Eat, Sleep, PLAY

I have been on grand baby duty this week again, developing a deeper relationship with my new grandson. And there isn't any workout better than that.  My legs have been strengthened from the countless runs up and down the stairs, my arms stronger from lifting a very cute 15 pound weight up and down and all around, and my heart...well, fonder by the day.

It is the time that we spend that increases the size of our hearts and bonds us inextricably with one another.  I am very aware that Adrian will not remember our walks on the greenway, playing "how big," and singing made-up songs and old favorites. But there will be a relationship there, never forgotten.

When I was a young mom and had to return way too early to my job, my mom took care of our first daughter day by day for several months.  Mom was totally out of her league, but she did her best, even by solving an afternoon nap dilemma by parking the baby in her car seat in front of the Cub's game on television. Mom loved Beth more than I could know, sang to her, talked to her face to face, and I am sure, played her violin for the baby. And when Beth was upset, Mom held her close, knowing well her cries for "I'm hungry," "I'm tired," and "Please change my diaper."  And sometimes, "just hold me."  The bond between them was evident through the years in their love for each other. Beth does not remember Mom's individual actions and her early days with Mom, but Beth knew a deeper love.

Because we live several hundred miles from all three of our grand kids, it would be easy to fall discouraged and lament the distance.  Or I can make a choice to make the most of my time with them, developing my relationship with them whenever and however I can.  We call frequently, exchange photos on email, and thank You, LORD, for skype and facetime. 

The same goes for my relationship with God, as I intentionally build on His love for me by spending time in His Word, praying, loving and serving Him, and through loving others, whenever and however I can.  The LORD knows my cries of desperation.  He holds me in His everlasting arms.

I relish my time with Adrian, his little gurgling noises, and his incredible smile.  He knows he is loved.   And so do I.

O LORD, our LORD,
how majestic is Your name in all the earth!
You whose glory above the heaves is chanted
by the mouth of babes and infants.

                                        Psalm 8. 1-2

Dog-eared pages

page  100.    If I had to summarize New Testament ethics in one sentence, here's how I would put it:  be who you are.  That may sound strange, almost heretical, given our culture's emphasis on being true to yourself.  But like so many of the worst errors in the world, this one represents a truth powerfully perverted.  When people say, "Relax, you were born that way," or "Quit trying to be something you're not and just be the real you," they are stumbling upon something very biblical.  God does want you to be the real you.  He does want you to be true to yourself.  But the "you" he's talking about is the "you" that you are by grace, not by nature.  You may want to read through that last sentence again because the difference between living in sin and living in righteousness depends on getting that sentence right.  God doesn't say, "Relax, you were born that way."  But he does say, "Good news, you were reborn another way."

     As a believer, you belong to Christ.  More than that, you are joined to Christ.  By faith through the Holy Spirit, we have union with him.  Christ lives in you and you in him.  You see one with Christ, so live like Christ.  Be who you are.  That's the consistent message of the New Testament.

The Hole in Our Holiness 

by Kevin De Young

(Crossway Books 2012)

From the Bare Remains

Over the weekend, I ran on trails and roads in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, beneath hundred year old trees clamoring for attention, alongside streams dancing over rocks, and passing over dirt pathways cut into the wilderness by those who have gone before. These paths weave back and forth like the drowsiness of a summer's afternoon nap, in and out, deeper, further into the woods.

One morning after such a run, I read in a brochure that a hundred years ago, this place of beauty, this place that restores my soul, was a place of utter devastation, gouged out and ravaged by the greed of many men. The loggers hacked down sanctuaries of old growth trees, obliterating the forest, leaving nothing behind.  They even built a railway so that they could move faster and deeper into the remote wooded area, doing the same, no end in sight.

When all was said and done, they gladly sold off the splintered remains to those who had a bigger vision -- to build a park.

And so, 79 years ago, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established to become a place of refuge, refreshment, and renewal.  Who would come to this cobbled together land stripped of foliage? Well, more than 9 million people a year.  I see them picnicking with their families, hiking the trails, and looking wide-eyed at this magnificent display of God's creation.  Once while standing in a crowd observing a bear from a distance, a little red-headed four year old girl turned to me and said with great astonishment, "They're REAL!!!"

Indeed, the forest has returned.  Over the years, it grew back thick and lush.  The devastation became the raw material of God's redemption. He restores the land in ways that could not be imagined. And redeems our lives as well.

He always does.

Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing,
now it springs forth,
     do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.

                          Isaiah 43. 18-19

And He who sat upon the throne said,
"Behold,
          I make all things new."

                           Revelation 21.5

Don't pray without something to carry it in

The mountains were calling this past weekend, and we answered their call.  One of my husband's latest hobbies is the challenge of fly fishing. We drove to a wooded area and found a rushing creek with a series of placid pools, hopefully filled with a bounty of trout.  We pulled the car on the side of a dirt road, ready for adventure.

Bill retrieved his pole and fishing stuff from the back of the car, assembled the pole, and tied a fly on the line.   As the supportive wife that I am, I tied on my shoes, kissed him good-bye and started running up the dirt road that bordered the creek.  The trees were so densely packed together, the very sky was green.  I ran in this paradise, up to a trailhead, and then back down the road, literally up one way and down the other.

I was on my way back to the car, relishing the views handmade by God, when I realized that while Bill had all his fishing stuff, what if he actually caught one?  He was fishing without expectations.  We had not so much as a plastic grocery bag to carry home a fish or two.  As I ran, I imagined sitting in the passenger seat, holding a fish in my lap.

And I thought about how many times we pray, how many times we lay our cares and needs and troubles before the LORD, and don't really think He will answer.  We pray without expectations -- with not so much as a Target bag to carry home His answers.

When I was in college so many years ago, my friend Linda really wanted to attend the Valentine sweetheart banquet the following weekend.  "Please pray that I can go," she asked me.

I prayed, but I also made other plans to take Linda and some other friends out for pizza and a movie, a consolation prize, as it were.  There was no way she was going to be asked at this point, I surmised.  Whoever was going to be asked, had already received an invitation.

Meanwhile, Linda prepared for the banquet, hemming a dress that she borrowed from a friend and even buying a new pair of shoes.  Oh, she is in for a big disappointment, I thought.

I was sitting in a history lecture on Thursday afternoon, two days before the event.   The professor droned on and on, quite mesmerized by his own grasp of the subject.  The guy in front of me had begun bobbing his head, moments from sound sleep.   It had begun to snow, and I was watching the snowflakes dancing through the window.

Suddenly, I was aware of a figure jumping up and down outside in the hallway, visible through a long narrow window in the closed door.  It was Linda, bursting with joy.  Two minutes later, the bell rang.  Linda darted in the room.  A guy she knew from a class had called and asked her to the banquet.

"Thank you for praying," she giggled with excitement.

I was so embarrassed.  I prayed, but without any confidence in what God could do.

Fish with expectations.  And pray like you mean it.

Pray expectantly.


I am the LORD, your God,
the one who brought you
out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide
    and I will fill it.

                 Psalm 81.10 

"To do" List

God doesn't want me to do things for Him.
He wants me to know Him more.
If I know Him more,
     I will know better what to do.

                           --my husband Bill