Ok

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When I was growing up, our fun-loving mom served pancakes every Saturday morning, inviting the neighbor kids to join us. She urged us to see who could eat the most, churning out pancakes by the dozen. When I eventually had a kitchen table full of my own children, I carried on the same Saturday morning ritual.

This weekend, in a hotel breakfast nook (eating the free meal that frequently comes with room rental), I learned how pancake-making has reached a new level. Never before had I seen a machine that could turn out fresh 6” pancakes with the push of one button.

It was automated assembly-line flapjacks, and the only thing we had to do was be ready with a plate at the end of the line. Mom would have loved it, the mess-free marriage of chef-ing and tech-ing.

 

If only every life problem could be solved so easily. One-two-three done.

In our efforts to problem-solve, we usually set out steps to follow: first, then next, then eventually, then bingo: solution.

Trouble comes when the end result isn’t what we expected. With the pancake maker, we wait 1 minute while staring at a picture of a fluffy pancake, and after traveling through the short, prescribed steps, it produces what’s been promised.

The problem with life’s dilemmas is twofold: we often don’t know what steps we should take, and even when we know, the result might take us by surprise, like a pancake machine spitting out a muffin.

Interestingly, God is often the one intentionally rearranging the order of our one-two-three’s and setting up those end-surprises. As frustrating as this can be for us, he does it hoping to teach us things we need to know or to reverse our march toward destruction.

We stomp our feet and say, “But one-two-three just has to lead to four! It can’t work any other way!”

If we put God in charge, however, it means saying yes to a bit of uncertainty. His supernatural reasons for doing things don’t resemble our natural ones. They’re better, higher, finer than ours. The only question we have to ask is, “Do I want God’s superior steps with their element of uncertainty or my inferior ones based on human logic?”

He knows that when we sign on with him not knowing where or how he’s going to lead, we feel uneasy. Though he may not eliminate that part of it, he does provide some comfort by letting us see his plan in hindsight. As we do, we’re encouraged to say, “Ok, your way again next time.”

And with enough practice, that ok becomes almost as easy as pushing the ok button on a pancake maker.

“O Lord my God… Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.” (Psalm 40:5)

Furry Friend… or Foe?

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Our nation has experienced record-breaking warmth this spring. Experts are confident wintery weather won’t return but that we’ll slide through a balmy spring right into a hot summer. Although I’d been keeping my winter clothes handy, today I gave up and swapped my cold weather wardrobe for the summer stuff.

One winter clothing item has always caused problems, though, even threatening to come between Nate and me years ago. I remember the Christmas he handed me a heavy gift box the size of a suitcase, nearly bouncing up and down in anticipation of me opening it.

He gathered the children to watch as I slowly untied the big red bow, and I just hoped my response to whatever was in the box would measure up to his expectation.

Inside was a full length black mink coat. I was completely taken by surprise, never having asked for a fur coat (or having wanted one). The best I could do was, “Wow! I sure never expected this!”

Nate’s thrill over giving me what he thought every girl always wanted was so strong, he missed my tepid response. Instead he pulled me out of the chair and helped me put it on, dancing me around the room to show the kids what a magnificent gift it was.

They took turns trying it on, bending under its weight, oooing and ahhhing approval. Lest I seem like an ingrate, my surprise at receiving the coat did translate into love and gratitude toward a thoughtful husband who chose his gift because he wanted to please me.

Falling in love with the coat, however, was another matter.

As the weeks went by, the mink became a thorn between us. When it was cold he’d say, “Aren’t you going to wear it?”

I’d say, “Oh sure. Ok.” But he sensed reluctance. My problem with the coat was four-fold. It wouldn’t move with me, it was too warm, too heavy, and worst of all, it made me look fat. It also bothered me that when we went to public places, Nate didn’t want to leave it on a coat rack, concerned for its safety. Instead we took it to our restaurant table or into the church pew. We also had to rent cold storage during the summer, a bill I resented paying.

Thirty years later I still have the coat, and it’s still beautiful, probably because it didn’t get much use. I regret not wearing it more, if for no other reason than to please Nate, and my unappreciative attitude was the perfect example of putting myself ahead of him, the man I loved. It was selfishness to the core. Now, every time I put the coat away for the summer, I feel guilty and wish I could have a re-do.

Sometimes I wonder how many re-do’s I’ll wish I could have when I eventually stand in front of Jesus. It’ll be hundreds. Probably thousands, if wasted and wrong thoughts count, which they will. Although I can’t change my fur coat history, I’m glad I still have time to work on everything else.

As for my mink, the proper thing to do is give it away. Either that, or when winter comes ‘round again, start wearing it.

“The sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)

Good Words

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When Nate was under stress, he used to talk to himself, loud enough so anyone could hear if they were so inclined. Inevitably the subject was work-related. Sometimes he was rehearsing how a difficult meeting would go, or he might be sorting through a complex legal predicament.

When I asked him about it, he said self-talk helped him sort out tough problems. It was tantamount to the way I used journaling, for the same purpose. Instead of using pen and paper, though, his journal was verbal.

Today I talked to myself in a new way, not out loud as Nate had done and not through a journal. It was by the pages of a book I wrote that’s about to be published. The final edit was due today, but before I turned it in, my editor wanted me to rearrange the 60 short devotionals into a new order we had both agreed would be beneficial.

I decided to do it by using my 60 hard copies rather than flipping “pages” on a computer, since I needed to see them all at once. I spread them out on the bed and began organizing them by topic but ran into trouble when their titles didn’t remind me of their contents. The only thing to do was speed-read each one and label them with content-clues to help me.

That’s when I started talking to myself. The words of one devotional in particular jumped off the page and came alive with a relevant application to an issue currently heavy on my mind. I started to cry in response to the words on the page and received a blessing from that particular devotional. I didn’t recall being so moved when I’d written it, but today God had somehow infused it with a remarkable power to fit my need.

There’s no end to the ways God wants to help us. He’s never without a fresh idea of how to reach deep into our hearts to uplift and also challenge us, and today he knew I was wrestling with a tough issue I couldn’t sort out in my journal or in my thoughts. I needed his help. So somehow he used my own words on the devotional page to reassure me, ascribing double duty to the effort of writing the devotional in the first place. And amazingly, when I was finished reading (and crying), I felt like I had heard from God, not me.

We have a very clever heavenly Father. Whatever flawed offerings we put into his hands, even if it’s just a simple page of words, can be converted by his authority and power into something valuable and important, something problem-solving or even life changing. It’s all because of his touch.

So my prayer for this little devotional book is that those who read it will experience the same powerful, custom-made influence of God like I did today, and that it’ll be on every page. And if they want to read it out loud, that’s fine by me.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” (Matthew 28:18)