Abundant Giving

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When Nelson drove home from Montana this weekend, he came by way of a visit with my nephew Luke and his wife Emily in Wisconsin. After he got here, he brought in a giant storage bin and two big shopping bags, plunking them down in front of Birgitta. “From Emily,” he said. “For your baby.”

Inside were baby girl clothes to outfit our October baby for an entire year: infant gowns, onesies, booties, hats, dresses, sleepers, bibs, tights, shoes, 3-piece outfits, socks, towels, wash cloths, burping cloths, a snowsuit, and more. Emily even sent a typed inventory of larger items for Birgitta’s “yes or no:” a car seat, stroller, exer-saucer, Baby Einstein cds, Bumbo seat, baby carrier, Boppy, toys, and many other things. Everything was washed and neatly folded, the smaller items in labeled baggies.

As Birgitta held up one adorable outfit after another, we oooed and awwwed with delight at such unexpected bounty, high-quality, well-made baby clothes the likes of which she probably wouldn’t have been able to buy. Because of Emily, Birgitta won’t need to buy anything but diapers. We are humbled by this incredible generosity.

Emily is a stunning example of what God hopes all of us will do but many of us don’t. I remember the frustration of trying to teach our young children to share while I was making a meal for friends who’d just had a new baby. As I was packing up the dinner along with most of a batch of freshly-baked cookies, one of our younger boys said, “Hey! Don’t give away so many of those. You’re not leaving enough for us!”

“It’s important to share,” I told him.

“Why?”

“Because God wants us to, and because if we do, God will share with us.”

My little boy frowned.

Right after that I found this instructional verse for the kids: “Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:16)   I made them memorize it, hoping they’d swallow the message. What I’ve learned since then, though, is that I’m not all that good at sharing myself, even now. Rationalizing still comes easy: “I’d better not give that away; I might need it later.” Or, “That item has sentimental value. Wouldn’t it be wrong to part with it?”

Scripture says, “Be generous.” It doesn’t say, “If you feel like it” or “if you’re sure you don’t want it anymore” or “If it has no sentimental value.” It just says, “Give.” God knew it might be difficult for us to share, so he told us how to learn: force ourselves to do it.

And precious Emily has shown us how. In the handwritten note to Birgitta she’d tucked in with the clothes she wrote, “Keep what you want…

…and give the rest away.”

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)

 

 

Wounded Hearts

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Recently at the beach I came across a beautiful heart-shaped stone the size of a fifty-cent piece. As I brushed off the sand, I saw it wasn’t a keeper, because it had a hole all the way through it. I dropped it and stepped over it, but several paces later decided to go back and get it. Suddenly a holey heart seemed more realistic than a perfect heart-shaped rock, a reminder of the wounded hearts common to all of us.

Very few people are strangers to heartbreak. Whether it’s cruel criticism, a betrayed confidence, a personal rejection, or a piece of bad news, everybody gets wounded at one time or another. When Nate received the shock of stage 4 terminal cancer, both of us took a heart-stabbing. Then 42 days later when death snatched him away, a second wound came, at least for me.

Why does God allow us to feel deep heart-hurts? Couldn’t he emotionally anesthetize us, at least a little? A woman in childbirth can opt to be partially paralyzed (temporarily) through an epidural nerve block. She remains alert and participates in the birth, but most of her pain is eliminated. Couldn’t God allow us to experience a broken heart in a similar way, without the stabbing emotional pain that always accompanies it?

A friend of mine, Judy Allen, made an astute observation about all this. Because she’s always looking to “connect the dots to God,” she’s noticed something interesting. She said, “Sometimes the only way into a person’s heart is through a deep wound.”

God is no stranger to hard hearts. Again and again in the Old Testament he describes the children of Israel as having hardened their hearts toward him, and in the New Testament he repeatedly warns us not to harden our hearts for several good reasons:

Scripture says resistant hearts end up as ignorant ones, meaning that people who oppose God are asking for trouble, and usually they find it. He also says hard hearts find it difficult to understand what he wants to teach them. They’re closed off to his wisdom and devoid of spiritual understanding.

As a result, and because he loves us, he’ll step back and permit a deep heart-wounding, but it’s always and only to get a place of entry. Then after that, beneficial things begin to happen. Wounded hearts gradually change from tough to tender, from resistant to receptive, and best of all, from cold to affectionate… toward him. In that condition, a broken heart is ready for his supernatural mending.

I hope I never experience a spiritual heart of stone, but if I do, my holey heart-stone will be a ready reminder of what to do.

“Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.” (Proverbs 28:14)

Link to Judy Allen’s blog: www.ConnectingDotsToGod.com

 

Just Heavenly

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Since November of 2009 when death took Nate out of my daily life, I’ve missed him continually. His picture sits on my desk, and when I look at his smiling face, it’s natural to smile back. Of course we can’t communicate anymore, but I’m just practicing for the future when once again we will.

Heaven is real to me. I believe everything God says, and he says heaven is a specific place. I know Nate has gone there and one day I will, too. When I smile at Nate’s picture, part of my pleasure is in visualizing the togetherness heaven promises. But Nate isn’t the only one in my mental picture. Jesus is, too, supremely so.

I remember watching a video of Erwin Lutzer’s mother on her 103rd birthday. Her husband had passed away several years before, and she longed to go to her heavenly home, too. Someone asked if she was looking forward to being reunited with him. She smiled in acknowledgment but said, “I want to see Jesus.”

During the last 2½ years, I’ve received 9 books about heaven. One was inspired by the experiences of a 4 year old who seems to have briefly visited heaven during a surgery. Because I agreed with the title, “HEAVEN IS FOR REAL,” I was eager to read it. While trying to be mindful that the report was given by a young child, I enjoyed possibility-thinking as I read. What impressed me most was Colton’s attitude. It seemed easy for him to take in all he experienced, at face value. No skepticism. No yes-buts. Just of-courses, and why-nots!

The Bible tells us flat-out that we can learn from children, and Colton taught me, not so much about heaven as about accepting what God says about it without superimposing my own opinion over it. Children are pros at literal thinking so that what they hear is what they believe. Even Jesus pointed this out in his teachings. So maybe we ought to think about heaven like children do.

And what do they think? First and foremost, Jesus is there.

One of my own children, as young as Colton was, made a statement about heaven I’ve never forgotten. Little Louisa came to me, looking concerned. “You’re not going to heaven very soon, are you Mom?”

“No, probably not till I’m really old,” I said.

“Well, when I get to heaven, where should I look for you?” she said.

While thinking about what I should say, she came up with her own answer. “Just be standing next to Jesus. I know I’ll be able to find him real easy, and then I’ll find you, too!”

Colton, Louisa, and Mrs. Lutzer are 3 fine examples of how we’re to think about heaven: it’s a real place, we’ll go there someday, and Jesus will be waiting to greet those of us who believe in him.

Jesus said, “I am coming again to welcome you into my own home, so that you may be where I am.” (John 14:3)