Category Archives: Learning from our past

Summer, don’t go!

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Flip FlopsAlthough I wore flip-flops today, the comments of others made me realize I was pushing the season. In just a few days socks and shoes will be the norm, and my beloved flip-flops will have to go back into storage. It’s just one of the many mini-mournings of a summer person looking toward winter. Though the colored leaves have been stunning this year, in a short time they, too, will have put their summer fashions into storage.

Winter people are quick to mention the positives of their favorite season to us summer folk: the beauty of fresh snow, fires in the fireplace, soups on the stove, roasts in the oven, and 3 major holidays. We could argue over the seasons for quite a while and never come up with a clear winner.

But what does God think about our discussing which weather-season is best? Is he ok with that debate?

Actually, no.

So what does he want us to allow into our minds that comes out in conversation? What thoughts are above all others? Scripture tells us to put everything through a grid of 8 subjects. If we can honestly say a debate about the seasons falls under one of them, we can go for it. Here they are:

  1. Four SeasonsTruth
  2. Honor
  3. Righteousness
  4. Purity
  5. Beauty
  6. Excellence
  7. Worthiness
  8. Praiseworthiness

Could a discussion of favorite seasons fall under #5? Of course we couldn’t make a case for one season being more beautiful than another. Maybe a better leaning would be toward gratitude for seasonal variety or a discussion about the great creativity of the Almighty. We might even recognize him for the faithfulness he demonstrates in causing the 4 seasons to come and go with such flawless consistency.

The above list of 8 is given in one short Bible verse, Philippians 4:8. The Message translation gives us the same list in a slightly different way:

“You’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”

Whining about the waning of summer and the gloom of packing away my flip-flops doesn’t fall under the list in either translation. Although debating which season is best probably isn’t sinful, it sure isn’t taking the conversational high road, and that includes conversation inside our heads.

Despite the fact that we live in a fallen world, God has surrounded us with unnumbered items from that list of 8. When I ignore those to yammer away about things that aren’t on the list, I’ve missed an opportunity to please God and do life his way.

WinterSo, as I slip my flip-flops into their storage bin (without complaining), I should tell God how lovely his summer season has been, that I’ve noticed his extra-vibrant fall colors, and that I’m looking forward to the beauties of the winter he sends, no matter what the weather report will say.

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously.” (Matthew 6:33)

Not My Gift

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In recent days we battled a couple of field mice in the house, so I’d called the Orkin man. He pointed out various cracks and gaps tiny mice were squeezing through to get in. “Fill up those spaces,” he told me. “And do it soon, since colder weather makes mice hunt for warmer places to winter.”

I know lots of people who “winter” in warmer places, traveling from Michigan to Arizona or Florida, and I didn’t want any mice arriving to winter with us.

Insulating foam sealantSo I went to Home Depot and asked for advice. A man in an orange apron led me to a spray can of something called insulating foam sealant “for large gaps and cracks.” It sounded perfect.

Normally I’m not a label reader, but the salesman had told me goggles and gloves were a must, so I decided to read: “Warning/danger! Is combustible and may present a fire hazard. Protect eyes, skin, and surfaces.“ I pulled on rubber gloves, and vowed to squint hard.

“You won’t need much of this stuff,” the man had said. “It expands.”

And boy, was he right. After I applied a long line that resembled bathtub caulk, in an instant it had morphed into something like marshmallows gone berserk. And then it hardened like rock.

Foam fillAs I stood back and looked at four foam-filled areas, I knew I never should have tackled the project without counsel from someone who knew his way around a can of foam. Thankfully the gaps I filled were in the back of the house under a long-neglected soffit. I just hoped no other human would ever see what I’d done.

Not all of us have the skills to do everything well. Each of us has been given giftings or bents that make it easy to accomplish certain things and impossible to do others.

That’s true spiritually, too. The Bible details God’s gift-giving system, explaining that not everybody has all the gifts. He arranges it that way on purpose, wanting us to need each other. We’re to learn to give of ourselves but also to take what others give to us. It’s a good system, unless we’re bent on independence (like I was with the foam). Then it all breaks down.

Unskilled handsI was foolish not to acknowledge my lack of gap-filling skill and know now I shouldn’t have done it alone. As for no other human seeing the mess I’d made, the very next day Mr. Orkin returned and made a beeline to those four mouse-gaps. I cringed as he inspected my foam overload, but his response was gratifying:

“Well,” he said, “there’s not a mouse in this neighborhood that’s ever gonna get through that.”

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.”  (1 Corinthians 12:4-6)

Does it add up?

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A special dayFour years ago today, Nate and I sat in front of 8 doctors and learned his body was full of cancer. In that 2 hour meeting we also learned he wasn’t going to live much longer. I sometimes wonder if September 22 will always be part of a strange equation in my mind:

September 22 + medical news = death sentence.

It might just as well be:

September 22 + cancer = hopes dashed.

When I think of the specific hopes that were destroyed that day, the list is long:

  • the hope Nate would have relationships with our grandchildren
  • the hope he’d be able to attend the remaining family weddings
  • the hope we would travel together
  • the hope he would be the one to wrap-up his own legal practice one day
  • the hope I’d be able to ask his advice for many years to come

…and so much more. Since the memory of September 22 is all bad, should that day be deliberately remembered each year?

As always, I asked God what he wanted me to think about that, and he told me, showing me how often the Bible promoted looking back, even at the bad stuff. For instance, he said to the Israelites, “Remember when you were slaves and couldn’t change your destiny for 400 years?” But then he added, “Remember also how I ended it in one day?” It’s another equation:

400 + God’s plan = freedom

Red Sea partingIn scores of scriptural examples God directed people back to dark memories but always linked them to his presence there: “Remember how you were trapped between a vicious army and a deep sea? But please don’t forget how I rearranged your situation 100% in just a few minutes!” The equation:

military disaster + breath of God = 100% safety

In other words, God urges us to go back to difficult days but not for the purpose of wallowing in their misery. Instead he wants us to recognize that he was in those exact circumstances at the same time we were, adding good to all the bad. He knows we have a hard time spotting him in the midst of a crisis, but when the emergency is over, he wants us to look back and see where he was active during those days.

So now, as I think back to September 22, 2009, I also remember that that was the day God made a promise to us that he wouldn’t leave us alone or defenseless for even one minute throughout our ordeal, and he didn’t. Though he doesn’t usually remove a crisis immediately after it arrives, he does move himself tightly into it, providing supernatural strength and explaining powerful lessons about his sufficiency that always surround us when we’re experiencing trouble. He wants us to understand that every set-back is simply a set-up for his blessing.

So today, in remembering that sad September 22, God gave me a brand new equation to replace the old one:

September 22 + cancer = God’s presence with us!

“Let those on the hunt for you sing and celebrate. Let all who love your saving way say over and over, ‘God is mighty!’ ” (Psalm 70:4)