Resolving to do Hard Things

Day Four of raking and my folks yard is now all clear of leaves except for the outer perimeter. We decided we may leave that area with the wild forest look. I worked a really long time because for one thing, it wasn't snowing like it was the day before, and for another, I was almost done and didn't want to stop.

The pictures don't really show what a big job it was. I wondered how my mother had done this impossible feat for the past forty years by herself. I remember helping some, but I think the lion's share of yard work fell to Mom. She is amazing. I am exhausted, and frankly, don't mind if I never rake another leaf.

But there is no rest for the weary. The log deer my sister Amy and I had made for the folks on our last visit had lost his head. And when I picked him up to take him to the workshop to repair his head, he lost his legs. Now I had to rebuild an entire deer. However, I had paid close attention to Amy, and all her clever shortcuts like drilling holes for the nails first to ease the impossible job of hammering into hardwood. In an hour, I had constructed a deer.

Ta-Da!

I carried him out to join the other deer we had made, who was still in good shape. That deer had been the larger of the two, but my new deer had morphed into the mama deer now. I set the new deer beside the old deer and stepped back to survey my work. I felt deep satisfaction.

My goals for my visit to my parents were now complete. I still have a little leaf blowing in the front yard to do, but I still have some time before I leave for my book signing in NYC. I should leave them in good shape for the winter.

I was rewarded for my work. My parents (as always) treated me to a delicious lunch in a charming little historic town. We talked about what people regret when they look back on their life. I think what I most regret is knowing God's will, and not doing it. In fact, my Bible reading in Jeremiah this week has been about that very problem. I have been very troubled reading the passage in Jeremiah 42. The Israelites asked Jeremiah to tell them God's will, and they would do whatever he said. So Jeremiah told them, and because they didn't like what they heard, they told Jeremiah he was lying, and ignored him...and God. Jeremiah warned them that disobeying God's word would result in calamity, but they didn't care. Everything Jeremiah warned them about did, of course, come to pass.

So I regret when I have known what God requires but I have ignored Him because it was too hard, or too much of a sacrifice, or I rationalized and excused myself. I think it felt so good to finish the raking and construct the deer because I knew it was the right thing to do, and I did it. If only I could approach all my spiritual issues with like resolve.

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Jeremiah 42: 19-21
...Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day 20 that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. For you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, 'Pray for us to the Lord our God, and whatever the Lord our God says declare to us and we will do it. ' 21 And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything that he sent me to tell you.