Category Archives: Obedience

A Painful Wait

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The Garden of Eden has been on my mind today, especially the moment God told Eve her blatant disobedience would result in pain during childbirth. (Genesis 3:16) She wasn’t a mother and didn’t know what childbirth was, let alone a child, but she knew that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good. She also didn’t know what intensity of pain God was talking about since she’d never experienced pain of any kind, but during her moments of discipline, she knew upcoming days would include some hardship.

Eve went on to bear many children in pain, and last night Birgitta got her first taste of what God meant. Painful labor contractions began while we sat at a birthday dinner for Lars in Chicago’s Loop. Mary and Bervin were hosting a meal for 12 at their condo, and immediately after Lars blew out his candles, we announced, “Birgitta’s in labor!”

Without thinking, every one of the guests rose to their feet simultaneously, an impulsive response to significant news. Old and young, male and female, we all know bearing babies is a really big deal. As we encircled Birgitta, her Uncle Bervin blessed her through a beautiful prayer, making sure to cover our newest family member, the little someone at the center of the birthing drama.

And then off we went to Michigan, a caravan of 3 cars: ours in the lead, Mary following (just in case we had roadside drama), Louisa and cousin Stina after that. My Highlander was already equipped with “a birthing kit” that included blankets (both baby’s and mama’s), towels, wipes, scissors, latex gloves, a flashlight, string, and a bulb syringe. RFA! *

Birgitta, valiantly breathing through frequent contractions, said, “I guess we should practice some of those breathing techniques we learned.”

“Yeah,” I said, “but I can’t remember! What were they?”

She reminded me, and I said, “I sure hope you can coach me through all this ok.”

Wanting to go home before the hospital to grab our overnight bags and to tend to Jack, the 3 cars gathered at the cottage. But just after we’d called the doctor and loaded the car, Birgitta’s labor began calming. Hospital personnel said, “Not just yet.” And so we waited. Through the night.

By morning, though, the pains were more regular, so off we went. But wishing doesn’t make it so. After hanging around the hospital for several hours without significant progress, the doctor suggested we head for home where Birgitta could continue laboring more comfortably. And so after 24 hours of excitement, today ends much as it began, with Birgitta laboring like a champion and the rest of us practicing patience.

I think Eve would be proud of my daughter’s courageous approach to “bringing forth children in pain.” And I know that the moment Birgitta meets her baby daughter, the whole drama will have been worth every single contraction.

“The earth [is] the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1)

*Ready For Anything!

Word Expert

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There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love numbers and those who love words. Since I’m one of the latter, writing has always been pure pleasure. And for several years, Microsoft Word has been a practical teacher with its spell check and grammar helps, correcting some of my sloppy habits. For example, when to use “it’s” or “its”.

After being “disciplined” by multi-colored underlinings again and again, an incorrect habit is eventually corrected. The same goes for a slew of formerly misspelled words. The other day Microsoft taught me that “sovereignty” actually has the word “reign” in it, a meaningful discovery. I used to spell it, “soverignty” which detracted from the gist of it, so I was thankful for the correction.

Tonight’s blog post is my 1000th on this web site, and after all that writing (and correcting), I’ve fully accepted that I hadn’t been the wordsmith I thought I was back on blog #1 and am thankful for my cyber-tutor. All I had to do was keep writing, and Microsoft gradually coached me into doing it better.

Scripture is Word of a different sort. No Silicon Valley techies were needed to write it, but its function is similar to Microsoft’s: to correct our mistakes. God’s Word does other things, too, but if we want to know how to do things right, that’s where we can find out.

Some people say, “I never read the Bible, because it’s too big a book. I wouldn’t know where to start.” Others say, “It’s too complicated and confusing, virtually impossible to understand.” But just like getting acquainted with Microsoft Word, making an effort, even a bumbling one, will lead to familiarity.

When I first began using Microsoft’s tutoring tools, I engaged in mental sparring with the little red, green, and blue error markings. “Really?” I’d say to the screen. “What’s the problem?”

But of course the problem was always me, and as I clicked on the lines, I learned what needed correcting. To repeatedly use something leads to an understanding of it. The same is true of the Bible. As we use it, we get it. And before long, we stop arguing with God that his corrections aren’t needed and become grateful for them.

By the way, I have a friend named Debbe who never needed Microsoft Word to teach her about words but excelled at spelling and grammar on her own. So when I was told of her expertise, I asked if she would bird-dog my posts, watching for errors that might slip through Microsoft’s prompts. And recently when she let me know that “pouring over papers” should have been “poring over papers,” I was genuinely grateful for the correction.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” (2 Timothy 3:16)

 

There’s a limit.

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Having been raised by a “yes-mom,” I wanted to be one too, but sometimes that got me into trouble. Like the time I agreed to let Louisa own a couple of piranhas. But my “yes” was for a good reason: a school science project. Her plan was to see if piranhas were as ferocious as everyone said they were, by watching and charting their eating habits.

We went to the local fish store, and the proprietor led us to a divided tank where two piranhas lived. While he netted and bagged them, Louisa and I listened to his fish stories, which were entertaining until he stuck his finger in front of our noses and said, “See this big notch? A piranha tried to eat me once.”

But Louisa’s two fish were already bagged, so with wide eyes, we left the store.

Apparently piranhas will eat anything, gobbling up other fish, plants, whatever looks tasty. They’ll even attack prey larger than they are, including (gulp) humans, if they have the chance.

Louisa faithfully fed her piranhas by adding several goldfish to the tank each day, careful not to get too close when she did, and little by little, the goldfish disappeared. It was impossible to watch the piranhas eating them, though, since they wouldn’t dine while she was in the room. Eventually she left a video camera running and did catch them eating, on film. The camera, however, couldn’t detail the lightning fast attack-and-gulp of those piranhas. Each kill happened in a split second.

Louisa’s piranha project didn’t yield too much scientific data, but it did deliver an unexpected conclusion. A few days after she had stopped taping, she walked into her room and saw that one piranha had eaten the other.

These fish have insatiable appetites, along with strong determination to satisfy them, no matter what. Sadly, we humans often operate the same way, going to great lengths to satisfy our desires, and I don’t mean just with food but in all categories. Walking that center line between wanting something good and pursuing too much of it is a difficult place to live, but that’s usually the exact spot where God wants us. The question is, why?

Maybe he’s assigned us the difficult job of setting limits for ourselves so we’ll have repeated opportunities to be victorious. Then, as we’re willing to work on it, he roots for us, offering help along the way and hoping we’ll succeed.

After Louisa’s science fair ended (without a blue ribbon), she had wanted to keep the remaining piranha as a pet, but I was nervous about housing such a vicious animal. So we brought him back to the store, for lack of any other ideas of how to get rid of him. The guy took one look and said, “Whoa! How much did you feed this guy? He’s 4 times bigger than he should be!”

And I guess that’s a good reminder that giving in to big appetites only leads to bigger ones.

“Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. [God] tempts no one.” (James 1:14,13)