What is desirable that costs nothing? What is desirable that does not require some sacrifice? The braids in my niece's hair were worth the pulling and tugging. It was worth it to me today to be scratched by the mama cat just to see a kitten. Healing is worth it to me even though it re-breaks the already translucent thin fibers of my mending heart.
Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! Psalm 126:5
Hey, heard you were up all night
Thinking about how your world ain't right
And you wonder if things will ever get better
And you're asking why is it always raining on you
When all you want is just a little good news
Instead of standing there stuck out in the weather
Oh, don't hang your head
It's gonna end
God's right there
Even if it's hard to see Him
I promise you that He still cares
When the waves are taking you under
Hold on just a little bit longer He knows that this is gonna make you stronger, stronger The pain ain't gonna last forever
And things can only get better
Believe me
Hold on and let Him hold your hand
And go on and fall into the arms of Jesus
Oh, lift your head it's gonna end
God's right there
Even when you just can't feel Him
I promise you that He still cares
'Cause if He started this work in your life He will be faithful to complete it If only you believe it He knows how much it hurts
And I'm sure that He's gonna help you get through this
Anne of Green Gables called them "bosom friends". I have several. Count me among the lucky. All have helped me through this maze of depression, validating my feelings and helping me cope.
Last night, I was a complete mess. My face covered in tears, I listened to the voice at the other end of the telephone telling me how to pull myself out of a flashback or a panic attack. She spoke wisdom. I'm going to follow it.
Are these moments of transparency a gift from God? Honesty that makes the soul of the other translucent, pink faces of flower shining but brief, looking through each others souls.
Two ships sinking bind their brokenness with the cords of compassion. The sweetness of her voice lingers in my ear this morning, a reminder that, despite differences, we all share or deny love. Thank you, friend, for reaching out your hands to me once again.
"One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving."
~Amy Carmichael
Today I am trying a coping technique called Mindfulness. This simply means that "carpe diem". Really get engaged in the goings-on of the day, notice things and make memories.
"The mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace."
Romans 8:6
Theoretically speaking, if you take proper maintenance of a car, it could last forever. My husband is pushing this theoretical truth every day in a 1984 Honda Accord. This runner has had many visits to the mechanic, and just as many repairs in our own garage. You could skip the maintenance and just go repair-to-repair. However, most people are aware of the enormous amount of trouble they get into if they skip maintenance.
What is maintenance for life? I have loved Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs since I first read it. Maintenance probably covers the whole pyramid up until you hit self-actualization.
Yet suddenly a crisis is upon you. A crisis of faith, a crack in your marriage, a season of grief or depression, the death of someone so important to you there are threads of that person all through your life's tapestry, and now suddenly their scarlet cord is seen no more. Horrible memories that have stayed stuffed in a box for many, many years come spilling out of the past and into your present.
In health care, when we get a patient gasping on a gurney, blue-tinged with the effort to suck air into lungs, we do something called CPR. What about spiritual CPR? How do you react when the car finally grinds to a halt? You've probably had weeks of little warning signs that something's wrong, but you don't put your finger on it until the car won't go another foot. I do the same thing spiritually. It is out of my deepest crises that I cry loudest for God, long deepest for Him, feel distant and alone.
When that wheezing patient comes in on the ambulance gurney, both nurses and doctors rush to check a list of body functions that has also earned an acronym. ABC. Airway: does the person still have an opening for the Word to work? Breathing: has the person been breathing in Christ through the Bible? Circulation: is that Bible study apparent in the actions of the person?
Nurses see patients who can't breath for various reasons. But the response is always, always the same. ABC. If those are all intact - airway, breathing, circulation - then a slower process of determining the problem can take place. The patient isn't in imminent danger. Aaron's hands, pulling out pieces and spraying gas and diagnosing the problem with his Honda, he knows where to look. Circulation is the problem here. Gas gets to the engine but the distributor cap is worn out, so electricity is not circulating and keeping the engine going.
Response to spiritual crises can follow this same top-down approach to what has been broken in the Christian's life. When you face a crisis, some of which can be weathered without any more help beyond yourself and God, check your ABC's. Have I even been trying to connect with God? Am I reading His word? Does what I read make an impact in my life that is visible?
There are times when all you have to do is pick up the Bible and read about your problem. Or read a Psalm and weep and heal. Think back to all the previous repairs God has done in your life. It is here, in the broken place, that you need to remember the monuments of faith in your past. Remember when money was so short you didn't know if you could make it to next payday, and an unexpected check came in the mail and you survived? Remember when your child was sick and you begged for healing, and healing came? Remember being on your knees on the hard hospital floor, praying that your mother might go to Jesus peacefully and without physical pain, and she did? Remember when you bought a house and could barely make the payments and then they increased your insurance, and somehow, you don't know how, logically, the payments could still be made?
There are also times to pick up the phone and call for help. Parents and pastors are usually my first stops. Sometimes help comes from a source you would never expect. Yesterday, at church, I needed a little more space so I moved to the coffee shop where the message is broadcast live on a large-screen TV. I set my purse and notes down on a couch, thinking that would give me more personal space, and stepped out for a breath of fresh air. When I came back to my couch, there was a dear friend sitting there, right next to my little pile.
Spiritual crisis CPR:
Airway: do I still have a connection and desire for God?
Breathing: am I reading His word?
Circulation: am I allowing His word to refresh and build me?
High up on a rock
Looking out at the horizon
Watching as the storm rolls in
Wondering if my heart will survive it
As the waves crash all around me
And can't remember what it feels like to be free
You say, I've got you my baby
I've got you
It's quite the mess you're in
But it's nothing Love can't fix
So sit here upon my shoulders
And watch as it all unwinds
You are making me a mountain
Making me a mountain
That cannot be shaken
I know You're making me a mountain
Making me a mountain
That cannot be moved
~Trust, Kristene Mueller~
Excerpted from my Gratitude Journal, 710-723:
#710: a cardinal who flies by every morning, reminding me of my grandpa
#712: free tow home for the Honda - thanks, Mom!
#713: People who love my kids take them so I heal slow in those quiet golden hours
#715: Caleb wakes up HAPPY! (this is minor miracle)
I look down at my rainboots, covered with yellow seeds. About every 6 years, we re-seed the field that lies between the front lawn and the sentinel sumac in a line along the road. A parable runs through my head as I keep scattering seed.
...when a great multitude were coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable: 'The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road; and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the air ate it up. And other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it, and choked it out. And other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.' As He said these things, He would call out, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.' (Luke 8)
The field looks perfectly normal from the porch, different native and hybrid grasses covering the area evenly.
As I sit in my swing many times each day - my quiet, safe place to reconnect with God and throw out the threats and despair that lurks, always ready to steal my thoughts - I have noticed the bird activity. It is very distinct. The birds will only land on certain things.
And those certain things are the free growing wild plants and grasses. Never, out of the thousand or so birds I've watched, has one landed on the humanly produced grass.
They land on the wheat grass.
They land on weeds.
Around the thorny bushes, there is always a patch, dead, nothing growing.
The thorny bush has taken it's territory and killed anything that might threaten it.
Man-hybridized grass is beautiful, shiny and thick.
But nary a bird lands in it.
The children make nests in the man-made grass, and a thorny plant takes up residence in the fall. Covered in burrs, she assures that no other plant or person will come near her.
Bumble bees and butterflies flock to the few colorful wildflowers left after our last planting.
I think of myself as a Christian. Did I spring up and do I flower and spread because of authentic connection with God? Or am I the man-made stuff, beautiful to look at, but worthless when it comes down to it. It is easy to put on a showy Christian front on Sundays, but there is that whole week intervening. I want to be the man throwing seed on good, fertile soil. And I want to be planting the kind of seed that will be a sweet fragrance to the Lord.
And those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they may not believe and be saved. And those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. And the seed fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. And the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, in order that those who come in may see the light. For nothing is hidden that shall not become evident, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light. (Luke 8)
I have four very important seeds. I'm off to water them.
Please take time to watch the beautiful video to this song on Vevo.
She spins and she sways
To whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I'm sitting here wearing
The weight of the world on my shoulders
It's been a long day
And there's still work to do
She's pulling at me
Saying "Dad, I need you
There's a ball at the castle
And I've been invited
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone...
She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says, "Dad, the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone
She will be gone
Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowing and telling us all they had planned
She says, "Dad, the wedding's still six months away
But I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone
I plod to the bedroom for what feels like the 100th time and I'm counting slowly, all the way to ten, taking the edge off my biting tongue. SLEEP, child. Again and again I go in, explain, discipline, explain, lie the child back down. It seems endless. He could go on like this for hours (although I cannot).
It is hard to know, especially with the psychological scars my children bear since my cancer, heart, and now PTSD problems have ripped me away from them to sit in a solitary hospital bed. It's hard to know if it's a real need or a child's disobedience.
There's an easy way to check. As you pull that crying child close, and he melts into your arms, and he asks between sobs for you to cuddle him, try it. Just try laying down and cuddling. My child immediately sucks in the sobs and gives me a wet-cheeked smile. I lay there for 5 minutes, and he is asleep.
Was he being disobedient? After all, he didn't obey my instructions. Or perhapsI was being disobedient in being harsh, unloving, and unwilling to change my naptime plans to lay with my son who was irking me to the core. This is the thought that changes everything. It means a messier house and sometimes meals get on late, but when a need arises, I have to tend to it. That is what makes recovery so hard at home. I have to lay myself down for the sake of Christ (and this family). He gives no caveat in the verses that tell me to take up my cross, or lay myself down as He did. He doesn't say, "Well, this doesn't count because you have an anxiety problem and this is obviously making your problem worse. I'll give you a pass this time. God ahead and be selfish". No. Instead He tugs at my heartstrings, softens my heart, and teaches me more about grace through parenting with each passing year.
No matter what: Faith, hope, love. And the greatest of these is LOVE.(I Corinthians 13:13)
