Careful Watching

This afternoon I watched 5 young children race down the dune and into Lake Michigan’s gentle waves without a moment’s hesitation or a backward glance. Although they seemed to be in the 6-8 year range, no adult was following. No one was shouting, “Wait till I get there!”

Watching them cavort in chin-deep water, I was reminded of my own childhood and similar unsupervised water play at the same beach. When Mary and I grew up and had children ourselves, they also splashed freely there from sun-up to sun-down.

Whenever we had young babies, we’d arrive at the beach on the “early shift” so that by mid-afternoon our little ones could be back home for naps. If Mom was at the cottage too, she was always willing to listen for the nappers so Mary and I could head back to the waterfront alone.

One summer afternoon in 1975, while our little ones were sleeping with their grandma in charge, Mary and I went back to the beach to luxuriate in some time without any children. All of a sudden Mary said, “Hey… Look down the beach. Isn’t that Nelson and Julia wading into the water?”

Nelson and Julia

Sure enough, the 2 two-year-olds we’d put to bed not long before were wading into the water dressed in their cloth diapers and rubber pants. We ran down and collected them, then headed home to get the story from Mom.

“They weren’t tired,” she said, “and wanted to go back to the beach. So I pointed them in the right direction and hoped they’d find you.”

This meant walking 5 blocks (and making two correct turns), climbing a big dune (paved), and walking down 100 concrete steps to the sand where we were sitting amidst many others. Somehow these little ones did that, though it was unsettling watching them walk into the water unaccompanied.

Steps

But then again, it was typical Mom. When we asked if she’d been worried they might not make it, she said, “Oh, but they did.”

This grandma was a risk-taker. She’d sent them off “hoping” they’d reach the beach and find us, but if not, “hoping” another mother would step in and help. And behind all of that shaky logic, she believed Julia and Nelson had guardian angels watching over them.

God is not a risk-taker like Mom was. He doesn’t have to be, because he’s omniscient. He’s 100% capable of watching over children because his future knowledge is complete. Mom “hoped” everything would work out, but she wasn’t sure. God, on the other hand, is always sure. And he has legions of angels to do his bidding.

As for that little gang of young swimmers I saw today, I watched for quite a while. Somewhere an adult was probably “hoping” they’d be OK at the beach, and amazingly, it all worked out fine.

“Be careful that you never despise a single one of these little ones — for I tell you that they have angels who see my Father’s face continually in Heaven.”  (Matthew 18:10)

Did you mean to be mean?

Every young mom worries about the safety of her newborn, especially in that first month. Will I drop him? Will I accidentally scratch her with my nail? Will he fall off my bed if I nap him there?

But what about us grandmas? We wonder if we’ll stumble or even fall while holding the baby. What if we run out of energy or doze off unknowingly while on duty?

Not so safe

In other words, what if we cause harm without meaning to? I know the answer to that, because it happened to me this weekend. I should say, more accurately, it happened to Emerald.

Our little girl has grown to be 3 months old but has never had her nails cut. Birgitta knew it was time, having been repeatedly scratched by her “caresses.” So I decided to be a good grandma and buy a special baby-sized clipper, the one that had “Safety 1st” in its name. When clipping time came, Emerald clenched her dimpled fists, making her fingertips go white (the same color as her tiny nails). Birgitta just couldn’t do it.

photo(2)

Although I have no memory of clipping baby fingernails, surely I must have, so I volunteered. The first 3 fingers went well, and we heard the snip-snip of her soft nails, but the 4th finger snip didn’t make any noise. That’s because I’d inadvertently cut the tip of her finger, missing the nail completely!

As Birgitta worked to comfort her screaming, a rush of regret poured through me. Emerald’s first bleeding episode, and it was my fault. I lost 2 hours of sleep that night berating myself, though Birgitta didn’t lay blame.

Sadly, in a few days, Emerald will be hurt again, this time with a vaccination needle. Such “harm,” though, is carefully calculated and allowed to happen for a valuable purpose. Because of that, her mommy will be in favor of her “suffering” on that day.

God uses a similar logic. If we receive a bad medical report, or if an accident occurs, a financial downturn takes place, a hope is dashed, a relationship fractured, a job lost, God is allowing it. But he never lets it happen until he’s first assessed that it has a valuable purpose, much like Birgitta assessed the vaccination.

When life hurts, we can’t imagine why God doesn’t eliminate the pain, just like Emerald will be bewildered and upset at her upcoming doctor’s appointment. But Birgitta is going to orchestrate that, whether Emerald understands or not. The same goes for us.

So, what’s our best response? We should do just what Emerald did when I clipped her finger: she looked to her parent for comfort. We should turn to God in that same way, knowing he’ll never allow pain into our lives without a valuable purpose behind it…

Thinking it over...

…something far more important than well-trimmed nails.

“I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course. So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle.” (Jeremiah 10:23-24)

Foundational Decisions

All of us who were raised in Sunday school sang the song about the foolish man and the wise man who each built a house, one on the sand, the other on a rock. As we enthusiastically did the hand motions, pounding our fists to imitate hammers and wiggling our fingers for rain, we couldn’t wait for the foolish man’s house to go, “Smash!” The bigger our claps, the better.

The last verse of the song says, “Build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ… and the blessings will come down.” As a child I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but now I know.

The story of the wise and foolish builders was originally told by the master story-teller, Jesus, in Matthew 7. He was illustrating a critical principle: as the foundation goes, so goes the house.

A building project

When all 7 of my grandchildren were staying with us recently, Louisa undertook an interesting building project with the 5 kiddies old enough to participate: a gingerbread house.

I admired her pluck in attempting to manage a mob of youngsters along with bags of icing and bowls of candy, but she eagerly initiated it. In this case, the little house was all made of gingerbread, including its foundation. But it didn’t need to stand through any storm bigger than 10 little hands picking at it over the next few days.

Weakening the house

As it turned out, that finger-picking was all it took to ultimately make the little gingerbread house fall. Apparently cookies and candies don’t make very good building materials.

When Jesus told his story about the wise and foolish men, his obvious point was that we should build our lives on a foundation that will continue to stand through any storm. He, of course, was and is that life-foundation for anyone who so chooses. Those who build on anything else eventually learn that turbulent circumstances carve away their foundation, putting them at risk for a fall. Or, as Jesus put it, for “a great fall.” (v. 27)

But he was making another point in this story, too. Before he got started he said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be…” wise.

He was saying, “I’m dishing out the truth here, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll buy what I’m about to say.”

He also detailed the flip side: “Anyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is foolish.” (v. 26) So if we’re sensible, we’ll build our lives on the Lord, not on money, reputation, possessions, behavior, or anything else that seems like good building materials at the time, but in a storm will surely crumble….

The house went smash.

….just like a house made of gingerbread.

“Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24)