Dull or Delightful?

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Margaret

As a young girl I used to dislike sitting through church services. The sermons were always 45 minutes long, which seemed interminable. But Linnea and I talked recently about the “fun” of listening to sermons now, sometimes going online to hear one after another much like someone viewing a year’s worth of a favorite TV series in one weekend.

Those childhood sermons were wasted on me because I hadn’t figured out how interesting the Bible could be. For example, yesterday’s sermon at my Michigan church was based on Genesis 18, the story of an elderly Abraham and Sarah receiving baby news from 3 angels. I’ve heard the story many times but know that each time I come to it, God can reveal something new. This time through, he showed me a whole bunch of new things:

1. When the 3 angelic guests arrived, Abraham told Sarah to quickly make cakes using 3 seahs of flour. According to the notes, that’s 36 pounds! She had to do some major mixing and kneading, not to mention baking. Meanwhile, the 3 very honored guests had to wait quite a while for this “quick” lunch, including the time it took to kill, quarter, and roast a calf. It says: Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” (Genesis 18:6)

2. It’s also interesting the Lord didn’t say, “In 9 months you’ll have the baby.” He said, “A year from now.” He made them wait, no doubt testing their faith. It says: “The Lord said… about this time next year, Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:14)

3. One of the angel-messengers (who was thought to actually be the Lord himself, looking like an angel) said, “I’ll be coming back to you in a year, when the baby is born.” Later he repeated it for emphasis: “I’ll be back here in a year.” If that really was the Lord, what a spectacular promise! When the baby finally came, he wanted to be part of the celebration, too! I love that. It says: “I will surely return to you about this time next year.” (Genesis 18:10)

4. And something else: Sarah usually gets a bad rap for laughing from her hiding spot behind the tent door (laughing about their ages of 89 and 99). “Sarah laughed to herself…” (Genesis 18:12) But this time as I read the story, God showed me that Abraham had laughed, too, for the same reason (in the previous chapter). I’d never noticed that before. It says: “Abraham fell on his face and laughed…” (Genesis 17:17)

5. And isn’t it delightful that God, who named Isaac himself, chose the name that means “laughter”? It’s as if he was saying, “I totally understand why both of you laughed at this outlandish turn of events. I know it sounds crazy, but isn’t it a happy kind of crazy?” It says: “God said… you shall call his name Isaac.” [laughter] (Genesis 17:19) Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me.” (Genesis 21:6)

I have to laugh, too, with satisfying delight at finding such wonderful detail nestled in the words of God.

Plumb Crazy

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Margaret

We’re taking showers again at our house. After losing repeatedly in a war against the elements (i.e. roots and soil in our basement pipes), we finally saw victory. Two drain-clearing experts arrived with their mega-machinery and extensive know-how, and now our floor drain flows freely.

Amazingly, the whole thing was probably my fault.

It turns out that when this house was built in 1938, the city sewer system didn’t exist. Most houses had septic systems. In the 1970’s, sewers arrived, but many homes (ours included) left basement drains emptying into the ground. That worked well until the year 2000… when we arrived.

While doing yard clean-up one day, I noticed a mini-gulley in the back yard beneath the ivy. Each time I raked, swept, or collected debris, I’d throw it into that long, narrow depression in an effort to level off the ground. Unbeknownst to me, that little ditch was the exit route for our basement shower.

By the time the plumbers figured it out last week, they’d dug through four feet of dirt, leaves, and twigs covering the hole where water had always flowed freely. I’d unwittingly made my own compost pile over the opening, facilitating rapid growth of surrounding roots. As the roots searched for water, they moved directly up the pipe, bringing their soil base along with them. Pretty clever on their part. Absolute idiocy on mine.

This saga is a first-rate example of what a tangled mess can result from making decisions based on wrong information. If I’d have taken one minute to look for a reason why that little ditch was there, I might have seen the edge of the pipe. The plumber actually found a rim of bricks in a semi-circle around the opening, which surely would have tipped me off to the reason for the gulley.

Rushing ahead without thinking (like me) isn’t a sensible way to bounce through life, since it leaves the results open to chance. Scripture speaks to that kind of slapdash approach in a disapproving way: “The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.” (Proverbs 14:16)

Thankfully, this time it was only a plumbing problem. There is one category of life, though, where reckless confidence can lead to permanent catastrophe: our relationship to God. Where do we stand with him? Are we confident we’ll be with him after we die? Or are we recklessly leaving it to chance? These are questions we all need to answer for ourselves.

My plumbing problem was a mystery for a long time, but our whereabouts after we die need never be a mystery. If we put our trust and confidence in God according to his Word, we’ll end up in his presence, exactly as he promised.

And I’m sure there’ll be no plumbing problems there.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise… Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:15,17)

True Love

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Margaret

Today is Valentine’s Day, and despite the fact that Birgitta and I live in an all-female household, l-o-v-e is still the predominant sentiment on this day. But then, that’s true of all the days since little Emerald arrived.

Not that Birgitta and I don’t share a loving relationship. We do. But ever since last October when Emerald was born, smiles and laughter have been extra-bountiful. The baby’s gurgles often morph into our giggles, and her animated face finds us running for cameras.

When Birgitta was pregnant, I wasn’t sure if she would “take” to motherhood. Although some of her siblings have been baby-people from the get-go, she wasn’t one of them. But after Emerald’s birth, God flipped a switch of some sort within her, causing new feelings of love to sprout and quickly take root in her heart. From my vantage point, it’s been delightful to watch.

Scripture flat-out tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8), and I believe he’s the initiator of all mother-love, including Birgitta’s burst of love for Emerald. Not that having a baby hasn’t made her life much more work and a lot less play.

Going out socially is rare, and when Birgitta goes, Emerald goes, too. In every way (except attending her college classes) she is partnered with her daughter. But even with such round-the-clock baby demands, after being gone at school she’ll walk in the door and make a beeline for Emerald. “I missed you!”

If God hadn’t infused Birgitta with this overpowering love for her baby, it would have been difficult for her to summon it up on her own. The fact that he planted it there (and in virtually every mother) is an endowment of incalculable value. It goes against human logic to passionately love someone who has taken away all your privacy, your peace, your sleep, your social life, your free time and every other freedom you used to have. Yet that’s what I see happening in front of me daily.

God is, indeed, the initiator and ultimate celebrator of love, and thus of Valentine’s Day. After all, he loved us before we loved him, but that’s not the half of it. He loved us even before we existed, a concept we can’t entirely understand but are very happy to accept, and no matter what we do or don’t do, his love doesn’t fluctuate.