The Right Thing to Do

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Before I traveled to Florida, I was happily navigating through Walmart in search of stickers for my grandchildren. Pushing through the women’s clothing section to get to the party aisle, I was thinking of my 5 little ones and especially of baby number 6 (who now has a name and face) when suddenly, out of nowhere, my own mother’s voice rang out in my head. “Margaret, shame on you. Pick that up.”

I’d just wheeled my cart around a grey fleece hoodie lying on the Walmart floor. Mom’s reprimand prompted a memory of decades before when I was a self-centered 15 year old. She and I were often at odds during those days, but we found ourselves on a shopping trip together at Wieboldt’s department store, searching for an outfit I needed but didn’t want.

Wandering amongst the circular racks of clothes, we came to a dress lying on the floor. Without breaking stride, Mom bent over, picked it up and hung it back on the rack. My inappropriate thought was, “They pay people to do that.” But I kept it to myself, to escape a lecture.

Despite my self-absorbed mindset, Mom’s good deed left a mark that lasted 50 years. She hadn’t picked up the dress to teach me a lesson or earn credit with me or anybody else. She did it because she knew someone had to do it, and her thought was it might as well be her. She could help, so she did. It was the right thing to do.

Knowing the right thing to do and doing it, not for credit, not to impress, and not in response to being told to do it, is a good way to live. I would imagine it’s very satisfying. Some people go through life trying to do as little as possible, working to tweak every set of circumstances to their advantage. Others not only live to be helpful, but it doesn’t even cross their minds to step over the clothing.

What is God’s view? Although he’s always overseeing the events on earth, his eyes scanning the crowds, I think he’s watching us especially carefully when we’re alone. How do we act when no one’s looking? Do we cut corners? Stretch the truth? Eat/drink/watch what we shouldn’t? Waste time/money? Do the bare minimum? Maneuver the shopping cart around the garment on the floor?

If we pictured a literal Jesus at our elbow, joining in on whatever we were doing, would we act differently? No doubt.

I turned around, picked up the hoodie, and hung it on the rack.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)

I hear you.

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I’ve heard wives complain about husbands snoring and husbands objecting to wives’ breathing machines, but there are no more stressful nighttime sounds than those of a newborn. Every parent is on red-alert that first night, listening to their baby sleep, stunned by how noisy he/she is. It’s as if the baby has spent 9 months developing an extensive repertoire of sound effects she then begins to reveal the minute mommy and daddy turn out the lights.

Snort. Squeak. Squawk. Squeal.

It’s a sleepless night to be sure, and even those moments of quiet become cause for concern. (I remember putting a mirror in front of newborn Nelson’s nose to see if he was still breathing.) But God has made babies far sturdier than they first seem. As we look at a fragile-looking infant not yet 24 hours old, it seems illogical to think she’ll probably live to see 100.

In the hours after Monday’s home birth, the two highly experienced midwives took care of mother and baby in every way, educating the rest of us as they worked and chatted calmly throughout the emotionally charged circumstances. One of the midwives said, “No need to worry about those middle-of-the-night baby noises. She’s just doing what comes naturally. It’s absolutely musical.”

That last statement stuck with me. There’s a mile-wide gap between “is he breathing” and “isn’t it musical.” I wonder if that’s what it’s like with God. We squawk about our troubles and snort about life being unfair. Might this sound like music to God’s ears?

Although he tells us he doesn’t like flat-out complaining and often arranges discipline for those who indulge in it, as we go through our days and months struggling with challenges and inequalities making a few sound effects along the way, the Lord just might be saying, “That’s all fine. It proves you’re still living and breathing.”

One thing I know for sure is that God is always glad to hear from us, whether it’s a squawk, a squeak, or a sensible prayer. Our every utterance is important to him, and there’s not a single noise he misses. Just as is true with Linnea, Adam, and their new baby, he loves us too much not to listen carefully, around the clock.

Little Autumn Faith has experienced a long list of radical changes from her world inside Linnea to her new world on the outside, a shock the likes of which won’t be equaled in her lifetime. So, freedom to do a bit of snorting and squealing is the least we can give her. And with God’s help, maybe her parents will soon be able to lie in bed without a smidgen of concern over her nighttime noises but instead be able to simply enjoy the music.

“It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.” (Psalm 92:1,2)

What’ll it be?

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When a new baby is born, the parents’ first important task is to assign him or her a name. After that, short of an expensive court procedure, that decision will stand, all the way to the grave. Because the choice is up to mommy and daddy not baby, it’s an important job and should be approached with careful thought.

In biblical days, parents named their children after character qualities or mission descriptions. Once in a while they named them negatively. The Jabez of Old Testament fame, for example, was named “pain” because his birth was excruciating for his mother.

People who name their babies positive things hope they’ll grow up to be what they’ve been named: Charity, August, Grace, Noble, Joy. When named after a respected relative or friend, parents hope their child will emulate their namesake.

A name choice is important to a child but also to God. The names he chose for Jesus were descriptive of his life purpose: “Jesus” meant “Savior,” “Christ” meant “Messiah,” and “Emmanuel” meant “God with us.” Since God demonstrated how to name a baby, we ought to follow suit.

Nate and I named our seven children less meticulously than God did, but we did discuss each one thoroughly. None of our children’s names have negative meanings, and some honor family members. All came off a Swedish calendar, which we thought was clever, since we were both Swedish: Nelson Hamilton, Lars Kristian, Linnea Marta, Klaus Fredrik, Hans Tomas, Louisa Viktoria and Birgitta Mary.

Our daughter Linnea and her husband Adam have just gone through the process of naming their new baby, Autumn Faith. Wrapped up in her pretty name are several important things.

They named her Autumn because most of the momentous events of their lives together have happened in the fall: they committed to each other as boyfriend/girlfriend then, had a September wedding, learned they were going to become parents in the fall after experts said “never,” Linnea’s father’s illness and death occurred in the autumn with all 13 of us together, and nature dresses herself in extreme beauty during Linnea’s favorite season, fall.

Autumn’s middle name, Faith, will be a continual reminder to Linnea and Adam to live focused on all God can do, originating with his gift of faith to them and anyone else who desires it. As Linnea said, “We come to him with our hands open having nothing to offer, and he fills them.”

As we all get used to using Autumn Faith’s new name, we’ll be steadily praying she grows up to have the same strong faith in God that her name represents, not just in the autumn but in every season of every year.

Jesus Christ is… “a name far beyond any name that could ever be used in this world or the world to come.” (Ephesians 1:21)