10.22.09
Remembering Dad
I miss you dad. Even though it’s been five years, I still expect to see “Love and God Bless, Mom and Dad” at the end of emails, letters and cards. But no. The handwriting that now encompasses all that parental love is from mom alone.
I miss so many things dad. I miss sitting on your lap as a little girl while you read to me.
I miss your shyness that turns into passion when you stand behind the pulpit to open the Word of God.
I miss your quiet strength. There was nothing you wouldn’t do for us. Twice, I remember waking up in a hospital to see you sitting by my bedside. A third time we were both part of what had to be one of God’s sovereign displays of creative humor within crisis. You had Alzheimers and I have Epilepsy and they intersected that day I was brought into the hospital. While everyone was wondering where my insurance card was, this booming voice said “I am still the head of this house.” It’s the only thing I remember about that day, dad, but I’d go through it all again to hear that booming voice.
I miss your sense of humor. We all heard the same jokes over and over and over again. And if someone even mentioned your trip to Israel, out came all 27 reels of slides…and how many camels you were offered in trade for mom.
I especially miss sitting with you in your study surrounded by all of your books. We had some of the greatest conversations and would sometimes sit there for hours. I learned what to look for in a good book from you. A lot of my Bible training came from that room.
Even in your make-shift study in Indiana when you and Mom lived with Don and Sue we were able to share some time together. You were entering later stages of Alzheimers and you knew it, and we talked about it. You and I read Psalm 139 together. Your worn Bible was all underlined but you couldn’t remember ever reading or studying that passage before. But you and I talked about the fact that even in the womb your Alzheimers and my epilepsy had a divine purpose. It wasn’t long after this conversation that I heard your booming voice in the emergency room.
I miss your encouragement followed closely by your accountability. You wrote me a short note while I was in college that was filled with wisdom. “Do not betray the future for the seeming importance of today. Some things must be laid aside for the more lasting ones.”
I miss the “rathole” in your wallet. I could never figure out how someone who only kept $5 in that rathole managed to pull out $20 and then say “don’t tell your mother.” That rathole was like the five loaves and two fish. It never seemed to run out. Even now, dad, five years later, your wallet is still on your little table behind your recliner and the rathole still has money in it.
During one of our last conversations, you in your recliner and me at your knee, I was looking in your eyes trying to figure out if the dad I knew was still in there. I wanted to know how to reconcile a Spirit-filled life and Alzheimers. All of a sudden, that booming voice appeared again and said, “I was praying for you to come.”
I replay that conversation in my head so often because I still don’t have the answer but now, you do. You are now in the presence of the One who is answering all those hard questions and explaining all those underlined Scriptures you wanted to remember.
I miss you, dad, but I’ll see you again someday and we can continue our conversations.
10.16.09
Worship Is NOT an Adjective!
Worship Team. Worship Leader. Worship Music. Worship Center.
So many uses for the word “worship” and most all of them seem to be adjectives. The Christian Community has, I believe, desensitized itself to what worship really is – a verb.
To worship is to adore, love, or revere. If worship is an adjective as used in today’s Christian culture, then we love teams, adore leaders, revere music. But what about the God of the team, the Lord of the leader, and the Holy Spirit of the music? Where is the adoration, love, and reverence for Him? Lest I forget, in many churches there is the Teaching Pastor. Does this mean he doesn’t worship?
Let’s go back in time…way back to Mount Sinai.
Moses just had the most incredible mountaintop experience anyone could have – a meeting with YAHWEH Himself. Then Moses came down to reality. He finds his own brother has allowed a huge idol to be built and worshiped. The sight was so horrific that God pronounced immediate judgment but Moses was able to intercede. When Moses called for repentance, the first to respond were the sons of Levi (Exodus 32).
God recognized their obedience and faithfulness by assigning them to ministry under the leadership of Aaron thus giving birth to the Levitical Priesthood (Numbers 3). When King David began to re-establish order in Israel and brought back the Ark of the Covenant, one of his first acts was to appoint the Levites to minister in music (1 Chronicles 24:19).
When the priests came forth from the holy place…and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and theirs sons and kinsmen…and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and when they praised the Lord saying “He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Then the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.
Imagine the impact of this act of worship just described. How could anyone ever be the same? All those who were responsible to lead people in worship could not because God Himself was giving Himself glory!
I am fully aware – and extremely grateful – that we now live in the age of grace and we are not bound to laws concerning tabernacle ritual, but there is much to be learned from the fact that God took great detail in designing how He wanted to be worshiped.
Worship was a high priority
Personal worship is an ongoing act (Romans 12).
Corporate worship is the beginning of a week filled with worship of a holy God by a family who has been purchased by the blood of Christ Himself.
Worship was skillful
Personal worship is skillfully honed as we mature. It is seen in how we handle our finances, how we treat other people, how diligent we work, etc.
Corporate worship (I address only music ministries here), in my opinion, is that “skillfully” must be accompanied by “faithfulness.” There are many local churches, like mine, who have few skilled musicians but many who are faithful. This was true even of the Levites (1 Chronicles 15). As their director, then, it is my responsibility to teach and help them become more skillful. In a large church, it may be easier to find skilled musicians but it may be harder to find faithful ones.
Worship was well-structured
Personal worship should be well-structured. Well-structured does not necessarily mean something scheduled every 30 minutes. What it does mean is that worship is discipline. Worship is right thinking. It is proving the will of God (Romans 12).
Corporate worship (again, I address only music ministries), in my opinion, should be structured enough to be flexible and flexible enough to be structured. There’s a place for the past within the future as long as we don’t live on either side. In other words, respect the holiness of God in all aspects of the music ministry.
Worship was holy
Whether personal or corporate, we worship a holy God. He was holy before time began, He was holy in the Old Testament. He was holy in the New Testament. He will be holy after time ends. He is holy now.
Isaiah 42:8
I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.
Worship a holy God. Give Him glory.
Question: Is worship a verb or adjective to you?
10.13.09
The Ingratitude of It All…And Your Interview
They sat in the next booth at Sizzler. One girl in her very early 20s was giving career and marital advice to the other 20-something friend who was by maybe one year. The advice was not peer-to-peer advice but from sage to novice. Years and years – or so it seemed – of experience was being passed on to someone who knew nothing – or so it seemed.
Conversation and events couldn’t help but keep me engrossed in the unfolding story.
This wise woman motioned to the waiter. She was dissatisfied with her half-eaten cheesetoast. It wasn’t “toasty” enough. “I’ve been coming in here a long time and I’ve never had it like this.” Very politely, the waiter went and had the cook make some “toastier” cheesetoast. (By the way, she was lying about coming in often. I go often and didn’t recognize her. Her waiter, Nash, who has worked there for almost seven years didn’t recognize her – and he recognizes everyone.)
When the waiter brought two new pieces did she thank him? No. Did she even acknowledge him? No. She, in fact, just let the cheesetoast sit there on the table to get cold! A few minutes later when any piece of toast wouldn’t be “toasty,” she touched it and licked her finger and had her friend do the same. She concluded, on that basis, that this cheesetoast wasn’t any better but at least when the waiter asked, she begrudgingly said it was ok.
Then there was the amount of food on the table. Partially-eaten salads, almost-finished baked potato. Still yet, another plate of food is obtained—more salad and more fruit. Certainly this wise sage knows we’re in a recession and she won’t let uneaten food get thrown out!
Ah! Takehome box to the rescue. She’s going to take all that food home or maybe – be still my heart – give it to the homeless who sit around the restaurant. Now I am completely engrossed in what has just taken place.
All of a sudden the talking completely stops and Project Management takes over. First, the baked potato is placed in the Styrofoam container. Then, only those salads on the plate that did not mix together are carefully organized next to the baked potato so that they still don’t mix together. About 10 minutes later, one piece of the new cheesetoast is carefully moved around like a puzzle piece so that it would fit in the box in such a way that it did not touch the baked potato. Then, in one of those “oh no she didn’t!” moments, she picked up that original half-eaten piece of cheesetoast she complained about and finished it!
Sitting in a restaurant giving career and marital advice to someone while you, yourself, are complaining about the food, speaking nastily to the server, leaving half the food uneaten yet still getting more food, and leaving the table a mess told me more about your career and marriage than you realized. It told me you aren’t thankful for anything your spouse – or anyone else — may provide or give you. It told me you feel entitled to anything and everything you get. It told me you believe you are the most important person in your world.
And…
It told me I will probably not be hiring you if you ever walk into my office looking for a position.
10.07.09
People in My Life: Beatrice Pearson Kidd
“Stare and stand back!”
Such was my grandmother’s answer to the “What are having for dinner?” question.
Beatrice Pearson Kidd died 42 years ago. Not much fanfare. In fact, no fanfare at all. There’s not even a gravestone to mark where her remains lie.
But there are memories and there are things I learned about my grandmother to go with those memories that make her a woman I wanted to emulate.
Beatrice Pearson Kidd was a strong woman. When she believed something, she believed it wholeheartedly and made sure you knew she believed it. Sunday was a day of rest and nothing, but nothing, was going to happen on Sunday except go to church and spend time with family. In fact, if you started to sew or crochet, you “were going to take every stitch out by your nose in heaven.” I kept trying to figure out where that was in the Bible but somehow she had me convinced.
Nana (pronounced Nannie) Kidd had a difficult life which was one of the things that made her strong. It allowed her to be a woman ahead of her time. Born in Sheffield, England in 1893, she made her way to the United States before she was 20 years old. At the age of 16, she was run over by a car, leaving her with a permanent limp.
At the age of 23, she gave birth to the first of four children by a man who cheated on her and was abusive. In 1926, Beatrice Pearson Kidd had a restraining order taken out on her husband but she never divorced him. She never talked about him and neither did dad (at least around me). I never knew until I was an adult that my paternal grandfather lived well into the 1960s. What I did know about my grandfather, however, was the effect it had on dad. In a brief conversation one day with dad, he told me how he watched his mother go through all that she did and vowed never to put his own wife through it.
Nana loved her children, grandchildren, and great-children. Nothing stood in the way of that love. One day one of her grandchildren fell from her crawling position in front of a cat with her new kittens there with her. The cat jumped into motherly protection mode and onto the grandchild’s forehead digging in all four claws. My grandmother jumped into grandmotherly protection mode and grabbed the cat and threw her out of the third story apartment window. The cat landed on all fours and, more than 50 years later, I still have the scars to prove the story.
In my apartment is her china teapot still with the string she used to keep the lid tied to it. I also have a china acorn that she used to keep filled with Canada mints so that whenever we left the apartment, we would have fresh breath. Adorning my apartment also are doilies, placemats, handkerchief edges, and pillow case hems she tatted (a lost art!)
Nana often told my parents to go out so she could babysit but there was one providential night when we all went to a church service together and my parents and my grandmother came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
As we grew, my grandmother became involved in ministries in the local church impacting the lives of many and developing yet a stronger belief that God deserves our greatest focus. Even in her later years, after my dad became a pastor, she came and visited us wherever we were, giving advice and counsel.
When the doctors thought Nana didn’t have much time left, the family was called in to say their goodbyes. We travelled to New Bedford, MA, from Streator, IL, and were able to talk to my beloved grandmother. I will never forget my last conversation with my Nana. We were holding hands and I said “Goodbye Nana” and she squeezed my hand and said, “Goodbye is so final.”
Yes, Beatrice Pearson Kidd died 42 years ago but while the fanfare on earth was not much, the fanfare in heaven was stupendous and now her son is with her and my goodbye was not final. So, Nana and dad, “see you later.”
09.22.09
King Solomon Was Right!
King Solomon was right.
“What has been will be again. What has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something’? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11).
There are books in my library, as I’m sure there are in yours, that I love and some that I don’t. There are some that I had to read in order to graduate from college or get that certification. There are probably some that fall into the category of ongoing-part-of-the-job. For me, one is the AP Stylebook.
What I have found, however, is that there are those books and authors who have said the same thing as books and authors today proving King Solomon correct. Listed below are some books I read often. You’ll note that the Bible is not listed. The reason is at the end of the blog.
- The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer (©1961 by Aiden Wilson Tozer. Published by Harper and Row). This book by Tozer is read more than once a year. Sometimes I read only what I have underlined and highlighted in previous readings and sometimes I read the entire book. But no matter how much or how little I read, God still takes what Tozer writes and changes me in some fashion.
- The Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot. (©1958 by Elisabeth Elliot. Published by New York: Harper. First @HarperCollins Edition published 1979). The lives of five young men who were killed on January 8, 1956, impacted the entire world. Elisabeth Elliot, the widow of one of the men, Jim Elliot, kept the events of that day and, even more importantly, the goal and ministry of that day alive in this book. It riveted me as a child and even more so as I walked the same halls of Wheaton College as they did. Looking at a wall of alumni missionaries at @WheatonCollege, I saw their names. Beside their names – along with many others – were gold stars indicating martyrdom. I remember standing there crying realizing at that moment in my life history had just become legacy. That book is a very precious jewel I pull out and treasure often.
- The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis (©1949 by C.S. Lewis. Renewed 1976. Revised 1980 C.S. Lewis Pre. Ltd. First HarperCollins Edition published 2001). C.S. Lewis, like no other, can hit you in the eye with stark reality just when you think he is going to make you laugh. Since The Weight of Glory is a speech he gave and not a full book, this booklet stays on my desk and is read almost every month. This book will make you think before you act.
- Prayer: A Holy Occupation by Oswald Chambers (©1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Limited. Published by Discovery House Publishers. Distributed by @ThomasNelson Publishers). Oswald Chambers was a man of discipline and it showed in his prayer life. His life backed up what he said and what he wrote. Those kind of authors are few and far between. Even King Solomon had a problem with that yet God called King Solomon the wisest man. I can only imagine what God is saying about Oswald Chambers.
- Idols of the Heart by Elyse Fitzpatrick @ElyseFitz (©2001 by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Published by P&R Publishing House). This book is a new favorite of mine and one which I’ve started using when discipling women.
King Solomon ends his book with a warning:
“The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails – given by one Shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:11-14).
The Bible contains it all; written by one Shepherd. Inside it are leadership lessons, followership lessons, time management courses, parenting classes, financial workshops, even social media seminars.
Above all, however, is the point that no published book – no book – will ever come up with anything new. Not only is the idea not new, it has probably been published somewhere by some unknown or forgotten author by some defunct publisher. However, the Bible contains the words of the Author and Finisher of our Faith, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End.
“Fear God” because “There is nothing new under the sun.”
Question: What are your favorite books and what part do they play in your relationship in reading the Word of God?
09.16.09
Why?
Why? Why? Why?
All day long, the same question.
- Why can’t I write?
- Why is that blank screen staring back at me?
- Why didn’t everything go right on Sunday?
- Why didn’t I make that phone call yesterday?
- Why am I stalling on this next project?
Why, why, why?
There came, after another list of whys, a point when I teetered on the edge of arrogance and I started to blame God for the answers to some of these questions. Usually when that happens, I needfully take the following steps.
- Repent. The issue is my pride not God’s sovereignty. A right view of God is always at the core of life and right thinking comes from a right view of God.
- Sing. Sing praises to God about who He is and what He is doing. Thank Him for what He has done and is doing. Tonight was choir rehearsal and even though I am the director, the choir ministered to me and reminded me of what God does through music.
- Read. Read good books. Read the best book—the Bible. Nothing better. When asking “why,” the book of Psalms is a great place to go. David asked God why all the time. Read Proverbs, the book of wisdom. Proverbs has 31 chapters and can be read one chapter every day of the month.
- Write. Keep a journal. Write a blog. Write from the heart.
After asking all the whys and wherefores, it is amazing how easy it becomes to put something down on paper; even if it’s just to answer the question “Why?” And, amazingly, many of the “whys” have disappeared.
09.09.09
Review: The Expanded Bible: New Testament
The Expanded Bible: New Testament, published by Thomas Nelson, is both an excellent new study Bible and an unparalleled updated translation. While the base text is a modified version of the New Century Version, The Expanded Bible: New Testament includes for both the beginning and serious student of the Word of God, a literal and traditional interpretation that original texts would encompass.
Why the name The Expanded Bible? It reflects the latest scholarship and includes a multitude of study aids as well as the expanded translations mentioned above within the text itself making it possible to study the Bible while you read! What a pleasure to not have to leave a verse, go to the bottom of the page or the middle column’s fine print to find a study note and then have to come back to the verse. It did take a little adjustment at first but I have already found that I am weaning myself off of other study Bibles in favor of this one.
There are no maps in The Expanded Bible: New Testament but you still get a sense of geography with the text. For instance, “Philippi [a city in Macedonia, present-day northern Greece; Acts 16].”
Having shown this to a friend of mine who is a Greek and Hebrew scholar, I became even more excited about The Expanded Bible: New Testament. It is a must-have in everyone’s library.
08.22.09
Technology Has Changed Them but It Cannot Replace Them.
Change. It brings up all sorts of connotations in the minds of people. Sometimes there is little or no resistance. Sometimes it is accepted happily or even without noticing. Sometimes there is outright rejection. People have made careers out of managing change and whole companies have risen up to help other companies manage change.
But change is a funny word. Even if you don’t accept the change, that doesn’t stop the change from happening. Change always has to come hand-in-hand with another word, choice. If a company I worked for, and was loyal to, for 20 years just laid me off, that sure would be a major change in my life and not one of my own choosing. However, how I respond and react from here on out is my choice.
Changes and choices will forever be ours. A change will demand a choice and a choice will result in more changes. It’s a cycle.
Now enter technology.
There are three areas where technology is still trying to intrude on our lives but our choices to allow technology to take over can only be made by us: you and me.
Communication
Technology has changed the way we communicate and how we communicate. Texting, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email, and cell phone are only methods and devices; they are not communication itself. It is up to you and me to actually communicate. “What are the directions?” “What time is that meeting?” “Did the meeting time get changed and did everyone get notified?” Oh, yes, and the biggie, “why should I tell him I love him? He knows it.” My choice.
Commitment
“Commitment” is an interesting word because no matter how its defined, commitment ultimately reveals me for who I really am. A commitment is a promise, a vow, even an obligation. If I made a promise, did I keep it? If I borrowed a book, did I return it when I said I would? Am I always late for something with a good excuse every time and then promise not be late next time? Commitment tells everyone if I am a person of integrity. It tells them who my world revolves around. Technology may have changed the style of commitment and the level of commitment but it has not changed whether or not I am a person of integrity. My choice.
Conduct
Conduct, like commitment, tells everyone around me something of who I am. But conduct goes even further. Conduct tells everyone something about where I came from. It transcends language and culture. Conduct gives away my values, my friends’ values, the kind of parenting skills I was raised with (no matter how old I am), and the examples of the adults in my life (parents, teachers, mentors, etc.). Conduct is other-oriented. “Please.” “Thank you.” “You’re welcome.” Holding the door open for someone. Writing a thank-you note for a gift.
There is no doubt that technology has changed conduct the most. People feel freer to write something that they would never say in public not realizing, no matter how many times you tell them, that what is written on the internet stays on the internet. That one choice, that so-called venting, has caused such a change that while I am interviewing for my dream job, my references are being screened and someone is looking at that Facebook entry right now. My choice.
The great King Solomon said in Proverbs 4:23: “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”
What does my communication, commitment, and conduct say about me? It’s still my choice and my choice will bring a change…even to technology.
And right choosing starts with right thinking.
07.24.09
People in My Life: Dr. Fran
Growing up in a preacher’s home, the “call” on my life seemed unavoidable and compelling; I was going to be a missionary teacher. The missionaries who stayed in our home told stories that tugged at my heart. When it came time to go to college, I searched for colleges offering a double major and found only two in the entire United States – Nyack College in New York and Fort Wayne Bible College in Indiana. Since Fort Wayne was only a few hours from home, my parents wanted me to attend there.
Their decision and my act of obedience changed my life in more ways than anyone could possibly imagine; life lessons as well as classroom lessons.
During the second semester, I met Dr. Fran, Chairperson of the Christian Education Department. Dr. Fran was tall, thin, and a woman no woman (or man) could or would appreciate for years to come.
Dr. Fran had idiosyncrasies that we laughed at; sometimes admiringly so. She still wore nylons with seams and if those nylons had runs in them, she sewed them. If she and her husband were going on a vacation, she calculated that she would gain eight pounds, therefore, she first lost eight pounds.
Dr. Fran was tough in a day and age when women weren’t allowed to be tough and few women earned doctorates of anything let alone became chairpersons of a department at a Christian college. Dr. Fran was also tender enough that she got to know every one of her students by name and helped them to become more than they thought they could become.
This was evident in her very first assignment in Christian Education 101. Write your own obituary.
All of us were stunned.
An immediate response on the part of some was a satirical laugh but most of us sat there in quiet wonderment – even fear – why we would have to write an obituary. As far as we were concerned, an obituary was a long way off but a grade was riding on this and Dr. Fran’s toughness did not allow us to get away with anything humorous or frivolous.
A “death biography” is what an obituary is. How does a 19-year-old college freshman start writing a death biography? Outside of class, we all talked about it and started writing things we thought Dr. Fran might want to see and those things that would sound so spiritual. But the starting point for our obituary was in the now and it was from our own vantage point.
However, the more we sat around talking, the more we realized we had to part ways and go complete this assignment on our own. The obituary was not about the now and it was not about ourselves; about me. It was about the future and the impact I had on that future. It was about starting at the end and looking back through the eyes of others.
When others read my obituary, would they be reading about the person they knew and loved, or about someone that was just a mere list of accomplishments; a brag book.
The obituary was Dr. Fran’s way of beginning to get to know all of her students. She and her beloved Dr. Ed, Chairman of the Biblical Studies Department, had no children of their own but they adopted every one of in their classes no matter what the age.
I was just one.
As Dr. Fran handed those assignments back to us, she asked me to come to her office.
Terror gripped me but I had nothing to fear. As I sat down in Dr. Fran’s office, she took my hand and said, “Helen, you are not the introvert you think you are.”
From there we spoke of my future and God’s direction. How could the curriculum at Fort Wayne best fit what God had planned for me. We stayed in touch for many years then when I found she and Dr. Ed were in Arizona, I wrote and she still knew who I was and she asked about every detail of life. She never forgot.
We stayed in touch until about two years before she died.
In one of her Christmas cards, she sent a stenciled note to all her students, “Divinely Loved.” It is in my Bible so that when I see it I not only think of Dr. Fran, I think of the fact that I am divinely love by the Savior and He loved me through her.
07.16.09
People in My Life: Today’s Little Angel
People are put in our lives for a reason. Some stay for a lifetime; others for a shorter time; still others for what seems like a brief moment. Then there are others who are there for so short a time that you wonder if they existed at all but the effect they have on you lasts a lifetime.
Just such a person came into my life this morning.
Working long hours to rethink a vision and mission statement while still trying to bring in revenue does not always constitute smart working; it just constitutes being tired. Realizing this, I started looking at my calendar to see where I could fit in a personal retreat, get away for a few days, and spend some time strictly on the vision and mission of The Write Way.
As I do most every day, I get out and take a walk to a nearby restaurant for lunch, usually Sizzler or Denny’s. I’ll read a book, or have my Bible study, or write (with an actual pen). I’ll write what’s on my heart, what I see around me, catch up on my ”to-do” list, or my “what-I-would-love-to-give-to-an-assistant-if-I-had-one” list. Sometimes I’ll do crossword puzzles and sometimes I’ll talk to the employees (busboy to manager) about their lives.
Today, however, I had to stop at Walgreens for some birthday cards and that vice called Diet Coke™. As I stood in front of the Hallmark cards, a shy Hispanic girl about seven years old walked up to me with a big grin on her face and handed me a card. I said “Thank You” and she walked away.
I looked at the card and, sure enough, it was a birthday card; “A Wish for Time on Your Birthday.”
Among other things, there was a wish for time to enjoy friends and family, a wish for time to forget your “to-do” list, and a wish for time to relax and just feel life is sweet.
How apropos was this card!
Today’s little angel had no idea she had been sent by God to remind me of simpler things. There is a time and place for “to-do” lists and sometimes those lists can even be tossed aside in deference for enjoying friends and family. Friends and family are never on ”to-do” lists!
Today’s little angel with the card had a two-fold effect on me. First, in the space of 30 seconds I relaxed as if I had been sitting somewhere alone for hours trying to relax. Second, while eating lunch, I was able to write this blog almost at one sitting because I could already see my vision a little more clearly.
What will I do with the card today’s little angel gave me? I thought about framing it as a reminder of how God keeps His hand in the details of our lives. But, no, this card was meant to be passed on.
This card is perfect for my best friend Kim. Each year Kim and I spend late Sunday night into early Labor Day morning sitting by the waves of the Pacific Ocean catching up with each other. It’s a time of open and honest communication. We have known each other for 25 years and we know that no question is off limit and we know when we’re not being honest with each other. She’s been through some really tough times with me when others have doubted and she remembers details better than I do (which is why if I need to know when something happened in my life, I call her).
Kim is a principal at the only school for the deaf in LA, a pastor’s wife, mother, grandmother, and if there is anyone in this world bearing her maiden name that is not related to her or been to her home, then you must be a really, really, really rotten apple.
Kim is a very busy woman who struggles with time. Therefore, this card from today’s little angel is going to be passed on to her. After all, the birthday card I was looking for standing in the aisle in Walgreens was for Kim.
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