Monthly Archives: September 2011

The Long Way Home

30 Friday Sep 2011

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“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” ~ Matthew 7:13-14

The other day I found myself with extra time.  I had done a few errands in the most inefficient manner possible, yet still had time that wasn’t accounted for, with nothing requiring me to rush home.  So I didn’t rush home at all, instead I gave myself time to meander home, taking the time to drive through some beautiful neighborhoods and enjoy the gorgeous fall day.

It was an incredibly relaxing thing for me to do and I’m glad that I took the time to do it.

We all have lots on our plates, with lives stuffed to the brim of chores, tasks, work, play, and all sorts of other things.  Some of this busyness is good, some of it is not.  We rush ourselves into exhaustion, hurtling down the road of life without really looking to see where we’re going.

As today’s verse in Matthew reminds us, the gate to destruction is wide and easy to find.  It doesn’t take a lot of effort to find things that are bad for you – in fact, too often it seems they find you.  But to do the right thing, to pursue Christ, is much more difficult, and it takes some effort and discipline to do so.

Too many people are in a hurry to get somewhere; not paying attention that where they are going is ultimately leading to their own destruction.  The day I took the long way home, I noticed that I paid more attention to my surroundings, because I couldn’t just drive on mental auto-pilot to my house, since the path was unfamiliar.  To find the narrow gate, we must be equally alert, as we’ll never find it just going through the motions of life.  We must take the time and pay attention, and notice, as Robert Frost did in the poem that follows, that the road we need to take isn’t always as well travelled.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
 
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
 
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
 
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~ Robert Frost

Uh-Oh

29 Thursday Sep 2011

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“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” ~ I John 1:9

Over the past few weeks, my son has added a new skill to his repertoire: whenever something goes awry, you hear his little voice say, “Uh-oh.”  If he flings his sippy cup off his high chair, if he drops something where he can’t reach, if he throws the toy he’s playing with off the changing table.  My personal favorite was when he pushed over a five-foot tall fake plant while I was around the corner in the kitchen.  All I heard was the crash, followed by, “Uh-oh.”

What I appreciate most is that he has connected it correctly to something not going as planned or, in the case of the plant, something he shouldn’t have done.  He’s too little to try to hide things or cover up his actions, his response is simply honesty.  He knows that whatever happened probably wasn’t what was supposed to happen.

Yet as we grow up, we learn some bad habits.  Rather than immediately confessing and apologizing when we do something wrong, we often pretend it didn’t happen.  Or we try to shift the blame onto someone else.  Or maybe we justify and defend our actions, trying to rationalize our wrong behavior away.

But the truth is, our reaction should be more like my little boy’s response.  We should immediately acknowledge what we have done.  Then we need to follow the guidelines set out for us in I John – confessing our sins.  If we do that, we have been promised that Jesus will be faithful and forgive us.

Favorite

28 Wednesday Sep 2011

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James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. “But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John. Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. “But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” ~ Mark 10:35-45

Confession:  I have a favorite drama student.  I know teachers aren’t supposed to play favorites, and I generally try to treat all my students the same, but I have one student that is my favorite.  Why?  Because, hands down, he works harder than all the other students.  He spends hours memorizing his lines, developing his character, and working to understand the full scope and impact of the play.  Any moral implications he struggles with, to make sure what he is communicating to the audience is the best witness he can be for Christ.  He asks intelligent questions and never tries to get out of practicing.  Before rehearsals began for our current play, he went out and got the book, to gain an understanding of what the original author had intended.  As students go, it’s really hard not to like ones like these the most.

But best of all, he never acts anything other than humble.  He’s been getting lead roles as a high school student for several years now, and never trumpets his successes in front of the other students.  In auditions, he is just as worried and nervous as the next kid, not sure of what part, if any, he will get.  And sometimes, he elects not to participate in a play at all, because he wants to make sure he’s using his time wisely with his other extra curricular activities.  (For those of you who teach – don’t you wish we could clone kids like this??)

In short, he chooses to act just the opposite of James and John in today’s passage.

James and John do what, at first glance, seems to be unthinkable: they waltz right up to Jesus and demand that He put them where they feel they should belong.  As disciples, I’m sure they felt like they had given up a lot to follow Christ, and that this was their due.  And while the other disciples get riled up over the issue in verse 41, I’m guessing it had more to do with the idea that each of them felt in some way they deserved to sit on Christ’s right or left.

Most of the time, when I read this passage, I kind of scoff at James and John.  I mean, really, who does that?  But then I thought, it isn’t that I’ve never done this – I’ve just chosen not to voice it in the way they did, in front of witnesses, recorded for posterity.  Haven’t we all felt slighted at some point or another, griped that our hard work was overlooked?  Expected or demanded better treatment, because we “deserve” it?  Mumbled under our breath about how some people get everything, and here we are, getting nothing?  We may not have the opportunity to march up to Jesus and command He put us in the prime seats, but most of the time, we sure act out with the same demanding attitude.

Jesus doesn’t look at them and say, “Who do you think you are?” like I would if I were in His shoes.  Instead, He uses the opportunity to teach them a valuable lesson.  “Whoever wishes to be first shall be slave of all,” is something that rings true thousands of years later.  If you always have a need to be first, the best, top dog, you eventually become slave to that need, unable to help anyone or do anything other than feed the emotional greediness inside of your heart.

So today, stay humble.  Don’t expect to be served, but to serve.  Be ready with a helping hand.  And most of all, remember that we are here to live as Christ did, and to be ready to give our lives for His glory.

Friday Night on a Tuesday Morning

27 Tuesday Sep 2011

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“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” ~ I Peter 3:15-16

Today started out kind of topsy-turvy for my drama students.

Instead of launching into our blocking at rehearsal, I sat them down and gave them a modified version of a speech I give every show.  It’s known as the “Friday Night Talk” and it has become somewhat infamous among my drama kids.  When we do a play, we perform Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.  And for whatever reason, Friday’s performance is usually the weakest (if not the worst) performance.  I have found, however, that if I give them a speech that scares them to pieces about how terrible they could do if they don’t pay attention, the kids tend to focus more and deliver an incredible performance.  In fact, the older students will actually ask to make sure I am giving this speech, because they know it works.

However, it’s September and our performances aren’t until November, on top of that, it’s Tuesday and not Friday.  So why the speech?  Well, I realized that a lot of them were counting on the lead actors to carry the weight of the play for everybody else.  Which can work, in a lot of shows.  However, we’re doing “Peter Pan,” which means just about everyone in the world knows the story.  Hence, the audience will be watching all the little details, since they already know the storyline.  So I gave my students a big talking-to in order to help them realize that every single person needs to be working just as hard as the leads are in this play.  That no one can slack off and assume that they won’t be noticed.  That each student needs to be ready to give their best performance ever, no matter how many or how few lines they have.

And it made me think about how accountable our actions are as Christians.  A lot of times, we assume that if we aren’t pastors or missionaries we don’t really need to have all the answers and we don’t need to worry about whether or not people are paying attention to us.  We think that we can go about our day, doing whatever we want, and our actions are inconsequential.  However, we couldn’t be more wrong!

According to today’s verses in I Peter, as Christians we must always be prepared to give an answer to people who ask us about our faith.  And I’m betting that Peter doesn’t mean an answer full of Christian-speak.  To be prepared to give an answer suggests that time has been taken to really think about and develop what you will say to someone who asks you about Christ.  And in order for people to be asking these questions, they need to see something in our lives that tells them that we have something different, something they don’t have and Someone they need.

Don’t ever assume that just because you aren’t in front of hundreds of people preaching that nobody’s watching you.  There are probably dozens of people that you encounter every day that are looking to you for their example of Christ.  Are they seeing enough to want to ask you about it?  And if they do ask, are you ready with an answer?

One

26 Monday Sep 2011

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“Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.” ~ Philippians 1:3

Today was a very special day – my little boy turned one.

It’s almost hard to believe that an entire year has gone by since he arrived in the world, but I am thankful for every minute of it.  I have had the privilege of watching him grow, learn, change, smile, laugh, cry and discover the world.  He has gone from a tiny little baby who could curl up in my arms to a boisterous little boy who can find delight in the most hilarious things.

And while many things are not as I expected on this journey, I am so incredibly thankful that God chose me to share my life with this precious little boy.

Not Needed

25 Sunday Sep 2011

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“’Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.’
But Jesus answered and said to them, ‘You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.’” ~ Matthew 22:25-30

I’ll be the first to admit, for a long time I really didn’t understand this passage.

As a happily married Christian, I couldn’t figure out why God would create something as awesome as marriage, only to have it end on earth.  If your marriage is great, why wouldn’t you want to spend eternity being that close to someone you’d built an incredible bond with?  Of course, I understand people not wanting an unhappy or abusive marriage to last for all time, but I didn’t really get why there wouldn’t be good marriages in heaven.

Last summer, after my husband died, I really wanted to know the answer.

Fortunately, Randy Alcorn’s book, Heaven, provides some really terrific insight on this passage.  The way he describes it is that marriage basically becomes obsolete upon our arrival in heaven.  The entire point of marriage on earth is to give us a glimpse of the love that Christ has for the church.  Alcorn compares it to road signs, pointing the way to a city.  If you’re driving to, say New York, it helps to have signs along the way, guiding you there.   However, once you’re in New York, you no longer need the road signs, telling you how to get there.  On earth, marriage acts like a road sign, guiding you in your understanding of Christ’s love.  Once you get to heaven, you no longer need this guidance, since you will be able to experience Christ’s love face to face.

What I struggle with the most is missing this close relationship.  Having a wonderful marriage end decades before you expect it to is a very difficult thing to experience.  I miss having one person in my life with whom I knew I could share any and everything.

But even if God chooses not to bless me with another opportunity to experience marriage, I know that my time on earth has been enriched by having been married, albeit too briefly.  I am thankful for what I had, because it gave me a glimpse of how much Christ loves us.  Marriage can be an incredible reflection of Christ’s love, but it is just that – a reflection.  I know that when I get to heaven, I will be blown away by the full extent of how much our incredible Savior truly loves each of His children.

Not Mine

24 Saturday Sep 2011

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“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” ~ Luke 22:42

This verse is very hard for me.

It’s hard, because I know it is ultimately true.

In my house, there are many things left undone by the absence caused by my husband’s death.  My little boy doesn’t have a dad at home to roughhouse with.  Tools are stacked, unused in the garage.  And there are dozens of little things that we talked about doing, but never got done.  One of those things involves filling a nail mark on the footboard of the bed in our room.  My husband had been meaning to fill it with wood putty since we purchased it when we first got married, but it was never a priority.  And now he’ll never do it.

To me, it’s such a tiny thing, yet such a vivid reminder that we are not in charge of the amount of time we have on earth.  We may have things we want to accomplish, but in the end it is up to God how long we have.  And our time on earth is dictated by accomplishing what He has for us to do, not what we have planned.

Too often we are caught up in getting to all the things that we want to do, instead of focusing on what God has for us to do.  We rush past people that need help, we shut out friends that need prayer, we close ourselves off to a world that needs Christ.  In reality, many of the things we spend so much time and energy on mean little in terms of eternity.

For me, sometimes this prayer is all I can manage.  Praying the words of Christ seems like the best way to handle a lot of situations, but sometimes it takes everything in me just to get it out.  Yet I know that keeping my focus on what God wants for me is much better than all of the selfish things I want to do.

One Mitten

23 Friday Sep 2011

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“There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother.  There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.  ‘For whom am I toiling,’ he asked, ‘and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?’  This too is meaningless—a miserable business!” ~ Ecclesiastes 4:8

My son and I try to go for a walk or run almost every day.  Meaning, I walk or run and he takes a ride in his pretty cush stroller.  Yesterday we went early enough that it was fairly chilly, so of course I took the opportunity to bundle my child up with a coat, hat and mittens (it wasn’t quite the kid from “A Christmas Story,” but close).

Now, my little boy isn’t a huge fan of stuff that, in his opinion, impedes him.  Hats fall into this category.  He often pulls his hat off as fast as I put it on, and it takes some wrestling to get it on long enough for him to leave it alone.  I learned yesterday that mittens fall into this category as well.  Unbeknownst to me, somewhere along our walk, he managed to get both of his mittens off and tossed one out of the stroller.  I didn’t notice this until we were almost home, and was super bummed when I did, because they were his SmartWool mittens.  I retraced my steps a bit, but didn’t have time to do the entire walk over, as I had a business meeting that I needed to clean up and get to.

I did the same walk again today, hoping to find the mitten, but sadly it’s long gone.  We now are the proud owners of a hat with one matching mitten, instead of two.

My son was not bothered by any of this in the least.  In fact, I think he was pretty jazzed that he was able to pull off mittens that don’t have thumbs.  I’m actually kind of impressed that he was able to do this, too.  However, beyond that, I was really kind of sad about that mitten.  It took me awhile to figure out why, since it isn’t like I will never be able to buy my child another mitten.  I could probably sit down and knit him a whole pile of mittens, if I had a mind to.  But I think that mitten made me a sad, because it’s hard to see something that’s only half of what is meant to be a pair.  And in that feeling, I think I really identified with my son’s lone surviving mitten.

As a single parent, it is easy to get trapped in the idea that you’re in this alone.  As a widow, I often feel like what is left from a good pair.  Being the only adult in a household can be hard, for sure, but I know that I’m hardly in this alone.  God has promised to be with me every step of the way.  But even further, this verse from Ecclesiastes reminds me that I’m not truly alone – everything I do and everything I work for is for my little boy.  Each day I go about my work, I know exactly who it’s for – having my son in my life gives me definite purpose.

As Christians and humans, we are built for fellowship and companionship.  You can have a wonderful, meaningful life even if you are never married and without children.  However, in order to do so, you must work hard to invest in the lives of others.  By doing so, you prevent your fate from being the same as the man in this verse, being totally alone.

My prayer for you today is, whatever your situation may be, that your life is made rich by the people in it.

Heart of Stone

22 Thursday Sep 2011

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“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.’” ~ Mark 4:13-20

I read an article today that really gave me some food for thought.  It was about the launch of a new website, one designed to tell you your “Slavery Footprint.”  What this organization is trying to do is open your eyes to the millions of people who make up the forced labor workforce, by telling you how many slaves made the products you own.

To me, it’s almost too scary to think about figuring it out.  I hate to imagine that people were forced under threat of violence to make things I take for granted using every day, like baby wipes or my cell phone.

However, the chilling part of the article I read were the comments that followed.  To see the things people say from the comfort of their homes, liberated by the courage that internet anonymity provides, was almost the most terrifying thing of all.  People were actually defending slave labor, saying it wasn’t any different that working for minimum wage in America, since that doesn’t really afford you an amazing lifestyle.  Somehow, I think working at gunpoint in a poverty-stricken third world country might be a little worse, but maybe that’s just me.

All I could think about was how terribly hardened these people have allowed their hearts to become.  Rather than trying to do something about the terrible conditions that their fellow humans have to endure, they callously make jokes and judgments, not wanting their own cushy lifestyles to be affected in any way.

This passage in Mark came to mind, where Jesus talks about the seed that was choked out by the thorns.  As He says, these people have allowed the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for things to choke the word, which means there is no fruit.  To me, it was certainly true today while I read the reactions to the article.  People will do anything to make sure their own way of life is undisturbed, even if it means the exploitation of others.  How absolutely tragic.

As Christians, we have a great responsibility to all parties involved in what I witnessed today in cyberspace.  We have a responsibility to help the poor, which means we should be doing everything we can to help people in impoverished countries.  But we also have a responsibility to be praying for and reaching out to the people who have hardened their hearts against these things.  They need Jesus just as much as the victims in this situation.

Fright Night

21 Wednesday Sep 2011

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As it is written:
   “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” ~ Romans 3:10-12

Last night was a first, to my recollection.

I had a nightmare about my husband.  In the dream, he was being executed for something he hadn’t done, and I was being forced to watch the execution.  The people holding him prisoner were planning to electrocute him slowly, and I had no choice but to witness the entire event.

It was awful, to say the least.

I remember that even in the midst of dreaming, I was trying to do everything I could to escape being forced to watch such a horrible event.  I tried everything to save him.  And when that failed, I raced all over the world, trying to get away, but in the end, I couldn’t.  I woke up just before the execution part was over.

Dreams are such vivid, strange things to me.  Why do our subconscious minds work so hard to prevent us from resting the only time we have devoted entirely to rest?

The worst part about this dream was that it reminded me so plainly of his death in real life.  There was nothing I could do to help him while he was sick other than pray.  You realize how small and insignificant we as people are when you see brilliant medical teams come up against something they have no idea how to fight.

And yet, the reality is we are all facing a death sentence.  However, it is for something we have done – and that is sin.  We have all sinned and we all must die for our sin.  Now, please don’t confuse what I’m saying here.  I don’t think my husband sinned and God punished him by smiting him with meningitis.  My husband was an awesome, godly man who lived with integrity and Christ in his life.  But unfortunately we all face the same fate because of sin, and that is death.

However, with Christ our earthly death isn’t the end.  If we have Christ, our earthly death actually marks the end of our physical separation from Him.  Which is amazing to me.  I actually envy my husband in that, while I’m still here on earth, dealing with all of the hard stuff in life, he is healthy and whole and rejoicing with our Savior.  Between the two of us, he actually got the much better deal!

So don’t despair when you read verses like today’s from Romans.  Because Christ died and rose again, He has overcome everything – all you need to do is accept what He did for you on the cross.

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