June 2007

Last night I was checking my email as I frequently do, and came upon a note from a book compilation I’d contributed to probably a year ago. I thought the message was spam because I get so few real messages from that account. (I delete probably 30 a day of junk mail and keep one or two.)

But I’m also careful to read the message lines and sender before deleting, and I’m very glad I did! Turns out, my devotional has been accepted for a book compilation coming out with Tyndale House Publishers!

You can check out the book cover here.

The book is called One Year Life Verse Devotional compiled by Jay Payleitner, and my devotional will be featured on April 14th – my dad’s birthday! :) Pretty cool!

Just wanted to share my joy…

I think I know why no one likes middle age. It’s cause you’re stuck between caring for two generations, older and younger, in some form or another. Sometimes that caring is a joy, so it’s no big deal. But other times it raises the concern/stress level several notches, depending on the circumstances.

All at a time when our own bodies are slowing down or falling apart piece by piece…

I spent last night in the emergency room again. I really don’t like those places. Not because the workers were unkind or the place itself was terrible – but the people look so needy, so alone and sad, so desperate for help and mercy. It just breaks my heart. And of course, it’s worse when you’re there for someone you love.

Please pray for my dad. He and I need to stop meeting in emergency rooms. About six months ago I took him there with the flu and dehydration. This time he was having shortness of breath after mild exertion, which led to discovering he has a lot of fluid on his left lung. It’s obvious he’s retaining too much fluid as his body is a bit swollen. First not enough fluid, now too much!

It’s hard to watch parents suffer and age.

My father-in-law is eleven years older than my dad and unable to care for himself as he used to. And they all tell us not to get old. And I always tell them I’m not sure I prefer too early an alternative. :)

Of course, the flip side of aging parents is aging kids. My sister always used to say, “Little kids, little problems – big kids, big problems.” Thankfully, the only problem facing us now on that end is juggling cars until the totaled one is fixed or replaced. But the dynamics of relationships with adult kids is forever changing.

And the parents in the middle are the ones who have to make many of those changes.

Empty places where a parent used to be. Empty nest where a child used to be.

Full heart in any case because God is our Constant – our Rock in times of trouble. In Him we will always be together. This is my full assurance of hope.

There are some very obvious and good reasons why I’m not God…one being, because only God understands what He is doing in my life, in the lives of other people I love, in the country, in the world…

Jeremiah struggled with God’s ways more than once, and one day God said to him, “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”

So Jeremiah did as God asked and watched the potter working with a lump of clay. He noticed several things, but the one thing that stood out was this: “But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”

“Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD.

In ancient Israel pottery went through a variety of types and styles, depending on the era. At one time they got pretty fancy, making thin, decorated pots that could be beautiful and functional. But the thinner clay kept cracking, so for a time, they went back to making thicker, plainer pots. Then, as more time passed, they came up with a better way to bring beauty and function together again.

Sometimes when life takes a difficult turn, it feels like our clay has cracked and we’re back on the potter’s wheel smashed into an ugly lump. And we don’t understand, and we question why, and we don’t see the beauty He is making.

To make the vessel able to accept paint to bring out its beauty the potter added something that kept the salts or “scum” from the surface. Scum would keep the paint from sticking, much as sin keeps beauty from being visible in us.

There are times when we don’t like what God is doing in our lives, in the lives of those we love, in the world around us. “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”

I’m glad God is sovereign over men and nations. When I watch the atrocities that go on in this world in the name of war, politics, religion – man’s inhumanity to man, I’m glad there is a God who is greater, who is keeping account. People don’t like to talk of judgment or think they’ll ever be held accountable for their actions. Some are so deceived they call good evil and evil good.

I sleep better at night knowing that God will judge one day, and that all wrongs will be made right. True justice will be served, and no evil will go unpunished. But I’m also very glad that that same Potter is also Love Incarnate and holds out mercy and grace to undeserving pots willing to accept it.

The Potter is sovereign over all He has made. The clay that submits to Him will be formed and designed into a thing of beauty.