Yearly Archives: 2013

Thinking on It

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Iced TeaLast weekend while climbing the stairs with my arms full of books, shoes, and a bottle of iced tea, I noticed a dirty baseboard and bent down to swipe it with my sleeve. The bottle slipped from my arms and flew down the steps, banging left and right. Its lid popped off, and the tea poured over a neatly folded pile of clean sheets waiting on a lower step to be brought upstairs.

It then continued on down, drenching the carpeted steps and landing on a floor register at the bottom, where it poured the last of its contents into the duct-work.

Natural PB

The next day I was again on the stairs, this time heading to the basement to put extra groceries on our pseudo-pantry shelves down there. Though my arms were overloaded, everything was non-breakable except one item, the glass peanut butter jar riding atop the rest.

When I reached up to pull a light chain, it rolled off the pile and landed on the concrete floor. The jar shattered, mixing slivers of glass, PB, and peanut oil from the “all natural” brand I’d bought.

Two messes in two days. Surely God was trying to tell me something, but what? Not to overload my arms? To be willing to make several trips? To put things in bags before heading to the stairs?

That morning in my devotions I’d gotten the word “ponder” several times. I’d even written it down and prayed over it. Then that afternoon, while cleaning up my basement mess with a soapy rag, it came to me. God wants me to thoroughly ponder him without racing through my devotions.

My rushing around causing two accidents was his way of saying, “See how all that hurrying isn’t working? Don’t do that with Me.”

Instead he wants me to carefully, deliberately ponder everything about him and also the things he’s trying to teach me.

This morning in my devotions he wanted me to ponder pondering. Wanting to obey, I looked it up. It means to reflect, meditate, ruminate, weigh carefully, consider thoughtfully, think about deeply.

Wow. Pondering takes time! When I open my bible or approach him in prayer hoping to get something good out of it, I need to give him my full attention. That means finding a private place to meet with him, yanking my mind from the day just ahead, and turning off my phone. It also means opening my heart to whatever he wants to give, which might include stuff that’s hard to take, like conviction of sin.

Check it off!

To approach the Lord in a rush, hoping he’ll load me up with goodies after just a brief meeting is the opposite of pondering. That’s more like checking a box.

But coming to reflect, meditate,  ruminate, weigh carefully, consider thoughtfully, and think deeply is to guarantee significant blessings.

I might even be able to bless him back! And how nice to know that none of those goodies can ever spill or shatter.

“They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

Helping the Needy

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Most of us can remember a time when we’ve needed the help of someone else, which can be a humbling experience. I well remember a time when the recipient of help was me.

Linnea en route.

In 1977 when Nate and I were expecting baby #3, I was having a hard time. Pregnancies #1 and #2 had been problem-free, but the third had presented a new problem: varicose veins. The OB sent me to a specialist, who looked at my swollen legs, crossed his arms and said, “Stay off your feet, or I’ll have to put you in a bed.” (Nelson was 4 at the time, Lars was 2, and I was on my feet most of every day.)

Before I left his office, he applied compression bandages to my legs, gave me a prescription for heavy custom-made stockings, and sent me home to put my feet up. When I gave the details to Nate, he just shook his head and grimaced, not knowing how we would make it through.

Rolled poster

Several days later, I was working a shift in the church nursery when several girlfriends arrived at the door carrying a rolled-up poster. “For you,” Miriam said, handing it to me. “We want to help.”

I couldn’t imagine what she meant, but when I unrolled it, I saw a giant calendar that included every remaining week of my pregnancy, plus one more. A different friend’s name was written on each week. “We’re going to do all your household chores for you,” Miriam said, “one of us each week.”

I couldn’t believe it! Each of them had babies and toddlers of their own, along with chore lists, families, and houses to tend to. I responded by blubbering, “Oh, you don’t have to do that! I’ll be fine!” But they said, “It’s not up for negotiation. Like it or not, we’re coming.”

The Helpers

I’ve never forgotten their touching gift, and Nate was deeply grateful, too. Their hard work on our behalf also made an impression on our young boys, and most importantly, God appreciated it.

Scripture tells us that whenever someone helps the needy, God is pleased. Not only that, but he lines up special blessings for those helpers. And there’s more. He makes careful note of their work, preparing lavish rewards for them that will last throughout eternity.

My girlfriends followed through on their chart, arriving at my house according to their scheduled times. They kept my home and family running better than I ever had, and if that wasn’t enough, each week the scheduled worker brought dinner for that evening.

And now we're three.

Baby Linnea eventually arrived safely, and several months after her birth, my veins were corrected through surgery. And the bottom line for my friends? The effects of their good deeds will literally last forever.

“Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

It’s too hard…

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Motherhood is exhaustingMotherhood is exhausting, the most difficult job on earth. It’s a massive responsibility, it’s emotionally draining, and it’s around-the-clock.

No young woman can properly prepare for what her own motherhood will be like. She can read books, ask veteran moms, babysit for other people’s children, and make detailed preparations while she’s pregnant. But when the baby actually arrives, she’s in for an incredible shock. Surrendering virtually all of her prior freedoms isn’t easy, and sometimes she sheds tears over the many sacrifices her new role forces her to make.

“Is it too much to ask for a single night’s sleep?” she says.

The answer is yes.

But what about the babies being mothered? Women sometimes view them as tiny dictators who rule without mercy, but in reality babyhood isn’t easy either. For example, our little Emerald is in the early stages of teething. She drools like a waterfall and continually gnaws on her pudgy fists, biting down hard with her toothless gums.

Gnawing fists

Every so often, while in a good mood and playing happily with her rattles,  she cries out in pain. That’s because her baby incisors are slowly cutting their way through her gums, forcing a path where none exists. And it hurts! So as her mom endures the hard work of parenting, she’s enduring, too.

Most of us find it difficult to see a situation from another’s point of view. We look from the outside and make the best analysis we can, but without experiencing it ourselves, we can’t really know. Fathers can’t be mothers, which sometimes frustrates the mothers. But mothers can’t be fathers, either, and aren’t able to fully understand the emotions and stresses of that role.

Jesus was (and is) a pro at analyzing the needs of others. That’s because he willingly dropped from royal status to commoner, a supernatural downgrade beyond our understanding. When we talk about freedoms being taken away, he forfeited the most. And Scripture lets us know the reason: to become one of us.

He stepped inside the experience of overworked mothers, teething babies, burdened fathers, and all the rest. And because of that, he’s the one exception to the general truth that no one fully understands someone else’s plight. Actually, he does.

So when young mothers feel no one knows how thoroughly spent they are, they should know that Jesus does. All of us can be confident he’s “on the inside” of our struggles and pressures, since he can accurately say, “I’ve been there. I know exactly how you feel.”Not yet, but someday

And as soon as little Emerald can say the word Jesus (which will be right after she gets her first teeth), we’ll tell her all about him.

Jesus… “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)