September 26, 2013

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Margaret

Throughout the year 2010, I blogged about each of my 7 children on their birthdays. That included my 2 in-law children (children-in-love), but one was missing. That’s because Brooke hadn’t yet joined our family. As a matter of fact, 2010 was the year she and Klaus first met, and on June 22 of this year, she became a Nyman.

To her credit, she hasn’t been intimidated by her new husband’s large family but has joined our ranks with enthusiasm. Maybe that’s because she lives all of life enthusiastically. I love her exuberance and the fact that it bubbles out of a heart committed to Christ.

Brooke has strong creative genes that show through in her interior decorating, her cooking, her jewelry (left), her wardrobe, and her passion for antique-ing. She can turn almost anything into a work of art and is not above “dumpster diving” for her supplies, most recently orange crates for book shelves. She also sells her creations at flea markets, craft fairs, and in boutiques.

A champion at bargain-hunting, she loves a “rare find” and enjoys stretching a dollar. Surely her careful spending will be a gift to her marriage and family for the rest of their lives.

I fully believe God brings marriage partners together in ever-unique ways in answer to the prayers of both the man and the woman. And if their parents are also praying for the Lord’s choices, how can they miss? Hearing the origins of these love stories is fascinating, especially hunting for God in the details.

Although Brooke and Klaus were raised in towns 110 miles apart, our move to Michigan in 2009 and Klaus’ arrival in early 2010 turned out to be pivot points in bringing the two of them together. I’ll never forget the excited text I received while visiting daughter Linnea and family in Florida, the day after Klaus met Brooke. “What do you think about me dating a 19 year old?” Since he was 29 at the time, it was a good question.

I responded by asking if she was a Christian, and when he said, “Yup!” I figured, why not?

Three years later, the two of them are having fun feathering their nest and settling into married life. And since we live less than a mile apart, I get to see a great deal of them.

One of Brooke and Klaus’ favorite Scripture passages is Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

They both trusted the Lord to direct their paths to each other, and as the verse says, if they continue to depend on his understanding over their own, he will continue showing them which paths to take.

Brooke, we’re so glad you’re finally on the family birthday roster. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!

“Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.” (Psalm 37:5)

Celebrity or Commoner?

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Margaret

September never fails to include a few lovely summer days, and today was one of them. Rather than have my devotions at home, I grabbed Jack and headed for the beach, our shared favorite place.

While he romped in the dunes and did happy dances upside- down on the sand, I took a few minutes to walk the wave line looking for pretty stones and the occasional piece of beach glass.

Since the waves were small today, the stones were small, too. “Mini’s” we call them. But they’re every bit as pretty as their larger counterparts. Walking along slowly picking up stones, I spotted a piece of aqua-tinted beach glass. A few feet further there was a brown one, then two frosty-white ones. Step-after-step I found more and more until I had 24 in all, quite an unusual yield for a short strip of beach.

It’s interesting that beach glass is man-made and stones are God-made. Both are frequently taken home as treasures, but they’re very different from one another. The bits of etched glass are glamorous, rare, the “celebrities” of beach finds. Attractive stones are more common, easier to find, and have no special sparkle.

People come in those two varieties, too. Some sparkle with fame and fortune, whether through Hollywood, Washington DC, Wall Street, or even in a pastorate. We can easily become enamored with these superstars, putting them on mental pedestals, since the rest of us are much like commonplace beach stones by comparison. We’re ordinary and have no reason to grace a magazine cover or be interviewed on TV.

Because of the stark difference between celebs and non-celebs, we commoners can sometimes fall into the trap of wondering if we’re accomplishing anything significant in our lives. If we fall prey to this kind of analysis, though, God has some comforting news for us.

Let’s pretend we’re the beach stones, and the “movers and shakers” of this world are the beach glass. God is the one walking along the shore, except that he wouldn’t do what I did this morning, picking up only the choicest finds. He would arrive at the beach with a giant scooper big enough to lift every single piece off the sand, glass and stones alike. They’d mix together indiscriminately, and once he got us home, he wouldn’t separate us into separate piles. Every piece would be equally valuable.

Picturing God on the beach behind the controls of a scooper is silly but expresses the truth that he loves each of us equally and offers eternal salvation to all in the same way. Living an ordinary life without sparkle or flash does nothing to diminish our “chances” with him. He loves us all, and when we say yes to him, he’ll take us home.

“God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. This is the message of Good News…. that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” (Acts 10:34-36)

Bend and Stretch

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Margaret

No one is more flexible than a baby. The way they contort and pretzel themselves makes us wonder if their joints are made of bubble gum. At 11 months, Emerald has no trouble bending her legs straight up to her mouth and nibbling on her toes. She does it often, just for the fun of it. Somewhere along the way, though, gum-like joints change to stiff ones, and unless we’re constantly pursuing the training of a gymnast, we’ll never again put our toes in our mouth (which is not to say we’d want to).

Flexibility should continue to be, however, an important feature of our adult lives in ways other than physically. Take personal opinion, for example. How many of us stubbornly cling to our views even after someone else has made a different but valid point. Sometimes we rigidly refuse to listen at all, leaving others with a negative impression of us.

Older people are often labeled as “rigid”, most frequently by younger people. Since I’m a senior now, I’ve seriously considered this negative reputation, wondering if it’s true. Maybe our refusal to change the way we think is simply a result of more accumulated life experiences than the young. We might feel we “know better” and therefore resent the label.

The truth is, younger people aren’t the only ones doing the labeling. Don’t we oldsters sometimes see their flexibility and call it “youthful foolishness?” So who’s right?

Both groups are probably wrong. The trick to appreciating each other’s points of view is just to listen in love. But do I do that?

Last Sunday our pastor challenged us to insert the pronoun “I” into the Bible’s love chapter (1 Corinthians 13) as a way to assess whether or not we’re showing love to others. Here’s what mine sounded like: “I am patient. I am kind. I don’t boast. I’m not proud. I don’t insist on my own way. My love never ends.”

Ouch.

The holes in my supposedly loving flexibility were as evident as the holes in a young person’s professionally ripped jeans. I knew I had work to do.

For more than half my adult life I’ve lived under the same roof with teens and 20-somethings, and we’ve had our share of clashes. But God has tried to teach me all kinds of things through them, not the least of which is to be flexible in my thinking when hearing them out.

The older I get, the more this phenomenon of learning from the young proves to be a practical way to combat opinion-rigidity. They are pros at listening without judging, seriously considering one another’s take on things. I’ll never be as good at it as they are, but the more I’m willing to bend and stretch to listen lovingly, the greater the chance I won’t get opinion-stiff.

As for ever again being flexible enough to suck on my toes? I’d much rather be nibbling on Emerald’s!