The Bookends of Life

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Margaret

Today Birgitta and I talked about the unpredictability of a baby’s arrival and the resulting stress of not being able to plan ahead. Will labor begin this afternoon? Tomorrow? A week from now? Which calendar events will we have to cancel because we’re on our way to the hospital?

Of course those of us not anticipating a labor and delivery know similar frustrations. Although Birgitta’s situation is blatantly unpredictable, the rest of us don’t really have things under control, either. But it’s easy to fool ourselves into thinking we do. Ha ha to that.

Any single day has a thousand elements that can “wiggle” and force us from planned agendas. A potent example occurred last weekend through a phone call from a young man close to our family. Earlier that day his mother had died in her apartment as the result of a fire. This news sent him into a flurry of schedule-shuffling and has rearranged his priorities every hour since then.

Any one of us can be on top of the world one minute and in turmoil the next. All it takes is a tiny text, a quick phone call, or a brief email. Confusion and commotion could be around the next corner for any of us, and that even includes the baby that’s about to join our family.

Birgitta’s little girl will shortly be thrown into stressful turmoil of her own, just by being born. We know many of the ways her day of birth is going to be a tough one, but she has no idea. For the moment she’s resting peacefully, unencumbered by expectations or anxiety, blissfully unaware of what’s just ahead. But as labor begins and then progresses, she’ll undergo circumstances quite different from the agenda she’s followed for 9 months without interruption.

A familiar Scripture says, “We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out.” (1 Timothy 6:7) We generally think that refers to physical nakedness, but it could also mean a baby arrives without bringing a care or concern, no preconceptions, misconceptions, or expectations. But can we apply that in reverse at the end of our lives when we “take nothing out?”

Actually we can. When we die, as our friend’s mother did, we don’t take our worries or health problems with us, our pain, or any other negative, including relationship struggles. So the idea “you can’t take it with you” turns out to be something good.

Can we learn anything from the truth that our lives are bookended by “nothing-in, nothing-out?” Maybe wisdom in this is to hold our plans lightly and refuse to stress when disturbing texts, calls, and emails derail us. Maybe we should trust God to use every derailment (and our responses to them) toward readying us for eternity.

And that’s the one exception to the “nothing-out” rule. Preparation for eternity? It turns out we can take that with us.

“Even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:10)

Word Expert

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Margaret

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love numbers and those who love words. Since I’m one of the latter, writing has always been pure pleasure. And for several years, Microsoft Word has been a practical teacher with its spell check and grammar helps, correcting some of my sloppy habits. For example, when to use “it’s” or “its”.

After being “disciplined” by multi-colored underlinings again and again, an incorrect habit is eventually corrected. The same goes for a slew of formerly misspelled words. The other day Microsoft taught me that “sovereignty” actually has the word “reign” in it, a meaningful discovery. I used to spell it, “soverignty” which detracted from the gist of it, so I was thankful for the correction.

Tonight’s blog post is my 1000^th on this web site, and after all that writing (and correcting), I’ve fully accepted that I hadn’t been the wordsmith I thought I was back on blog #1 and am thankful for my cyber-tutor. All I had to do was keep writing, and Microsoft gradually coached me into doing it better.

Scripture is Word of a different sort. No Silicon Valley techies were needed to write it, but its function is similar to Microsoft’s: to correct our mistakes. God’s Word does other things, too, but if we want to know how to do things right, that’s where we can find out.

Some people say, “I never read the Bible, because it’s too big a book. I wouldn’t know where to start.” Others say, “It’s too complicated and confusing, virtually impossible to understand.” But just like getting acquainted with Microsoft Word, making an effort, even a bumbling one, will lead to familiarity.

When I first began using Microsoft’s tutoring tools, I engaged in mental sparring with the little red, green, and blue error markings. “Really?” I’d say to the screen. “What’s the problem?”

But of course the problem was always me, and as I clicked on the lines, I learned what needed correcting. To repeatedly use something leads to an understanding of it. The same is true of the Bible. As we use it, we get it. And before long, we stop arguing with God that his corrections aren’t needed and become grateful for them.

By the way, I have a friend named Debbe who never needed Microsoft Word to teach her about words but excelled at spelling and grammar on her own. So when I was told of her expertise, I asked if she would bird-dog my posts, watching for errors that might slip through Microsoft’s prompts. And recently when she let me know that “pouring over papers” should have been “poring over papers,” I was genuinely grateful for the correction.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” (2 Timothy 3:16)

Ready… Set…

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Margaret

Birgitta has been abundantly blessed by others who have supplied all she’ll need to get started mothering her baby girl. She’s completely ready.

Cousin Emily sent 8 monster-sized bins of goodies, along with a stroller, car seat, exer-saucer, play mat, and lots more. Birgitta’s work cohorts surprised her with a luncheon at Redamak’s Restaurant, showering her with added gifts, and last weekend another group pooled their resources to buy her a leather-look glider-rocker with matching ottoman.

Though Baby Nyman isn’t here yet, her mommy is ready.

Now, 2 days from her due date, Birgitta wakes up each morning wondering, “Is today the day?” But that’s a secret God is still keeping. Astoundingly, he’s kept it for a long, long time, from even before he’d made the first human. Way back then, though, he already knew Birgitta’s daughter.

Something else mind-boggling is that this little girl will, herself, be looking for God. Part of his forming her has been to shape her heart and mind to feel a need for him, a kind of mysterious awareness of her Creator that God tucks into each one of us before we’re born. Some people call it a God-shaped vacuum. Whatever it is, it’s an innate sense of things eternal.

I don’t pretend to understand all this. Scripture says, “God has planted eternity in the human heart,” but right after that it says, “Even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”

I’m glad that was added, because it relieves the stress of trying to make sense of everything God says. He’s ok with us just believing it’s true because it’s coming from him. That’s good enough.

Neither Birgitta nor I understand all that’s happened within the heart and soul of her unborn child, and I’m thankful God has taken responsibility for it. By comparison to what he’s been doing, her preparation has been easy. It started with a list and ended when each item was checked off:

The room has been redecorated and reorganized.
The clothes are in the drawers.
The hospital bag is packed.
The diapers are stacked next to the wipes.
The car seat is in the car.
And the bassinet is empty, ready for its occupant.

But better than all that motherly readiness is that God is ready… well, at least 99.9%. As Birgitta testified in her blog post (A Word from Birgitta), her little girl is part of an “intentional and purposeful design set into place by an omniscient Creator.” And part of his intention is to keep the baby inside the mommy until he’s 100% finished with his pre-birth preparations of this little one.