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New babies are amazing, aren't they? There's absolutely nothing they can do to help themselves or to try to impress us. And yet as a new parent or grandparent we love them so much it almost makes our heart ache sometimes.
I think that's how it is between us and the Lord, don't you? He's crazy-in-love with us not because of how much we do for Him or how "spiritually mature" we are or even because of how much we love Him. He just loves us because we "are".
So then why are we always so busy; busy trying to get His attention, earn His affection, win His favor? Why do we insist on always trying to "do something" for God? Why can't we just rest in the knowledge that He loves us, died for us and can't stop thinking about us?
In a book I read recently the author suggested that we would do well to simply learn to abide in His presence without any agenda. We can't impress Him and we can't make Him love us any more than He already does. If He is truly the vine and we're the branches then simply "being" connected to Him is our highest accomplishment. If He was wanting us to be perpetually achieving great things on His behalf we would be called "human doings" instead of "human beings" according to that author.
I agree. I'm tired of doing and I just need to learn to be. At least, that's how Boompa sees it.
The explosion rocked our house. We knew something nearby had just blown up. It turned out to be a house less than half a mile down the road. The fire engines raced to the scene, battling the resulting inferno for nearly 90 minutes but by then it was too little, too late. There was nothing they could do to save the hollow shell that had once been a house.
In another, unrelated story, the argument spilled out of the neighbor's house and exploded out into the street. The Christian couple with five young children was at it again. This time the police came and took the husband away in handcuffs. The marriage counselors raced to the scene, battling the inferno of enflamed hearts for nearly 90 days but by then it was too little, too late. There was nothing they could do to save the hollow shell that had once been a happy home.
Both the home down the road, and the marriage down the street had appeared to be perfect to any casual passerby driving through our neighborhood. But there was something horribly wrong with them both. There was an impending explosion, just waiting to happen and destroy the lives of both families. One of the families will rebuild their house and pick up their life where they left off the day of the explosion.
But the other family will never be the same. Divorced now, the mother works to support the five children. The father and his new girlfriend live not far away and he sends his child support payment in monthly. But for the children, the sirens that sounded that day signaled the end of life as they had known it.
As Chrstians, we always want everything to look nice from the street. In real estate they call it "curb appeal." In church, they call it "the perfect Christian marriage." Both our house, and our marriage needs to look perfect to those who drive by- even when there is an impending explosion.
Jane and I are committed more than ever to bringing help and reality to Christian marriages that look perfect on the outside, but are about to explode on the inside. If there's one place we can't afford to pretend- it's our marriages. We must get real; real with God, real with each other and real with those who can help our marriage before the explosion takes place. At least, that's how Boompa sees it.
Although I take almost all of the photos on this blog, I didn't take this one. I feel like I'm old enough to have been around in July of 1888 when this photograph of 8-year-old Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan was taken- but I don't remember ever having been in Brewster, MA so it couldn't have been me, right?
But it struck me as an interesting reminder of how little we know about the future, and how much the Lord knows. Duh!
Who could possibly have known when that photograph was taken of a blind, deaf girl sitting with her doll and her tutor, that Helen Keller would go on to become one of the most famous Americans in history? Certainly not the photographer who tucked it away in a family album where the photograph languished for nearly 120 years. And certainly not Anne Sullivan or even Helen Keller herself. And perhaps least of all her parents, who just hoped that their daughter might not end up living as a vegetable, tucked away in a dark room with a nurse.
None of us knows the end of the story when we're in the middle. None except the Lord. We would perhaps shrink away in fear if we had any idea of what the future holds- good or bad. Mr. and Mrs. Keller had no more idea than Mr. and Mrs. Moses, or Mr. and Mrs. Saul of Tarsus what the future held for their child.
I suspect Mr. and Mrs. Jesus had more of an idea... but surely they didn't comprehend the horror that would precede the glory.
Our job is to simply put one foot in front of the other, one day at a time as we raise our children. Loving them, teaching them and surrounding them with patience, wisdom, honesty and grace. The rest is up to God. At least, that's the way Boompa sees it.
