When Unnatural Becomes Natural

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Margaret

This week I’m writing from Florida, where I’m lending a hand to daughter Linnea and her family of six. Though I bought my plane ticket last October, I had decided to cancel my trip, wanting to stay close to my sister Mary as her cancer drama unfolded.

But she and Bervin wouldn’t hear of it. “Don’t call off your plans to help Linnea,” they said, ever-conscious of the needs of others. “You should go.” So here I am, 1600 miles from Mary, getting reacquainted with Skylar (5), Micah (4), Autumn (2) and Isaac (8 weeks). Despite non-stop action, my mind hasn’t been more than inches from Mary.

The other day I mentioned that to her. But ever-positive she said, “Enjoy all that youth down there!”

Last week when I asked if she was worn out after many of her adult children had been over for dinner she said, “It’s encouraging to be around their youthful energy!”

I admire her for her upbeat comments during a very down time. She could just as easily have said, “I wish I was young again, too” or “What I wouldn’t I give to have that kind of energy,” or “If only I was as healthy as they are.” But her positive comments give a glimpse into her intentional bright-side thinking.

When you’re born a natural worrier as Mary was, landing on life-positives and plugging them into the words you speak is no small effort. But as Mary’s example demonstrates, the more we work at what doesn’t come naturally, the more we succeed.

God asks all of us to do difficult things now and then. For example, he wants us to ditch unhealthy habits and establish healthy ones. When neither of those appeal to our stubborn wills, we rebel and say, “I can’t do that, Lord, because…” and follow that with lots of reasons why not. God sees that as an unwillingness to obey.

I’ve witnessed it repeatedly here in Florida. Linnea will say to Micah, “Two more minutes on the trampoline, and then it’s time to come in.”

“But Mommy!” he’ll say. “I didn’t have enough jumping yet! Skylar was bothering me! It’s not fair! I can’t come in! I have to do more jumping!”

Micah’s response to Linnea is much like ours to God. The only difference is we hide ours behind labels like “an expression of my opinion” or “a defense of my legitimate feelings.” The results are the same: “I won’t do it your way.”

Which is why I admire Mary so much. Years ago she made up her mind to look on life’s brighter side, putting away complaining and substituting gratitude instead. It was something God wanted her to do. After she’d worked hard at it for years, what was once unnatural became natural. And now it’s who she is.

Maybe that’s because whenever we willingly follow God’s instructions, he blessed us richly for it.

“Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.” (Proverbs 16:3)

Mary’s prayer requests:

Peace for her children and that they’d turn to God’s Word for strength and comfort
Praise for the flood of support and encouragement received through prayer, gifts, cards, calls, emails, visits.
Thanks for Bervin who is faithfully staying beside Mary through all of this. For peace and courage for him.

Guard Duty

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Margaret

During recent babysitting gigs with Emerald, she’s refused to take a nap. Despite my following the same pre-bed routine as her mommy, she clings to me, refusing her bottle and wailing about going into her crib. Though I’ve let her “cry it out” for as long as 25 minutes, she just doesn’t settle.

So today I decided to do things differently. After putting her in the crib amidst loud objections on her part, I put myself on the twin bed nearby and said, “Shhh…. Grandma’s going night-night. Shhh….”

When that didn’t work, I pulled her crib right next to me, reaching through the bars to pat her back. “Night night, Emerald. Grandma’s going to sleep, too. Shhhh….” But nap time was still a no-go.

Most grandmas are wimps when it comes to being strict with a grandbaby, and I’m no exception. I pulled her out of her crib and said, “Let’s go night-night in grandma’s bed then, ok?”

Her crying stopped, and she quickly cuddled up to me, pointing out (and poking into) my eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, and hair. It wasn’t long, though, before she put her head on the bed and was fast asleep. While I worked to gently extract her fingers from my tangled hair (without waking her), I watched her sleep, a spiritual experience if there ever was one.

But then it was time to inch off the bed and leave the room, but how could I be sure she wouldn’t fall off as she slept?

I spent the next 20 minutes building a fence around her, tip-toeing in with a row of dining room chairs, followed by more chairs to make sure the first chairs wouldn’t slide. I put pillows between her head and the stucco walls and then stood back to assess my work. It still wasn’t good enough. The only sure thing was to stay in the room, watching over her until she woke up.

It occurred to me that while I was watching over Emerald, God was watching over both of us, not just during that 2 hour nap time but always. He remains at his “guard post” 24/7, not so much to prevent adversity or keep us 100% safe but to maintain a level of control over what happens to us. He may allow trouble to come but will only let it go “so far.”

This afternoon while on guard duty, I watched Emerald move in her sleep, rolling onto different sides, fumbling for her pacifier with eyes closed, stretching out on her back. She rolled near the edge of the bed once, but I was right there, in case she fell. Yet she had no awareness of the security I was providing by being in the room.

Sometimes we’re unaware of God’s protection, too, despite him having told us he’s always watching. But on those days when we believe he’s there, it makes all the difference in the world.

“The ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths.” (Proverbs 5:21)

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!”