Category Archives: Parenting

Excitement in the Pew

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Recently, on the first Sunday of the month, I slid into church a couple of minutes late and sat in the back row. As the service proceeded, I enjoyed watching a family sitting in front of me with four young children. My best guesses were: a boy of 12, girls about 9 and 8 and a boy around 6. All were well-behaved, and the mother, sitting in the middle, repeatedly quick-glanced in both directions to make sure.

Toward the end of the service, she leaned over to her youngest boy, probably a first grader, and whispered, “You can take communion today.”

It was as if he’d been told there was a new bike waiting for him in the parking lot. He wiggled and squirmed with excitement he could barely contain, gently tugging on his older brother’s sleeve as if to say, “Did you hear that? Mom said I could!”

CommunionAs the plate of crackers came, he didn’t hesitate but took one and passed it on. Soft music played as he studied his tiny treasure, looking back and forth between his cracker and his mother’s face. She smiled and put her hands together to let him know he should pray, and immediately he bowed his head. When the pastor gave the signal to eat, he looked at his brother, who gave him the go-ahead. A similar routine occurred with the cup.

I can’t stop thinking about this little guy’s enthusiasm for communion. He made a joyful mark on me, and I knew God was watching him with satisfaction. I prayed this child would always remember the happiness he felt as he took communion for the first time.

Children are naturally drawn to Jesus. Scripture says so, and it’s still true today. God must have endowed them with a special understanding of his love. They never question it and usually receive salvation as the uncomplicated gift it is. They have no thoughts of “what about this or that…” and simply trust that he is who he says he is. What delight this must bring to the heart of the Father. If only we adults could think in the same unfettered way.

This little boy’s behavior showed he’d been prepared for communion and schooled in the deep significance of the cross. I hope when he put his head on the pillow that night, his mom or dad asked for his thoughts about the morning. He might have taught them something special.

Once in a while, all of us would do well to think like a child.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. Praise for long, nourishing naps after chemo treatments.
  2. Pray for wisdom on Wednesday as we meet again with the GI specialist about the painful feeding tube.
  3. Pray that the mild nausea I’m experiencing tonight won’t flare up tomorrow.
  4. Pray for enough strength to have fun with 5 grandchildren this week.

Who’s Who?

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All of us are curious about how we came to be. Why did we end up male or female, and how were we assigned to a certain family? How did we land first, middle, or last in the birth order? These are interesting questions without ready answers, but that doesn’t stop us from wondering.

The Nyman family was designed like this: boy-boy-girl-boy-boy-girl-girl. I say “designed” because I believe God puts families together purposefully. Whether born-into, adopted, originating as a frozen embryo, or arriving in some other way, the Lord considers all the factors in his decision-making about each birth:

  • which parents?
  • what sex for each child?
  • what position in which family?
  • what personality?
  • what physical appearance?
  • when in human history he/she should arrive?

Linnea and her brothers, and dadI remember our Linnea ap- proaching me at the age of four. “It isn’t fair!” she said, her freckled face full of fury. “You had four boys and only me for a girl!”

Before I could comment, she launched into a lecture, letting me know I had no business tipping the scales so heavily toward the boy side. “Why did you?” she cried.

I had to admit, it did seem unfair. If we were voting on babies, her impression was I’d stuffed the ballot box in favor of boys because I liked them four times better than girls.

The answer that came to me was, “God decided.”

Like it or not, that was the truth; the baby-buck had always stopped with him. I’ve been thankful on more than one occasion for his permission to use his omnipotence in debates with children, and as always when God shows up in authority, the argument ceases. Even a six-year-old knows she can’t win against The Almighty.

All of us have questioned at one time or another why we were born as we were. Because faith in God is the fulcrum of my life, I’ve  wondered why I was born to Christian parents who led the way to Jesus. What if Mom and Dad had been Muslim? Or Buddhist? Or Hindu? Would I have followed their lead? Or would I have found Christ another way?

We aren’t in a position to demand answers to those questions. But I believe one day in heaven we’ll be shown, and when we hear God’s explanation we’ll say, “Ohhhh. Now I get it.”

Linnea eventually accepted her feminine fate, and I worked harder to partner with her in family femininity. Once she accepted that it was God who made her and her siblings exactly as they were, she chose to partner with him in finding a solution to the problem of too many brothers: pray and ask him for a sister.

Linnea and her sistersShe prayed for 5 years, and lo and behold, God sent her two!

“I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment. And how happy I was with the world the Lord created; how I rejoiced with the human family!” (Proverbs 8:12,31)

 

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. I’m rejoicing tonight that my 3 scans today revealed no stray cancer cells!
  2. Chemo resumes on Monday (9 down, 9 to go) with an additional anti-nausea drug in the “cocktail.”

Reaching Perfection

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It’s hard to be perfect at anything. No matter how we try, our efforts are flawed. But when I was a kid, I got to be perfect at one thing: Sunday school attendance.

In the ‘40s and ‘50s, our church involvement went well beyond sitting through one hour-long worship service. Sunday school came before church, followed by a fellowship time, followed by “real” church. Since my family lived in the Chicago suburbs and Moody Church was in the city, we left home early and returned mid-afternoon, often heading back to church later for youth group and then an evening worship service.

Moody attendance pinNevertheless, many of us chased after perfect attendance. If we ventured out of town, a diligent search was made for an acceptable local church to attend. And it wasn’t good enough just to sit through a church service. In order to get attendance credit with our home church, we had to be present at a Sunday school hour, too. Then we proved that by bringing home a note from the vacation Sunday school, preferably written on their church letter-head.

If we successfully attended Sunday school for 52 weeks in a row, we received a gold and enamel brass bar attached to an attendance pin. Each new year came with a fresh chance to win another bar.

What made us want to attend Sunday school every single week of the year? In the beginning we were obedient little children just following orders, loving the flannel-graph stories and the teachers who taught them. That evolved into the fun of coming together with pals each week, which grew into asking hard questions from teachers who lived out their faith in front of us.

Many of us still point to these Sunday school teachers and youth pastors as important mentors in our lives. They encouraged us to “walk the high road” rather than cave in for instant gratification.

But the #1 motivation toward perfect Sunday school attendance was a person… actually three people. As we showed up week to week, we got to know and love (1)  God our heavenly Father, (2) Jesus our personal Savior, and the mysterious but powerful (3) Holy Spirit who, amazingly enough, was willing to live within us if we asked him. And because of these three, we learned that in God’s hands, even life’s negatives eventually yield blessings.

Sunday School pinWhether or not we find perfection in any category on this earth, the Trinity has offered to provide eternal perfection to all who believe. And we don’t even have to attend Sunday school to get it.

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of [Christ’s] return is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)