As Real as Water in Our Hands

I don't think I'm alone in saying I remember nothing from the movie The Miracle Worker but the water scene. It's a breakthrough moment, the one we've all been awaiting. Helen Keller (actress Patty Duke) first realizes the word she is signing, water, identifies the liquid she is actually feeling coming from the pump; water is a thing itself, and the letters, w-a-t-e-r, identify that thing.

In the upcoming year, my plan is to revisit my old journals, to begin reading through them a little each day. I know I will find pain there. I know I will find history. I know I will find an emergence of illumination and commitment. What I will find most disturbing --and I know I will find it, because I know me --I will find the same things written again and again. I will find these AHA! moments, when the light finally dawns, when the water becomes a real thing to me, and I will find them --the same ones --again and again. What a merciful God, who has taken me over the same ground again and again that I might be changed! BUT why, if I am who I claim to be, if I love as I say I do, should He have to do so? Did Helen Keller have to be taught again and again the substance of water? Did she require Anne Sullivan to place her hand under the spout day after day, signing the letters, w-a-t-e-r over and over? The breakthrough had come, and from that moment on, Helen Keller knew what water was. When she signed the letters, w-a-t-e-r, she wasn't asking to go outside; she wasn't identifying a sound in the woods; Helen Keller knew what water wasn't. From that instance, truth, reality, identity was fixed in the mind of a deaf and blind woman. For life! Oh, that I could say the same! But breakthrough with regard to spiritual things in a temporal place, seems to come and go as quickly as a paycheck. Again, and again, and again, God imparts truth to us in various ways. A sermon, the Holy Spirit's move as we read the Scriptures, an object lesson, the passing words of someone in the feed store, the smell of honeysuckle in early Summer --so many ways He presents truth to us, giving us opportunity after opportunity to make truth as real to us as water in the hands of Helen Keller. And yet, we treat those lessons so casually. 

What would happen if God stopped? What would happen if He withdrew the work of His Holy Spirit in our lives, cancelled class for the day or the week or the rest of time? The assurance that He will teach and remain with His children does not give us license to undervalue or abuse the gifts He gives. Just as Paul could not stomach the idea that grace provides license that sin might abound, our Lord's Holy Spirit with us should never be taken for granted nor should we put off for another day what His Word instructs us to observe today. The moments we have with our Lord are precious. Eternity does not make them any less timely or costly. His mercies, while new in abundance each day, are not redundant or disposable. We are privileged to be mentored and accompanied by our King's very presence. Let us treasure His lessons as water to a parched land. Let us not merely study to know or consume, but to hold fast, to demonstrate ourselves as abiding in the way to which we have been saved. Let us appreciate those AHA! moments when we are given them but routinely receive His instruction with intention and all due diligence.  

Midweek: When All Else Fails... We Are Already There

I was listening to a conversa-- okay, eavesdropping; I was eavesdropping. But it wasn't like they were being quiet about it. So, one person was talking about some things that were going on, things that were making life difficult. The other person volunteered encouragement: When all else fails, pray! Well, I think it was supposed to be some sort of encouragement. Now, I'm not judging; really, I'm not. How often have I contrived a dozen schemes before it's ever occurred to me to pray? How often have I picked up the "prayer line" because the fire is much too large for me to extinguish and, Lord knows, I've tried! 

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6,7)

Pray.About.Everything. Should I take the job? How do I handle this issue with my spouse? What should I be doing to improve my health? Which road should I take to work today? Pray.About.Everything. Does that sound weird to you? If I'm being honest, there was a time when it probably sounded a little "extra" to me. Do I seriously have time to stop and pray about whether I should feed the kids breakfast or make the beds first? But here's the thing, Scripture tells us that prayer should be more like breathing. We don't have to be reminded of that, do we? 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing. Like the in and out of our breath. Like the thoughts that constantly wiggle or blast through our brains as we do other things --even as we think and say other things. 

Take a moment and inventory the thoughts swirling around your brain as you read this. Can you still comprehend while considering projects you'd like to tackle this weekend? The brain is pretty amazing, and depending on the level of difficulty, is fairly capable of doing two or more things as once. For instance, I can do some light reading, listen to music, and keep track of time so my waffles don't burn. I can text a couple of friends (keeping the conversations straight, mind you), keep an ear out for the dog wanting to be let back inside, and pay bills simultaneously. I can sing the words of my favorite hymns while being reminded of and lifting up my family in prayer. All the while, I am breathing. And prayer is like breathing. Prayer is a running, real-time dialogue with The Spirit who inhabits our spirit. Prayer is thinking a thought --Luci wants back in --and lifting that thought up to our Friend and Creator --Thank You, God, for these moments of routine, or Thank You, Lord, for the beautiful weather. And sometimes the conversation continues: Come outside for a few minutes and sit. Appreciate the green of the trees; enjoy the warmth of the sun on your face. And even more thoughts upon which to pray: Thank You, Father, for the opportunity to share this garden with my mother for so many days. I miss her deeply, but I know she is with You, and she is whole. Praise Your name! Allowing prayer to overtake you the same way thoughts do. Allowing prayer to become as unobtrusive as breathing. Allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you as you pause and remain still in the present --in God's presence, for just a moment or two. Ceaseless. All inclusive. But fully authentic, and just as God's Word implores. When all else fails, we do not have to be encouraged to pray, we are already there.  

There's More Than Meets the Eye --Unless Your Eyes Are on the Lord

One day I will teach the last (?) of our children to drive. When I do, I will use some of the principles I used as I drove for UPS. As irritated as we'd get having to recite these axioms, as hokey as we sometimes thought they were, they work! In many respects. One rule I've observed more with regard to life in general than driving, is Get the Big Picture. 

The Christian life, in particular, encourages us to see "the big picture", to see beyond ourselves, beyond the moment to something more. There is always something --something as yet unseen --going on beneath the surface. Nothing is exclusive to us but our decision to follow. Even hardship and grief have their purpose. It should never be assumed God is not working something good for us or for those who live on this sphere with us. He is sovereign over everything, the ebb and flow of life, the seasons of lean and plenty.   

I will leave you today with words uttered by Dr. John Donne shortly before he took leave of this mortal coil. When someone asked about his uncharacteristic silence --Why are you sad? --Donne responded:

"I am not sad; but most of the night past I have entertained myself with many thoughts of several friends that have left me here, and are gone to that place from which they shall not return; and that within a few days I also shall go hence, and be no more seen. And my preparation for this change is become my nightly meditation upon my bed, which my infirmities have now made restless to me. But at this present time, I was in a serious contemplation of the providence and goodness of God to me; to me, who am less than the least of His mercies: and looking back upon my life past, I now plainly see it was His hand that prevented me from all temporal employment; and that it was His will I should ever settle nor thrive till I entered into the Ministry; in which I have now lived almost twenty years—I hope to His glory,—and by which, I most humbly thank Him, I have been enabled to requite most of those friends which shewed me kindness when my fortune was very low, as God knows it was: and—as it hath occasioned the expression of my gratitude—I thank God most of them have stood in need of my requital. I have lived to be useful and comfortable to my good Father-in-law, Sir George More, whose patience God hath been pleased to exercise with many temporal crosses; I have maintained my own mother, whom it hath pleased God, after a plentiful fortune in her younger days, to bring to great decay in her very old age. I have quieted the consciences of many, that have groaned under the burden of a wounded spirit, whose prayers I hope are available for me. I cannot plead innocency of life, especially of my youth; but I am to be judged by a merciful God, who is not willing to see what I have done amiss. And though of myself I have nothing to present to Him but sins and misery, yet I know He looks not upon me now as I am of myself, but as I am in my Saviour, and hath given me, even at this present time, some testimonies by His Holy Spirit, that I am of the number of His Elect: I am therefore full of inexpressible joy, and shall die in peace.”

From The Life of Dr. John Donne, by Izaak Walton