Pockets of Time

With the onset of motherhood, even with our firstborn daughter, I learned to value even the smallest pockets of time, those unexpected moments of which so much of life is established.  

As a pioneer in the then-foreign world of working from home, I can remember having freelance writing tasks and projects lined up, ready to run, just hoping for our baby to possibly nap.  Ready, get set, go.  I could not do everything, but I could do something.

It was amazing how much I could get done in ten minute increments.

I was reminded of those fruitful moments recently when I literally needed to flex my muscles.  With the onset of a tight shoulder, I knew I needed to add some weights to my daily exercise.  My daughters recommended some online Peloton arm and shoulder workouts, which are largely scheduled in 10 minute increments. 

Ten minutes?  I questioned what ten little minutes could do.  But just ten minutes is something I could do, not as daunting or time-consuming as an hour workout.  But I can probably squeeze in a ten minute pocket of time. 

Ten minutes largely occupies liminal space --that no man's land between what was and what is next. It is comprised mostly what we consider wasted minutes waiting in-between appointments.  But the Latin word limen does not mean an empty place, but a threshold -- a point of stepping into another room, entering a new experience, preparing for a transition, even into what is yet to come.  That threshold is a divine appointment in itself.

Still skeptical, I ordered two three-pound weights and signed onto a ten minute session of arm and shoulder exercises to the tunes of Whitney Houston.  Those ten minutes were filled to the max.  I endured.  I did it.  And the next day, I did it again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And again. And again.  It is amazing the difference that daily ten minute appointment has made in my shoulder.  In the New York Times, Gretchen Reynolds recently wrote that even eleven minutes of exercise a day pushes back against the consequences of inactivity.

Thinking in minutes helps me move beyond reluctance.  Ten minutes gives me a foothold to get out of the paralyzing miry bog of mere good intentions.

What if I approached what is needful or even overwhelming in ten minute increments?  I don't have to clean out my entire closet, but just contribute ten minutes.  I don't have to write a thousand-page Russian novel, but I can write part of a story, a poem, or a blog for ten minutes.  I made surgical caps for frontline workers, ten minutes at a time.  I can't read the entire Bible in one sitting, but ten minutes a day over the course of the year changes my heart.

I just need to cross that threshold.  I promise myself just ten minutes.  And more often than not, seizing those little pockets of time is all I need to get going. 

And I feel like God chuckles, "Now watch what I do with this."  God brings the fruitfulness to it.

 

So teach us to number our days

that we may get a heart of wisdom.

                       Psalm 90. 12

 

Not just seizing the day, but that little ten minute pocket

           that isn't so insignificant after all.

And letting God redeem it

             into something incredible.

Not Even Aware

Throughout the pandemic lockdown in the spring, we enjoyed a variety of birds at our bird feeder, even observing birds not just of another feather, but those species that shouldn't have even appeared in this part of the country or at that time of year.  

Sometime in May, we ran out of bird seed.  We took down the feeder, because the only visitor was an insistent squirrel who dined like a football player at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Just in the past week, Bill hung the bird feeder back up on the deck and filled it.  

Within minutes, a bright red cardinal appeared.  Within an hour or two, a chorus. 

 

We had no idea the immense beauty just waiting in the trees beyond our sight.

By what wonders are we surrounded every day?  God makes visible the invisible, that of which we are so unaware.  Are we even watching for the fingerprints of His glory in our day?

 

Now to Him

who is able to do far more abundantly

than all that we ask or imagine,

according to the 

        power at work within us,

to Him be glory....

                      Ephesians 3. 20

 

 

The words of the old 1905 hymn  still sing true and strong today in 2020, even in this strange year. Click here.

His eye is on the sparrow

And I know

     He watches over me. 

All I Want for Christmas

My older brother always loved to be surprised at Christmas.  But one of my younger brothers simply could not wait.  He snooped. He tried to trick my mom into telling him what he was getting. And then, the closer we came to Christmas, he sought out every conceivable hiding place.  Nothing was sacred, not the creepiest corners of the basement, not re-labeled cardboard boxes in the garage, not even the secrecy of our mom's closet or under the beds.  And then, he would not just discover, but proclaim to the world what he was getting.

There was great excitement and anticipation from Thanksgiving until Christmas morning.

And of what are we seeking this advent season? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I visualize my brother tearing into the wrapping paper and gift box, saying "Wow!  Normal?  Just what I wanted, Mom!" 

I am reminded of C. S. Lewis's words in his very first sermon in 1939 at the onset of World War II.  If you replace the word "war" with "pandemic," his words become even more prophetic.  (For the full text of his message, click this link.)

"For that reason I think it important to try to see the present calamity in a true perspective, The war creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure the search would never have begun. We are mistaken when we compare war with "normal life". Life has never been normal."

All we want for Christmas?  Normal?  No, but Immanuel, God with us. 

Just as God revealed Himself and His love to the world, He amazed everyone.  As Michael Card states in his book The Promise:

But the Promise showed their wildest dreams

        Had simply not been wild enough.

And God has continued to reveal Himself all along in this strange and unusual year in unexpected, unlikely, and extraordinary ways.

We don't have to wait for the end of the pandemic to see what God has given us.  Above all, we experience the realization and reality of His Presence -- God with us.  

The truth and the essence and the reality of "I am with you," has been transformed from a belief, from a worldview, from scripture verses, into our daily bread.

And so our eyes should be focused not on "someday when this will be over," but this very day as we walk with Him.  We are both witnesses and participants in His glory.  Christ broke into this world to change everything.

And He still whispers to us, "Don't miss Me in this."

We are not left with an empty box, but given the gospel.

 

And Here All Along

Last weekend, we dragged our Christmas decorations out of the attic, purchased a tree in the Costco parking lot, and cast aside several strings of lights that no longer worked.  Hanging the ornaments on the tree always makes us miss our girls.  We always had so much fun decorating the tree with them.  But instead of dismay, we smiled and laughed as our favorite ornaments came out of the box:  a coffee filter angel made by a preschooler thirty years ago,  a golf ball painted by one of our teenagers, and a handcrafted clay angel dated 2001. 

And we scattered about in a few rooms nativity scenes to catch our attention and remind us of the reason for our celebration. 

The next morning, at the desk where I do my morning reading, I looked up and saw a little decorative door before me. I had almost forgotten about it, about what was always there in December and July, what has been there year by year, even through the pandemic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advent does not announce, "Jesus is coming,"  but Jesus has come, Jesus is already here, even when we are not aware, even when we live as if He is not.  

I opened the door.  He has been here all along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fear not,

   for I am with you,

be not dismayed,

   for I am your God;

I will strengthen you,

I will help you,

and I will uphold you

  with My victorious right hand.

               Isaiah 41. 10

 

Because This Is What Christmas Looks Like

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every year, I try to track down yet another book about Christmas to read during Advent, a book that points to the significance of Christ's coming.  Last week, I read Timothy Keller's book Hidden Christmas, published in 2006, a short but poignant reminder that Christmas is not an event or a national holiday, but about our own desperate need and His life for our own. 

Christmas is all about God setting things right again in unexpected ways and through the most unlikely people.  Keller emphasizes: 

"Over and over and over again God says, “I will choose Nazareth, not Jerusalem.  I will choose the girl nobody wants.  I will choose the boy everybody has forgotten.”  Why?  Is it just that God likes underdogs?  No.  He is telling us something about salvation itself.  Every other religion and moral philosophy tells you to summon up all of your strength and live as you ought. Therefore, they appeal to the strong, to the people who can pull it together, the people who can “summon up the blood.”  Only Jesus says, “I have come for the weak.  I have come for those who admit they are weak.  I will save them not by what they do but through what I do.”

…Here’s the comfort:  I don’t care who you are; I don’t care what you have done; I don’t care if you’ve been on the paid staff of Hell.  I don’t care what your background is; I don’t care what deep, dark secrets are in your past.  I don’t care how badly you have messed up.  If you repent and come to God through Jesus, not only will God accept you and work in your life, but He delights to work through people like you.  He’s been doing it through all of world history."

And He still does.

God did not leave us in our desperation.   As Keller says, "He came to fetch us."

He is here, the angel chorus sang.

He is here, our lives should reveal. 

 

And the angel said to them,

"Fear not, 

     for behold,

I bring you good news of great joy

  that will be for all the people.

For unto you is born this day

in the city of David

       a Savior,

       who is Christ the Lord."

                   Luke 2. 10-11