God’s Gratitude
My dear friend, Will, prays the most wonderful prayers for me over the phone! Today, he prayed for me that I would live in such a way that God would be grateful to me.
I had never thought of it that way before! I wonder why?
I suspect that the answer reveals something in me that is good, but not good enough. I tend to think of gratitude as having its roots in dependence. In a sense, it does. I am dependent upon others, and therefore feel grateful when they come through. Since God is not dependent upon anyone, God cannot be grateful.
But perhaps, a gratitude that is rooted only in a sense of dependence has too shallow a root system. Indeed, many people who are completely dependent on others (or almost so) are steadfastly ungrateful.
On the other hand, what if I think of gratitude as flowing from joy, and not just from a sense of dependence? If that is true, then God can be profoundly grateful. After all, joy is one of the characteristics of God (Psalm 16:11; Nehemiah 8:10; Zephaniah 3:17).
Now that I think about it, God’s gratitude is splashed all over the Bible. In Genesis 1, God sees what he has made and the narrator says that God repeatedly said, “It is good!” That sounds as if God is having a good time, enjoying himself. It also sounds like God is grateful. At the end of Genesis 1, the narrator sums up God’s summary of His creation, “And God saw all that He had made and, behold, it was very good!” Yes!
And even we mortals can take a proper sense of pride when we’ve done a good job on something. My wife is a wonderful cook. Sometimes, I think she is overly self-critical of her efforts, but sometimes, she tastes something and says, “Oh, that’s good!”
In the New Testament, Jesus told a story about a slave-owner who settled accounts with slaves. He had entrusted them with great wealth, and gone away on a journey. When he returned, those who had invested his wealth and gotten a good return on their investment heard these words: “. . . ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master’” (Matthew 25:21).
That sounds like gratitude to me. When you commend someone, you are expressing your gratitude to and for them and for their efforts. Notice too, that this grateful commendation is closely connected with joy—the slave-owner’s joy and that of the slaves as well.
A joyful, grateful God! What an appealing portrait of the Almighty One, the One who needs nothing, but appreciates everything!
Thanks, Will!
DTEB
THE PASSING OF SUMMER AND THE FLOW OF LIFE
Here is my journal entry for this morning.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Where has this summer gone?!?
But then I feel that way toward the end of every summer I’ve lived so far. I doubt that feeling is going to change at this late date.
However, I more than half suspect that I am asking the wrong question. The question I ought to be asking is this: What am I doing, right now, with this day? Am I filling it with worthwhile attitudes and tasks? Am I doing what I need to be doing at any moment? Am I enjoying the day? Am I making the day enjoyable for others, as much as it lies within my power to do so?
If so, my perception of the passage of time merely indicates that I am enjoying my life and living well.
On the other hand, if I am wasting time regretting the passing of time, I’m just passing the time in an unhelpful manner.
So, today, by God’s grace, I will work hard, laugh whenever I can, cry if I need to, have some fun, make life more enjoyable for everyone with whom I come into contact (especially Sharon), learn something new, and generally live well.
Bedtime and the Balance Between Judgment and Grace
My nephew, his wife, and their first child dropped by for a visit. My nephew is one of the kindest, most gentle young men I’ve ever known. Nevertheless, he has already begun to have certain expectations of his six-month-old son. While it has become unfashionable to have expectations of anyone under the age of eighteen, I think that Caleb is a wise dad.
For example, when Caleb and Deborah put the little guy down for the night, they actually expect him to sleep. Imagine that! If he fusses, they check to see that he is okay, and if he is, Caleb talks to Jared, and then taps him a couple of times on his bottom. (No, this is not child abuse. Caleb is as far from an angry, controlling abuser as you could ever imagine.)
But then, Caleb does something else. He picks up Jared, cuddles him, and tells him how much he loves him, but that it is time to go to sleep. I am old-fashioned enough to think that this is a good balance.
However, a problem has arisen: Jared enjoys being held and cuddled, so now he sometimes gets fussy at bedtime in order to get some attention.
So, Caleb is struggling with something we all struggle with all our lives: the balance between judgment and unconditional love. It sometimes feels like a tightrope with no net below you.
My wife and I had a similar problem with our first child. She was about six weeks old, and would not sleep for more than fifteen minutes at night. My wife was nursing her. Our little one would nibble around, and then doze off to sleep—for a few minutes. Then, she would wake up and want to eat some more. My wife and I were about to go crazy from lack of sleep.
Finally, my wife talked to her mom about the problem. Her mom said that we needed to let our daughter “cry it out.” So we did. The first night, our baby cried pathetically for the longest fifteen minutes of our lives. Then, she stopped. Then she cried. Then she stopped. We finally figured out that she was listening for footsteps. That night, she ate more than usual when my wife went in to nurse her.
The next night, she cried less, ate more, and slept more. Within a few days, she was sleeping through the night, and so were we.
A friend of mine and I are accountability partners to each other. Later the same day my nephew’s family visited, my friend and I were talking on the phone about balancing taking our sins seriously and God’s unconditional love. I did not make the connection with Jared’s bedtime behavior until later.
God really, genuinely, deeply loves us. No matter how old we are, we are still his little children.
However, God also has expectations of us. When we rebel against those expectations, judgment follows.
Sometimes, I’m afraid, we (I) fall into the trap—and it is a trap—of thinking that we need to rebel in order to experience God’s unconditional love. God swiftly backs away, in order to give us time to think (and act) more soberly. Perhaps we feel that God has abandoned us.
No, God has not abandoned us! He is just on the other side of the door of judgment, waiting for us to take his call to holiness more seriously. Perhaps God’s judgment is one aspect of his unconditional love, rather than the opposite of God’s unconditional love. God loves us entirely too much to let us get by with controlling, manipulative behavior, at any age. Perhaps we don’t need to keep the balance between unconditional love and judgment. Perhaps we just need to respect the balance that God has already established.
KEEPING A SWEET ATTITUDE IN DIFFICULT SITUATIONS
Keeping a sweet attitude in difficult situations is not easy. However, it is very important.
Last night, the dish guy didn’t show up to work his shift. My manager made a bunch of calls, but nobody could/would come in.
So, I volunteered. Fortunately, I had only worked at that job for an hour, when my manager pulled me off. “We need you on the floor, serving,” he said. I didn’t argue! I have a lot more appreciation for dish people now.
Sure enough, we were very busy in the dining room, with a lot of guests. The whole evening was like that, until about forty-five minutes before closing time, when we went fairly dead.
Then, there was a massive amount of bussing, out-work, and silverware to do. By the time this sixty-five-year-old body was out the door at 10:20, it was aching from the waist down.
But I think (hope?) that I kept a sweet attitude in all this. That is important for a number of reasons.
A sweet attitude honors the guests. They should be made to feel appreciated, no matter how busy or stressful or chaotic things are for me/us. Who knows what they are going through? Perhaps they’ve recently lost a loved one or a job, maybe they are struggling with depression, or they may have just had a really stressful day themselves. A caring and calm attitude on my part may help turn their evenings around.
A sweet attitude may be helpful to my fellow food service folks. Getting out of sorts with guests, with my coworkers, or myself is dishonoring to those I work with. Just as with our guests, I don’t know what they are struggling with, either. I know my own problems and struggles. I should suspect that my coworkers have their own problems and struggles, which may be far worse than my own little issues.
A sweet attitude honors myself. I feel worse when I become stressed and crabby. Why should I do something that makes me feel even worse?
Finally, keeping a sweet attitude honors God. If God lovingly accepts me as I am, with all my past horrendous sins and crimes against humanity, if God lovingly accepts me now, with all my only-too-real failings, then why shouldn’t my attitude be sweet?
Oh, don’t get me wrong: It isn’t easy. It isn’t for me, and it isn’t for you. Sweet fruit is not native to my personal climate. It probably takes a lot of cultivation and nurturing in your soul-garden as well. The only thing I can do is to continually pray that God will nurture a sweet spirit within me, and expect God to come through. But the desire to have a sweet spirit is at least a beginning.
“Training Because Christ has Already Won the Victory”
A layman who was introducing communion Sunday used the Olympics as an entry point. Since the games are going on in Rio right now, this makes excellent sense.
Sometimes, it isn’t what people say that startle or help. Sometimes, it’s what you hear. Don’t get me wrong: the man made some good observations.
However, as he spoke of the intensity with which Olympians train, it occurred to me that Christians do not train in order to win. Rather, Christians train because Christ has already won!
We are challenged to live a life worthy of the calling with which we have been called (Ephesians 4:1). However, in the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul had already written of the victory that Christ had already won. First comes Christ’s victory on our behalf; then comes our worthy walk.
We train in order to honor the one who has already won. Do I take this dynamic seriously? What would it mean if I did take it seriously?
For one thing, it would mean that I would relax. There is no pressure! The competition is already completed, and Christ has won! I think it was Hannah Hurnard who said to her Beloved, “Your love has gotten the victory!” Yes!
For another thing, the fact that Christ has won the victory challenges us to always keep training. After all, Christ’s victory has won eternity for us. When should we stop training to be worthy of such a victory? When eternity comes to an end, I suppose.
So, how do I train? What does my training regimen look like?
First, I need to wake every morning, and before my feet hit the floor, I need to confess two things: God in Christ has already won the decisive victory, and today is the day for me to train myself in living a worthy response to this victory.
Second, I need to realize that everything I do (or refuse to do), as well as everything I undergo (or don’t undergo)—all of these are part of my training. My question should never be, “Do I like this?” Rather, I need to ask, “How can I use this to train to become like the One who is my Trainer who has already won the competition?”
Third, I need to remember that following Christ is a team sport. How am I helping other members of the team to improve, to excel? Am I being a good example, encouraging, pushing?
Fourth, at the end of the day, I need to think back on my day and ask, “Have I trained hard today? How can I train harder tomorrow?”
Christ has already won the gold for Team Sinners. It is up to Team Sinners to respond in glad and disciplined grace.
GOD AND SMALL BOYS WILL PROVIDE
“Do you think God is just going to give us buckets of money?”
The above question was posed to me by frugal, hard-working, worried wife.
My wife and I were talking about her admittedly very stressful job, and when she should retire. Retirement is coming soon, but not nearly soon enough. I’m afraid that the decision is nearly as stressful as the job. (No, it probably isn’t! But it is stressful.)
I tend to say that I think God will take care of us, no matter what.
Note carefully how I expressed my “sort-of” faith in the preceding sentence: I tend to say that I think God will take care of us, no matter what. Most of the time, I struggle to trust God, but I talk a good game.
We decided to go to the Cincinnati Nature Center. We have a membership there. Affordable fun, if not cheap thrills. I’m not sure we were prepared to meet God there, but apparently God was prepared to meet us.
As we prepared to walk down to the lake, we passed a dispenser of fish-and-turtle-food pellets. My wife asked if we should buy some. “No,” I said, rather grumpily, “it costs a quarter.”
It was a hot, humid Saturday afternoon, and there weren’t a lot of people there. However, as we walked on the boardwalk around the lake, there was a lady and a little boy—about four years old, I would guess. The little boy had a brown paper bag. The little guy reached into the bag, came over to us, and handed my wife and I one fish-and-turtle-food pellet a piece.
My wife and I were blown away by the little guy’s generosity and thoughtfulness. A few minutes later, he gave us some more pellets. This time, we each had about five pellets to throw in the water for the fish and turtles!
Angels come in all shapes and sizes. A four-year-old boy was a messenger of God to my wife and me today. There were no buckets of money from on high, but a few graciously given food pellets helped us to turn our attitudes around, at least for a little while.
I hope that you (and I) will be on the lookout for God’s messengers today. They come bearing good gifts from the Father of lights.
Questions to Ask Before I say Anything
I am probably the only person who struggles with saying hurtful things, even (especially?) when I am trying to say something nice.
I frequently don’t even understand why the other person was hurt. So, I take refuge in the old dodge, “But I didn’t mean to hurt you!”
That’s a lie sometimes. There are times when I am trying to hurt the other person, but I’m just trying to do it by a stealth attack. Whenever I’m sure I’m innocent, I am almost certainly guilty.
And even when it isn’t a lie, it is not helpful. The question is not, “How did I mean that?” Rather, the question is, “How might the other person interpret that?”
Admittedly, there are some people who routinely take everything as an insult. The best thing I can do when I am around such folks is not to be around such folks.
But what can I do to minimize the madness of unnecessary madness?
I can ask myself certain questions before I speak. Is this true? Is this kind? Is it really necessary to say this? Is this said in the kindest possible manner? How might the other person take this?
I would be a much slower conversationalist if I asked these questions before I said anything. I would also do less harm and more good with my tongue.
Cutting Down Dead Trees
I liked this piece of writing so much that I decided just to give the link to you. I can’t say it better than this guy says it! Thanks, Mark, for sending me this link.
Crank out the chain saws!
Here is the website:
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/A-Note-from-Ben–Felling-Trees-in-Minnesota-and-Racial-Tension.html?soid=1101315250978&aid=kHmis2UrVvI
AS POWERFUL AS I MAKE UP MY MIND TO BE
“I have noticed,” said Abraham Lincoln, “that a man is usually about as happy as he has made up his mind to be.”
I’ve also noticed that I am about as powerful as I make up my mind to be. This is decidedly bad news for me a good deal of the time. To paraphrase an old joke usually attributed to Gracie Allen, I’ve never felt strong, and I still do! (I think the original was, “I’ve never liked you, and I always will.”)
Maybe I need to redefine power. Perhaps even better, perhaps I need to reimagine it.
What is power? How do I imagine it?
Is power the ability to win gold in Olympic swimming events or on the balance beam? Is power being president of the United States—or at least running for that office? Obviously, if I think of power in these ways, I am not powerful. And I will never be powerful.
The truth is that I don’t want to merely be powerful in the ways I just mentioned. No, I want to be all powerful.
Of course, that is one of the attributes of God. God is the One who is described as all-powerful.
Indeed, challenging God’s knowledge (and knowledge is power, right?) was the first temptation. “You will be like God (or gods), knowing . . .” is not just the first temptation. It is the only temptation. Every other specific temptation is merely a variation on that theme.
So, how should I think of power?
Power is the strength to do what I really need to do, as a limited human being, at any given moment.
And what do I need to do at any given moment?
Merely the task at hand!
That task may be mowing the grass (which I already did on a very hot and humid day), doing the laundry (which I am doing now), grading a student’s paper, waiting tables at the restaurant where I work, resting, loving my wife, making final revisions on my PhD thesis, being kind to and patient with people, and so on.
I will have the power to do what I need to do. However, God doesn’t give the power before I need it. There is no savings account or investment portfolio for power.
But if I ask God for the power I need at this moment, and I act based on the assumption that the power will be there, then the power is, in fact, there.
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