Wisdom from Dr. Seuss

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The Curington FamilyMy webmaster, son-in-law Adam, is an ongoing blessing to me, not just because he manages GettingThroughThis.com but because he’s a young man walking close to God and through that is a good example to everyone around him. He’s also a dedicated husband to my daughter Linnea and a committed father to Skylar, Micah, and Autumn, all-in on that big job.

Adam has served not only as webmaster but also as my stalwart encourager. Once in a while people mention “my advanced computer skills,” and I quickly deliver the truth. Each web site task has been painstakingly learned through trial and error (think error and more error) at the expense of Adam’s gentle supervision. He doesn’t lose patience with my re-asking the same questions but re-answers as if I’d never asked.

If it wasn’t for Adam, this blog wouldn’t exist, and for more reasons than one, I’m glad it does. If it didn’t, I’d be missing out on the wealth of blessing funneling back through readers. Emails and comments embedded with nuggets of gold go to my “Interesting things to file” folder, an ever-growing file of gems.

And here’s an example:

Linda, a cyber-acquaintance, is traveling through the painful “firsts” of new widowhood after losing her husband of 37 years. She wrote to me of her love for him and how he had put her needs ahead of his own, one of the most difficult tasks anyone can tackle. She misses him intensely but is determined to remain above negativity.

Dr. Seuss Logo

She wrote, “A quote by Dr. Seuss is my new mantra: ‘Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.’ I’m choosing not to be mad at God, and I’m thankful for the love I enjoyed for so long, choosing not to be ungrateful because it ended.”

 

Linda has the right idea: (1) choosing not to be mad at God, and (2) being thankful for her husband’s love.

Interestingly, Step 1 is what opens the door to Step 2. If we indulge in anger toward the Lord, thankfulness will elude us, but as we set aside our natural desire to blame someone, (especially God), gratitude no-matter-what becomes possible.

Each of us have daily opportunities to think and act like Linda. If we make up our minds to be thankful, that outlook empowers us toward additional good things, like giving our time to others, making sure the excluded are included, going out of our way to serve, and like Linda’s John, putting the needs of others ahead of our own.

I’ve got a long way to go to catch Linda, but her fine example proves it’s possible. So I’m starting right now, feeling thankful for:

  • Linda.
  • other widows who’ve shared their stories.
  • 40 years with Nate.
  • a God who has partnered with me through 3½ years of widowhood.
  • Adam, a son-in-law who kindheartedly taught me how to blog.

“Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.” (Philippians 4:8)

Under His Wings

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This picture has been floating around the internet for a couple of years, and I’m not sure where it belongs or who was the original photographer. It’s a classic example of a picture speaking 1000 words, but what is it saying? Is it about protection? Or maybe mother-love? Possibly mentoring? Or patiently waiting? Maybe listening to our elders? Or a willingness to accept protection from someone else?

Under winged protection

When I first saw it, my mind linked up with something Jesus said about the Jews who’d rejected him and his message. His moving statement occurred during the last week of his life when he was already in Jerusalem to sacrifice himself for the sins of mankind. With a heavy heart he faced imminent torture and death, but that didn’t stop him from engaging in a major confrontation with a group of Pharisees who were continuing to harass him, bating him as always.

With intense emotion he squared off with them, detailing their wickedness at  length and calling them hypocrites, snakes, and murderers, condemning them, describing them as greedy, blind, lawless, and self-indulgent. His righteous fury ended with a damning judgment, telling them they wouldn’t escape hell.

Yet even after all of that, his heart was breaking for their souls. His love for these enemies hadn’t wavered even slightly, despite their vindictiveness toward him. It’s at that very moment he spoke the words I thought of when I saw the above bird picture:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.” (Matthew 23:37)

I find this extraordinary. It’s possible that a tear might even have been sliding down his cheek as his heart broke over the Pharisees. After all the hatred they’d shown him, and after he’d poured out the truth of their wickedness, his dominating emotion was love.

When I was a child we sang a hymn called “Under His Wings:”

Under His wings I am safely abiding,
Though the night deepens and tempests are wild,
Still I can trust Him; I know He will keep me,
He has redeemed me, and I am His child.

It was a comforting picture of the protection God offers, not necessarily physical protection but protection for our souls, both while on earth and later when in heaven. The birds above symbolize it beautifully, and Jesus spent his ministry offering that same protection to anyone who was willing, even the Pharisees. But as he said himself, they weren’t willing.

“Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by.” (Psalm 57:1)

Thinking on It

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Iced TeaLast weekend while climbing the stairs with my arms full of books, shoes, and a bottle of iced tea, I noticed a dirty baseboard and bent down to swipe it with my sleeve. The bottle slipped from my arms and flew down the steps, banging left and right. Its lid popped off, and the tea poured over a neatly folded pile of clean sheets waiting on a lower step to be brought upstairs.

It then continued on down, drenching the carpeted steps and landing on a floor register at the bottom, where it poured the last of its contents into the duct-work.

Natural PB

The next day I was again on the stairs, this time heading to the basement to put extra groceries on our pseudo-pantry shelves down there. Though my arms were overloaded, everything was non-breakable except one item, the glass peanut butter jar riding atop the rest.

When I reached up to pull a light chain, it rolled off the pile and landed on the concrete floor. The jar shattered, mixing slivers of glass, PB, and peanut oil from the “all natural” brand I’d bought.

Two messes in two days. Surely God was trying to tell me something, but what? Not to overload my arms? To be willing to make several trips? To put things in bags before heading to the stairs?

That morning in my devotions I’d gotten the word “ponder” several times. I’d even written it down and prayed over it. Then that afternoon, while cleaning up my basement mess with a soapy rag, it came to me. God wants me to thoroughly ponder him without racing through my devotions.

My rushing around causing two accidents was his way of saying, “See how all that hurrying isn’t working? Don’t do that with Me.”

Instead he wants me to carefully, deliberately ponder everything about him and also the things he’s trying to teach me.

This morning in my devotions he wanted me to ponder pondering. Wanting to obey, I looked it up. It means to reflect, meditate, ruminate, weigh carefully, consider thoughtfully, think about deeply.

Wow. Pondering takes time! When I open my bible or approach him in prayer hoping to get something good out of it, I need to give him my full attention. That means finding a private place to meet with him, yanking my mind from the day just ahead, and turning off my phone. It also means opening my heart to whatever he wants to give, which might include stuff that’s hard to take, like conviction of sin.

Check it off!

To approach the Lord in a rush, hoping he’ll load me up with goodies after just a brief meeting is the opposite of pondering. That’s more like checking a box.

But coming to reflect, meditate,  ruminate, weigh carefully, consider thoughtfully, and think deeply is to guarantee significant blessings.

I might even be able to bless him back! And how nice to know that none of those goodies can ever spill or shatter.

“They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)