A Master Craftsman

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Margaret

Over the weekend in our neighborhood, winter made one last powerful blast. After a day dotted with snow flurries, our thermometers dipped to a very unwelcome 12 degrees overnight.

In the morning, though, it was worth it, because God showed me a cold-weather wonder in an unlikely place. My dog Jack never likes to be without a drink, so when he goes “out to play” on my deck, I leave a bowl of water near the door.

After our night in the deep-freeze, I knew his water would be frozen and need refreshing, which is when God amazed me. As the round ice slipped from the bowl into the kitchen sink, its bubbles caught the morning sun and flashed like so many diamonds. The only thing to do was stop and study it, acknowledging the extraordinary beauty God had put in this ordinary place.

Some would laugh at me for saying God was responsible for the artwork inside that ice. But freezing and thawing, along with a zillion other natural processes, were first established by him back at creation. And since the laws of nature are all subject to his control, he is, indeed, responsible for what I saw.

As I admired the circular hunk of ice, turning it around in the sun, I decided to investigate whether it’s easy or difficult to put bubbles into ice…. or into its visual equivalent, glass.

If glass-blowers want to insert bubbles or lines into their artwork to make it look like Jack’s water-bowl ice, they have to learn how to handle blobs of gooey, red-hot glass while carefully regulating its rate of cooling. Then they have to add new layers of glass, trapping bubbles between them, hoping they won’t pop. And throughout the process, they must be careful not to let the glass droop or drop. Only seasoned craftsmen can accomplish this.

I have a bubble-infused glass paper weight, and once in a while I study it, amazed by its beauty.

Yet staring into the ice from Jack’s water bowl flooded me with the same sense of wonder as looking at my paperweight. My admiration for the two artists, however, (a glassblower or God himself) is quite different.

A glassblower is probably not equally skilled with wood, metal, stone, oil paint, or any other medium. But God is a master-craftsman in all categories, from atoms to atmospheres.

He can make everything from glittering bubbles to glittering stars.

All of it causes me to appreciate his astonishing abilities, even if some of what he makes is either too tiny or too massive to understand. Just seeing what he can do in a dog’s water bowl is enough to convince me he is an Artisan like no other.

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things…” (Revelation 4:11)

Don’t wait.

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Margaret

Dad always used to say, ”If a blizzard comes in December, January, or February, shovel it up quickly. Otherwise you could be slipping and sliding on it until March. But if a blizzard comes in March, don’t worry about it. It’ll melt away on its own.”

Yesterday we had a blizzard in my neighborhood. It was two days after the start of spring, and thinking of Dad’s words, I didn’t even get my shovel out of the shed. But I probably should have looked at my iPhone’s weather app.

Last night we went down to 15 degrees, and this morning our 5″ of snow was crunchy, slippery, and very difficult to walk on with hard ice underneath. As Birgitta struggled up the front walk carrying Emerald today, I felt bad that I hadn’t shoveled.

Dad’s rule has proven true over the years, maybe 95% of the time. But this blizzard was an exception. And it reminded me of times in my history when I’ve had a crispy cold heart toward certain situations or, in some cases, toward certain people.

It’s always best to “shovel away” accumulated “ice” by dealing with it sooner rather than later. If our frigid attitude is toward a set of circumstances, we should promptly make an analysis: if there’s something we can do to warm things up, we should; if not, we ought to hand it over to God so he can do it.

If it’s a relationship that’s become icy, we ought to look seriously for the reason(s) and act quickly to sort it out, particularly if it’s inside of a marriage. Relationship problems never “melt away on their own.”

And if we find ourselves cooling toward the Lord, we ought to get out the proverbial space heaters. Letting ourselves drift into a spiritual deep freeze can lead to a frosty relationship with the one who has offered to keep us warm from the inside out. And if shoveling away the relationship snow seem too daunting a task, we can remind ourselves it’ll never be any easier than it is “today.”

As for my crusty front sidewalk, the weather app tells me it’ll hit 52 degrees tomorrow and that a spring rain will wash away all the ice and snow. So in terms of blizzards, I guess Dad was right again.

“Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.” (Psalm 37:8)

Creative Genius

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Margaret

My grandson Micah recently turned 5, and like all 5-year-olds he’s a creative genius. For instance, last week as his daddy worked hard pressure-washing the driveway and house, Micah watched carefully. Within minutes of Adam rounding the corner toward the back yard, Micah was playing on the clean driveway, admiring its fresh, bright-white appearance.

Maybe it was the rejuvenated contrast of concrete and joints, but Micah quickly came up with a new idea. After running to a neighboring empty lot and uprooting a fistful of weeds, he planted them (dirt, roots, and all) in the driveway cracks. Though he’d never done that before, pressure-washing day seemed the perfect time to smear dirt into the clean concrete.

His wise father saw this but didn’t chide his son. Surely, though, he was disappointed. Couldn’t it have stayed clean for even an hour?

I asked Micah, “So, what’s that you’re doing there?”

“I’m planting a garden, and I’m going to jump over it.”

When he was finished, he brought a big red bouncy ball from the garage and proceeded to jump high enough to clear the foot-tall plants. Back and forth he jumped, till he was flushed with the effort. We cheered him on, snapped photos, and praised his high energy.

* * * * *

Occasionally the parenting years include work that must be re-done and messes that are completely unnecessary. Actually, not just occasionally. Often.

Raising kids is a ton of work and isn’t for the faint of heart. But the interesting thing is that when we feel “stretched to the breaking point,” we usually don’t break. Instead we discover there’s always a bit more stretch left.

Where does it come from? No doubt from God. More than likely it’s him showing up in response to our prayerful calls for help.

When God gives us a big assignment (such as raising children), he doesn’t do it without offering the tools to do it well. As young parents parent, he is parenting them. And no loving parent would ask his children to do something he knows they can’t do.

It’s also true that God-as-Parent wants to be in on every “stretchy” parenting project. He offers to give moms and dads “more stretch” whenever they need it and then hopes they’ll take advantage of his offer. When they ask, he delivers.

As for Micah’s driveway garden, after he’d moved on to another project, Grandma Midgee plucked up his weeds, brushed away the dirt, and found that the bright-white driveway was none the worse for wear.