Waiting & Watching

The story goes that there was a dude with some kids.  He would be at work, as dudes often are, but when it came time for him to come home from work, his kids would always be excited.  They would be waiting for him to come home, mostly for supper-eating purposes, I imagine.  Anyhow, one of his children, his little daughter, would stand at the front window.  She wasn't just waiting for him, she was watching.

Cue the tears.  I've heard this man tell this story enough times that I can't cue the tears, but it's a nice story and I hope you've been emotionally touched in a way I haven't been in the past ten years or so.

But the story brings to mind (obviously, as is the point) that we are not just to wait for the Lord's return, but also we ought to watch for Him.  Any one of us could think of a number of verses that echo such a sentiment.

But I'd like to pose another story.  It's about a girl, about my age, who works at a day care.  And about how at that daycare there started a young child, 2ish years of age, who really loved his mom.  Which is a good thing for a child to do, but it's rough when kids have never been away from their mom, and then their tossed into a daycare setting.  So this young boy (we shall call him henceforth Jay), every single day he's at the daycare, spends from 7:30 in the morning till 12:30 in the afternoon waiting for his mom to come and get him.  After all, she will be coming, he knows this for a fact.  And indeed, at 12:30, she comes to fetch him.  He was right all along--mommy loves him enough to remember to come and get him after lunch.  Heartwarming, yes?

No.  Not in the slightest.  You see, Jay doesn't just wait for his mom, he watches for his mom.  Every day, from 7:30 till 12:30, he stands with his face pressed against the window, looking for that first glimpse of her car.

Even more heartwarming?  No.  Not in the slightest.  You see, from 7:30 am to 12:30 pm Jay doesn't just wait and watch for his mother.  He SCREAMS HIS HEAD OFF because he's terrified that she's forgotten about him.  He won't play, he won't color, he won't paint, and if it's ever warm enough to go outside to play he just presses himself up against the fence in lieu of the window and screams there while waiting for his mother.

WHAT KIND OF LIFE IS THAT.

Jay needs to cool his jets and realize that while he's waiting, he could be doing.  Really, he does.  And, frequently, between 7:30 and 12:30 I (being the featured girl in the story who works in sad earshot of this child) am reminded that you know what?  While I'm waiting for the Lord to return (which had better be soon, that's all I'm saying) I need to be doing as well.  Maybe it's just the Sunday School work, maybe it's reaching out to younger girls, maybe it's giving away copies of Get Lost (bless you, Dannah Gresh, for being the best), maybe it's just helping out around the house or with hobby class.  Whatever the case, let it never be said of me that I was waiting and watching for the Lord's coming at the expense of doing for His glory.

Wisdom and such

Solomon was pretty cool (minus the whole wife fetish, but we'll let that go for now). He ended up being a King while young, and really relied on the Lord to get him started... and then sort of let it slip. Again with the wife thing.

But do you remember the prayer he prayed? He requested "wisdom and knowledge," and he might "go out and come in before this people." As a quick aside, I find great hilarity in that verse, but I take it a little bit out of context sometimes, so I won't dwell on that fact too much here. Anyhow, the Lord granted it to him (feel free to brush up in either 2 Chronicles 1 or 1 Kings 3), and all was good for Solomon (well, until the wife thing). (You know, for saying I wasn't going to talk about that I spent an awfully long time talking about it. Strange...)

My favorite part about this whole thing is that as a Christian, I get this stuff in the package deal! When you read Colossians 2 about being knit together in love etc. you find a useful little verse tucked in there (verse 3) that goes, "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Isn't that nifty? Just by being redeemed by the precious blood of Christ we get wisdom and knowledge. It's pretty much the best situation ever.

So when we feel all lacking in the wisdom department (though we all know what James would say!) just remember that we have it. Through Christ we have a direct line into Wisdom herself--see entire book of Proverbs for information about wisdom. For further confirmation, read this book. =)

So when something seems confusing and/or slightly complicated, I like to think about the fact that I have knowledge and wisdom hidden in me. Now if only it weren't hidden so well...

PS, that's James 1:5, in case I wasn't clear.

DV

First of all, I have to make note of the fact that I can never remember how the full version of "DV" is actually pronounced. Domnus Vet....something. I remember it easily as "da Lord 'Villing" with a weird sort of German accent or something. Can't say I didn't try.

But I was just thinking about that the other day. When I say "the other day" I mean "yesterday" because I happened to be reading up on some Paul (practicing for my order of the Corinthian nun, no doubt) when he was talking about this. He was visiting somewhere--Ephesus, I think?--and they were all sad, and he told them that he'd see them again, Lord willing. Well, in actual fact I believe he did see them again--it talks about sailing through Ephesus a few chapters later--but what this set me to wondering was this: is it always legitimate to say "Lord willing?"

Here's the deal. James says that we ought to say "if the Lord will" etc. but what if we say that, the Lord does will, and we fall down on the job? The Lord knows what's going to happen, obviously, but a lot of times we say Lord Willing as sort of a way to get out of things we don't want to do. "Well, I'll come to the hospital to clean up vomit later, Lord willing," and then when it doesn't happen, we feel justified because we didn't have time. That's a bad example, because I don't think very many of us have had that experience.

But should we really be throwing that around all the time so casually? I know that I personally qualify just about every third sentence with a "Lord willing" because I never know when I'm going to get raptured and not be able to do something, or hit by a car, or kidnapped by a mad scientist or something. Am I leaving for California tomorrow? Lord willing. I hope to, but I may not. But if I just don't get on the plane in the morning, but choose rather to hang out at the airport for a week and a half, is it going to be because the Lord willed it, or because I'm a moron?

The Lord is willing to do a lot of things that don't happen. The Lord is not willing that any should perish, for instance, and last I checked, people are still perishing.

I'm not trying to suggest that anybody stop saying Lord Willing, by the way. I for one would have a really tough time cutting it out of my vocabulary, and I'm fine with that. But I think what I'm trying to say is that we should examine our own actions more, perhaps. I don't know. I guess it can sort of boil down to the fact that in the garden the Lord Jesus said that if the Father was willing, then could He remove this cup from Him? And the answer to that was no. So maybe it's not so much about what our actions do and don't say about us, but rather that we show ourselves willing to follow the Lord's directives.

But this whole when-to-say-it-and-when-not-to-say-it thing still gets me. For instance, what if I planned to rob the bank later this afternoon? Would I be as apt to say, "well, I'm going to head over to the bank and rob it, Lord willing" as I would be to say, "well, I'm going to head over to Drug Mart and buy some post cards, Lord Willing"? But when I'm saying the deal about the post cards I guess what I usually mean is "time permitting." Obviously I guess I'd stop if the Lord showed me that He wasn't willing to buy post cards, which I guess would mean I would stop robbing the bank if He didn't want me to do that, either. But if I'm going to say Lord Willing about stuff that I think is kosher (buying post cards, going to California, making pizza for supper) then I guess it means I shouldn't do anything I'm not willing to tack a Lord Willing onto. Is that it? If you're not comfortable saying "Lord Willing" after something, then you're maybe not supposed to do it?

I don't know. Maybe next time I'm trying to make a decision I'll test-run a few sentences with a Lord Willing after it. I'm going to Europe this summer, Lord Willing.

See, but sometimes you just like the way something sounds, even if maybe the Lord still doesn't will. Who doesn't want to go to Europe this summer?

Anyhow, this got convoluted and off-topic, but it was just something that crossed my poor tangled mind. This much I know--I'm going to keep on saying "Lord Willing," Lord willing.

Party: Guy Fawkes style

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason, and plot,
I know of no reason,
Why the gunpowder treason,
Should ever be forgot.

This poem is just to remind us all of the glorious holiday that is coming up tomorrow. (And lest I forget, happy birthday, mrg!) I guess it's maybe a little odd that I love Guy Fawkes day so much. After all, it's in celebration of a man who tried to blow up British Parliament. But since they celebrate it in England, I think it's only fair that we get to celebrate here, too.

People always ask me: why do they celebrate it? Well, I always answer that it's fun to run around and light off fireworks and have bonfires and the such, but I'm pretty sure that the only reason it is a celebrated holiday is because it used to be a mandatory holiday. No joke, for about 250 years after that not-fateful-after-all day, English folk were required to celebrate the deliverance of the King of England. My theory is, they just got so used to having a holiday specially for blowing things up that they just couldn't stop that train of fun once they were on it. So they celebrate to this day. And some of us poor North American folks, who don't know any better, celebrate right along with them.

This year, we're having a big Guy Fawkes Day party at my house. I'm not really organizing it (here's where the realities of work set in), but mrg is planning it for me. And coming over to cook the food, too. Nice...

Anyhow, I don't really have much else to say about GFD. I don't even know how I could wax eloquent about blowing things up. Except to remind us all that the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. How great a matter a little fire kindleth! Guy Fawkes no doubt never considered the power his tongue wielded. Unfortunately, he was too busy trying to kindle things with a little (or lot) of fire. My problem lies more with the tongue thing--I'm more tempted to spout off at the mouth than I am tempted to light things on fire. Though I do accidentally burn a very high number of pot holders... Hmm, maybe I have more of Guy Fawkes in me then I thought.