The Second Science Experiment

I'm thinking about rereading Dante's Inferno. I may have missed it the first time through, but I'm betting a closer reading might reveal the mention of some endless elementary school science fair experiment as punishment somewhere down in the bowels of Hades. Don't get me wrong. I love science. I love my child's science teacher. I love school I love fairs. Just put science and experiment and fair and my child and yours truly all together, and you get... much weeping and gnashing of teeth (by him and me). Thank You Lord for yet another clear confirmation that I must never ever, under any circumstances, attempt to homeschool my children.

Our first no-fail science experiment failed. We tried it again and again (as in 8 or 9 times) and can now say that no matter what all the science textbooks (and google) say, you cannot actually get hot water to produce ice crystals faster than cold water. It is known as the Mpemba effect and was studied all the way back to the time of Aristotle, Bacon, and Descartes. Supposedly those second rate intellects proved that this counterintuitive effect can and does occur under certain conditions. But what do they know? Yes, the Fountains have proved them ALL wrong. Maybe I need to phone the Smithsonian in D.C. to inform them of our astounding discovery.

After the 9th failed attempt, we were feeling a bit, uh, deflated and defeated. Peter, my 4th grader, had lost all ability to care anymore: "Let's just do the report and say it didn't work." He was ready to go to the golf course. I was not. Plus, I didn't think that would make for a very impressive showing at the science fair: "My Failed Experiment." (Maybe with a subtitle--"My mom is mean and unhelpful.")

So the time had come to recognize that we had failed and we needed to start anew. Again, much, much, much weeping and gnashing of teeth. That golf course seemed a lot more alluring to the 4th grader... and this old mama could think of a lot better things to do with her time than trying to monitor her son's 2nd science experiment (Okay, that's a little bit of an understatement--how about rewording that to indicate the mom trying to push, prod, help in every way possible, type, push some more, her son in doing his 2nd infernal, blasted science experiment... Ahh, confession feels good to the soul.)

But I'm happy to say, that somehow, someway, we have completed our 2nd science experiment, and it was relatively successful--at least, it did what it was supposed to do. We're still working on the report, so all bets are off on that score, but the end is in sight, praise God!

And here's what I learned: Don't allow failure to cause you to give up. Life is full of defeat and discouragement, but sometimes you have to ask God to enable you to buck up, push through and go after it again. He is the God of second chances, after all!

The Bible is full of us science-experiment type failures! Ask Moses. Or Jonah. Or Joseph. Or Peter. Or Paul. We fail, but He forgives. We stumble, but He strengthens. We're exhausted, but He enables and empowers. We miss the mark, but He makes all things new. Aren't You thankful He restores and redeems the seemingly unredeemable?

The other day, I wrote about Jonah and his prayer inside the whale. But I stopped before one of my favorite verses in the very next chapter. "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 'Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you." (3:1-2) Did you see it? The Lord's word "came to Jonah the second time"--God was not through with him yet! Sure, Jonah failed abysmally the first time--he ran in the opposite direction rather than obey God's call. But Jonah repented, God forgave, and God gave him a second chance. And God told Jonah to "Arise, go." You gotta love those two words--the perfect antidote to failure! Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Cancel the pity party on your coach. And get up and get going with whatever God has called you to do!

He is a merciful, gracious, forgiving, loving Savior and Redeemer, and He is the God of second and third and fourth chances to all who will come to Him in faith and repentance. But after He's forgiven the failure, it's time to go back at it again. Ask Him to enable you and guide you and strengthen you to try one more time. Try that science experiment another time! Try a new science experiment! Just don't let failure ever become final. Not when we have such a God who never ever ever gives up on us. To the gracious God of second chances, be all the glory.

Thank You and Yes!

"For all that has been,

Thank you.

For all that is to come,

Yes!"

I love this quote by Dag Hammarskjold, a Swedish diplomat, economist and author who was the Secretary-General of the United Nations until his death in a plane crash in 1961. He was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Paul put it this way: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil.4:4-7

Will I ever learn to do this? To rejoice always, in every circumstance: every sorrow, every frustration, every disappointment as well as every victory, every joy, every blessing? It truly does mean looking back and looking around and saying "thank you" to whatever God has allowed in my life and the lives of those I love. To trust that His plans and His ways are truly and ultimately always always always perfect and pleasing and right. And then to look ahead with faith and trust that He who knows all and can do all, will only allow what is ultimately for His glory and our good. Therefore, we can say "Yes!" with peace and assurance and conviction.

But the only way we can ever do this is to daily, hourly, moment by moment, take everything to Him in prayer--with thanksgiving. In that moment of discouragement or fear or failure, to breath a prayer to the One who is only a prayer away, asking for Your help, Your guidance, your enabling, Your redeeming power to be at work. And, at the same time, absolutely refuse to be anxious about anything. As in worry about nothing, nada, zip and zero.

Brother, I have such a long, long way to go in this department! My biggest battle with anxiety is my children. I am a professional fretter, worrying and turning my concerns over and over in my mind. Forgive me Lord! What a sure path to joylessness, what an evidence of a lack of faith and trust. Either we will choose to rejoice in all, refuse to be anxious, and commit it all to Him in prayer, with thanksgiving, or we will worry and fret. Why on earth would we choose to worry rather than worship? Why on earth would we choose fretting over rejoicing? Why on earth would we choose to trust in our puny efforts and frantic machinations rather than peacefully and joyfully trusting in the Sovereign Omnipotent Creator of the Universe?

You know, it just really does come down to a moment by moment choice. In any single moment, we can choose to say "Thank You" and "Yes!" and experience joy and peace or we can choose to worry about it, work on it by ourselves, and wring our hands.

Lord, I choose this day to say "Thank You!" for all You have bestowed and withheld. And I choose to say "Yes!" to all You sovereignly choose to bring or to remove. Help me today, hour by hour, minute by minute, to choose rejoicing, prayer, and gratitude. And help me, by the power that raised Christ from the dead and that is at work in me, not to worry about anything, anything at all... 'cause You've got it, Lord. You have TOTALLY got it! And I can rest completely and peacefully in that and in You.

Thank You, Lord! Yes, Lord! To the God of all peace and power and perfection, be all the glory.

Jonah's idols...and ours

Early this morning, while reading the book of Jonah in The One Year Bible, I saw it. How many innumerable times have I heard or read this familiar old story and never seen it? Chalk yet another one up to my total cluelessness! But there it was right there: Jonah sits in the belly of the whale after disobeying God and has a little worship service! Go figure. My way of thinking?--things are not looking, or smelling, too good right about now. But not Jonah. He praises and prays to God, while still inside the fish, mind you, for: "In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and You listened to my cry." (Jonah 2:1) There's a lesson right there about the power of trusting prayer and thanksgiving even in the midst of our hopeless hardships.

But here's the part I love-and had somehow never noticed before--"When my life was ebbing away, I remembered You, Lord, and my prayer rose to You, to Your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord." (Jonah 2:7-9) Jonah is worshipping and thanking God for his salvation even while things still looked mighty hopeless, trapped within the dark , smelly whale. But Jonah now knew His Lord. And he also knew himself and the terrible price he had been paying for clinging to those worthless idols. In the very next verse, once Jonah had learned what the God knew Jonah needed to learn, we're told, "the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." (v.10) Again, doesn't sound terribly appealing to me to be vomited out of a smelly fish, but, boy, I bet to Jonah, it was cause for continuing his little worship service! Deliverance out of sin can sometimes be a messy, difficult, unpleasant process... but it sure is glorious on the other side!

But as I read those words, "those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs," I had to ask myself: what idols am I clinging to and what grace, what blessings am I forfeiting because of my insistence on clutching onto those idols for dear life? The thing is, when we cling to those idols, we are the losers! We tend to think God is some divine kill-joy who doesn't want us to enjoy life, but it's just the opposite! He who made us and loves us with infinite abandon, desperately desires that we forsake that which is killing us and costing us His joy and peace and hope and security. It's like that proverbial child playing in a paltry little mud puddle when right before them God is offering the magnificent boundless ocean! He wants us to enjoy infinite, abundant, joyous eternal LIFE, and instead, we hunker down in our little fox holes of idolatry, deluding ourselves into thinking that this is surely better than His precious, glorious gift of LIFE!

So I have to ask: to what idols are you clinging? What habit, what preoccupation, what selfish, secret little thing do you have to have or do or experience to keep you "happy?" It's so easy to see this in other people, isn't it? "O boy, look at her, she is so materialistic!" Or, "he is such a workaholic and is obsessed with success."

But what idols does the Lord long for you to pry from your hands and give to Him? A desire to please other people more than a desire to please God? A need to control everything and everyone? A critical, prideful spirit? An obsession with making sure your children are excelling and succeeding? A continual need to compare yourself or your family or your life with other people? A desire for more stuff or new things or better clothes or house or... whatever? How about a preoccupation with your appearance or your body? Is there some relationship or desire that has become unhealthy and begun to slide into the idolatry category?

Anything, anything, anything we love more than our gracious, great God is an idol. And that idol will cost us dearly--we will forfeit God's amazing grace and His wonderful gifts that He longs to bestow on those whose hearts are fully committed to walking with Him.

Forgive me Lord for those idols in my life! How I long to join Jonah in proclaiming, "But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. What I have vowed, I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord!" Sure, it's a sacrifice to give up some of those long-cherished idols, but look what we gain in return! Salvation. Joy. Peace. Hope. Security. Love. Forgiveness. Grace. Life--abundant, full, infinite, joyous Life.

Might we do it today--sacrifice those idols--with thanksgiving--and watch what our Glorious, Gracious God will do! No telling what we've been forfeiting--isn't it about time to find out? He's ready and waiting. To our Salvation, our Sustainer, our Savior be all the glory.

A Tuesday of Gifts

The harvest moon early this morning greeted me with a gentle, shining reminder of the glory and greatness of our God. Tremendous and perched just above the horizon, it seemed near enough to reach out and grab, yet high enough to inspire awesome wonder at it's Sovereign Creator. A gift.

Walking in the peaceful predawn hours with a couple of friends, the cold, clear air invigorates... as does the gift of fellowship and laughter. More gifts.

And then an impossibly hard exercise class with waaaaaay too many pushups, but with the joy of moving your body and feeling the strength of dormant muscles and more laughter with fellow strugglers. More gifts.

A sweet old black lab to greet me at the door--so happy to see me, as if I had been gone on a long trip and had just returned to a hero's welcome. And if I make him wait a few minutes before taking him outside or fetch his breakfast, well, that is okay with him, because he loves so faithfully and loyally and unconditionally. Boy, there is just nothing like a dog! Gift.

Laughing with my opinionated, wise, sometimes exasperating (because it's marriage involving two sinners!)--but always wonderful--husband. How on earth has he put up with selfish me all these years? Gift!

Hot hot shower when I am chilled to the bone. As I let the water run down steaming and clean, I paused to thank God for such an extravagance. Hot water, clean water, in abundance. We are all just one hurricane or ice storm away from really appreciating what a blessing that is. Gift.

Bible study. Opening God's very words, still warm from His breath, alive and ever new and applicable and life-changing and life-affirming. Guiding, teaching, convicting, encouraging. A love letter from the Sovereign Rock of Ages. GIFT!

And to study the Word with dear women of all ages. All of us seeking to know Him better and walk with Him closer and reflect His Light better. All of them gifts.

Lunch. What can I say?--how incredible to have such an abundance of food and to have an appetite and to eat... and eat... and eat! And, there is, naturally, always chocolate. How often do we take for granted the blessing of food for our families and nourishment for our bodies and enjoyment for our senses? Gift upon gift.

Carpools and rushing around and sometimes I lose perspective and my joy starts to leak out. But He gently reminds me: "This is for the greatest of your treasures." He gave His all, His perfect Son, for me. What could be too much for me to give? O, the privilege of serving and loving them for the short time God has placed them in my life. Surely He could have found a far far far better, more capable, more qualified, more deserving mother for these 5 gifts of ours. But, somehow, impossibly, incredibly, He chose me. Who could ever get over the wonder of that? Sometimes I forget, and I allow my greatest blessings to become my burdens. Forgive me Lord. They are priceless, beautiful treasures from Your extravagant, sovereign hands, and I thank You, thank You thank You. 5 precious Gifts.

And friends texting and emailing and calling and laughing in carpool lines. O what blessings they are! And unlike my family who is stuck with me whether they like it or not, my dear friends choose to love me and put up with me, weaknesses and warts and all. Gift upon Gift upon Gift upon Gift!

So now I sit and marvel at the ceaseless gifts my Lord showers upon me, upon each of us, on just a perfectly ordinary, yet actually extraordinary, day. Just a regular old tuesday. But a tuesday of gifts and more gifts and more gifts straight from His hands. His grace-pierced hands. His loving, laughing hands. His extravagant hands that bless and bless... even upon His often clueless, undeserving children. Might He open our eyes so that we might see--really see--the evidence of His boundless love and infinite grace and divine extravagance showered upon each of us. Every single day. The countless gifts from the gracious Gift-Giver who is Himself, THE Gift. To our Savior, our Gift, be all the glory.

Start Small... but Start Now!

"Start small... but start now."

I heard this the other day. It was attributed to the Puritans, however, with my crummy memory, this may not quite be what the Puritans said... but close enough! Doesn't this just sound like those faithful Puritans, though--simple, yet profoundly true. How often do we think we have to do something perfectly before we can begin? If we can't do something completely or throughly or successfully or in a big, impressive way, then what's the point, we think. If I can't clean out all the clutter by the day after tomorrow, then forget about it. It's hopeless. If I can't have a quiet time every single morning without fail, then I might as well give up. I'm just a failure. If I can't do devotions with my children daily for which they rise up and call me blessed for my wise wonderful insights, then, O well, another fiasco. If our marriages aren't perfection and bliss, if our children aren't stellar superstars in school and behavior and godliness, then we feel like failures and what's the point in even trying. If our work seems to be going nowhere fast or achieving our heart's desire, then maybe it's time to just call it a day, we despair.

But you know what?--that is the enemy talking! Of course, none of us is perfect... never ever will be this side of heaven. Of course, we will fall and faint and falter all along the way of this walking with God. He knows that. And He loves us to pieces anyway! He sent His Son to prove it and to ensure that no matter how many times we fail, now matter how badly we fall, grace and forgiveness and redemption and hope are always always always just a prayer away.

Aren't you thankful we serve a God of second... and third.. and fourth chances? Aren't you thankful that failures are never final as long as we go to our Heavenly Father, our Abba, and ask Him to forgive us and dust us off and enable us to start again?

We might need to "start small" but, boy, we just need to "start now!" Ask Him now to forgive you! Ask Him now to equip you to be a better wife or a better daughter or a better friend. Ask Him now to enable you to start having that quiet time each morning (and start small--even if it's just 5 minutes--He will bless that! He is the God of multiplication and magnification!). Ask Him to help you start now forgiving that person who has hurt you or start cleaning out that material or spiritual or emotional clutter in your life. Ask Him to empower you to start now on that task you dread or push aside that procrastination that is holding you back from doing whatever it is that He has called you to do. Ask Him to help you do devotions today with your children--and even if they are yawning and rolling their eyes, just keep on keeping on, knowing God can work even with our smallest, weakest efforts. After all, it's not about us--it's all about Him. His power. His faithfulness. His wisdom. His glory.

So, whatever it is that has you down and discouraged today--start small, but start now! And watch Him take your little, your insignificant, your faltering and fitful effort, and use it and bless it in ways you may never know. To God be the glory.

The Name... the Only Name

What's in a name? I've been pondering this question as a group of us are grappling with finding a name for our church women's Bible study. I do know God places great value on names in His Word. And I recall the times He renamed some of His choicest servants, because their new nature required a new name. Just to name a few: Abram to Abraham (Gen. 17:5-6 "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you." This, when Abraham was 99 years old and had no biological child with his equally ancient wife Sarah! Such is our God--He calls into being that which is not and He does the humanly impossible but God effortlessly accomplished!) Simon to Peter (John 1:42 "He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, 'So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas (which means Peter)." And he became Peter or the "Rock" upon which Jesus would build His church. Mt.16:18) Or Saul to Paul (Acts 13:9 The great persecutor of Christ becomes the great apostle of Christ and brought the Gospel to all us Gentiles.)

So names matter to our Father. But the Lord has convicted me that in all my focus and preoccupation with finding a Bible study name, I've lost sight of THE NAME. His Glorious Name. His omnipotent, omniscient, sovereign Name. The Name that is above every name, and the Name to which one day every creature and every person will bow down. His Name brings conviction and comfort and companionship and courage. His Name divides... and unites. His Name declares judgment... and forgiveness. His Name is righteous wrath... and undeserved mercy and amazing grace.

Early this morning I read: "and those who know Your Name put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You." (Ps.9:10) And (one of my favorites): "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the Name of the Lord our God." (Ps.20:1) And "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: 'Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His Name. make known His deeds among the peoples, proclaim that His Name is exalted.' (Is.12:3-4)

Isn't it just our selfish, prideful tendency to somehow or other make everything about ourselves and our desires? Boy, give me, and my will, a foot, and my prideful self will take a mile! But it's not all about us. It's all about Him and His glorious Name. It's about what He has done for us in Christ Jesus. It's about our Creator and Sustainer and Redeemer and Savior. It's about Him and His Name.

So today, in what are you trusting? Seriously, think about it. Are we trusting in our intellects, our bank accounts, our gifts and abilities, our families or friends, our health, our nation, our leaders, our church attendance, our goodness? None of those are bad things. In fact, they are all good things, some truly great things... but they are all unworthy of our absolute trust. Only in Him. Only in His glorious Name must we place our ultimate and complete trust.

Only His Name must be exalted with our actions, with our words, with our lives.

I have no earthly idea what our Bible study will be called! But, you know, I'm not all tied up in a knot about it anymore, because He's reminded me that only One Name truly matters and must be magnified. Get that Name right and everything else will fall into place! So to The Name that is above every name, our Glorious God, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, be all the glory.

Simple Thank You's!

Today I am thankful for... today! What a spectacular day--spring seems to be slipping in like royalty, gently nudging winter out of the way. The light this morning and this evening was breathtaking with it's pristine warm beauty. How I love the light of the dawn or the dust peeking through the bare tree limbs. And the feeling of the sun on your skin--ah, it makes you feel like you've just awoken from a long, restless night and the new day brings fresh hope. Boy, am I ever thankful for this fine day!

Thank You Lord today for the gift of friendship. It sounds so trite--but maybe that's because it's so true. What a gift it is to have friends to divide your burdens and multiply your joys. Friends give us perspective, wisdom, encouragement, laughter, and, well, duh, love. And friends just add so much color and light to our lives.

Thank the Lord for music! I continue to love that song I talked about the other day, "You Lead." "You Lead, I'll follow. Your hands hold my tomorrow. Your grip, your grace, You know the way. You guide me tenderly; When you lead, I'll follow. Just light the way and I'll go... " Just such true and simple yet profound words--for ultimately that is all we have to do--determine daily, hourly, minute by minute, to say to the Savior, "You Lead, I'll follow" Wherever He goes, determine to go there with Him. And if He does not go, neither do we! That means waiting on Him, watching for Him, worshipping Him. And that means we follow... in other words, we FOLLOW! We don't lead--He does. Boy, this is a life-long learning process for me! My tendency is rush ahead and anxiously tap my foot, waiting for the Lord to "catch up." But it's really so simple--He leads, we follow... wherever, whenever, whatever.

Other sources of overflowing gratitude: Thankful for the spectacular Daddy Cardinals. Their vibrant candy apple red thrills me every time! I haven't seen many Cardinals lately, but today I saw several. And they are just beautiful! As I've shared before, whenever I see one, I take it as God's little "I love you" message to me. And I always whisper back, "I love You, too, Lord!"

Thankful for science experiments. Actually, right at the moment, I'm not feeling particularly thankful for them, but if we can ever get water crystals to grow for this experiment, I will be thankful! This reminds me of the need for patience. I'm clearly deficient. We need crystals NOW!

Thankful for laughter.

Thankful for tears of repentance and tears that reflect the gift of depth of feeling.

Thankful for chocolate (no list is complete without it)

Thankful for the beautiful red Camilla bush outside our kitchen door. And thankful Camilla bushes are, apparently, such hardy plants that need no help or tender loving care whatsoever. Big source of gratitude!

Thankful for second chances.

Thankful that the Lord is not through with us yet... and He never gives up on us. Never.

Thankful for the little book of Amos we've studied in Bible study this year. And thankful for Amos' remarkable courage and perseverance and faithfulness.

Thankful that the greatest things in life, truly, are not things. And God's choicest treasures cannot be held or seen or possessed are meant to be sources of rejoicing and gratitude.

Thankful that at some point tonight, I will finally be able to take a steaming hot bath. Bliss. Right up there with chocolate.

Hope you have a blessed day as well. Remember to thank the Lord, the Giver of all good gifts--from Cardinals to Camilla bushes to chocolate to precious loved ones. He is so good. So incredibly, unbelievably, graciously good.

Thank You Lord! To God be the glory.