Unquestioning trust

As I drove through the mountains that I had spent most of my years growing up, drawing near to my old home, flashes of memories clattered about my brain. Random memories. Of course I thought of my mom and dad who I was anxious to see, but one isolated memory from my college years popped into my head.

Since I had recently reconnected with an old college friend , I thought of her and her husband with their very young child thirty years ago. I remembered when we had visited the young couple, and the husband Ed was playing outdoors with his daughter Kate.

He had pointed across the large expanse of grass and shouted, "Run Kate! Run to the shed! "
Without pause, the little girl shot off in the direction her father pointed.
"Run Kate! Keep going! ", he shouted.
And she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. But we heard her call back as she raced away, "What's a shed? "

I have always chuckled when I recall that scene . I love the unquestioning trust that her daddy was sending her someplace she ought to go and how joyfully and instantly she obeyed his direction....without the slightest clue where she was being sent.

I wish that I could be so eager to hear my Father 's voice, to trust where He was sending me even when I didn't understand where I was going or why. I am always so anxious for the plan, the explanations, the detailed organized checklist .

Had I been Kate, no doubt this is how the story would have played out:
"Why am I running? How long will it take? Will I have enough food and water to sustain me on this run? How do I know that reaching the shed will be worth the effort? Are you sure I shouldn't just run to the slide which I am familiar with and can even define? There are many dangerous dips in the yard on route to the shed and I could fall down and get hurt. I already have a bit of an ache in my side And it is not wise to run so soon after lunch. Are you really sure I should run to the shed because I am not convinced it is a good idea. But if you really want me to ...."
"Forget it Kate. I'll send someone else to the shed."

(NIV)2 Corinthians 1:24
Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

LIke a Banner on a Hill

Our gear clattered to the floor as we slid into the desk at the ski lodge to check in.
"Do they have time to get their stuff on and make the lesson?" I asked breathlessly.
 Originally, we had not planned on a snowboard lesson, but then on the drive, the kids seemed to feel if they could get a lesson beyond rank beginner, it could be useful. It was included in the rental cost anyway. We had to fly into our ski clothes and racewalk to the lodge as the lesson started very soon.
"They are past beginners," I said, "They can stop and turn and stay upright most of the time."
"The intermediate lesson starts in 5 minutes," she said.
I didn't ask what kind of skill they might need to do an intermediate lesson. We were in too big a hurry. I just hustled Asherel and Ben into their gear and shoved them out the door. It occurred to me belatedly that intermediate might not be their level.

As I saw their teacher leading them to a blue diamond hill, the feeling became a certainty. There are three levels of colors , sometimes four, to designate skill level needed to successfully make it down the slope without the aid of a medic and helicopter. Green is for beginners. That is the hightest level my snowboarders had tackled. Blue is intermediate, or more difficult. Black is suicidal. or impossible for people with fully functioning cerebrums.

The kids did not seem to notice the color of the diamond as they boarded the chair lift. I followed at a distance, like Judas. Oh Lord, forgive me, I thought as I climbed into the chair lift behind them and we went up up up. The sound of skiers and snowboarders crashing and tumbling came from both sides.  I had been on a blue diamond hill last trip and so knew what to expect. Since Ben and Asherel still thought they were on a beginner, maybe advanced beginner hill, they did not know what to expect. I saw them at the top of the mountain and whispered, "Will you be ok?"
Asherel waved me away. I don't blame her. She sure better hang on every word of the instructor if she hoped to make it to Saturday unscathed.

It is interesting how perceptions color responses and actions. The teacher assumed they were intermediate snowboarders. Not someone who had been on a snowboard a grand total of twice, like Ben. The kids assumed that I would not put them in a situation they were not prepared to survive, and thus thought this must be a beginner slope. And so for the next hour, they all snowboarded under that illusion, and when the lesson ended, wanted to spend the whole afternoon on that slope.

"I was shocked to see him lead you to a blue diamond hill," I said, "You guys were awesome."
"That was a blue diamond hill?" asked Ben.
They both smiled, a little incredulously.
"I wouldn't have gone on a blue diamond hill myself," he admitted.
And I wouldn't have wanted you to, I admitted.

This was a classic example of rising to the occasion. Within a few runs, both kids were racing down the mountain without falling at all. It really was miraculous to me. I stood on the mountaintop looking out over the incredible vista and thought about perceptions, and misperceptions.

Isaiah is my favorite prophet. I love the imagery in his words. He has quite a bit to say about mountaintops and misperceptions.  He berates his people because they refuse to see truth. They want to listen only to prophets who bathe them in false illusions. He says they crumble and flee at the first sign of trouble, and will be left all alone, like a banner on a mountaintop. He begs them to see the truth, the right way, the error of their deceitful hearts....yet they would have none of it. They preferred a fantasy that required no repentence, no righteous action on their part. But Isaiah told them that even then, even in the midst of their stubborn desire to promote their own interests in the face of God's convicting truths, even then, God longed for them to return to Him.

It is so easy to fall into self deception, to think we can stand alone atop a mountain, that the world revolves around our interests, that we don't need to listen to the clear commands of our Creator. Isaiah warns us that it is the hand of God that must lead us down the right path.

I've been on black diamond slopes of life, and I sure don't want to navigate those without God hanging on to me. Ben and Asherel made it safely down a mountain that was beyond their skill under the protection of a skillful guide. And soon, they could navigate it on their own, because they knew the way. I love that image, the one that will have to hold me til next ski season, as this was our last trip for this season. The snow is melting, the days are warming, and so soon I will be seeking new ways to endanger life and limb.



Isaiah 30: 10-12, 15, 17-18

Tell us pleasant things,
   prophesy illusions.
¹¹ Leave this way,
   get off this path,
and stop confronting us
   with the Holy One of Israel!”  ¹² Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
   “Because you have rejected this message,
   relied on oppression
   and depended on deceit,

 “In repentance and rest is your salvation,
   in quietness and trust is your strength,
   but you would have none of it.

you will all flee away,
till you are left
   like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
   like a banner on a hill.”

 ¹⁸ Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
   therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
   Blessed are all who wait for him!

Fill your jars and not a few

Even running the dishwasher daily, we run out of cups, at least those suitable for adults. We still have reserves of Barney and Mickey Mouse plastic sippy cups. I don't know how my mother managed, especially at holidays having to shop, prepare, and clean up after 7 people. I am not complaining- I wouldn't trade this week of family here for all the clean cups in China, but it is a daunting job mothering a crew this size.

And then there are all the very different personalities with all their particular quirks to try to blend and keep happy together. They are as unique in their make up as different species....and we know zookeepers put bars up between different species. Nonetheless, the group seems happy, mostly because I throw them steaks and bourbon balls and fudge, I think.

But every morning while they are all still snoring in their caves, I unload the dishwasher full of cups to replenish the supply. And I gather cups left behind from the night before, most empty but some with remnants of hot cocoa, hot cider, or bizarre concoctions Matt is famous for. Cups. The Bible has alot to say about cups, and filling them.

When Elisha, the prophet was alive, Israel was in dire straits. There were hungry widows everywhere he turned. I love how he responded to one widow's cries for help when she was out of money and food and the creditors were about to drag her sons away as slaves.

He tells her to gather empty cups. She only has one. (I can relate as last night we didn't even have one). So Elisha, whose name FYI means saved, tells her to go get all the neighbors' jars and gather as many empty ones as she can. Now this seems a strange way to occupy your time when the creditors are on their way, but she obeys. When she returns with all the empty cups, Elisha tells her that now she is ready to invite Vicky's family to dinner as she now has enough cups. Nah! Had you going there for a minute, didn't I? Actually he tells her now she can pour her last drop of oil into the empty cups, and miraculously it keeps pouring until every cup is full. She can now sell the oil and save her sons. All because of empty cups gathered to be filled.

I didn't understand that story at first. I knew the superficial message, that if we obey God and His messengers, things tend not to result in being turned into pillars of salt...but the metaphor of the empty cup had not quite percolated into my awareness. Now I think I understand it a little more, at least from a different persprctive,the perspective of the cup.

I think we are all empty cups, waiting to be filled by God. We can be filled far beyond what is possible when we are gathered by the hand of God and His Messengers. Without Him, we remain scattered, and empty. With Him, even empty cups can save others from bondage.

Kind of makes me look at empty cups with new respect.

2 Kings 4:1-7 NIV

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?"
"Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a small jar of olive oil." Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one."
But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5