From better to worse?

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My Michigan cottage has been undergoing a partial face lift recently, with disarray ongoing for 5 weeks now. Those of us who lean toward a disorganized mindset even when our surroundings are in order know that serious thinking becomes difficult if life’s backdrop is in shambles. But as is true of many of life’s improvements, things often get worse before they get better.

I remember that same phenomenon with some of our teens in their battles with acne. Although they’d leave the dermatologist’s office with a fistful of promising prescriptions, their faces always got worse before they got better.

In a less visible way, worst-first is also true in relationship counseling. During the early weeks, complaints and criticisms rise to the surface like cream from warm cow’s milk. But with time, the “better” begins to happen.

This worse-before-better phenomenon is unfolding on a massive scale all around us in our world. More wars, more natural disasters, more fractured families, more violent deaths. Might this mean things are on their way to getting better?

Only if God steps in.

Scripture describes our global situation to-a-T:

“When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents. Such things must happen.” (Mark 13)

But why?

Because the devil is wreaking havoc among us. He couldn’t convince Jesus to commit even one tiny little sin in 33 years of trying, and he failed to dissuade him from enduring torture and death for our salvation. His time to work on Jesus has ended, but this wicked being still has the power to ruin lives through disease, abuse, poverty and countless other evils. He’s also able to tempt all of us relentlessly, and he works on it night and day.

Satan thrills to the possibility of keeping souls separated from God the Father, both in this life and the next. His greatest joy is to take people to permanent destruction, but we know God has the final say and will eventually come out on top. If we follow him, we’ll be on the victorious team.

Sometimes I wonder why the Lord doesn’t just end it all today. How bad will it have to get? He’s coming back to settle the score eventually and strip the devil of his power, so why is he waiting? Most likely it’s to allow as many as possible to believe in him and accept the salvation he offers. His desire is to see every soul come to him.

God knows that the upheaval and chaos around us is disturbing, but he urges us not to panic, reminding us that this “worse” will lead to the best “better” there ever was!

”Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” (Hebrews 10:37)

I made it myself!

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Every parent has witnessed a child’s twinkling eyes as their 5 year-old approaches with her hands behind her back. “I have a surprise for you!” she says through a wide grin. “I made it myself!”

Focusing with laser intensity on her parents’ eyes with the hope of holding their gaze she says, “Are you ready?”

And out from hiding comes a painted plaster bird or a tin-foil ornament. Her parents oooh and aaah over the wonder of this creation, and the child smiles with a sense of ownership and pride. The fact that she is willing to give it away is true love indeed.

I wonder if God feels that way about all he’s made, from invisible atoms to immense stars. Master Creator that he is, he’s probably deeply attached to every piece of the universe as its Designer. He owns it all. And yet he’s given all of its parts to us in an expression of true love.

Last week I found myself walking through the glass-walled rooms of the Frederik Meijer Botanical Gardens, a wonderland of all things green and growing. Browsing through a maze of greenhouses, I felt like a child on a treasure hunt, searching for each wonder pictured in my brochure. Even the children’s garden dusted off the hidden kid in me.

Also fascinating was the people-parade, each person charmed by endless botanical wonders. The plants and flowers were a fascination to everyone from youngsters in strollers to oldsters in wheelchairs, who all chose this as their go-to place on a cool, overcast day.

I’d like to think they were there because God’s work is too spectacular to resist. Although Frederik Meijer was the benefactor of the greenhouses and acreage, God provided the filler. Without his broad array of happy plants, the whole venture would be lifeless.

Some Scriptures tell us God created with words alone, but I like to imagine him more involved, ingeniously designing everything from Azaleas to Zinnias. Might he have envisioned a bird not yet created while fashioning the Bird of Paradise? Or thought of Bethlehem as he shaped the first Star Fruit? Or pondered the food chain when putting together the Venus Fly Trap? Or sighed as he crafted the Bleeding Heart?

Surely he’s pleased as he watches people of all ages roam a garden bursting with his creativity, appreciating it as a living art gallery. But none of us need to buy entrance into a botanical garden to value what God has made. His artwork surrounds us, and there’s no better time than spring to express gratitude.

Thinking back to creation immediately after he’d made the world, God didn’t hide it behind his back but eagerly gave it away as soon as he’d made the first human being.  Might he have delivered it with a twinkle in his eye?

I’m sure of it.

God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours…” God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:29, 31)

Grave Thoughts at the Graveyard

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As is true every Memorial Day, we visited Rosehill Cemetery. Eleven of our loved ones are buried there, the first in 1911, 100 years ago. And eight empty graves lie waiting, a troublesome thought.

Mom’s ancestors didn’t enjoy cemetery visits, but Dad’s family made it a tradition, particularly on Memorial Day. In the early 1900’s they toted picnic fixings to Rosehill for lunch and watched a parade of period-dressed Civil War characters. Canons were fired and actors played the parts of soldiers, complete with grieving widows dressed in black.

Today as we assembled around the Johnson family plot where Nate is also buried, we heard the canons fire on the other side of the cemetery near the Civil War graves. But our focus was on what had occurred to cause one of our empty graves to be recently filled.

Nate’s burial took place 18 months ago, and I wasn’t sure how it would feel to revisit his grave. This would be our first look at his headstone, made to match that of my Dad’s family a few feet away. Birgitta and I arrived first, and when we saw the marker, we couldn’t hold back our tears. Last year, six months after Nate’s death, our Rosehill visit was traumatic, but there was no gravestone then, and it didn’t impact us then like it did today.

Mary, our excellent family historian, brought along her Memorial Day binder with its documents, photos and clippings, all in reference to the relatives buried at Rosehill. Lars read an old blog post written two weeks after Nate died, reminding us aloud that God gives us victory over death through Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15)

As we continued to talk about our ancestors and mostly about Nate, the sorrow of missing my husband welled up and spilled over. I couldn’t stop crying. But as Nate told me when I cried during his cancer, “Crying lets out some of the sadness.” And out it poured.

Every widow is lifted when others miss their man. Our family grouping, though small this year, was a special bunch whose shared tears meant a great deal to me.

Days pile into years, and we all know the empty graves will bring us back to Rosehill with other sad stories of loss. But Scripture details the togetherness of our future on the other side of death. My nephew shared a thought about the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) It happened just minutes before Jesus raised his good friend Lazarus from the dead.

Andrew told us of the original translation of the word “wept” and of Jesus’ intense distress over death’s presence in our world. Although he will one day kill death permanently, for now we’ll all experience it and continue to suffer deeply when those we love are taken.

Waiting for Christ’s ultimate victory over death isn’t easy, but God keeps his every promise. One future day we’ll watch his prediction come true as he puts an end to all grave scenes in graveyards.

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:26)