10 million miles

…let your mom do your child’s laundry.

The situation: Vivienne spent a glorious week with my parents. Before sending Vivienne back to us, my mom offered to wash all of her clothes. I said, “oh no, Mom, don’t worry about that; you’ve done so much for us already”. Of course, she did it anyway.

The pay-off: All week long - when I dress Viv in the morning, hug her before bed, wrestle her in the afternoon, kiss her at night - I inhale glorious whiffs of the Tide and Downy that for years has been home. And it makes me miss my mommy.

(Even though I’m sure my mom had no ulterior motives (and I really mean that), I’ll be sure to remember this tactic when my own grandchildren visit me; it’s a fabulous subliminal way to enforce your scent upon them and their parents, causing them to pine for you for weeks to come… Actually, this is a fabulous tactic to enhance any type of relationship, really. In fact, if I’m offering to do your laundry for you, you’ll know that I’m just trying to secure whiffs of myself in your subconscious heart.)

P.S. Thanks, Mom, for lightening our load (literally!) and filling our home with thoughts of you!

In this day of mp3’s and iPods, we have a few too many broken records around our place. Broken records that sound like this, “How could you say that politely?” “How could you say that politely?” “How could you say that politely?” and “Could you please say please?” “Could you please say please?” “Could you please say please?” “Could you please say please?”

I don’t know about Vivienne, but I’m about tired of the old technology and the repetition. SO, today, we are celebrating our first annual what Vivienne calls, “Say Please Day is On Its Way”.

How to Celebrate: Each person in our family must say “please” the first time that she asks for something or else she doesn’t get it. Period. No second chances. No ten second delay. It’s brutal. It’s “Say Please Day is On Its Way”.

Vivienne thinks it’s fun. And she has only missed out on a few little things all day. Of course, she hasn’t eaten all day and she hasn’t yet said the “please” to allow her to go the bathroom, but I think she’s really getting the point. (I’m SO TOTALLY KIDDING about all of that, ya know.) Actually, I am breathing a sigh of relief that she has caught on quickly so that I can follow through with “the rules of the game”.

In fact, she has caught on so well, that when she forgets, she quickly adds a “please” to an alternative. For example,

V: I want some milk!

M: Sorry, dude. You didn’t say please! No milk for you.

V: Please may I have some juice?

M: Absolutely!

You may call it compromise; I call it strategy. Hey, she’s saying “please”, isn’t she?

I had a hunch that this would work because we employed something similar on a smaller scale in the car. When Vivienne would like us to play a certain CD or turn the volume up, she must say “please” with her request the first time or else we turn the music off for the remainder of that particular car ride. Of course, we happily remind her that she gets a brand new chance the next time we get into the car. Since instating the rule and following through with it even when it hurts, I think she’s only forgotten a total of two times.

So, we might have national “Say Please Day is On Its Way” Day a couple days in row to strengthen those “say please” muscles. Hopefully, we’ll be tossing out a couple of those broken records by the weekend.

Vivienne: “Look, Mom! I reached it all by myself! I am SOOOO reach-y!”

…concerning the welfare of our brothers, of course. ‘Thought I’d share the Scriptures that I’ve been meditating on yesterday and today:

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3: 16 - 18

and

“Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.” Proverbs 21:13

With all of the legitimate cries for help these days (sponsor children! build homes! fund clinics! feed mouths! educate single mothers! and on and on), it’s hard to discern the ways that I am to help, specifically.  When the fliers, commercials, and email forwards don’t end, I can start to feel down right crumby - inadequate to participate in the needs of countless people all over the globe. I often pray, “God, I think I’m about all used up just loving the handful of tangible people in my life - let alone people groups miles away. But You know my heart is just to do what you want…”

‘Seems like John had a vision of my life when he wrote a personal prayer, “…if my heart condemns me, you are greater than my heart and you know all things.” How fabulous that God cuts through the web of my self-condemnation and points me in the right direction because He knows my heart better than I do.

So, for now, God has given me a great deal of peace from these two Scriptures to focus on loving…

* the needy brother who I actually see with my eyes

* the poor who I actually hear with my ears

If I keep my heart open, I bet this’ll keep me busy. (Actually, I hear someone already… Lia’s awake! Gotta go!)

Father, open our hearts and open our ears so that we can see the needs you intend for us to meet and hear the cries you intend for us to answer.

You may have noticed the popular trend towards a type of Christian humanitarianism: you know, sell your possessions, give to the poor, etc…

Noble generosity, no doubt! Impressive obedience, for sure!

But perhaps, our humanitarianism is fueled by a misreading of Scripture.

Take, for example, the story of the rich young ruler. One of the Top Ten Inspiration Texts for Christian humanitarians. Maybe you know the story in Luke 18: 18 - 34. Basically, a rich young ruler asks Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

(Notice, the guy’s totally focused on what he can do to gain a gift that is only distributed out of God’s generous grace.)

The guy claims to keep all of the commandments. Impressive, but he’s still not able to save himself. So, to make the matter obvious, Jesus points out that the one thing he lacks is to “sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

(This is where we humanitarians highlight Jesus’ command, scribble notes in the margin, and start selling our gadgets on ebay. Perhaps we’d profit from reading further and closer…)

Turns out, the guy can’t do what Jesus asks; he’s too rich.

Jesus points out that no rich guy can enter the kingdom of heaven.

And we’re all rich. (In some form or fashion.)

So, alarmed and helpless, I ask with Peter, “Then who can be saved?”

Jesus refocuses our gaze: “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

Oh, so we cannot sell everything and distribute to the poor in order to inherit eternal life. Jesus said it best: it is impossible.

You’ve gotta read the whole passage for yourself, but it seems to me that although Jesus kindly points out that, yes, we will be rewarded and recompensed for any sacrifices we do make, He is quite clear that He is the one - He is the rich young ruler - who will sell everything for us and distribute gifts to the poor.

He even wraps up the scenario with an explanation of how he will sell everything to purchase our inheritance: “See, the Son of Man will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon, And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”

He is the one will purchase the inheritance of eternal life.

With God, this is possible.

Once again, I find that the Scriptures are so rarely about us, and so often about Jesus. Hallelujah.

So, I officially cut and paste this passage of Scripture from my “How to Convince People to Sell Everything They Have and Give to the Poor” folder into my “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty and Generous and Wonderful that He Should Love a Tight-Fisted Legalistic Sinner Like Me” folder.

***

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’”And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said,  “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Matthew 13:45

I was thinking about the way in which Jesus worded Matthew 13:45.

Folks say that, from this verse, we must learn how important it is to sacrifice everything in order to pursue Jesus, the supposed “pearl of great price”.

But, maybe we misinterpret this oft quoted verse.

Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls…” not “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl of great price.”

Perhaps Jesus meant that the Kingdom of Heaven is Himself as the merchant man, seeking, loving, and purchasing His beloved Church.

Perhaps WE are the pearl of great price.

It would make sense then, despite many-a-convicting sermon, that we can’t “sell everything” for Christ.

No one ever has; no one ever will.

That’s not a glory we have the right to wear.

It is His glory to give everything for us.

It is our glory to thank Him and continually surrender more and more of ourselves to this Great Love.

This is the glory of being found.

I find that the moment I look a baby in the eyes, our whole universe settles into a peaceable place where that baby is an active giver and I am an active receiver, balancing out the otherwise “needy baby”/ “generous mommy” paradigm that fills the day.  In that baby’s eyes, I see a recognition of sorts that she knew all along she could meet my need to be so easily loved.  I just had to look.

As a child grows from 1, to 2, to 3 years old, it’s a bit more difficult to make eye contact as those little eyes dart all over the room, somersaulting, coloring, crying, laughing, and exploring. But, when I look a child in the eyes, our whole universe settles into a companionable place where the child can see my admiration and I, hers. In that child’s eyes, I see a recognition of sorts that she knew all along she could be my bosom friend just as I always wanted. I just had to keep looking.

1. You compromise your former conservative view of vaccinations and suddenly find yourself begging the pediatrician to pull out any and every possible vaccination in the cabinet.  (You also realize that you would perform miserably in a torture chamber since you are suddenly willing to do anything to avoid pain.)

2. You find that the only laughable thing in your world is the label placement on the box of your medication:

3.You meet with three doctors and one nutritionist in one week, read 500 Shingles-based websites, analyze countless digital pictures of rashes, and take any pill, powder, or dried fish that promises relief.

4. Faux sunburn.

5. You begin a side business making fake ID’s for youngsters so that they can receive the Shingles vaccination offer to the 50+ crowd.