Thank you Moms and Dads

For the last week my husband and I have been taking care of a family of seven children while their parents have been out of town on family business.  To say that this experience has been a challenge is an understatement.  It is not because the children require so much attention that makes it a challenge.  It is a challenge because it has required me to put my own desires aside and to give all my time to them.

This week has shown me how hard it is for me to be selfless. Every day makes clear how selfish I can be especially with my personal space and my personal time. Every day I have to choose to put aside the book I want to read or the quiet time I want to have, and instead tend to the business of refereeing young boys who are trying to outdo one another.

Instead of sitting down with a cup of coffee and my laptop, I must choose to wash more laundry each day than I normally do in two weeks.  And instead doing some sewing, I must choose to cipher math problems I haven’t thought about in years.

This week has given me a fresh appreciativeness for the sacrifice good parents make for their children. The seemingly day in day out, round and round the gerbil wheel, mundane, never ending season of parenting is so hard but it is so worth it and I am so thankful for parents who understand that.

So to you Moms and Dads thank you for mustering up the patience to go over phonic lessons countless times and for reading the same old story books to them over and over again.  Thank you Moms and Dads for picking up your children from after school functions and for listening to them vent over the school day’s problems. 

Thank you for ordering them countless times, all day long to pick up their boots, coats, and toys.  Thank you for teaching them how to take care of their pets and how to be responsible with their money.

Thank you Moms and Dads for bringing them to church and teaching them to pray.  Thank you for giving them Jesus and, most of all, thank you for giving your children life.

A Shield for Me

The ministry of Bishop Patrick began with a dream where he saw the people of Ireland pleading with him, "We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more."

Years before when he was in his teens, Patrick had been a slave in Ireland, and he understood the people and customs of the land.  He knew that if he now left his home in Scotland and followed this call, he would be surrounded by pagans and Druids, and he knew he would experience opposition to his mission of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Lord was with him, though, and in mid-400 AD he and his disciples preached and converted thousands, built churches, and saw even kings, their families, and entire kingdoms become Christian.

Over a 40-year span Patrick, with God’s mighty assistance, saw all of Ireland released from the grip of paganism.

The prayer attributed to him, entitled Patrick’s Breastplate, invokes God’s protection from the dangers Christ’s disciples face daily.  It is a powerful prayer Patrick may have prayed, an ageless one that we too can pray. 

I bind unto myself today

The strong Name of the Trinity,

By invocation of the same,

The Three in One and One in Three...

I bind unto myself today

The power of God to hold and lead,

His eye to watch, His might to stay,

His ear to hearken to my need.

The wisdom of my God to teach,

His hand to guide, His shield to ward,

The word of God to give me speech,

His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,

The vice that gives temptation force,

The natural lusts that war within,

The hostile men that mar my course;

Or few or many, far or nigh,

In every place and in all hours,

Against their fierce hostility,

I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,

Against false words of heresy,

Against the knowledge that defiles,

Against the heart's idolatry,

Against the wizard's evil craft,

Against the death wound and the burning,

The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,

Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind unto myself the Name,

The strong Name of the Trinity;

By invocation of the same.

The Three in One, and One in Three,

Of Whom all nature hath creation,

Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:

Praise to the Lord of my salvation,

Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Obedient dog

I have things I want to do.  Things I want to do right now.  I don’t have time now to pray, because I want to do the things that have taken my mind captive.  But I know if I don’t take time to pray and read scripture, those things will take over and eventually disappoint me because they are really very meaningless.  So, dutifully, I take some time out and attempt to quiet myself and talk with God.

“Dear Lord, thank you for uh,

‘do the thing instead’, 

no, forgive me for letting my mind stray.  Thank you Lord for my children, 

‘the thing can’t wait, times a-wasting’. 

Excuse me, for my children, for my husband, for 

‘the thing that is so enticing and fun to do’.  

Forgive me for letting my mind go astray again. 

‘You know, you could do this extra thing to the thing, and then you could’... 

Stop thinking that.  Sorry, let’s start again.” 

Fifteen minutes later, all I have done is fight with my mind.  I’m exhausted and discouraged and feel unfit to live.  

But let me evaluate this episode that reruns most every day.  I will compare myself to a golden retriever.  If the dog is not well trained and he sees a treat in my hand, he will not sit still when I tell him to, but will lunge after the treat.  Disappointed in him, I will scold him because he has not obeyed.

But if the dog is well trained, he may want the treat badly and will eye it and wag his tail in desperation, but because he is well trained, he will not go after the treat but will watch me intently until I give him the signal that he can have it.  

Only then will he put it in his mouth.  I know his mind was on that treat, but I am pleased that he obeyed me, and I reward him for his obedience.

I am like that dog.  I may want to do the thing, but I will, with determination, do what is important first.  I may desperately eye the thing, I may see the thing bigger than life, but my will does not allow me to throw aside my devotion time with God in exchange for doing the thing.

So if my prayer time has not been as focused as I would like, I can still rejoice that I kept my will in check even when my flesh fought me the whole time.  In that effort I believe God will be pleased with me.

 

Clouds without water

I have devoted my columns to topics about Christian morals and Christ-like living. Sometimes, though, I like to share my views about the world in which we live, because I feel that what we believe about God and how we demonstrate it is clearly linked to how we process and react to the current political climate. Morally speaking, for me there is no separation of church and state. 

Listening and watching the events taking place around the world reminds me of what the author of the letter of Jude wrote when he described the rebelliousness and all its ornamentation demonstrated by those heretics within the Church of his day.  If what he said was what was taking place in the body of Christ then, the chaos outside the Church must have been mind boggling. And we don’t have to imagine it, we only have to turn on the television and see it happening today everywhere and all the time.

The letter of Jude says, “As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighboring cities, in like manner, having given themselves to fornication, and going after other flesh, were made an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. In like manner these men also defile the flesh, and despise dominion, and blaspheme majesty....these men blaspheme whatever things they know not: and what things soever they naturally know, like dumb beasts, in these they are corrupted.

“...Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain: and after the error of Balaam they have for reward poured out themselves, and have perished in the contradiction of Korah. These are spots in their banquets, feasting together without fear, feeding themselves, clouds without water, which are carried about by winds, trees of the autumn, unfruitful, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own confusion; wandering stars..murmurers, full of complaints, walking according to their own desires, and their mouth speaking proud things, admiring persons for gain's sake..mockers, walking according to their own desires in ungodlinesses. ”

These colorful words of the author illustrate today’s mindset of those wolves-in- sheep’s clothing doing their evil deeds within the Church and those folks currently involved in the turmoil and demonstrations boiling up all over the globe.

While the Christian Church is experiencing a huge shakedown  that is separating the wheat from the chaff, secular society is still heaving with the rise of chaos on Main Street, World.  The not-so-distant “unorganized” protests which ignited gullible, “social justice” free thinkers remind me of the great songwriter/musician Steve Taylor’s lyrics: You say humanist philosophy is what it’s all about? You’re so open minded that your brains leaked out. 

Beautiful homecoming

A close friend of ours died last week.  She had suffered from cancer for many years when she finally lost the battle and in the most beautiful of circumstances went home to Jesus.  On that day we arrived at the hospice house to see her and her brother who took care of her.  Other family members and friends were there too.  She was sleeping peacefully and seemingly unaware that any of us were there.

Soon the nurses came in to reposition her in the bed.  The movement triggered something within her, and we all knew she was near the end of her journey.  We started to sing, pray, and read scripture over her, and within a half hour she breathed her last and was released from her tormented shell.  The suffering for her and her family was over.  There was a collective sigh of relief from all of us, and the gloom we had all felt over the last few months was lifted. 

It reminded me of King David when he mourned for his baby son who suddenly became gravely ill.  For seven days David lay prostrate on the floor fasting and praying for God to save his son, only to learn that he had died anyway.

It was at this news that David got up, washed and anointed himself and went to the house of the Lord to worship.  Then, he went home and ate a meal.  His servants were shocked.  How could this man just get up and resume business after his son just died.

He said, “While the child was yet alive I fasted and wept for him: for I said: Who knows whether the Lord may not give him to me, and the child may live?  But now that he is dead, why should I fast?  Shall I be able to bring him back any more?  I shall go to him rather: but he shall not return to me.” 2 Sam. 12: 22, 23

Our friend’s homecoming is a celebration because she lived her life so near to the heart of God and someday we will join her in heaven. To her the victory verses so aptly apply:

“For this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality.  And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? ...thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 15: 53-55, 57