Left and Right

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This morning in church, just as the service started, a snowstorm started, too. Because the temperature was above freezing, it didn’t “stick,” but it was very pretty. I noticed something funny, though.

WestNorthOut the western windows snowflakes were gently falling straight down. Out the north they were whipping sideways. I figured it was the shape of the building com- bined with wind currents.

It reminded me of a visit we made to Hawaii 27 years ago. The “wild island” of Kauai had beautiful beaches and rolling waves, but no one was swimming. That’s because skies were forever full of threatening black clouds and winds were fierce.

But then I learned the truth. While catching up on laundry at a public laundromat, I was grousing about the bad weather when another mom shared something interesting. “You know, don’t you, that on the other side of the island it’s always sunny?”

She explained how something called “localized weather phenomena” caused radically different weather systems on different sides of the island, sometimes to the extreme. We were on the south end, and if we drove a few miles toward the west, she said, we’d be on “the warm sunny side.”

These two weather stories reminded me of a biblical Proverb that says we shouldn’t let our left hand know what our right is doing. The instruction refers to our giving. God says we should do it in secret, telling us that he sees all anonymous giving and will reward us accordingly.

Anonymous giving isn’t all that common these days, though I suppose if it’s truly anonymous, who would know? Maybe the Bible’s point is that giving in secret comes with a couple of perks: it’s a type of hard-won victory to accomplish it without anyone knowing, and even better than that, God himself will be the One to reward us.

Left and rightOf course we can’t really give in such a way that our left hand isn’t aware of what our right hand is doing, since both are connected to the same brain. But then again, watching the same snowstorm behave independently west and north, and the same island vary significantly south and west makes me want to try.

“When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:3-4)

Praising and Praying with Mary

A praise report on grandson Anders, doing well at home and now up to 5 pounds 11 ounces!

An Itsy-bitsy Good Deed

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It isn’t every day I get to spend 8 hours in my car. (This time it was a turn-around trip to an important wedding.) Such a road trip offers some nice perks, though: uninterrupted time for praying, thinking, and listening to music.

Honda CivicForty miles into the trip, a silver Honda Civic pulled alongside me and began tooting its horn. Trying to keep my cool, I didn’t look. Surely this person wasn’t inviting a race.

But the tooting continued, so I glanced over, thinking it must be a friend. The driver was waving her arm, pointing to the rear of my car and shouting. Although nothing about my car seemed amiss, I wondered.

“What?” I mouthed, hoping she’d repeat herself, and she rolled down her window. By now a line of irritated cars was following both of us, like we were the lead vehicles in a Grand Prix, but I opened my window, too. Over the rush of wind, I understood her.

DanglingIt turned out my little fuel door was open with the gas cap blowing around on its wire, the cause for her heads-up. After nodding thanks, I worked my way to the shoulder and corrected the problem.

Back on the highway, I thought about this kind stranger and the scores of other drivers who’d passed me noticing the dangling gas cap but chalking it up to a middle-aged woman’s forgetfulness. “Thanks for nothin’,” I thought of all of them, until God’s heavy hand tapped me.

“Are you kidding, Margaret? How many times have you gone out of your way to help a stranger like Honda-woman just helped you?”

As always, he was right, and I was selfish. Over the next 40 miles I checked every gas cap I passed, hoping to repeat the good deed for someone else. But of course God has more in mind than mere duplication. His idea is that we lend a hand on a full time basis, not for credit from strangers but to please him. After all, this is the example Jesus set.

An hour later at a bathroom stop, I got my first little chance for a good deed. The restroom was sparkling except for one used paper towel on the floor. I picked it up and put it into the trash, an itsy-bitsy mini-good deed. After all, I have to start somewhere.

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds.” (Matthew 5:16)

Praising and Praying with Mary

It’s all good news and thanks to God for a very refreshing week in Florida with Bervin.

Dee

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When our firstborn, Nelson, was still a toddler, we decided to buy him his first pet, the same pet most young parents often start with: a goldfish. Except for sea monkeys, nothing could be easier.

Every time little Nelson pushed a chair up to the kitchen counter to see his fish, he’d study the water-filled tank and say, “Dee-dee!” (his word for “drink”). And that’s how Dee got his name.

SANY0053As most new parents do, we considered our young offspring to be especially bright, so we carefully showed him how to shake the fish food into the water, just two quick shakes each day. Nelson  seemed to understand, following through exactly as I’d told him.

Then one day I came into the kitchen and found him kneeling on the counter, enthusiastically shaking Comet cleanser into Dee’s tank. He looked at me without the slightest bit of guilt, proud of himself for doing what I’d taught him. “Dee eat!” he said with a smile, although Dee was invisible in the cloudy green water.

CometDee’s short life came to a quick conclusion after that. Despite an immediate cleaning of the tank, within hours he was belly-up. Nelson had no trouble summing up the situation: “Dee ni-night.”

I’m sure there are times when God instructs me much the same as I instructed Nelson, hoping I’ll listen carefully and diligently follow through. Just as Dee suffered as a result of Nelson’s mistake, I often suffer from my own mistakes… or from plain old disobedience.

Sometimes God’s instructions seem too difficult (or unpleasant) to follow, so I flat-out disregard them and do what seems right to me, even if it’s the opposite of what God said. Such foolishness always results in disaster, maybe immediately, maybe later.

Goldfish.There is one big difference between my instructions to Nelson and God’s instructions to me. Our toddler wasn’t really capable of understanding the feeding ritual for a fish, so Dee’s demise was probably my fault. But God’s instructions are always rightly-matched to my ability to follow through.

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you.” (Psalm 32:8)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. I’m thankful that little Anders had a successful first 24 hours at home.
  2. Vacationing in Florida this week has been delightful and nourishing.
  3. My heart is aching tonight for good friends who just learned their 50-something husband and father has “cancer everywhere.”