Fence-Jumpers

I’ve been thinking about the cultural norm, and how the expectation is often to live life politely and peaceably within our own fenced corrals.  Although this is the land of opportunity, people carefully mark their personal boundaries – earned through the pursuit of their respective American Dreams, or earmarked out of protection from those who might infringe. Within those enclosures that supposedly provide freedom for personal identity, we converse with those in adjoining pastures.  We may periodically visit our neighbors, and they may interact with us, as desire and convenience allow.  All nice and well-defined.

How utterly revolutionary it is, then, when trials come to an individual's corral and true advocates choose to jump the fence, sometimes even without invitation - when they plunge willingly into our own personal murky circumstantial mud - when they not only join us there but stand firm, cry out in faith to the Almighty God with us, and literally hold us up.

This is not just well wishing.  Rather, it is active, compassionate love.

I used to think advocacy was about wanting the best for someone in the midst of a trial or struggle.  The actual help could come from anywhere – perhaps from a source much more qualified than myself.  That’s partially correct, any yet the definition is woefully deficient. How comforting when we begin to realize that we all have the ability to serve each other – that simply by virtue of offering our PRESENCE we can divide and share the pain.

One part of the challenge in this kind of advocacy is doing it (being the one who cares enough to risk taking the plunge as a fence-jumper) and the other part is receiving it (being willing to let others get that close without chasing them back out of the corral).

At the moment, some of the fence in my corral is much less intact than it used to be, so access is slightly less encumbered.  Also, challenges are digging holes in my corral, and I’m stumbling around a little bit. Fortunately, advocates like this are showing up everywhere, climbing in and out of trenches with me as we jointly herald the Lord of life and look to Him.  It’s not a matter of solving the unsolvable.  It’s about unity.

Today I want to publicly praise God for my supportive, fence-jumping earthly children and larger extended family of faith.  I am not alone, but am surrounded by those who love me: “God with skin on."

"The Tablet of the Heart"

It’s been an interesting several days since coming down to Lafayette from Michigan – hardly typical or average, but rather busy, involved, and deeply introspective.

Today I visited a dear friend, someone I’ve known for the past 55 years.  We grew up together, were Brownie Scouts together, and walked to and from school together from 1^st through 12^th grade.  She had a hysterectomy a week ago, and the follow-up pathology report held some shocking news that left her emotionally winded.  Life will never be the same, and yet I’m convinced some of our most important/vital living occurs in these kinds of desert times.  We talked about that.  She agreed.

I urged my tough-it-out, stoic German hubby to contact our primary care doctor again today, even as he waits for a CT scan on Thursday.  Fortunately, the doc squeezed him in, and I was not surprised to learn his EKG was abnormal.  (Symptoms were pointing that way.) We’ve been down a similar road before and were challenged, stretched, surprised, transformed, and ultimately strengthened by that journey.  I feel a similarly important page has just turned.  

Now the goal must be keeping a right focus: love and faithfulness.  Proverbs 3:3, 5, 6 comes to mind:

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart…Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Snowball Fight!

 (Copied and pasted from a friend's facebook post - love it!)

¯`❄.¸(░)`O.¸¸.¸.o´¯`❄.¸(░)`O.

❄。¨¯`*✲ ´*。.❄¨¯`*✲。❄*´*。✲O.¸¸.¸.o´¯`o.

¸(░) `O.¸¸.✲.¸.o´¯`¸.o´¯`❄¸(░)`O.¸¸

.¸.✲´¯`o.¸(░) `O.¸❄。`O.¸¸.¸.o´¯`❄。¨¯`*✲....¸

.o´¯`o.¸(░) `O.¸¸.¸.o´¯`❄.¸(░)´*。✲´*。.❄¨¯`

*✲。❄。*。¨¯`

....and the winner is....????  (splaaaaattttt......)

Sour Grapes

Last week the topic at FaithWriters was “on the telephone” and I entered a poem that received generous accolades from several other writers on the site.  However, the judges didn’t agree (bah humbug), soooo I will post it here for my default audience!!  No sour grapes.  Really.

Remember: “on the telephone.” 

Sour Grapes (and Raisins)

Jan called me on the phone just now;

Her voice reflected furrowed brow.

At groc’ry store her produce bought,

But once at home found rot uncaught.

However I had not a clue,

And knew not of this rot so true.

Instead I goofed – misunderstood.

 My hearing loss messed me up good!

“My DRAPES have mold,” I thought she said,

(But really she said GRAPES instead).

She sounded ultra-mega-sad,

As well as downright hoppin’ mad.

In a split sec I formed a plan –

A way to help, to cheer my Jan!

“’The Works’ is good, or ‘Lime Away’ –

Why not try those?” I dared to say.

A speechless Jan did not reply;

I cleared my throat for one more try.

“These products, they are both quite strong -

With either one you won’t go wrong!”

“On GRAPES?” Jan screeched with doubtful fear.

“You’ll kill us all, now do you hear?

Such stuff is quite inedible;

Your plan - it’s too incredible!”

Inedible??? Who eats their DRAPES?

I wasn’t talking about crepes!

Her mind was strange; it made no sense.

She must be weird, or else quite dense.

But then, again, I stopped to think -

To figure out the missing link.

Jan’s not a fool, I knew quite well.

So what had she just tried to tell?

I pressed the phone receiver tight,

(My hearing oft’ was not quite right.)

“Try me again – WHAT did you say?”

(I wished for a less stressful way!)

Jan caught the blip, the glitch absurd;

I’d simply goofed – messed up a word!

With her sweet thoughtful heart of care,

She prompted me with wordsmith flair.

“You know those purple roundish fruits?

The ones the color of your boots?”

Jan laughed out loud with childish glee

While hoping to encourage me.

I stuttered, stammered, then broke loose

And chuckled hard like Dr. Seuss.

“I got it now!  Your GRAPES are bad!

Your DRAPES are FINE!  AND I’VE BEEN HAD!”

Our laughs shook all of cyber space;

I rocked and rolled; tears swiped my face.

“So what’s your plan, Ms. Grape-Gone-Fuzz?

Return the grapes to prove what was?”

Jan crowed with caws that mirrored mine;

We sounded wild – both free and fine.

In truth our mirth, like little girls’,

Refreshed our souls and bounced our curls.

“It’s no big deal, it’s really not!”

Pitch out those grapes! Toss out that rot!

It’s funny now you’ve laughed with me!”

I beamed with joy she could not see.

“I’m glad I called,” Jan gasped at last.

“Good therapy, and super-fast!”

We said good-bye, and I clicked “end,”

With gratitude for my good friend.

Then I spoke out – a soapbox trick –

With phone in hand, like pointer stick.

I lectured my four walls with tones

Like ringers in old telephones.

“Sirrrr Alexannnnder Graaaaham Bellll,

I don’t doooo telephonnnnes too wellll.

But thaaaat’s okaaaay, I do not caaaare,

When friennnnds, through phoooones, can burdens shaaaare!”

And so I have one final thought,

About bad grapes so freshly bought.

Don’t gripe when things seem sour and bad –

There might be raisins to be had!

Welcoming the First Snow of the Season

Welcome, winter!  Welcome, snow!  Welcome, childlike delight in the mass profusion of soft flakes flying wildly across the lake to finally accumulate here on our deck!

Welcome howling wintry wind, aromatic soup simmering on the stove, logs blazing in the fireplace.  Welcome bold sock-capped son-in-law (and his friend from Texas who has little previous snow exposure) languishing in the hot tub surrounded by wintry elements!

Welcome season of dormancy and shorter days, indoor contemplation, and renewed appreciation for the cycles of life and many and varied their lessons.  Welcome, challenges and unknowns and yes, even trials.  Welcome serenity born of faith that gives them meaning and purpose.

Ceramic Tea Set

This afternoon I stopped at a second-hand store - one that supports hospice care with its proceeds - and bought a tiny child-size ceramic tea set for the low-low price of ONE DOLLAR.  Why?  I had no need of such a set.  Well, my motives are hard to explain, but I was simply in the mood to PLAY.  As Mark Twain once said, “Play is any activity that has great meaning but no purpose.”

I’d just come from an appointment with my wellness practitioner and learned all of the hits on cancer cells were completely GONE as well as hits on a bunch of other problematic physical insurgents.  In the midst of other current challenges and uncertainties, this news came as a balm to my soul - otherwise edgy, but expectant and receptive-to-grace.  As I drove down the streets of town choked with emotion, I wanted to dance (always the case in my freer moments) and PLAY.

My playful attitude was not a demonstration of arrogance or presumption. I don’t pretend the therapies I’ve pursued have cured every problem, or insulated me from disease or pain.   Rather, my playfulness recognized a grateful moment in time that begged to be commemorated. 

Tonight I’m sitting in the presence of  candlelight and classical music, handling my tiny treasures.  With all due apologies to Mark Twain, there just might be some future purpose for them! Perhaps when I serve a tea party with granddaughters I will remember today and re-celebrate this afternoon’s gratitude with humbling awe in an Almighty Father who provides healing, and comfort, hope….and bargain-priced tea sets.

Thoughts on Coram Deo

 Clips from Beth Moore’s study, Stepping Up (lesson on Psalm 128):

“Biblically, one is pronounced blessed when God is present and involved…

“Blessedness describes the condition of a person who reveres God, steeps her life in Him, and follows His ways.  She doesn’t just look to God in spiritual or religious matter.  She looks to Him in every matter.  He’s not just the most important part of her life.  He is her life.  The result of this divine invasion is that the life operates OVERALL at optimum earth-satisfaction, joy, and purpose and without the crushing burdens of self-glory and sin.  In other words, her life actually works.

…Practicing an appropriate fear of God is a blessing.  Trying to be our own god is exhausting….what a burden being your own god must be.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

From R.C. Sproul:

I remember Mama standing in front of me, her hands poised on her hips, her eyes glaring with hot coals of fire and saying in stentorian tones, “Just what is the big idea, young man?”

Instinctively I knew my mother was not asking me an abstract question about theory. Her question was not a question at all—it was a thinly veiled accusation. Her words were easily translated to mean, “Why are you doing what you are doing?” She was challenging me to justify my behavior with a valid idea. I had none.

Recently a friend asked me in all earnestness the same question. He asked, “What’s the big idea of the Christian life?” He was interested in the overarching, ultimate goal of the Christian life.

To answer his question, I fell back on the theologian’s prerogative and gave him a Latin term. I said, “The big idea of the Christian life is coram Deo. Coram Deo captures the essence of the Christian life.”

This phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.

To live in the presence of God is to understand that whatever we are doing and wherever we are doing it, we are acting under the gaze of God. God is omnipresent. There is no place so remote that we can escape His penetrating gaze.

To be aware of the presence of God is also to be acutely aware of His sovereignty. The uniform experience of the saints is to recognize that if God is God, then He is indeed sovereign. When Saul was confronted by the refulgent glory of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, his immediate question was, “Who is it, Lord?” He wasn’t sure who was speaking to him, but he knew that whomever it was, was certainly sovereign over him.

Living under divine sovereignty involves more than a reluctant submission to sheer sovereignty that is motivated out of a fear of punishment. It involves recognizing that there is no higher goal than offering honor to God. Our lives are to be living sacrifices, oblations offered in a spirit of adoration and gratitude.

To live all of life coram Deo is to live a life of integrity. It is a life of wholeness that finds its unity and coherency in the majesty of God. A fragmented life is a life of disintegration. It is marked by inconsistency, disharmony, confusion, conflict, contradiction, and chaos.

The Christian who compartmentalizes his or her life into two sections of the religious and the nonreligious has failed to grasp the big idea. The big idea is that all of life is religious or none of life is religious. To divide life between the religious and the nonreligious is itself a sacrilege.

This means that if a person fulfills his or her vocation as a steelmaker, attorney, or homemaker coram Deo, then that person is acting every bit as religiously as a soul-winning evangelist who fulfills his vocation. It means that David was as religious when he obeyed God’s call to be a shepherd as he was when he was anointed with the special grace of kingship. It means that Jesus was every bit as religious when He worked in His father’s carpenter shop as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Integrity is found where men and women live their lives in a pattern of consistency. It is a pattern that functions the same basic way in church and out of church. It is a life that is open before God. It is a life in which all that is done is done as to the Lord. It is a life lived by principle, not expediency; by humility before God, not defiance. It is a life lived under the tutelage of conscience that is held captive by the Word of God.

Coram Deo … before the face of God. That’s the big idea. Next to this idea our other goals and ambitions become mere trifles.