Sniffing the Road

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Margaret

When Jack and I take our late-night walks, sometimes we don’t need a flashlight, but I carry one anyway. If a car approaches, I turn it on and point it toward Jack, since a driver might not see a black dog at night.

Once in a while when it’s time to take our last walk of the day, Jack is already dozing. If he’s been sleeping hard, it takes a few minutes to perk him up, even out in the cold. Some nights he drags behind me as if he’s walking in his sleep.

Last night was one of those nights, and since it was after 1:00 am, I wanted him to tend to business quickly. Trying to hurry him along, I whistled, then pretended to run ahead. I even tossed a snowball down the road shouting, “Fetch!” Nothing helped.

Then I got an idea. I took out the flashlight and pointed it just ahead of my footsteps. The minute I did, he trotted from 20 feet behind me to just in front, walking near the light. If I moved the beam forward, he sped up. If I moved it back, he slowed down, as if he wasn’t sure of his step without seeing it clearly.

I could only conclude Jack doesn’t see very well. Most dogs have a keen sense of smell, #1 among their five senses. Jack walks along sniffing the road with high hopes he’ll smell something good. Suddenly he’ll pause to focus for several minutes on the same stinky spot, like we might pause in front of a beautiful painting, trying to take it in. It’s all about fun with his nose. Vision is probably at the bottom of a dog’s senses-list.

Since Nate died, sometimes I walk through life just like Jack, head down, “sniffing the road,” unsure of my step in the dark. But when I do that, opportunities get missed. There are people with eyes, like me, and then there are people with vision. Those with vision can see beyond what their eyes are looking at to what’s happening around them and what’s possible down the road. By comparison, I’m looking with tunnel vision.

Jack doesn’t worry about what he does or doesn’t see, because his well-developed nose compensates for his eyes. But I don’t have that advantage. Thankfully, though, God has perfect senses and is willing to use them for my benefit. He’s also a visionary, so he sees it all, everything that’s hidden in the dark and all the unseen possibilities still ahead. Much to my relief, he sees me, too, trudging along, “sniffing the road.” Since I can’t “smell opportunity,” I count on him to turn my head toward what he wants me to see.

One of my frequent prayers is that his messages will “hit me over the head.” Maybe I should add, “Do it with a flashlight.”

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:38b)

Will I be sorry?

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Margaret

I take the Bible literally, and the verse that says “every knee will bow to the Lord” is, I believe, self-explanatory. God emphasizes it by including it in both the Old and New Testaments.

Even though I’m looking forward to visually connecting with Jesus, a mental picture of the bowing moment gives me pause. I already know what I’ll be thinking: “I wasted so much time on unimportant stuff!”

I wish I could head off that part of it, and maybe I can. The trick is to stop wasting time. If I can accurately define what that is, maybe I can fix things before I get there.

As a child I had to memorize John 15:7 in the King James Version: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” It was a verse full of mystery because of my limited understanding of the word “abide” and also because it said I could ask God for anything and get it!

In studying John 15 during the years since childhood, I’m beginning to understand. Jesus was probably saying, “Becoming close friends with me will be your key to happiness.” He even uses the word “friend” three times (about us!) in the next few verses. And what do good friends like to do? Spend time with each other, talk to each other, love each other.

Over the years I’ve also seen that the asking-and-getting part of that verse is totally dependent on the abiding part. After we become close friends with Jesus, our requests will differ radically from those a child would ask.

If I want to do my personal best when kneeling time comes, I need to work now on my friendship with Jesus by carving out time to be together developing our friendship. That includes listening to the words he’s already said (Scripture) and responding back with my own (prayer).

Thankfully, he “gets” the necessity of human to-do lists. But he also lets us know that abiding in him while going about our business is important. He even says, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” I think he means “at least nothing important, nothing you’ll be happy about when you’re kneeling in front of me.” We can do plenty of things “apart from him,” things he doesn’t sanction, and most of them will get us in trouble. But to accomplish the high-road stuff, we need to abide in him.

Every day I think about Nate and our radically different life-settings. Has he already experienced the kneeling moment described in Scripture? Or will we all be doing that together at the end of time? More importantly, has he been allowed the inconceivable freedom of moving past the inadequacies of that moment? Has he moved into face-to-face friendship with Jesus, uninhibited by human limitations?

It may be quite a while before I get the answers to all these question marks, but I know I will. In the mean time, my interest is in what will come before those answers: my moment to kneel.

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me…” (Romans 14:11 and Isaiah 45:23)

Holy Fingerprints

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Margaret

Life offers no greater thrill than an eye-popping realization that Almighty God has bent into time and space and touched us. These moments outweigh the excitement of delivering a baby, of being reunited with loved ones, of buying something we’ve always wanted, of winning an award.

Of course there’s one critical prerequisite to experiencing these thrills: a personal relationship with God. But that’s an option anyone can choose, because God wants us all.

When you, reader, come to the end of this post having read about my God-touch today, you may think, “No big deal.” Please know I’ve prayed about this for you, asking God to show you more of himself. No matter how small his contact with us, because of who he is, it’s spectacular.

Here’s a helpful word picture. At Christmas time, my 73 year old cottage got new windows, and because its winter, they’ve not yet been washed. Toddler grandchildren, visiting at the time, decorated the glass with their pudgy handprints, and although my little relatives are gone, they’ve left evidence that they were here.

God’s touch on an ordinary day leaves a far more important imprint on my life. To be marked by his supernatural influence even once is to crave more of it and more of him.

So here’s today’s holy fingerprint. While flying home from FL last week, I read through a book of quotes by Mother Teresa. After absorbing her thoughts on life and ministry, I understood clearly how and why she lived as she did.

Her words: “Whoever the poorest of the poor are, they are Christ for us – Christ under the guise of human suffering. Jesus comes to us in the hungry, the naked, the lonely, the alcoholic, the drug addict, the prostitute, the street beggars. If we reject them, we reject Jesus.”

As our plane landed, Mother Teresa’s sacrificial life impacted me, and I felt badly about my lack of contact with the poor. Short of supporting a little girl in India who I’ve never met, I’ve done very little and hoped to change that. As we pulled up to the gate, I asked God to show me what he wanted me to do. Who were the poor he wanted me to know?

Then Monday morning I came face-to-face with three poor people at the family custody window in the county courthouse. Although I didn’t feel God’s finger on me then, today I felt it.

I had prayed, “Who, Lord?”

And he said, “Them.”

Maybe I’ll end up back at family court, hanging around the halls to see what happens. Maybe God will make other arrangements as I continue to pray for those three, but he “marked” me this morning by letting me know I don’t have to hunt for ways to help the poor. He’s going to show me.

It was a small, gentle touch in which he made me aware of the link between my prayer request and his specific answer. And because it was done by Almighty God, I am in awe.