“Man to God: “I’ve let you down so many times.”
God to man: “You weren’t holding me up. I uphold you with My righteous right hand. That’s how it works in this relationship. I – hold – you – up.”
― The Skit Guys
Month: November 2013
She Smiles at the Future
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
And she smiles at the future.
(Proverbs 31:25)
Can I be honest? For many years if I were to be asked who my least favourite Bible character was, it would have been that impossible “excellent wife” of Proverbs 31. She runs a perfect household, makes clothing for her family and half the town; she weaves her own bed linen, dabbles in real estate and farming and still has time to exercise and watch her husband collect accolades. It says she never let her lamp go out at night. Well, she’d have to stay up all night with a workload like that. At the time, when I was in a place where this scripture was used like a trudgeon by workaholic “ladies’ teachers” (the modern equivalent of Pinterest super-achievers) who said we could do it all if we were organized and disciplined enough, I was lucky if my kids’ socks matched and we could arrive anywhere within the same hour an event was scheduled to begin.
Finally one day, an older woman (with the teaching of kindness on her tongue) laughed at me when I went on a rant about the dreaded Proverbs 31 woman.
“She didn’t do it all in one day, dear! That was a life-time achievement award kind of speech. Relax. If God grants you health, life is not over when the kids go to college.”
Now that my children are grown I understand better. Those years with little ones and acting out teenagers seemed like they would always be my whole life. They were important years, and I beg young mothers to realize they go so fast and children can’t wait until you have time for them. They do come to an end (and I cried when they did). You don’t have to accomplish your life’s work before you are 45. You don’t have to do everything on the same day, or even in the same decade! Leave something to look forward to. Relax once in a while. Take time to enjoy your life where it is right now. Be thankful for matched socks.
I have the time and freedom to pursue creative interests now. Instead of depression and exhaustion there is gladness because I am old enough to see how God delivered us from so many cliff-hanger episodes before. I can smile at the future.
And my light doesn’t go out at night -so I can find the bathroom.
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Thanks
Celebrate always,
pray constantly,
and give thanks to God
no matter what circumstances you find yourself in.
(This is God’s will for all of you in Jesus the Anointed.)
Don’t suppress the Spirit.
Don’t downplay prophecies.
Take a close look at everything,
test it,
then cling to what is good.
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-21)
Thanks be to You, O Lord.
Even before these enemies menaced us,
Your hand protected us;
In Your grace You gave us salvation.
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Captured by Surprise
“The earth is art, the photographer is only a witness ”
― Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Earth from Above
The change of seasons is a vertical event in the mountains. We can watch the snow-line descend from the peaks, to the hills, to the valley. We can see it coming, yet we are somehow caught by surprise when ice and snow cover our own doorstep. The first snow that stays brings forth Facebook chatter like the queen has suddenly arrived unannounced. Skiers are thrilled, shovellers -not so much. (In these parts some folks complain bitterly about the cold and hazards of walking on ice. Others are giddy at the gleeful possibilities of ice fishing or skiing and being surrounded by pristine blue-white beauty.)
It amuses me that every year is the same; we can see it coming, but we are always caught off guard and need to dig boots and mitts and shovels out of their summer hiding places.
There are spiritual seasons too. We know there are changes in the air; we know there will be times for planting, and harvest, and times for rest. We can see cycles of learning and testing and play, and cycles of birth, growth and death ascending and descending the mountains around us. We need not be surprised, but we do need to be prepared. The day adversity arrives, piled up like blizzard snow against the front door, is not the day to think about buying snow tires, or a shovel.
We need to seek the Lord in the good seasons of our lives as well as the tough times -because knowing that He loves us and holds our future in His hands is the main tool we have to have in an accessible place in our hearts to survive more difficult seasons. (He gives many others as well.) Those who understand that change is a constant can rejoice with every new thing, and when adversity descends like winter, they may even be able to strap on their skiis or grab their sleds and find the joy.
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My Cup Runneth Over
Photography for me is about learning to see.
Landscape photography is both a matter of learning to see the big picture and knowing what is not important enough to include in the frame.
Many things are factual, but not everything is truth. It’s a matter of focus.
It’s about following the light.
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Distractions
Distractions come in many costumes. Some appeal to our desire for pleasure and some appeal to our desire to see ourselves as good people. One thing they all have in common is that they suck up time.
Some friends and I noticed how many of the folks we care about find themselves in debt -not just financial debt, but overwhelming time debt. So many people (especially women) feel they do not have enough time for their families, for their jobs, for their friends, for their church families, for the community, for healthy recreation, for their own spiritual growth –for sleep. They run from early in the morning until late at night, eating the bread of painful labours, with hardly a moment to sit quietly, enjoy creation and just be.
We know about the problem here in North America of the acceptance of living in debt as a “normal” lifestyle. Some folks are meeting all their financial obligations, but living in overwhelming time debt. They simply have none to spare – and you can’t borrow time from any institution after filling out a few applications. When children are grown, they are grown; you can’t get those years back. When friends and family pass on, the time for being with them is gone, no extensions available. So many older folks who say they wish they had spent their time more wisely are watching their own children’s and grandchildren’s calendars fill up to an even greater degree than their own did.
When I returned from living in a small space with minimal furnishings for several months I was surprised by how much stuff was stashed in my house that I never missed. I began to mentally calculate how much rent I ought to charge these things for taking up room in limited storage spaces. Then I quit. It was ridiculous how much the clothes and sports equipment I hadn’t used in five years cost to store. It was time to give some stuff away.
I wonder, when we are distracted by things we are tempted to buy, including houses and “conveniences”, if we stop to calculate how much time their price, and the accrued interest, will suck out our lives. Is this toy worth the eight hours I will be away from my child to earn the money to pay for it, plus the three additional hours to pay the interest charges? Are these up-graded fashionable appliances and countertops worth missing two years worth of reading time to pay for it? Is this ten-day winter vacation on the beach with my wife worth the 43 meals I will miss with the family? Will time spent in servitude to stockholders ever be recovered, or does part of their profit margin include the time I could not spend at the bedside of a sick friend?
Many of us have been distracted by projects that looked like a good idea at the time – like trying to help suffering people caught mid-consequence. How much valuable time would have been freed up if I had learned the lesson earlier that some people’s dysfunction is a secretly prized possession they don’t actually want to give up?
How much time could have been spent on worshiping God and enjoying Him and His creation that went instead to some unfruitful guilt-provoked church program -and another evening away from the kids? How much more time would I have had to learn at His feet, and to love His children, if I hadn’t bought the lie that busy-ness is next to Godliness?
Then there’s the time wasted on covering up stupidity. Sigh. Note to self: Admit, apologize, change course, and move on.
The prayer in the Psalms, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom,” seldom gains our attention before we are of an age to notice the assets in our time account receding rapidly.
I wish I had listened to Mom more, “Ve are too soon old, und too late shmart.”
Oh Lord, how we need wisdom.
Keep your eyes straight ahead;
ignore all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,
and the road will stretch out smooth before you.
Look neither right nor left;
leave evil in the dust.
(Proverbs 4:25-27 The Message)
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Drawing the Line Somewhere
He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him in.
~ Edwin Markham
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Larger Measure
There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is simply to try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of divine grace. -A.B. Simpson
Charis: Subject to Change 