Special Delivery

I love to laugh. And just as much as that, I love to make other people laugh. 

I often feel, and maybe you do too, that if I don't laugh, I'll cry, or something worse. And the other night as I read through Reordered Love, Reordered Lives, I was very encouraged to find, early on, that David Naugle offers a response to our "ugly, depressing, 'gollumized' human predicament." (85) He says:

...we need to laugh at the jarring discrepancy between our exhausting efforts to discover the happy life and our abysmal failure to achieve it...Let us then trust God to do what we can't do for ourselves in the midst of our impossible circumstances, especially when it comes to learning the deep meaning of happiness. The laughter of faith [like Abraham and Sarah had] is at the center of the divine comedy, for there is salvation from sin and our brokenhearted loves and lives only in the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (85, 86)

There are many times when I sin, whether in word or deed, action or inaction, and I know it. I do the very thing that I wasn't supposed to do. Or I don't do the very thing that I knew I ought to have done. I expressed this with lament to Mike once years ago, and he looked at me with a smile and said,"Hmm, now where have I heard that before...?" It made me both laugh and feel somber at the same time. Paul details this very sentiment in his letter to the Romans, and he goes on to cry out,"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (vv. 24-25)

This wretchedness is familiar. And yet I, we! are called to move beyond that woe and despair to thanks, for there is a deliverer! Oh, for this I am so grateful!

And in light of this joyful good news, and in spite of the trouble that often finds us in this world, I think that it is all the more wonderful that along with the laughter of faith we are also blessed with the laughter of the just plain comical.

Naugle quotes Soren Kierkegaard. "'The comic is present in every stage of life..., because where there is life there is contradiction, and wherever there is contradiction, the comic is present.'" As a bonus alongside the comical contradictions in our lives that may fall more in the "jarring discrepancy" category are also the unexpected moments that illustrate a different kind of incongruity. 

When unexpected things happen, it is funny. And being able to laugh at funny is such a blessing. 

And you can be sure I laughed. I am still laughing. This was exactly what I needed at the time, and if I told you how I ended up being able to witness such a hilarious scene, it would (maybe) make it all the funnier and even special. A little joke, just for me. And for you too. I like to share the laughs. 

A Beautiful Dream

Dream, Dreamer,
Grand visions which will be
Like golden fruit, heady on the tree -
We'll pick that luscious fruit,
The beauties in their vast array.
How well they grew!
How ripe and ready
For harvesttime!
Sweet fruit coming slowly
Is hope, and we can know it.
Good seeds from a Good Hand
Take root; they're strong!
A dream, a hope, a seed,
The fruit!
And there is enough to share
At this table.

"...so is my word that goes out from my mouth..."

Tonight was a late night for various reasons, and by the time the younger two kids were showered and in bed, it was nearing 10pm. I read Eliana a very short board book, tucked Christian in (he was looking extremely tired), and waited for Michaela to finish getting ready for bed. She was finally done washing her face, brushing her teeth, and taking care of her ears (she got her ears pierced while we were in Florida), so I went into her room and turned off her lamp so that I could get her tucked in as soon as I could. It was really late and she has to babysit in the morning.

Just before she walked in her room, I noticed out of the corner of my eye the new devotional book and the Bible on her desk. I knew she would want to do today's devotion. I hesitated, and then I walked over to pick it up. I flipped the lamp back on. I sighed.

What an attitude! How could I be so...I literally can't think of the right word. Neglectful? 

She got in bed and I turned to the right page. And guess what? Of course I was blessed. I should never, never, never pass up an opportunity to read God's word. I should never, never, never think that something else is more important than God's word. 

Yesterday, part of the Scripture reading in the book was Nehemiah 1-3. Yes, chapters 1-3! The book we went through the last couple of years often had several verses, which I liked, rather than just one verse. When I was checking out something new to start for this year, a lot of the books I looked up and read reviews on were more like just one verse a day, and a quick devotional story or lesson. I wanted something that would give us more Bible to read, and would hopefully be on the meaty side. So when I told her that the passage was three chapters, she laughed and said,"Well, you wanted more Scripture!" 

Tonight we were to read Nehemiah 4-6. Nehemiah was pretty fiesty. And because of his fierce determination and unwavering trust in the LORD, the Israelites finished rebuilding the burned-down city wall in 52 days. 

Did you hear that? An entire city wall in 52 days. That? Is incredible! But isn't that what God does? Incredible things. 

A few days ago I read in Reordered Love, Reordered Lives about how Jesus, during his time on earth, went about showing "that the restoration of shalom was on the way." (90)

Jesus was moved to redemptive action to salvage a world wrecked by sin and death. Sinners needed forgiveness. Falsehood needed correction. Diseases needed curing. Demoniacs needed deliverance. Hunger and thirst needed satiation. Storms needed stilling. Death needed defeating. Life needed restoring. A short report on Christ's ministry in the book of Acts informs us that Jesus went about doing good, being full of the Holy Spirit and power (cf. Acts 10:38). In him we see the kingdom of God in dynamic action, the renewal of abundant or bountiful life, and the coming of a new creation. Paradise in Christ is regained....Jesus came to redeem the world and to give meaning, fulfillment, and purpose in life to his disciples in his kingdom here on earth right now. (90, 91)

I mention this because I often find myself thinking along these lines: Why didn't Jesus help everyone he met? Weren't there still people in the towns he visited that stayed sick for one reason or another? It's easy for me to start thinking that God could do more incredible things, couldn't he?

There is an idea that is in my head, but it's one of those ideas that won't take a word-shape. I think, though, that the answers to those questions lie mixed in and woven through what David Naugle has to say about why Jesus came, God-among-us, Immanuel. His arrival as a babe, his life as a carpenter, his ministry as God's son in flesh, had to happen so that we would know that the hope of Heaven is real. He became a human, and showed us what we have to look forward to: the complete reversal of all the curses since we first thrust God's provision aside and thought we knew better what might bring us happiness. In his incarnation, the reversal was begun. When he comes back, and when all is gloriously renewed, the wonderful taste of hope that we have had will be followed up by the most incredible banquet feast of hope realized, more wonderful than we could even imagine. 

I'm afraid that I'm not saying clearly what I mean to say...it's stuck somewhere in between my cerebrum and my fingers. There is one thing that is not muddled at all though: there is never not time for reading God's word. I can thank my daughter for that lesson tonight. 

Isaiah 55:8-11

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Reordering...A Work in Progress

I am still reading Reordered Love, Reordered Lives. And I still think it's excellent. The trouble is, I haven't put the whole thing into practice yet. The premise is (or at least part of the premise is) that our happiness (and he unabashedly and unashamedly uses the words happiness and happy, which I really like) can only come in abundance when our love is properly ordered. When properly ordered, our love for God is first, and our love for other things follows in its rightful place, leading to a shift across the face of our entire lives. This shift makes way for happiness, the deep, real, true happiness that we are supposed to know as God's children, even here, this side of eternity. 

Tomorrow is Sunday, and I think a Sunday is a very good day to start fresh on just about anything, but especially to start fresh on how I am living, on what I am placing a high value (making a priority), and from where my heart, my very self, finds meaning. 

I know I'm not alone in this. I have struggled for a long time with, oh goodness, there are so many things. Ha. Ever since getting married, I have had a hard time keeping a home tidy (and I can't totally blame the kids because I'm pretty sure the FSS was a problem before they came along), keeping up with laundry, making meal plans, and just enjoying my job as a homemaker. As the days go by, it seems so overwhelming, and while I want to do a good job, and I get excited about doing a good job, I turn around to face the mess and I immediately shrivel back away from it and think,"This is a job that I'll never be able to do!"

That is BS. I can do it. I just need to do it. I was walking through the back of the house a minute ago (I had heard a very weird sound in the kitchen and went to investigate) (certainly you might think that the thought of creatures possibly running through the kitchen ought to make me get it straightened up) and on my way back to the computer (my laptop on the couch in the back) I saw again all of the unnecessary disaster that is here and there (and that was just in the back of the house) (Oh, the coffee table! It is the bane of my existence these days!) and instead of that heavy, overwhelmed feeling, I got mad. 

I'm mad at myself for teaching these mess-making lessons to my kids. I'm mad at us for having so much stuff and not putting it away where it belongs. I'm mad that if something doesn't have a place, it hangs around anyway. 

I'm not a fan of making plans, but I do need to set some goals. Put books on shelves. That's easy! I can do that! Unload the dishes in the morning. That's easy! I can do that! (Or Michaela can do that...even better!) Clear off two flat surfaces by tomorrow night, and work to keep them cleared off for one week. I really should be able to do that!! 

So. That is three goals. Definite, concrete, manageable. How do you accomplish things? Do you like to set goals? How are your resolutions? (One of mine was to start training for a marathon. So far, so good...I've gotten the eating-carbs-after-the-race down to a science!) (I should probably start running soon.) 

And now I'm off to make sure that there is not, in fact, a creature of any kind running around down here. That would make me quite the opposite of happy. And most likely spur me on to a faster reordering of a different sort...but hopefully in a similar direction.

Hitting the Pavement Again?

I told Mike tonight that I was sorry I had quit exercising, that it was stupid of me. He laughed and said,"You can start again."

'Tis true, 'tis true. But it's the starting that is so hard! Plus, it's been cold. I do not care for walking or jogging when it's cold.

Tomorrow, the temperature is supposed to be in the sixties. It sounds like a good day to get my rear back in gear.

We shall see...

Speaking of getting healthier, Michaela and I bought a couple of new devotional books, one for her to do on her own, and one for us to do together at night. I have had some very encouraging email conversations with a dear friend from seminary who also gave me some insights from her experience with studying God's word, particularly in light of suffering (not just my own, but more the suffering in the world). I am so grateful for friends near and far.