When the Stunning Becomes Routine

Someone posted a photo of a colorburst sunset that filled the screen with vivid oranges and pinks and red splashed over both sky and the lake below. He followed it with, "I know sunsets are overdone, but I am so thankful I live here."

Overdone? Sunsets? I had to pause. 

A sunset if it happened but once in a lifetime would be a miraculous appearing, a spectacular sight inspiring music and poetry. It would be the stuff of legends and lore. But we get to see it every day.

So sunsets are overdone because they are plentiful and routine? That's like saying hugs are overdone or friendships or laughter. They are all richly abundant in our lives--until they are not. 

Instead perhaps it is posting that is overdone.

Posting a snapshot as a way of paying lip service to appreciation or pressing the like button as shorthand for expressing support for one undergoing great struggle lets us engage from the edges without taking the time to pray or to write a note the old fashioned way. It's easier that way.

It lets us get on with our day. 

We can feel informed but unencumbered. 

Now I've gone and done it here. 

In a culture awash with a preoccupation with each one's opinion, it's no surprise that the news stations and entertainment programs alike beckon, "Tweet us your thoughts, ""Vote for your favorite," "Tell us what you think." They are all trying to engage us, and the measure of engagement can be quantified immediately. It means big dollars.

And in the process it raised the ante on our opinion.


Many hold their opinion as highest authority; It matters little what shaped that opinion or whether critical thinking ever came into play. Whether one likes a thing or not is all that matters. But I digress.


On another note, I have been slow in posting and writing lately, not for lack of inspiration, but for lack of pensive time to actually get it down in writing. My mind and heart have been richly filled with challenges and jobs to do, with people to serve and blessings to enjoy. But the heart of a writer, even a late-born one who only writes to capture a thought and preserve it for herself, wants to write. The words will come again. There is so much to share.

So the apology over a sunset was the prompt today. And now a thought expressed in October 2011:

Let us never lose the sense of wonder at God's handiwork. When such a magnificent sight no longer gets our attention, we've gotten too preoccupied with ourselves. How many have I missed? More than I can say. But I am thankful for the time to turn aside and savor this one.

So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." Exodus 3:3

Take the time to turn aside and see what great sights we might be missing.

Expressing appreciation anyway we do it is not overdone. And be generous with warm hugs while we're at it. We don't know what we have until it is gone.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

“I’m very flexible; I just don’t like change,” my father in law says frequently through smiling eyes. 


David Bowie sang about it in 1971 with “Changes”:

“Lookout you rock n rollers,

Pretty soon you’re gonna get a little older.

Time may change me, but I can’t trace time.”

Embracing change is a tall task for many of us. 

The artistry of God paints October blue skies arching over a world both abounding in autumn beauty and moving headlong into winter. Shadows lengthen. The sun moves into the southern sky. Harvest festivals morph into winter landscapes. Signs of change are all around.

Seasons of life move through predictable patterns as well, try as we may to hold them at bay.

Living in the shadow of loss is a change that comes to us all.

For some, the sadness over what is overshadows the gratitude of what was. 

Reclaiming gratitude offers a solace all its own, one worth cultivating if we are out of practice. 

How to build in time for gratitude, some ask, when their days are frantic and fleeting? 

Busyness can keep us in turbulence tricking us into being victims in an out-of-control life, while others long for something to keep them busy and engaged with life.
 It may depend as much as one’s attitude as one’s season of life.

 I remember the obviously pregnant young woman who shopped in our store late one November afternoon.
Betty greeted her warmly, "I know we're not supposed to do this, but -- when?"

"Tomorrow!" The cute mom-to-be in the purple sweater practically exhaled the word.

Her Christmas shopping days were over. She had finished her list. Now the hard work begins. Her anxiety was palpable.

When young moms ask, “Will my life ever get back to normal?" I answer encouragingly, "Yes. But normal is different now."

Nothing stays the same. 

Life is dynamic, always changing. We learn to adapt, if we are wise, rather than to cling to what was.
Sometimes we think we are overloaded and stressed during a season of life, only to discover later that we had not yet begun to know overload. That stress, however, was all we could handle at the time.

Then we learn that we can do hard things. 

We grow the way most living things do: by stretching. We must stretch for each season of life brings its own challenges. How do we prepare for them?

1. Seek wise counsel. Read. This includes learning from those who have gone before. We need not reinvent the wheel. Yet some part of us still utters that toddler’s cry, “I can do it all by myself.”

2. Pray. This reminds me of the instruction on every shampoo bottle I have held since the ‘60s: shampoo, lather, rinse, repeat. One would think that we'd get it by now. 

The call to prayer is always present. You might think that we'd get it by now, too. Yet, rather than as a first line of defense and a forward strike against a threat, prayer often becomes our last resort.

So in any season of life when we think we cannot tackle another challenge, we need to know we are capable of greater things. We just cannot do it all alone. And we never have to. The promise of God's word is that God will never leave us nor forsake us. 

Each of us faces certain change in an uncertain future but we do not do it alone.

Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Hebrews 13:5-6
For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Changeless Love

God is changeless.

Not boring and monotonous sameness, but changeless, I believe.

Changing seasons, even changing vistas hourly scroll as the backdrop of our days so that constancy can be a difficult concept.

We make distinctions about 'the God of the old testament' and 'the God of the new testament' as though God is changing costumes during intermission and playing the role of another in Act II. In fact, some like to distance themselves from that old testament God; a kinder and gentler God sells better.

Marketing experts know people love puppies and babies, so Jesus in a manger scene can bring folks on board. Then just when we think we can handle reconciling those two like an out of kilter bank balance, the Holy Spirit shows up and we have another person to define. Some just want God to get in the right box and stay put.

But God will not be leashed. The creator of the universe will not sit and stay in order to appeal to one's notions of theological propriety. Try as we humans do, we cannot diagram the actions of God, Jesus, and the Spirit so that they fit neatly into a compact travel size paragraph of Christianity.

God is bigger than that.

Far bigger.

God is still in the business of calling and redeeming humankind. That mission has taken many turns through the centuries, and it continues still. In God's economy nothing is ever wasted. God can redeem and restore what we would throw away - and whom we would throw away.

Yes, it may take a long time, but God operates outside of our time and space constraints.

Learn from the blessings and promises of the scriptures of the old covenant just as we receive those of the new: God is the god of them all. And I ask daily for a larger understanding of this unsearchable Greatness:

"Study to show yourself approved unto God, a [worker] who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."
2 Timothy 2:15

They Say Everything Old is New Again

“What has been will be again, 

what has been done will be done again; 

There is nothing new under the sun.”

Ecclesiastes 1:9

The longer I live the more I believe it to be true. 

Without addressing for now the broader implications this prompt generates, its truth is easily applied to contemporary culture.

Old fashioned names have made a comeback as babies are given names that have not been on a school roster in decades. Though the list of most popular boy names includes the biblical Eli, Noah, Elijah and Isaac, it does not yield Ezekiel in 2015.

 In name association, Ezekiel takes me to my grandfather’s knee where I first heard that old spiritual “Dry Bones” and discovered musical skeletal anatomy. Pappy loved to sing to us about connecting those dry bones, modulating upward in successive keys to get to “Now hear the word of the Lord.”

“Dem Dry Bones” was sung by Rosemary Clooney, The Lennon Sisters and Tennessee Ernie Ford, who also sang “Sixteen Tons” in a bass voice like Pap’s. You don’t have to have watched the Lawrence Welk Show to remember these, but it helps.

So I learned about Ezekiel at a young age with rapt attention and vivid imagery. I read recently something that took me back there.

Before Ezekiel's calling God appeared to him in a vision and Ezekiel saw the glory of God, detailing when and where he saw this vision in Ezekiel 1:1. Ezekiel remembered where he was—precisely.

The writer etched in his mind so that he could draw upon that distinct memory. That intentional practice is important for us. Likewise, raising an Ebenezer is a way of marking a spot to acknowledge something important we must not forget.

I’ve never had a vision of God. I do not doubt that I can happen, it just has never happened to me. One occasion when I distinctly remember seeing an extraordinary sight –a vision, if you will--was while visiting with a dear woman in her home.

 I had known this family friend all my life, and she always had been old. Beautiful, clever, talented, full of grace and dogged determination— and old.  Now she was dying.

As I talked with her by her bedside I became aware of seeing what I can only call a transformation in her face, a subtle change in her countenance. For more than a few moments I beheld her with youthful vigor, a radiant glow. I was struck by an awareness that I was in a sacred space. Perhaps this is what she had looked like decades ago before her face was creased with lines and her upswept white hair framed her dark eyes. She was serene and still her beautiful self.

I tried to take it in not knowing what to make of it. The impression was distinct and ephemeral. We said goodbye for what I expected would be the last time. My mother and I went home. Within the hour the phone rang and I already knew: She was gone. I was at the time writing the words that would be spoken at her service later.

I was also struck with the awareness that there is so much more to this life than we can take in through our senses. I can never forget that time and place of experiencing an unusual sight though I did not speak of it for over ten years. 

When we limit our understanding of reality to that which we can quantify and observe, to those things we can put in boxes and stack neatly, we leave so much untapped. This experience I relate which occurred this very week years ago humbles me and reminds of the tremendous mystery in life.

 I am content to live with a respect for all that I cannot know and with gratitude for all that I do.

Ezekiel, we are told, fed upon God’s word and was sustained by the Spirit of God. That is not merely ancient literature: What sustained Ezekiel will sustain us today.

I want a vision of God's glory. I want to take in the Word of God until it seeps from the pores of our lives, and want to appropriate the Spirit's presence in our lives until God becomes our greatest reality.

The Presence of God becomes the power of God to sustain us—just as He promised.




Writing and remembering....photo from the porch at Upper Rawls at Lake Junaluska, NC. Blue Ridge morning mist cradles the valley train whistle over hot coffee: a trifecta for gifts of peace.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.   Psalm 90:2

"Submit Radically to God" Spoken by Someone Who Did

You are loved with an everlasting love and underneath are the everlasting arms. That's what the Bible says.

Author: Elizabeth Elliott

Don’t get in touch with your feelings, submit radically to God, and do what is right no matter what. Put your love life on the altar and keep it there until God takes it off. Suffering is normal. Have you no scars, no wounds, with Jesus on the Calvary road?

 

I read this quote of Elisabeth Elliott and dwelt with it for a while. She is gone now, but her words resonate with conviction. Her boldness still speaks. 

 

Her life in the 1950's was radically different than anyone else I have known, not that I have known her personally, but we who have read her books claim kinship in some small way. She has been an influencer, an encourager. So should it surprise me that she speaks of living radically? 

 

She has always seen the compass heading and seems to move steadfastly in one direction, no matter what.

And I find myself repeating her words:

Do what is right no matter what.....

Put your love life on the altar and keep it there......

Very interesting to me on many levels. How counter-cultural to us today. We don't like to speak of sacrifice in American any more. We like to talk about rights and make demands. Voices clamoring for attention today would never make the 'what's trending' segment of what they still call 'news' although it all sounds like opinion to me if they spoke of sacrifice and living for others.

Frequently I heard her voice via her radio program, Gateway to Joy. She always opened with,
 "You are loved with an everlasting love...and underneath are the everlasting arms. That's what the Bible says. This is your friend, Elisabeth Elliott."

I remember fondly her voice and the words which flowed from my car speakers offering a daily dose of her experiencing that truth and have taken it to heart. That scripture reference is not simply one, but can be found in Jeremiah 31:3, Deuteronomy 33:27 among others.

I remember hearing Elisabeth speak in Jackson many years ago. She was asked her favorite hymn. She didn't hedge with, 'Oh, there are so many...' as I might have done. She said unflinchingly, "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine."

And so it has become a favorite of mine just because she said so.



 Elisabeth Elliott Gren died June 15, 2015. Her website  linked here is a gift offering her collections from the memory which faded far too soon. Dementia came as a thief in the night. A slow thief. Selections are available to read and listen from this courageous strong woman. I hope to read some soon. Perhaps you will discover her anew or for the first time. The world needs a few more heroes and heroines.



*Elisabeth Elliott's words recalled by John Piper here http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/peaches-in-paradise  from his journal notes about Elisabeth Elliott's speaking in Kansas City in July 1987

Witch or Mom? It's Hard to Know the Difference Sometimes

Mother’s Day offers the yearly chance to express in words and actions all the ways we wish we had

shown appreciation daily. If only it were that simple.


But has that May holiday conceived over a hundred years ago to honor the sacrifices of mothers for

their children been a victim of commercialism gone awry?  Hijacked in part by a greeting card industry

which does the talking for us so we don’t have to, Mother’s Day has become big business.


The founder of this holiday came to lament her efforts to recognize it officially. Anna Jarvis resented the

very attachment to this holiday we have come to see as customary pairing with it: The joint venture of

confectioners, florists, gift boutiques all promote ways to honor mom. She envisioned a more personal,

even religious tribute to mothers and resented the transformation of her noble gesture into a churning

industry.

Sometimes we still make the simplest expressions more difficult than they need to be.

Was the world so different then?  I checked my history facts with a few clicks and saw in 1907 the news

was peppered with disputes over immigration policies, baseball games in full swing and international

disputes over borders and takeovers. So what’s new?


Yet notable firsts occurred then too, reminding me that the five-year campaign to have a national

holiday honoring a woman was ground-breaking. Radio was in its infancy and seemed magical.

Marconi’s first wireless transmission across the sea would change the world. Music was broadcast for

the first time in America. Now we have it at our fingertips or in our ear buds.


And for women the picture was quite different. In the U.S. and Great Britain women were marching for

the right to vote while Finland was the first European country to grant suffrage to women. In a related

development that ultimately would help get women off the washboard and some into the boardroom,

the first automatic clothes washer and dryer were introduced.


But I digress.

How and why we chose to honor those we love is a personal choice. It’s not just a holiday, but any day

we choose to make expressions of thanks a priority.

We make it more difficult than it needs to be when we delay our expressions of appreciation.

 

 It’s the thank you note principle at work: The length of the note is in direct proportion to the promptness in writing a thank you note in proximity to the event being referenced. A short, heartfelt timely note need not
be long.

Southern women smile about those women – and we know them – who are famous for prewriting thank

yous and placing them in the mailbox when they leave an event. They know what we know: Timeliness

matters. They just act on it.


For those recovering procrastinators among us who intend to follow through on our expressions of

appreciation, the timeliness principle works against us. If we don’t do it promptly, it may cost us.

Enter Hallmark cards with their prewritten sentiments that purport to tell us better than we can say

ourselves, “Thank you” and “I love you.”


Any way you say it is surely better than delaying. And if you didn’t adequately express your thoughts

when you wished to, say something today. Whether your mom is living or not, just try writing even if for

your eyes only. A tribute offered posthumously or in person need not be flowery. Child-like simplicity

will do it.

Sometimes the words in our hearts just want to be coaxed out. We just need a safe space to do it.

My longtime friend and frequent source of joy and inspiration, Betty Parry, related a story that lingers

with me months after it happened. The honest question of a child gets to the heart of who we are.

A few holidays ago, Betty had dressed up her front porch for trick-or-treaters. She was in her pointed

black hat adjusting the wires of a recalcitrant fog machine for the full effect. Betty doesn’t do anything

halfway. 

An eager little boy about four approached. Seeing Betty in her black regalia, he stopped in his tracks in

the yard and hesitated: “Are you a witch…..or a mom?”

Sometimes it’s hard to know the difference in life. Many things are not as they appear. We learn early to

be discerning.


But he already knew: It’s safe to approach a mom even when surrounded by fog on a dark night. 

Mother’s Day may be over, but the call to live with gratitude for all of those who give of themselves to

us comes to us fresh each day.

Tricks They Play with Numbers

They say five times as many people read a headline as read the article, so baiting the hook is key to increasing screen clicks and readership. Have you, too, tired of cheap tricks embedded in headlines beckoning for our attention?

They do it because it works. A quick search reveals a simple headline-writing formula to hook us: 
Number or Trigger word + Adjective + Keyword + Promise.

10 Nutrients that Shrink Your Belly

3 Foods You Should Never Eat

4 Things Never to Buy at Trader Joe's.

10 Things Your Doctor won't tell you about an MRI.

So Five Easy Steps to Deliver Readers is the game. Sound familiar?

Stephen Covey gave us 7 Habits of Highly Successful People 15 years ago. In the past two decades, countless titles have followed in his highly successful footsteps.

I refuse to take the bait and pass up most such headlines. No one really has that kind of time. But this morning, having seen many variations on a theme of "14 most powerful literary quotes," I succumbed.

Because I find inspiration in words, not numbers, I trolled into this potential deep well. Uplifting words that encourage the disquieted soul, or words that speak of beauty and strength and resilience in the face of struggle--these are words that draw us in and have the power to sustain for the long haul. I’m not looking for an easy answer, for a bumper sticker for the heart.

I'm taking about words that linger long after those quick-tricks-for-clicks fail and search engine optimization mutates into the next new thing.

Quotations serve a purpose as shorthand directing us to a source for further reading. Quick quotes can be reduced to trite sayings when listed as top ten favorites and out of context. But I took the bait and jotted a couple:

"They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise

Jump start a book with that line and I’m hooked. We—male and female if we could be honest—long for such a connection, such intimacy. Not flowery romanticism or superficial trappings that masquerade as love, but the rock-solid knowing and being accepted for who we are.

The rarity of that intimacy and Fitzgerald’s expression of it held me for a moment.
 
In true southern fashion, we claim kin to several in this literary slice of Americana. F. Scott’s Zelda was an Alabama girl and longtime friend of H.L. Mencken’s wife, Sara, who was the Montgomery sister of our family’s uncle Johnny. So we’re practically related.

While the capital of the Confederacy was marching from Montgomery to Richmond in 1861, Charles Dickens wrote his own words that made the list:

“I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.”

― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

              (Estella and Pip. Illustration by F. A. Fraser, Household Edition of Great Expectations, 1877. Public domain.)

There is the theme again.

We may remember a few timeless words a bit older.

 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us.” 

The list of calamities against which love endures is long and winding and appears variously in Romans 8:35-39 and elsewhere.

Everything gets recycled with a twist; everyone gets credited with originality when there is nothing new under the sun. So say both William Shakespeare and the writer of Ecclesiastes. 

Paulo Coelho, for example, wrote in The Alchemist, "Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure."

“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" was credited from the Harry Potter series.

More ancient is the writing in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Matthew's citation did not make the internet list,  but there’s hope. It meets the two-prong test: theme of love and posted with numbers. The allure of love is deeper still than the lure of numbers in a headline.