Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

obedience

Father, may I?

A friend recently told me that 2 1/2 is a special age. We’re finding that out with Isabelle. Her imagination is expanding. We frequently have a baby and an Elmo join us at the dinner table, and she brings them to her table to play Play-Doh. And she sings made-up songs. Or a combination of made-up songs.

She’s also becoming increasingly inquisitive. Besides asking, “Mommy, what’s that?” she also frequently asks permission to do all sorts of things. “Mommy, can I?” is an oft-heard phrase around here. Sometimes, it’s appropriate, like, “Mommy, can I watch ‘Barney’?” Other times, it’s not. “Mommy, can I finish my dinner?” is not a question that needs to be asked. Am I going to say “No” to that? Some of her questions are met with a “yes,” others will always be answered “No,” like “Mommy, can I ride in the back seat?” when we’re in the van negotiating our little lawyer into her car seat before we start the car.

Her questions make me think of how I talk to God. Sometimes I think I ask Him questions I already know the answer to. Like, do I really need His permission to help someone in need, or start a conversation, or smile at a stranger? Or any other number of things that would always get a “Yes” from Him. Conversely, I know that some things are always going to generate a “No.”  Can I hold a grudge? Can I be bitter? Is it OK for me to envy that person a little? Can I temporarily disown my husband while he’s engrossed in watching World Cup soccer matches and shouting at the TV or computer?

We’re studying prayer in our Sunday School class right now, and this week we learned that obedience to God opens the lines of communication with Him while sin and disobedience close those lines. In some ways, it’s like when my daughter whines for something she wants. I sometimes tell her I can’t hear her when she talks like that. Or if she forgets “the magic word” when she demands we fulfill a request, we wait until we hear it before letting her have what she’s asked for.

God is the ultimate parent and being a parent has deepened my relationship with Him because I see so much more from His point of view what it must be like to watch His children grow in their faith. How much patience, love, instruction, discipline and work is involved, and how He cares for us.

I didn’t intend for this to be a Father’s Day post, but it’s sort of turning into that. I wonder if God celebrates Father’s Day or if for Him, every day is Father’s Day.

The most important thing

A life ended yesterday, a life I didn’t know well but can’t help but mourn.

Death is so common yet so surprising when it happens. We all know it’ll come to us someday. None of us can escape it, but until an “unexpected” death happens, we forget that for any of us, any day could be our last.

This death hit home because he was not much older than my parents. And he was a church leader. And he was a husband to a wife, father to children.

I believe God knows the time each of us will die, but that doesn’t stop me from worrying that someday my husband won’t come home from work or one of us will get cancer or whatever else I can (and try not to) imagine might bring death to our door.

I take for granted that I’ll have another day. Sometimes I put off till tomorrow what I should do now, thinking I’ll always have time. While processing through the death of this man, I urgently want to do practical things like buy a life insurance policy and create a will so my children will be taken care of if my husband and I die while they are young.

More importantly, I want to do everything God wants me to do when He wants me to do it. To stop slacking as a Christian and seek Him with all that I am, eager to obey.

We just watched an episode of “Biggest Loser” where the final four contestants had to run a marathon as their last challenge. I’m not a runner nor do I want to be, but I noticed something about these people as they approached the finish line.

They were tired from having run 26+ miles, but when they saw the finish line, some of them sprinted. Somewhere within them, they found an extra burst of energy to carry them across the finish line. They didn’t want to limp or drag or walk across the finish line; they intended to run and finish well.

The apostle Paul encouraged the early church with running metaphors. This verse came to mind as I watched the show: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (1 Corinithians 9:24, NIV)

Only one Biggest Loser contestant could finish first, but all who finished received a prize. For the Christian, there is no first or last, but all who finish will be rewarded. I don’t want to be found limping, crawling or walking toward my heavenly reward. I want to run!

Being tired is no excuse. Again, Paul said to the early believers:

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9, NIV)

I don’t consider myself old by any means, but I know that I am getting older and that tomorrow is no guarantee. Tragedies like yesterday’s, though, cement that reality in my mind.

And I think of these words from James:

“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:13-14)

I’m guilty of planning ahead, of thinking about what will happen in our lives tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. I want to be prepared, but I’ve learned to expect the unexpected when it comes to God. At the same time, I know I can expect to die sometime, so I should leave nothing unsaid, nothing undone that God wants me to say or do.

I know that if I fail, that won’t keep me from heaven, but I want to end each day knowing that I did what God wanted and if it was His choosing to take me, I’d be ready.

Others who knew him better have said this man lived that way, that he was ready. So, really, his life didn’t end yesterday; it’s just beginning.

Knowing that for certain is the most important thing.