One of the things I love most about being a grandparent is that I have to do so little disciplining.  That’s not to say I don’t discipline when I must, it’s to say I don’t overly concern myself with teaching my grandchildren their “please” and “thank-yous” and all the countless other things that go into the good moral training of children.  The reason I don’t concern myself is that my grandchildren have parents who do this, leaving me free to just love and enjoy them, and perhaps just train by example.  It’s a cushy arrangement and one I thoroughly enjoy.

Parenting on the other hand is a lot tougher. It’s a 24/7 kind of job; a sloughing-it-out-in-the-trenches kind of role which is, for the most part, thankless, at least until the kids are old enough and mature enough to understand the value of discipline. 

Most parents have a heart of love toward their children and just want to shower them with affection, gifts, privileges, but instead find themselves in a position of having to correct, withhold privileges, lecture.  It’s called “tough love” and it’s wearing. But unlike grandparents, parents don’t have the luxury of spoiling and pampering, not if they really love their children and want them to grow up the best they can be and fulfill their God-given destinies.

Nothing helped me quite understand the parenting heart of God until I became one. And nothing makes me more sympathetic because unlike us earthly parents where there is a point in time when our job is finished and we can do no more, God’s job as parent is never done.  He still must discipline us when He would rather take us in His arms.  He still must correct and guide us, withhold those things we want for our own good, deal with our disappointment and anger because we don’t understand that what He is doing is needful. God is perpetual parent, never grandparent, never able to close His eyes to our misdeeds and spoil us anyway, but always loving us enough to do the hard thing. 

I am awed by this kind of faithful, steadfast love.  A love that doesn’t take the easy way out, doesn’t seek to please itself, but stays the long hard course of trying to mold us into something lovely.

Until next week,

Sylvia

When my husband went on a recent business trip I found I was able to tidy the house more quickly. There was only one dirty bathroom towel, one set of dishes to wash; one pair of shoes by the couch to put away; one cup left on the end table to pick up, etc, etc.  And that got me thinking, not about whether my husband and I are neat or messy, but about how life itself is messy, and how the more people we allow into it the messier it gets.

Schedules get “messed” up as the needs of others become more pressing.  Personalities and the various temperaments of others can jolt or grate us.  We may have to put up with inconveniences, extra fatigue, petty annoyances.  Just like Jesus did. 

Sometimes I need reminding. I’m a person of order, schedules.  I make lists that I like to check off.  If I have a goal I want to accomplish it without interruption. But I also want to be like Jesus, and that means letting others into my life, and that makes for a mess. 

When I think of the gospels and how Jesus always gave so freely of himself I get a glimpse of the life He wants for each of us.  It’s not a life of lists and uninterrupted routine, but a life where we are open to the people he brings across our path, open to the opportunities of showing His love or sharing His word. It’s sometimes easy for me to miss these opportunities as I bustle around trying to keep my life in order. And while God is certainly a God of order, He showed us, through Jesus who was ever ready to minister to the people who came to Him, that it’s not a sterile kind of order, but an order that thrives on love and caring and giving.

Until next week,

Sylvia

I love scriptures that declare God’s greatness and what He can do. One of my favorites is, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” (Eph 3:20 KJ)  Yes, God is able.  He’s able to do anything.  So why doesn’t He?  Why are there times that we think we hear from God, move out on His word, and then…nothing?

Years ago God spoke to me about writing a novel for the secular world. There was no doubt in my mind that it was God even though He sounded nothing like Cecil B. DeMille. So, for two years I worked feverishly until finally the great American novel was ready.  I had amassed a list of all the publishers I planned to favor with my submission.  There was no stopping me now.  After all, God said!  One last edit. then off to glory.  As I sat curled on the couch rereading my manuscript for the hundredth time, a miracle happened.  Scales started falling from my eyes like tears.  In fact, I began to cry as I saw, for the first time, how truly horrible my writing was.  It was stilted, cliched, and…boring.

“What happened, Lord?” I asked.  The answer came back, gentle, patient, “You never consulted Me.”  Never once had I prayed before writing nor asked the Lord’s direction.  The rolled manuscript made a nice size log and as I watched the fire disintegrate it and the two years of hard work it represented, I learned a valuable truth:  God can…if we partner with Him.

Two more years of hard work produced a second manuscript, with each and every page a work of prayer.  This time there was no long list of publishers I would favor, only a handful I had wrenched in prayer. Still, instead of receiving letters of interest, one rejection slip after another filled my mail box. Then a small Christian organization that had nothing to do with publishing got hold of my manuscript and wanted to publish it. Now I was getting somewhere!  I ignored a nagging check in my spirit.  I was impatient for results.  Four years of work and nothing to show for it was four years too long as far as I was concerned.  Impatience is a slippery slope and I had started on a disappointing ride. The book was amateurishly published, stocked on only one Christian bookstore’s shelf because someone knew a friend of a friend, and there it proceeded to collect dust.

“What happened, Lord?” I asked.  “Didn’t I tell you this was for the secular world?” came a still, small voice. And what could I say in return? I had failed to follow God’s leading.  Now it was too late to do anything with this print version. The typeset was bad, so was the layout, plus it lacked an ISBN and Library of Congress number, without which it could never compete in the secular marketplace. As I dragged twenty cartons of books to the curb for garbage pick-up, I learned another hard lesson. God can…if we are obedient.

Another six years came and went as I waited and prayed for the Lord’s timing and direction.  I was determined not to move out prematurely.  Finally, the word came:  I was to publish a revised edition of the novel myself!  I could hardly believe my ears.  In fact, I didn’t believe them. I didn’t want to. That’s not how it was supposed to be.  I wanted simple-easy, not complicated-hard.  “But I know nothing about the publishing business,” I wailed.  “Learn,” was the reply. 

For the next year I studied, learned, worked.  Often I put in 12 to 14-hr days.  Finally, the manuscript was tuned into a hardcover book.  Then another year of studying, learning, working to market it.  It was the hardest work I’ve ever done in my life.  As the book orders came in I was stunned.  Instead of the hundreds I envisioned, they were onesy-twoseys.  This continued for months.  Inside, emotions were building.  I began to feel tired, depressed, discouraged.  It was only a matter of time before I would have a show-down with God.  Like the dike that could no longer be plugged, my thin veneer of self-control ruptured.  “Haven’t I prayed and sought Your Face?  Haven’t I tried to obey You in everything?” I grumbled.  I felt let-down, abandoned.  “You said!” I whined, trying to drive the point home, and show God how unfair He had been.  Self-pity has it own momentum and I was on a roll.  “You…You disappointed me!” I continued, forgetting the thousand times I had disappointed Him.

What happened during the next hours, days and weeks was miraculous.  Circumcision was going on, surgery of the most delicate nature, as God patiently and lovingly began to show me how His yardstick for success was totally different from the world’s measure.  As I lay prostrate on the floor before Him, I began to understand that we will never totally understand His master plan.  And then it didn’t seem so important anymore to have to.  What difference did it make if I sold one book or one million?  That was God’s department.  My part was to simply obey and let Him use the fruit of my obedience in any way He saw fit.  It was then that I submitted it all to Him.  I forgot my preconceived ideas.   It was His.  He was Lord.  Period.  Another lesson had been learned.  God can…if we are submitted.

After looking back at the those years I see something else too.  God has.  God has been working, pruning, refining.  While I have been concentrating on the here and now, He has been patiently doing kingdom work in me, the benefits of which will be harvested throughout eternity.  Now what is more important than that?  And isn’t that just like God?  To do more than we could ask, or think or hope?

Until next week,

Sylvia

After forty-three years my husband and I are still married.  Oh, not because we’re more in love than anyone else, or that we have less faults, or that our lives have been free of the common bumps that foul everyone’s road. No, we’re still married because we’re tied as a three stand cord with Jesus—a cord not easily broken, and that means He’s not about to let us off the hook that easily. 

Let’s face it, if the right buttons are pressed, we can all be selfish, mean spirited, petty.  Being a believer doesn’t exempt anyone.  We are, after all, still flesh, and flesh dies hard. But there’s noting like marriage to help the process.  And after so many years, my husband and I are at a point where most of the time we calmly settle our differences by talking them through.

But there are still times when my dander gets up, and emotions get the best of me. I’m right.  He’s wrong.  It’s obvious.  Only, why can’t he see it?  When I get that way, I know it’s time to talk to the Lord. It’s something I’ve learned over the years, and something that works every time.  I ask the Lord two things: to let me see the situation through His eyes. To let me see my husband through His eyes. What an argument killer that is!  Inevitably, I begin to see another side of the issue. And I begin to see the stress or frustration that made my husband react in a certain way, or begin to understand the underlying reasons for his point of view. 

I tell you, it’s turned my head around more than once, and taken the sting out of an argument, enabling me to humble myself and apologize.  Nothing else floods my heart with love faster than this, or washes away the anger. I think it’s one of my most valuable tools in my “marriage wellness” arsenal. But notice, this is one sided.  It doesn’t hinge on my husband seeing the “error of his ways.” No. No correction on his part is necessary.  And that might rub some people the wrong way.  It may not seem fair.  But consider this.  As soon as I show my husband that I understand his position, then he suddenly begins to understand mine. And suddenly there’s a meeting of the minds. I love how God works. His ways are so much higher than ours. 

I don’t know why it took me so long to apply this to other areas, but lately I’ve begun asking Him to show me other things through His eyes too.  Things like the hardships that come along in my life, the disappointments, the suffering. And it’s amazing how I suddenly see things in a different light. It often brings the “eternal” more in focus rather than the “now”.  I still have a long way to go in this area, but I’m learning that here too, His eyesight is so much better than mine. 

Until next week,

Sylvia

My husband is Italian and has always known how to celebrate life.  From him I’ve learned it too. Throughout our marriage we’ve celebrated all the little milestones of our lives and our children’s around a table, eating a meal with extended family and friends: nursery school graduation; dance recitals; the end of pewee baseball, you get the idea. It all makes for fond memories, and in some ways reminds me of a simpler time.

But so much has changed from those years. Life has become hectic. Our expectations have become so high.  We want so much that often we find it difficult to enjoy what we actually have. This is what a niece of mine thinks.  The other day she began recalling all the great times our family had growing up; she meant the extended family, which was considerable—aunts, uncles, cousins. She spoke of the Sunday dinners at Grandma’s where we had the same meal every week: a dish of pasta, breaded chicken, some vegetables and a salad. She recalled how the cousins would play all day without benefit of TV or computer games, but using their imaginations, instead. And how the highlight of the day came when the ice cream truck arrived outside the house and Grandpa would line up all the kids and buy them something.

She’s a professional now, holding down a full time job and loving her work, yet still laments that her generation’s children may not have what she had.  She thinks perhaps the economic downturn will force a return to the simpler life; that as discretionary income shrinks, people may have to consider more simplistic pleasures.

I think she may have something.  I’m a firm believer that good can come out of every adversity, and in keeping with that thought perhaps our economic woes will create a new spirit of contentment.  John D. Rockefeller, one of the world’s richest men, was once asked, “how much money is enough?” His answer, “Just a little bit more.”

For too long we’ve been a nation of wanting just a little bit “more”. Perhaps now is the time to see that we already have enough.  Perhaps now is the time to be content and celebrate life by enjoying the simple pleasures, and enjoying them with gratitude that our God has, in reality, given us so much.

Until next week,

Sylvia  

Recently, due to computer problems, I was unable to access the internet for a time.  It was traumatic at first.  How in the world was I going to see what was happening on Twitter? On Facebook? Surely I was missing out. And this feeling of missing out and being disconnected left me uneasiness.  But gradually my daily life and responsibilities crowded out the uneasiness, until finally I hardly thought of the internet at all.

That’s a little how it is when we become disconnect from God.  Due to a problem or an exceptionally hectic schedule we begin skipping our prayer time. At first we feel uncomfortable and know something is missing but circumstances seem to conspire to keep us from connecting. We are uneasy, out of sorts. But as time goes on, the uneasiness fades and thoughts of God become crowded out by our daily busyness until we find ourselves far from the One who loves us most and knows us best.

When that happens, it’s time to put all else aside and reconnect.  We’re not meant to live lives apart from our Creator.  Such a life leaves us feeling isolated and vulnerable and unprotected against the storms that come our way. Rather, we were meant to live in fellowship with God. It is when we are in His company that all else is put in perspective: our troubles shrink to their proper size, our hearts are healed, our strength is renewed. And if that weren’t enough, the Bible says that in God’s presence is fullness of joy.  

On the other hand, there is nothing to be gained by remaining disconnected.

Until next week,

Sylvia

About a week before the Health Care Bill passed I got a troubling glimpse of what that might mean.  I was with my husband in a doctor’s office when my husband posed this question to the nurse practitioner.  “What do you think of Obama’s health care plan?  Is it good or bad?”  The nurse, a young woman, was in favor of it. I’ve observed this before.  Younger nurses and doctors seemed more open to ObamaCare than older ones or ones who have been in practice for awhile, so I wasn’t surprised.  But what followed, was a stunner.

She told us that in order for it to work we would have to cut premature babies and the elderly loose, the two groups that soak up more of our health dollars than any others. She went on to say that premature babies cost an incredible amount of money, and that many continue to drain our health care dollars because they usually have more illnesses and disabilities than full term babies. Regarding the elderly, she said no more can a ninety year old man with a heart problem go in for heart surgery (as if he actually would).  Rather, he would be made comfortable with medication, then left for nature to take its course. Her words were not impassioned or full of sympathy, but were as cold as if she was reading off some graph. I found the whole thing frightening.  What happened to nurses and doctors caring about the sick, the weak? What happened to nurturing and protecting life? Or trying to save it?

It’s easy to take this further.  It wouldn’t even involve much of a leap. That ninety year old could easily become eighty or seventy or even sixty-five.  Why not?  Aren’t those sixty-five and older also a drain on our social security dollars?   On the other end, why stop at premature babies?  What about that one year old, or two year old who keeps coming back to the hospital for one treatment after another, one surgery after another to correct the uncorrectable?  Why not just cut them off, too, and just say that a child has to make it on its own until, what?  Four? Five? Sort of prove its worth.

Have we come so far as a society that we are actually talking like this?  Measuring out our healthcare dollars by how “deserving” a person might be.  If a baby has a good chance of contributing to our society then he can live.  Conversely, if a person becomes too old and is no longer a contributor but in actuality, a double drain, well, he becomes undeserving, too.

I’m so glad God doesn’t measure out His love or His blessings based on how deserving we are, how much we contribute to society.  The Bible says God is no respecter of persons.  To him, the weak, the incapacitated, those with impaired mental acumen, the feeble, the old are no less precious in His sight.  Why don’t we feel that way? When did we start measuring the worth of a life so callously?  I fear that those who laughed at Sarah Palin for her remarks about the “Death Panels” many someday owe her an apology.

Until next week,

Sylvia

Spring at last!  My favorite season. Everything is so hopeful with its flowers and sunshine, with its promise of renewed life. It’s a time when you want to get up and get things done, like spring cleaning.  Now I don’t want to mislead you, I used to faithfully spring clean but the past several years I’ve completely missed that boat. And it wasn’t out of laziness, either.  There were good reasons, like family illness and two book projects.  Then, about two months ago, I finally blocked out the time, gathered my supplies of rubber gloves, pail, mop, dust rags and an impressive array of squirt bottles and cleaners, and met the challenge head on.  Nothing was going to escape my attention. Not the dusty curtains, the molding, the filmy windows.  Well, it was beyond gruelling but I did it.

The job was overwhelming because I had neglected things for so long. Had I kept up, done a little here, a little there, washed the curtains when I first saw it was needed, etc, I could have spared myself a lot of exhaustion, a nearly pulled back, and plenty of sore muscles.

Sometimes relationships need spring cleaning, too. Things have piled up and maybe there have been good reasons for not handling them sooner.  But now those relationships are strained from neglect, and unresolved conflicts bulge that proverbial rug you have been sweeping them under.  Cleanup promises to be daunting, and emotionally and mentally exhausting, but can no longer be avoided.  

What better time than spring to take stock of our relationships with our family, friends, neighbors and our God, to make sure there are no cobwebs of neglect, no dirty windows to mar our views, no cracks in our molding, no dusty curtain barriers between us and those we love. A fresh, clean house is great, but a restored, renewed relationship . . . well, that’s priceless.

Until next week,

Sylvia

Jesus is coming back to reign as King over the whole earth.  Of that there’s no doubt. But when?  That’s the question. In truth, people have been looking for His return since the days of the apostles. But God doesn’t measure time the way we do.  To Him “a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years as a day.” Still, the expectation of His coming peppers history. Dates have even been set, 1988 being one of them; a foolish exercise since Jesus said no one knows the day or hour.  But He did say we can know the very season in which to anticipate Him, and this by observing the signs of the times. He actually expects us to watch for these signs, and by extension, watch for His return. 

And what are these signs?  Countless books have been written on the subject, several of which sit on my bookshelf. One blog could never do the matter justice. But one blog is enough to say how alarmed I am about the number of signs I’m seeing, and the rapidity in which they are coming to pass. Based on that, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are the generation that will see the return of Christ.

Let’s examine a few of these signs. The first and most notable is the formation of Israel as a nation (1948).  The second is the unification of Jerusalem under Jewish rule (1967).  The next is the return of the Jews to their homeland which began occurring in great numbers in the 80s. The reader should begin to see a pattern here, and understand that Israel is the key to end-time Bible prophecy.

But there are plenty of other signs, too, if we care to look: an increase of earthquakes, famine, pestilences, plagues, wars and rumors of wars. True, these things are nothing new, but the operative word here is “increase”.  All these things will come upon us in wave after wave, increasing in both number and intensity. Think Hurricane Katrina; Haiti, Chile.  Think HIV and swine flu. Think the recent economic meltdown. Think “war on terror”, and think nuclear weapons in the hands of rogue states and dictators.

And then there’s this:  The Bible predicts the formation of a one world government, a one world monetary system, and the rise of a world dictator, all yet to come, but all in the works even as I write this. China, Russia, and numerous other countries are already talking about “dumping the dollar”, and even the UN is plugging for a new world currency.  Henry Kissinger, himself, the former Secretary of State under Nixon and Ford, said the New World Order was but a few years away. 

Now couple this with the mood around the world. The world is changing at an alarming rate. People are weary of the economic crisis and the discord among nations.  They’re suspicious of their own politicians.  In short, they’re ripe for change. Now add a few horrific natural disasters, some famines, escalation of global war and violence, and I don’t think it’s illogical to assume that these would make fertile ground out of which a world dictator could spring, one who promises a better life, a better world, but in the end will enslave it and allow no man to buy or sell without his mark (Revelation 13:16-18)—the famous 666—which, by the way, could be the prefix of a computer chip implant. The Bible calls this man the Antichrist.

I don’t know if it will happen in my lifetime. But I do know this, the return of Christ for believers will be a joyful day.  For unbelievers, it’s called the “great and terrible day of the Lord.”  Which side of the camp do you fall in? Joshua, the Israelite who led his people into the promise land, said to them (Joshua 24:15 KJV) “choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will server the LORD.”  I think this is the most important question we can ask ourselves today, because it just might be later than we think. 

Until next time,

Sylvia

The Bible tells us that it is God who is our judge and lawgiver (Isaiah 33:22) and that He will judge the ends of the earth (1Samuel 2:10b); that He’s the judge of all (Hebrews 12:23b).  And get this, He’s going to judge the secrets of men (Romans 2:16). Ouch!  And being a just judge God can’t be bribed; His arm can’t be twisted.  And He’s no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). Your wealth, position, reputation will not impress Him. He’s a judge who will call it like it is and punish sin to the fullest extent of the law. 

There was a time when I didn’t take this seriously.  Rather, I had an imaginary scoreboard erected in my mind that tallied up my “good deeds” and weighed them against my “bad” ones, and I just hoped that at the end of the day the balance would be in my favor and leave me in good standing with God.

What I forgot was that He is the lawgiver. He makes the rules.  He says what’s right and wrong. He keeps the record His way.  Not us.  And what He says is this: If we break just one part of the law (it’s called sin), we’ve broken it all.  And that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).   And what is this death? Nothing less than separation from God, in hell. 

No one likes to talk about hell these days.  It’s seems unsophisticated, narrow, intolerant. It’s even become fashionable for some Christians to say things like, “Oh, God won’t send anyone to hell, He’s too loving.” Still other Christians say, “there are many paths to God and all lead to heaven.” Really? Then why did Jesus talked about hell?  And when He did, He left no doubt how terrible and real it is.  In Mark 9:43-47 Jesus says it’s better to cut off (symbolically speaking) your hand or foot, or pluck out your eye if they cause you to sin rather than be sent to hell.  He goes on to describe hell, calling it a “fire that never shall be quenched” where “worms dieth not.” He also tells us in Luke 12:5 that the One we should fear is the One who has power to cast us into hell. 

So if God is a just judge and He can’t be bribed and He’s such a stickler on sin, what is a person to do?  Well, Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I (God) have given it to you upon the alter to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” That’s why, in the Old Testament, the Israelites sacrificed spotless animals to atone for their sins.  But in the New Testament we see that Jesus became a spotless lamb for us and was sacrificed for our sins; that He is our atonement. And all we have to do is accept Him and what He has already done. But the choice is ours.  He won’t force Himself on anyone.

If you consider the terrible light in which God views sin, and the terrible price He paid so He can forgive us our sins and at the same time satisfy His requirements as Judge, can we call Him unjust if we don’t accept His prepaid free gift and He sends us to hell?  Hardly!

Until next week,

Sylvia