’ve never heard the literal voice of Jesus, I can’t imagine him reacting in a biting tone, “Get away from me! I don’t have time right now.”

Others around him sometimes said that, but never him. He seemed to view an approaching interrupter as a chance to get to know a stranger or satisfy a need. I wish I could faithfully mimic that, but rearranging plans doesn’t come without balking first. It requires setting aside what I’ve already set as my #1 priority and substituting something lesser, at least lesser to me.

But as we watch Jesus, he acts just the opposite. The Bible says, in reference to his responses to interruptions, “He was deeply moved,” or “He felt compassion.”  Sometimes he was hit with so many consecutive interruptions he didn’t even have a chance to eat or time to rest, yet he continued to steadily dispense kindness and grace.

If I resist the interruptions God sends (which he doesn’t label as interruptions), I could be missing out on some of life’s greatest perks. Jesus held each day lightly, even each hour, faithfully watching for his Father’s signals to do this or that, go left or right. Humanly speaking, he didn’t know what awaited, and no doubt there were situations he didn’t want to participate in, episodes that brought on stress. But when he cooperated, which was always, miracles happened. And he got to take part in them.

It’s possible that the more I’m willing to embrace interruptions with anticipation, the greater my chance of participating in God’s miracles… even if some day it means trying to get cozy in a hospital bed.

“Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and… he healed them. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people.” (Matthew 15:30,32)

Come and eat!

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Poor Jack. I love him dearly and we spend lots of time together, but his needs aren’t always first on my list. Other more pressing concerns, human concerns, often push him back in the order, and I still feel badly about what happened yesterday.

This morning, after our first walk, I went to Jack’s supply of Kibbles ‘n Bits to retrieve his breakfast. During the last few years we’d been over-feeding him by a third, so he’s been on a food austerity program for several weeks. At feeding time I use the plastic container the vet gave us to measure out his meal portions exactly.

The best way to remember what he’s eaten and what he hasn’t (since we give him half in the morning and half at night), is to line up containers for several days, fill them, and serve him from that line-up. But this morning when I went to grab a full container to give him his first half, the second half was still there. I’d forgotten to feed him last night.

That’s an egregious error, because I absolutely never forget to feed myself. Hunger pangs are my go-ahead for a fill-up, and I love it when I can eat some more. But of course Jack does, too. When I feed him, he always hunkers down immediately and polishes it right off. He appreciates each bite of his Kibbles ‘n Bits and would willingly eat 3 or 4 times the vet’s suggested amount, given the chance.

Scripture has a lot to say about good eating, that man doesn’t live by bread alone but also needs the words of God. That’s interesting, considering that the majority of people have no interest in feeding on the Bible. I suppose the result is spiritual malnourishment, though they may not know it.

Hunger is a remarkable thing. The stomach growls for food when empty, making more and more noise until we respond with a meal. But if deprived of food completely, eventually it quits asking. Hunger pangs disappear about 3 days after the last food, and the body goes into starvation mode. “Remain quiet. Don’t waste an ounce of energy.”

If we choose not to “eat” Scripture, even when we feel it pulling us like a hunger pang, eventually that prompting stops. We don’t crave the Word anymore and don’t even miss it.

God never stops inviting us to the table, though: “Just taste it!” he says. “You’ll see. It’s good!” (Psalm 34:8) And he means good for more than just building bodies in the way that dog food sustains Jack. The best advantage of spiritual food is that it builds our relationship with the Lord. And unlike store-bought groceries, his nourishment is free.

In reality, though, it’s priceless.

Jesus said, “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)