Change Point

Pray like you mean it.
Live differently
         because you did.


The prayer of the righteous
has great power
in its effects.

                  James 5.16

Ain't Nobody Got Time For That

I unpacked late yesterday from a week on the road, traveling to Nashville for the birth of our new grandson and then driving on to Cleveland to spend several days with our other young grandchildren while our oldest daughter was getting things ready to leave on vacation.  The grandkids give a new definition to the word, "active."  And I love every minute of it.

Last night I slept soundly, my gramma "radar" finally turned off, no need to listen for cries in the night and the sound of little feet, or for a call from Nashville announcing, "The baby is here!"   Throughout the week, God reminded me of those days when a successful day was one in which the laundry got done, the kids were fed, and I was able to get a shower.  Somewhere along the line,  I have lost my skill in maximizing those ten minute pockets when the kids are all napping at the same time.

No matter our season in life, we all are faced with situations when time is not big enough to wrap around the list of things to be done.  My own tendency is to bounce from one thing to another, touching, reacting, and completing nothing, all the while wasting time tripping over speed bumps of fear and worry.

My situation cries out "panic."  But ain't nobody got time for that.  The world says "prioritize," which at times misses that which is most significant of all.  I have learned from experience to use the other "p" word.  PRAY.  Really? You don't understand how busy I am.  "Ain't nobody got time to pray," when in actuality, we can't afford not to.

"LORD, show me how to navigate this day.  Open my eyes to YOUR ways, YOUR portals, and YOUR solutions.  Help me to KNOW what is needful and to lay aside the unnecessary or turn away from what distracts."  God points to me what is needful.  And oh, more times than not, it is a way of seeing things differently or a path not yet on my own radar.

One thing is needful.   That is my relationship with God.  And when that is first, it is amazing how clearly I can see what needs to be done, how to do it, and even what order to do it.  Trust me.  God's deliverance does not land in a neatly wrapped package on my doorstep.  His deliverance works me through my day.

But the Lord answered her,
"Martha, Martha,
you are anxious and troubled
about many things;
       one thing is needful."

                      Luke 10. 41-42

Nothing Will Ever Be The Same

For the past few weeks, we have been awaiting the birth of our third grandchild.  Our daughter would call frequently talking about her preparations and her journey through pregnancy.

And all along, I have been thinking, "She has NO idea what is coming, NO possible comprehension of what is in store, nothing will EVER be the same."

And suddenly, this daughter of ours -- you know, the one that thought sleep was a waste of time, the one who hid science experiments under the bathroom sink, the one who brought home spiders and moths and shiny rocks -- has become a mom.  Yesterday at 11.11 a.m.  She and her husband have a beautiful baby boy.

We saw Adrian for the first time late last night, his big eyes full of wonder at this new world around him, much as I would think when we walk through the pearly gates someday. Wow.

When I heard the happy news of a safe delivery, I rejoiced and then realized that it is I who have no comprehension of what is in store.  The world is a little different because of this new life.  And I too am a little different because of this child.  When each of our four daughters were born, another new dimension of love was revealed, as if opening a door that I didn't know existed.  And now, as a gramma, I feel that happening again.

On our way here last night though, I kept thinking about my own grandmother, a quiet, gentle presence in my life as a child.  With her I had the freedom to ask a billion questions or just sit and enjoy the silence between us.  More than anyone else in my life, she pointed me to God just by the way she graciously lived.  And when confronted by deep mystery, I can clearly hear her voice, "Well, darling, sometimes we just need to trust Him."

Looking forward to the adventure ahead.

O LORD, our LORD,
how majestic isYour name in all the earth.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
You have perfected praise.

                         Psalm 8. 1-2

Text Message: Please PRAY!

I opened a text on Friday afternoon from my friend Liz who was attending the final day of a conference: "Upset stomach.  Need to fly home at 4.  Please PRAY!"  There is only one thing worse than having an upset stomach, and that is having to fly with an upset stomach.  I began to pray for God to help her navigate through the next few hours.  She stowed away a plastic grocery bag in her purse.  And she spent her waiting time, not at the gate, but in the airport bathroom, afraid that she was going to have to cancel her flight.

She was flying Southwest Airlines, and so, an assigned seat was not waiting for her.  But then again, perhaps it was.  Boarding the plane, she headed down the aisle through the crowd, searching for the first available window seat, hoping to somehow sleep through the flight.  About midpoint behind the exit row, she spotted a vacant window seat over the left wing.  She was eager to close her eyes to block out her tsunamic waves of nausea.  But as she sat down, something caught her eye.  There, tucked in the seat pocket directly in front of her, was an entire unopened sleeve of saltine crackers.  JUST what she needed.  JUST when she needed it. Her husband glanced over.  "Where did you get those?" he asked, incredulous.

She munched her way through the flight, her stomach now calmed.  God provided not a single crumpled-up cellophane packet of crackers discarded from someone's lunch, but He lavished her with even more than she needed -- in a way she could not have imagined -- in a way that only God could have engineered.  Unassigned seat?  I don't think so.  God had those crackers waiting.

Later she texted me:  "I just wanted to make it through the flight.  It was the sweetest gift ever."

After she arrived home, she messaged me, "He knew I would need that now.  He precedes our days and needs."

This morning, I asked her permission to relate this story of God's provision and to verify some of the details.  About an hour or two later,  she texted back:  "Wait a minute.  I asked you to pray earlier that day."  Yes, I acknowledged.

"What if I hadn't asked for prayer?" she typed. 

If we had not prayed, would those crackers have been there anyway?  Maybe or maybe not.  But they appeared not a moment too late, nor a row away.  And because we prayed, we can recognize with delight Who put them there.

One of the names of God in the Old Testament is Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides.  My friend was passing through her own place of wilderness.  And when she cried "Help!"  God had already worked out the details.   He was there.  As they say in the Jimmy John's commercial:  "Freaky Fast Delivery."  Before she even knew to ask, God delivered  His bounty to the seat pocket directly in front of her.  Nothing random in that.

And I wonder if the person who sat on an earlier flight in that seat -- who left their crackers behind -- has any idea how he or she was used by God to bless a sick woman in desperate need.   How clueless we are to His great designs and how He uses us in them.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
                           Isaiah 55.9

Make Every Day Epic

There is a Super Bowl commercial from last Sunday that has stuck in my head.  It starts with a family sitting down to breakfast, and a young son asking, "What are we going to do today, Dad?"

The rest of the commercial showed the family have a wildly fun day, doing the unusual and laughing together.  It ends with the phrase, "Make every day epic."

Sounds inspiring, but in reality, that advertising jingle is based on spiritual truth:  Every day is already epic.  We miss it, because we don't see it that way.  Not grumbling, "oh no, it is morning already," but seeing each morning a gift designed by our Creator.  Every day is significant and full of purpose and meant to not be wasted.

LORD, reveal Your day for me.  Help me to follow You into it. "What are we going to do today, Abba Father?"  It is not that my situation becomes different, but my vision sharpens and I gain a better grasp of the greatness and goodness of God.   Nothing is insignificant in His eyes.

Because our internet has been malfunctioning for almost a week, I am sitting right now in a Panera restaurant, using their wi-fi for the price of a cup of coffee.  I have been distracted from my work, however, by the clerk at the counter.  She is not just taking orders and giving change.  She is GREETING every customer, most of them by name, and treating those she doesn't know as if she did.  "How are you feeling?  You look good," I just heard her say to an elderly man.  She sees her minimum wage job through different eyes.  She is not selling coffee, she is building relationships.

See every day as epic.  Because it is.

This is the day that the LORD has made,
let us rejoice
    and be glad in it.
                             Psalm 118.24