When we arrived at our beach house to do maintenance work after a full summer season of renters I discovered that my angel of peace had lost one of her wings.The statue had been given to me in May by Ali, our son John’s girlfriend,when she visited the beach with us.The angel is tall and elegant and on the base of her pedestal is the word “Peace.”I proudly stationed the angel in a small nook under a stairway on a small lamp table to bring peace to the house.And when I returned several months later, one of her wings was missing.
We expect and encourage people to have fun and relax with their family in our house and something broken here or there is part of the price of having fun.I never hold too tightly to things I leave for our guests to enjoy.However when I saw the peace angel with the missing wing, I hated to see her like that.I looked through the jar of shells under the table hoping that someone had saved the broken wing so I could glue it back on.No.I looked behind the settee on the floor.No.The broken wing was long gone.
So what do you do with an angel of peace who only has one wing?You give her a new one, of course.I again looked through the jar of shells, looking for a shell with would stick on her back to make a wing.All of the pretty scallop shells weren’t the right shape.But then I found a fragment of a broken shell that curved nicely and had little ridges in it that would curl around her back enough for the glue to hold.(Gordon had some of that super glue stuff in his tool box.)My angel of peace may not have two wings that exactly match, but her one sea shell wing makes her absolutely matched for her peaceful vigil at a beach house.
That’s the thing about our personal peace.It’s so easily broken.And once it’s broken, it’s gone and we’ll never get our new situation to match the old one we had before something important was lost from our lives.The miracle of prayer is that two broken things – ourselves and our suffering Savior Jesus – somehow come together and there’s peace.Despite the broken pieces.
Gordon and I just returned from a cruise on the Oasis of the Seas celebrating our 37th wedding anniversary and we had the unique fun of riding a carousel at sea onboard.We climbed up onto horses that go up and down as the carousel goes round and round and settled in to enjoy ourselves like a couple of kids.
While we were riding, the carousel operator got onto the microphone and asked us a trivia question.Which animal is the lead animal on the carousel?Our fellow riders called out their guesses.The giraffe.The lion.The peacock chariot.The white horse.None of our answers were correct.When we got off, the operator told us that the correct answer was the black stallion with the cruise line insignia on its saddle.
Later I got to thinking that I’d never before wondered which was the lead animal on a carousel because I didn’t know there was one.How do you tell who’s leading if everyone is going around and around in the same endless circle?No true leadership is involved there.
I guess that’s the way it can be in all sorts of groups we’re in.Leadership doesn’t matter much as long we’re all drifting along in unproductive circles, moving and enjoying a pleasant ride while getting nowhere.However, leadership really starts to count when you’re trail blazing and getting out of your ruts and trying new things.
I know that there have been times when I’ve gotten comfortable and have used prayer to keep things neat and pretty in my life and I haven’t really gotten anywhere.However the times when I was daring to do things way beyond my capabilities were the times when God was able to lead me in prayer.And that's when I finally stopped going around in circles.
This past weekend Gordon and I saw one of our sons off to college again.So far we’ve done it 11 times.Our older sons, Jeff and Chris accumulated 8 college send-offs between them and now John is off for the third time for his junior year transferring over to the University of Georgia.
Each college send-off/move-in is unique. Jeff’s move-ins had us taking our old white van full of clothes, computers and a mountain bike on a six hour drive up to Durham NC to Duke University.Chris’s send-offs were always nail-biters for me as I watched him cram his surf board and stereo into his SUV for an often solo cross country trip out to Los Angeles and USC.I prayed hard while he was on the road – with good cause.Once the suitcases strapped to his luggage rack fell off on the road.Another time he got a speeding ticket.And then there was the time he got bored in Oklahoma and picked up a hitch hiker.No wonder I’m a praying woman.
With John the move-ins have been a little easier because they’ve been within a two mile drive of our home.The first year it was a fairly simple moving clothes and laptops into a dorm room.The second year it was into a furnished apartment where John needed more things like lamps and dishes and his George Foreman grill.This year he moved into an unfurnished condo and we had to rent a U-Haul for his garage sale sofa, mattresses and hand-me-down kitchen table and chairs.Whew!
All of the send offs and move-ins may have been different, but they all have one thing in common.Seeing a young adult off to college is both an answer to prayer and a call to pray. It’s a time of letting go and moving forward in different directions for a family.It’s a time when both the college students and parents start to mature and become more independent.There’s a good bit of strangeness to it, too, that you’re not together any more sharing the details of daily life.Life changes quite dramatically for everyone involved.And yet it was for this very purpose that we parent in the first place – to build a good launching pad for our children’s future.And so, ready or not, we launch them.And then we pray.Again.
On Saturday our granddaughter Kendall had her first birthday party.Our son Jeff and his wife Leah reserved a picnic area at a local park and planned the big b-day party.Leah with a fun bee theme because friendly bees are something that Kendall likes pointing out in her picture books.
I’ve never been to a bee day party before but was charmed by their likenesses that were everywhere from little homemade bee pins for all of the little ones to wear, bee decorations hung on fishing line to fly in the breeze under the pavilion and homemade black and yellow tissue paper pom poms.However the queen bee of the decorations was the bee cake that Leah made, complete with white frosted cookie wings and a black frosted cookie stinger.
Thankfully during the party no real bees showed up.But it got me to thinking how refreshing it is to have birthday parties that take a simple theme from nature rather than from television cartoons.Nature is the perfect theme for birthdays for any age as we celebrate our mysterious creation and birth and the way we learn and grow from year to year with the help of our family and friends.So birthdays are perfect be-days, days to be who God created us to be, to be with those we love and to be thankful for our lives.It doesn’t matter if your birthday is still months away.You can have a happy be-day today by spending a few thankful moments to be with God in prayer.
This past week my sister Susan and I went up to Hendersonville, NC to help Gordon’s brother Dan and his wife Nancy get their home ready to sell.Susan and I love to decorate.Don’t tell anyone, but when we visit bed and breakfast inns we sit in our room mentally rearranging the furniture and accessories.Sometimes we might even move an item or two on the mantle or the dresser.
Dan and Nancy have a large family home with a mountain view.We all worked hard for several days hanging pictures, moving furniture, taking furniture off to storage, bringing furniture and accessories back from storage, streamlining and organizing, propping mirror tiles on bookshelves, tying back draperies and grouping together items of similar colors.True to form, even when Susan and I went upstairs to the guest bedroom to sleep we couldn’t close our tired eyes until we had discussed how the bed skirt we found in the closet would look with the curtains in the room.
One room that seemed to cry for decorator help was the 30 ft. sunroom on the back.Unfortunately, prospective buyers sometimes can’t visualize how to use big spaces, so we went to work making furniture arrangements that created more intimate settings on a big stage.In the sunroom Dan and Nancy already had a treadmill on one end and a seating area on the other.A simple solution was to put in a wooden screen to make the large room into two different spaces.Who wouldn’t want to exercise in the winter in a sun room when it’s snowing outside?And with the screen, no one sitting in a comfy wicker chair in the seating area had to look at a treadmill and feel guilty about lazing away a few hours with a magazine instead of exercising.
Right before we left North Carolina Nancy drove us up to their empty new home much higher up on a mountain.We stepped out onto the back porch and were met with an incredibly refreshing breeze that hadn’t been stirring down in the muggy valley below.
We edged toward the deck rails taking in the spectacular view that went on and on forever.Time and cares seemed to vanish.We felt like we were standing on God’s own back porch.As I looked out over the vastness I thought about how God creates small intimate cathedrals on back porches –even empty ones - that don’t require just the right decorator touch.All that’s needed is a summer afternoon and a view of God’s handiwork and we’re ready to get neighborly and sit a spell with our Creator.
Last night Jane Hale, one of the members of our small church prayer group brought in a huge scrapbook that’s nearly as big as she is.Jane is an avid scrapper and at our last monthly meeting Jane surprised us by snapping our photos.She explained that she wanted to pray for us regularly and that seeing a photo is easier than thinking of everyone’s names.
Here’s Jane’s scrapbook page that she showed us last night.No telling how long it took her to arrange our photos on those two pages and to artistically embellish the photos with all sorts of lovely quotes and religious symbols.And I imagine that on top of the time Jane spent doing the pages she also invested more time in us with a trip to the craft store to find just the right decorations.
The result is quite beautiful, but more lovely still is the fact that Jane says that when she opens the page she spreads her hand out over the pictures and prays for us.We all felt incredibly blessed and loved.
I personally haven’t done any serious scrapbooking myself.I’m not sure I have the patience and I also have a hunch that once you start, you get hooked.But I know a perfect idea when I see one.What a marvelous idea to combine two creative pursuits – scrapbooking and prayer – to create something beautiful enough to be a feast for both our eyes and our spirits.
I’ve been going through some difficult times lately hoping and praying for a breakthrough for someone.I’m sure you’ve gone through things like this too when praying has been really hard work.I haven’t been just saying a few lines about this on my morning prayer walk.I’ve been spending time in meditation and in the Bible looking for answers, I’ve asked people to come over to my house to pray with me and I’ve spent time praying in several churches.Yet it seems like every time I think this person has turned a corner, things fall apart again.
During my daily stillness prayer time in the living room one of the resources I use is a vintage hymnal I got at a garage sale.I can’t read music, so I make up random tunes.The other day when I was particularly discouraged I turned to the next page after my bookmark and saw an unusual title for a hymn “Your Roses May Have Thorns.”I actually let go of a little laugh because the title seemed so appropriate for the talented person I’m praying for who is missing the mark in living up to their great potential.
Here’s the delightful chorus to this song:
Your roses may have thorns, but don’t forget
Your thorns may have some roses, too
The Lord of great compassion loves you yet
And He will never fail to see you through.
(by Haldor Lillenas, copyright 1925)
I fumbled along singing until I combined this chorus with my mangled version of the tune of “The Joy of the Lord is My Strength” and it worked after a fashion.Maybe I couldn’t sing the song as the composer intended, but I certainly benefited from the lyrics.Roses are very nice, so we don’t mind the thorns.On the other hand, thorns by themselves are never seen as desirable or welcomed.But what if our thorns might possibly produce roses some day?I realized that my difficulties with the person in question had helped me bring more concentrated prayer into my life than ever before. The fact is a more fervent prayer life never grows without life’s thorns.With God’s help, you never know when your thorns might produce some very rare and amazing roses such as a deeper connection with God.
On the Fourth of July our church found a way to send a special thanks to our troops by holding our second annual Operation Oreo.Our senior minister, Dr. Don Martin, started Operation Oreo last year when he was seated on a plane next to one of our soldiers returning from Iraq.When Dr. Martin asked the soldier what he missed most when he was deployed the soldier said, “Double stuffed Oreos.”And so last year on the Sunday closest to the Fourth of July our church members donated packages of Oreos to be sent to Iraq.
This year our Sunday School class helped other volunteers pack up the Oreos into mailing boxes after church.Take a look at all of those cookies.There were about 2,000 packages!
To ship the cookies there was something for everyone to do.The children put stickers on each package with little drawings made in Sunday School.Others put on a sticker telling whoever received the Oreos about our church, how much we appreciated their service to our country and that they were in our thoughts and prayers.In addition, small cards with personal notes were tucked into all of the boxes.
The men taped together shipping boxes and packed in the cookies.Teenagers tore the cardboard packaging off of cookies that had come in multiple packs from the wholesale warehouse.Another group filled out 25 customs forms.Someone else weighed the boxes to make sure they were under 70 pounds.I took pictures and helped put address labels on the boxes.Then when all of the Oreo packages were safely tucked into boxes, we laid our hand on them and prayed for our troops.It was a very easy and heartfelt prayer for me.Our son, Chris, previously served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and so many people so kindly sent him care packages.
Several weeks from now yummy reminders of our thoughts and prayers will arrive in Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan.Life is kind of like Operation Oreo.It’s always sweet and double stuffed when you combine love and prayer into thoughtful action.
Back in April I posted a photo where I was kneeling down in a bare garden with a spade.I thought you’d enjoy seeing this picture to see what a difference a few months make.We now have a tomato jungle.The plants are at least 7-8 feet tall.
We went a little over the top this year (literally) trying to keep the garden safe from birds, deer, rabbits and other varmints.Gordon wasn’t content with a 3 foot chicken wire fence around the perimeter.He added a second story to the fence by wrapping the whole thing with another layer of bird netting, then put bird netting over the whole top of the garden.I dare any to critter to try and get in a snitch one of our tomatoes, green peppers or cucumbers.I think we actually could have raised parakeets in that enclosure if we’d wanted to.
As far as I know, nothing has gotten into the garden but ants.But what we hadn’t counted on was things escaping from the garden.Specifically, our vegetable plants are making the great escape.Yes, the tomato plants are growing right up through the bird netting and putting on blooms.We’re going to have to harvest the last of the tomatoes later this year on a step ladder and share them with the birds.The cucumber plants are climbing the chicken wire and shooting their vines right out into the yard.“Fence, what fence?” they seem to say as they push through looking for new places to keep growing because we hadn’t given them enough space.
Today I got to thinking how I’m just like my own garden.Have I given myself enough space to grow spiritually?Am I afraid to grow beyond the fence that seems so safe?I think I’ll go have a ripe slice of tomato sprinkled with salt and do a little meditating on what’s fencing me in.
This morning there were five garage sales in my neighborhood.I was in heaven.Here’s what I bought.Great treasures don’t you think?
Actually, none of this is for me - sort of.I purchased the doll house and the big box of doll furniture and the play popcorn popper, blender and sub shop back pack for our granddaughter Kendall.O.K.You got me there.She’s only turning one in August, but after raising 3 boys I have this pent up desire for doll houses and play kitchen stuff and all things pink and plastic.So maybe the doll toys are a little bit for me, too.I’ll keep it here at our house for when Kendall comes over to play.
And the red goblets and the flatware (can’t call all of that gold looking stuff silverware exactly) are for my sister Susan.She loves to set a gorgeous table and lost a lot of her things in a fire a few years back.I guess these are a little bit for me, too, because she’ll probably cook me up a delicious meal some time.
But did you notice the piece of paper with all of the garage sale stuff?Actually that’s the most interesting treasure I picked up and it was totally free.It’s a fun prayer tip.My neighbor having the sale got to saying how she and her school age daughter used to see me on my prayer walk every morning at 7 AM and they talked about prayer and also whether they were on time according to where they saw me on the road.
The next thing I knew my neighbor told me how she’d taught her children to pray using a five finger prayer on their hand.I’ve heard of five finger prayers before, but not her version.She turned over a paper that had a map on it to all of the garage sales and traced her hand, then wrote down what to pray for each finger.On the thumb – those closest to your heart.On your pointer – those who instruct us, like teachers and clergy, on the tallest finger – the greater community and world around us, on the ring finger for the weak, the ill, the poor and on the pinky for yourself.
It’s one of the best things I’ve ever gotten at a garage sale.And it was absolutely free.
