Monthly Archives: July 2012

Enough already!

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This summer much of our country has been short on rain. Virtually every living thing needs water, and without it, shrivel-and-die is right around the corner.

My daughters and I have been attending a Bible study this summer and have learned up-close what drought looks like, not because of anything Scripture taught us but because of a Bible study friend. Marcia is the wife of a farmer who grows corn and soybeans. Several weeks ago, when we asked how her fields were coping, she shook her head and gave a dismal report. So that evening at the end of Bible study, we prayed for rain.

The next week, after months of drought, rain finally came! We all rejoiced with Marcia, asking if her husband thought their crops would make it. “Time will tell,” she said.

The week after that it rained again… and again! Marcia came to our study with a happy report. “The crops are doing better!” she said, and we excitedly thanked God. Our leader initiated a prayer time that evening by saying, “Let’s continue to pray for rain for Marcia, abundant rain!”

But Marcia interrupted. “How about just adequate rain.”

None of us want too much of a good thing… or do we?

History records that John D. Rockefeller was the richest American who ever lived, richer than Bill Gates, Sam Walton, or Warren Buffet in dollars adjusted for today. Guesstimates set his net worth at $663.4 billion.

The wealthy Mr. Rockefeller was asked, “How much money is enough?”

Without hesitating he said, “A little bit more.”

And that’s how most of us think. If some is good, more must be better. Of course Marcia would shake her head at that. Flooded soil can ruin crops just as effectively as dry. All of us understand the principle, but that doesn’t stop us from making wish lists of things we want more of, tangible and intangible, possible and impossible. Most of what’s on our lists are first-rate items, but  sometimes a good thing (like nourishing rain) can morph into something bad (like ruined crops).

Other examples:

  • Taking on a healthy hobby that ends up robbing time from our loved ones.
  • Buying a bigger home that moves us into financial imbalance.
  • Indulging in one passion when God had a different one in mind for us.
  • Spending more and more time “producing” at work but feeling less and less fulfilled.

So how do we avoid going too far? Scripture gives us a key sentence that can be our check-and-balance system: “Thy will be done.” This should be our recurring prayer, and if God puts his stamp of approval on pursuing more of what’s on our wish lists, then we’re free to do so.

Marcia had the right idea. Pray for what’s adequate, and that will always turn out best.

“I (Paul) ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make… your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do.” (Ephesians 1:17-18)

 

 

Hearing Voices

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Our church loves children. They and all their extraneous noises are welcome in the services, and our pastors frequently espouse the value of their generation. To make our worship hour more palatable for youngsters, a big basket at the back of the sanctuary sits filled with small cloth bags of quiet toys: crayons, coloring paper, shoelace-thread, sewing cards. All of us want children to know they’re a high priority to us, and by association, a high priority to God.

Of course a nursery is available for parents who need a break from their babies, or for children whose fussiness would distract other worshipers.

Today as we worked our way through the order of service, childish voices/noises erupted here and there along with the singing, praying, and preaching. Generally, though, quietness reigned. During the Scripture reading we suddenly heard a muffled but shrill baby’s cry coming from the narthex at the back of the sanctuary, behind closed doors. Maybe only those of us who are mothers heard it, but it was definitely a baby crying, probably being walked around by a nursery worker trying to quiet her.

Like a shot, a 20-something man jumped from his aisle seat and rushed toward the back of the sanctuary and out the double doors. Without even looking, he’d recognized the cry of his own child through closed doors, from far away, and above the speaker’s voice. Impressive.

As the service continued, the baby-crying stopped… within seconds. Whatever it was, daddy had fixed it.

That church-time mini-drama tugged my thinking right out of church and into heaven, specifically to God and his hearing abilities. Watching that young father bolt from the sanctuary was a demonstration of what God continually does for us. He’s always listening for our cries. And though the earth is populated with 7 billion people, all of whom are capable of crying, he recognizes the individual voices of each of us whether we’re whimpering, sobbing, or wailing.

The baby who cried in the church narthex this morning wasn’t making any specific request: “I want Daddy!” or “I’m hungry!” or “I’m frightened!” It was just a cry. But never mind the reason. Her father jumped from his seat and hurried to her anyway.

God does the exact same thing. If we’re expressing a need, he comes to us quickly, but even if we don’t know what we need, he comes then, too. By his strong response to our troubles, he’s saying the same thing our responding daddy was saying this morning: you, child, are important to me, a top priority. I’ll do whatever it takes to help you when you need me.

How wonderful to let children know, from their earliest days, that they’re important to us and to the church, and more significantly, to God. And we oldsters need to remember, the same goes for us.

“Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry.” (Psalm 130:2)

 

A Good Idea

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When I last visited Linnea and Adam’s family, their children’s ages were Skylar-3, Micah-2, and Autumn, just 6 weeks. All of them, parents included, were still in the throes of adjusting to a new baby.

One day after Skylar, Micah, and I had come home from a quick trip to the store, I suggested the kids open the toilet paper 12-pack we’d bought and use the soft rolls like building blocks. My own little ones had enjoyed this, and it would keep them busy for a few minutes.

In short order Skylar was constructing a beautiful tower, adeptly lining up the TP rolls one atop the other. “Take a picture, Grandma Midgee!” she said. Even little Autumn was fascinated, quietly focusing on the TP from the safety of her infant seat.

After snapping a picture and complimenting Skylar’s fine engineering skills, I walked around the corner to put my camera away and came back to find this:

… a good idea gone bad.

We can all remember initiating projects (or relationships) that in the end went sour. Most of us can cite experiences that started well but resulted in our being robbed of time, emotions, or money. And all of us have choked down a piece or two of humble pie after making errors in judgment or decisions that were just plain stupid.

But… (we said), “It seemed like a good idea at the time!”

Scripture tells hundreds of tales about foolhardy people acting recklessly against God’s counsel, stories that could have ended with the quote above.

  • Eve thought it was a good idea to eat the forbidden fruit.
  • Abraham thought it was a good idea to say his wife was his sister.
  • David thought it was a good idea to sleep with a married woman.
  • Peter thought it was a good idea to disassociate himself from Jesus.

How could so many bad ideas have seemed good… at the time?

It was probably a result of thinking that personal judgment outranked everyone else’s. But God included biblical stories of failure to show us what not to do. It’s up to us, though, whether or not we act differently.

Sometimes we make the same thoughtless mistakes expecting something different than the same miserable results. And it doesn’t help that when our botched ideas “seem like a good idea at the time,” God’s ideas often “don’t seem like a good idea at the time.” But if we follow his wiser way anyway, the bottom line has a much better chance of turning out good.

I did learn something from the TP tower episode: grandmas don’t always have the best ideas either. After all, it was my idea to put baby Autumn on the floor to watch Skylar’s TP construction. It sure seemed like a good idea at the time.

“Pray that our God will make you fit for what he’s called you to be; pray that he’ll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something.” (2 Thessalonians 1:11)