Work, Work, Work.

I subscribe to a number of blogs.  Most are artistic, many are money-saving.  One of the artistic ones today was about the loss of the "trophies" of life, those accomplishments and people to whom we can point and be proud.  All the "look what I did" things.  You can find it here:  Little Apartment on the Prairie

She referred her readers to another blog, saying "This post inspired and touched my heart this week: When Your Trying To Get Your Priorities Straight, in fact it's going on my fridge."

And here is that post:  Holy Experience

I was a young mom like these two women, and I remember what it was like.  My house was busy and loud.  There was laundry and housework and meal preparation and dishes and baths . . . this endless doing of the necessary things in my family's life.

"I was made for this," I thought.  And I was.  I was good at it, and I enjoyed it.  I still do. Having said that, I must admit that I am a horrific housekeeper.  I still love that old saying "Hush up, cobwebs, dust go to sleep.  I'm rocking my baby and my baby won't keep."

We are made and created to worship and love God.  We miss so much of the unseen world because we simply can't see it.  It is beyond the physical realm of the world in which we live, so the great challenge is to strive to see that unseen place.  We can only do that via Jesus, and this draws us back to Him over and over again.

It's easy to say that because these higher callings are so important, the work should usually go by the wayside.  By that I mean not that we let our homes dissolve into chaos -- rather, I just mean letting "work" take last place in our view of our priorities.  As usual, it's much easier to sway from one extreme to the other, instead of trying to find the balance between the two.

But I think work is right up there with those higher callings.  God gave us work; it is the thing that keeps us engaged and learning and involved and interested, and even connected to each other.  I believe there will be work in heaven.  The word gets such a bad rap -- "work" -- as if it's always hard.  But it can be incredibly rewarding.  I remember doing laundry in the basement of the house, folding and matching endless pairs of little socks.  And when it was all done, I had a deep, incredibly wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

I connect with God through worship.  He meets me there and fills me up.  I could never do without that, without pursuing a life of adoration and worship for Him.  But . . . I also glorify Him for giving me work.  Working with my hands and accomplishing something is simply doing what He has made me to do.  It's like a child looking up at a parent, and when we do it well, God is as pleased with us as we are with ourselves.  It's all good.

We must be careful because we are compelled to measure.  And measuring only gains us meaningless trophies.  I loved seeing all that laundry done -- but it wasn't really something I thought should be reported on the nightly news.  It's just laundry, after all.

But it was my work.  And I did it well, and God was just as pleased then as He is when I look up and praise Him or pray or ponder the unseen world.

Oh, the love of God and the balance to which it challenges us.  Talk about work.

xoxoxox

Mine, Mine, Mine

From II Corinthians 6:17 or 18 --

"Don't link up with those who will pollute you. 
      I want you all for myself. "


It is a wonderful, incredible, amazing thing to belong and be wanted.


xoxoxox

I Wonder as I Squander

Today, I am feeling the weight of what is about to happen:  I have one daughter already gone and living 500 miles away, and two more are leaving in a week.  One is going about 250 miles southwest, and the other about 100 miles southeast.  


I wrote to my Mom last night, because I usually go to my Mom when I don't know what to do.  I said this:  "They're all leaving.  Make it stop."


And because I know my mother well, I know she is feeling my pain, feeling tears sting her eyes like they do mine, and all the while knowing that I'll get through it just fine, because she did.


It is as life goes.  It is the repeating of things over and over again.  My turn.


Paul encouraged me today.  He had no idea when he wrote that letter to the Corinthian church that Jenny's heart would be lifted by what he said.  But that's God for you -- 


^1-10Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. 


I know Paul is talking to people in the church at Corinth who seem to be going on about their lives as if nothing had changed.  I realise that he's concerned about opportunities they might have to change lives in their community, to introduce their neighbors to Christ, to be examples, to let their lives be arrows pointing straight to God.


But he is also talking to me.  He's telling me that time is valuable, precious, gone in a wink.  So don't squander it; don't waste time fussing about who did the dishes when you could be hugging her and telling her how amazing she is and how convinced you are she'll conquer every challenge.


Not that the dishes don't have to get done.  OK, tell her that while you're doing the dishes with her.  Maybe squirt some water or snap a dishtowel and laugh a lot.


I have heard people tell me this all my life:  every moment I have with my daughter is precious.  So every moment in one daughter's life, times five -- how did I get to be the one who won the lottery and hit the jackpot when it came to precious moments? I don't know, don't really care -- I just want to be highly mindful of it, not be looking back all the time at those moments I did squander with my own selfishness.  I want to look ahead.  The moments aren't over, they're just spread a little further apart with physical distance.


And it is so much easier to enjoy them now that there aren't all these little high-pitched voices screaming and talking and arguing over whose turn it is to do the dishes.


I need a sign somewhere in my house -- maybe in the kitchen somewhere -- that says "no squandering allowed."  Get out the map.  Quit squandering around.  


And squander over here and let's get some dishes done.


xoxox

Operator, How May I Connect Your Call?

<sup>From II Corinthians 6:


11-13</sup>Dear, dear Corinthians, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way. I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!


If ever there was a call to the body of Christ -- the Church -- today, it is this it.


xoxoxox

Aufedersein (Our Feet are the Same)

Some observations from II Corinthians 5:


We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less.

I can't tell you how many times that Hunk O Man and I have looked at each other and said "It just doesn't get any better than this, does it?"  Not on this earth, maybe.  But what a gift to get just a taste of what is to come!

If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.

So it's all your fault.  Metaphorically speaking.

 ^14-15Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

So knock it off with all this "my Dad can beat up your Dad" nonsense.  (So to speak.  With laughter.)

^16-20Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. 

What a relief.  We're all the same.  The ground at the foot of the cross is level.

Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. 

So let's get to it, shall we?

xoxoxox

Spies

Ever heard that song "Be Careful Little Eyes What You See?" It's an old Sunday school song taught to children.

Honestly, I've always hated that song. It communicates so much pressure to be perfect. No wonder kids are neurotic sometimes.

But then again -- it is important to remember that people are looking to us Christians as an example. They judge God by the way we behave --

From 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 --

Our work as God's servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power; when we're doing our best setting things right; when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.

So no matter what we do, or when, or how -- we must take care. It's a lot to handle and a high standard -- but then again, the One who set the standard is the one who enables us to do it. And not only that, but even gives us our next breath.

In, and out. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Aaah. And the next one comes from the God that loves us more than anything in the world, and more than anyone else ever could.

xoxox

Pending Disaster

I was just watching a special on Discovery tonight. It was all about 2012 and the possible disasters that may follow. Then I went to catch up on my bible reading and I came across this:

2 Cor 4 --

^16-18So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.

It certainly is nice to know who's in charge of the world!

xoxoxox

The Weight of Glory

From I Corinthians 18:

35-38
Some skeptic is sure to ask, "Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this 'resurrection body' look like?" If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a "dead" seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don't look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.

⁵¹ But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed.

I read this today, and thought of the other night when I was up late. I'd been working, and I got hot. So I went outside to cool off.

It was a gorgeous night, very clear and cool although not really cold. The breeze was wonderful; very refreshing. I looked up, and the stars were shining like Christmas ornaments. Not the usual brightness that just shines, but a twinkling light that was blue, then red, then green, then white, then blue -- in no particular pattern, just always different. It seems like all the "big" stars did that, while others just shone white. I kept saying "diamonds, they're diamonds in the sky" over and over, marvelling.

I stood there and thanked God for his beautiful creation. Along with the stars was all the green in my yard -- the grass, the trees, the flowers, the herbs. It's just a regular yard, nothing special or even terribly organised. But does it really have to be? God's creation is at its most beautiful when it is at its wildest. Perfect landscaping is wonderful for a yard, but it can't hold a candle to an entire field full of lavender that just volunteered.

As I stood there thanking God for this, I remembered that C.S. Lewis was always reminding of what Paul told us: that this world, this life, is just a poor reflection of the life and world that is to come. Easy to say -- difficult to imagine. The key is to remember that we're not talking about some fictional idea. It's a real place, in a real location, where real beings live. And I'm looking forward to being there as I have never longed for a place in my life.

I'll leave you today with another favourite quote from C.S. Lewis in "The Weight of Glory:

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you may talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and corruption such as you now meet if at all only in a nightmare. . . There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours."

xoxox

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Lessons?

So I'm reading along today in I Corinthians 10, and I come across this, Paul talking about lessons from the past and the way the Israelites really screwed up:

• But just experiencing God's wonder and grace didn't seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased.
• 6-10The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—"First the people partied, then they threw a dance." We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with 23,000 deaths in one day! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them.
• 11-12These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don't repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were.
• Don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence.
• 13No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.
• 14So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can.

I know, it's a long passage. But so chock full of great stuff!

That said, I have a question. Why is this so hard for us to learn?


In my life, I always have believed that I would never fall prey to some sins. They were too big, or so terrible that I could never imagine myself committing them. I had a strong faith and good relationships with God and others. How could anything that bad happen? I knew what the bible said, and I knew that technically I could commit one of those sins, but really -- what were the chances? It was like those experts they put on the witness stands in movies -- they make them admit that there might possibly be a one-millionth of one percent chance that this or that could happen.


HOWEVER . . . I have sections of my life that I'd just like to cut out and throw into some kind of eternal fire that leaves no ashes or evidence of any kind. I'd like to go back in time and have a re-do. Where is the eraser? I look back at those times and I marvel at the person I was -- totally unrecognizable. I think to myself 'that wasn't me. Who was that person?'


Well, it was me, and there you go. None of us -- no powerful politician, no respected pastor, no wonderful parent that loves you, no sibling with a perfect marriage -- nobody is exempt. It may be a shock to learn that they've done some horrible thing, but then again -- why? Aren't we all susceptible?


That's why Paul warns us to be on our guard. Essentially, he tells us to never say never. He's so right! How I wish I didn't know this so personally! It is naive to think that we are somehow put in a special group of folks that will never do some big bad thing. Sometimes, we get so damaged by our circumstances that we become a person that nobody recognizes anymore as us. We do things we never thought we'd even think of doing.


And let's not forget that Satan is always looking to exploit any weakness, any little cracks in our walls. A little tiny crack in a dam can be responsible for an entire lake flooding a very, very big area and doing one heap of a lot of damage.


I know all too well that the ground at the foot of the cross is level. Nobody is better than anybody else. I live every day thankful that I have a God who loves me that much, and who empowers others to love me that much as well. And I do little checks with myself from time to time -- any cracks in the dam? Any stresses of life that are pushing me toward some big bad sin? Any thoughts coming in too often and lingering too long? Any junk that needs clearing out in my heart? Any pride rising up in my, only to go before the fall?


So this is me, today, cultivating God-confidence, knowing that the next step could be a stumble. The words "My gracious Redeemer, My Saviour art thou, If ever I loved Thee, My Jesus it's now" couldn't be more true . . .


xoxox

Finding a Balance

Today I'm substitute teaching for a friend. He's the french teacher at the high school. Since this is french class, I'm requiring everyone who wants to go to the bathroom or get a drink to ask me in french. It's proving to be quite interesting how sophomores and juniors in second-year french have no idea how to pronounce things like "pui" and "j'aller."

So I wrote it on the board phonetically. Some of them are still doing without water and the bathroom because they refuse to say it. They don't want to look stupid, like "know-nothings."

While they are doing their writing assignments, I've had time to read my daily bible -- I Corinthians 8.

You know, I love how the bible is all about balance. Essentially, balance means that too much of a good thing is a bad thing. How true! How many bad things are simply a corruption of a good thing? Too much chocolate -- too much candy -- too much work -- too much play -- too much talking -- too much waiting -- too busy -- too much sleep -- too much!

Here's a quote from the first part of the chapter --

We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions—but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all.

Once in awhile I have to just stop and admit that I just flat don't know -- but maybe I can find the answer. And sometimes I can't even find the answer. It's humbling to admit, and yet good to know that God really does know it all. And He'll tell me the answer if I simply ask. Is there any better advice for a young Christian?

And here is the best part of the chapter, for me:

But knowing isn't everything. If it becomes everything, some people end up as know-it-alls who treat others as know-nothings. Real knowledge isn't that insensitive.

We do love to measure things, don't we? We like to know that we're this smart or that tall. Or that we're this old, or that far along in our studies, or we've been a Christian this many years.

There was one group that really irritated Jesus -- the Pharisees. They were all about the rules and paid no attention to the "spirit of the law," or the reasons behind the rules. They were the types of know-it-alls to whom Paul refers. They were highly respected, and originally had the right idea -- but it became a corruption of the good idea when it became rules and laws and a constant measuring of everything. It gave them big heads, and some of them treated non-Pharisees as "know-nothings."

REAL KNOWLEDGE ISN'T THAT INSENSITIVE. Wow! Could Paul have said it any better?

The Pharisees like Josepheus (who provided the tomb for Jesus' burial) were the ones who were the good ones -- who realised that God really does know it all, and while they knew a lot, they certainly didn't know everything. They realised that there has to be a balance between the rules and the knowing that we can never keep them all.

There has to be grace. And there has to be a Saviour. We have to stop sometimes and admit that we just don't know it all, and that if you can't keep every rule, maybe you should just concentrate on the reason for the rule.

Lord God, please enable me today to be humble before these teenagers, to let them know that I certainly don't know it all, and that the best thing any Christian can do is pursue You in everything. Amen.

xoxox