Date Archives → February 2008

the practical side of psalms

This morning I read Psalm 37. I always forget how much I just love, love this chapter. I mean, chock full, absolutely overflowing, with little tidbits of amazing wisdom. Practical wisdom. Eternal perspective. And just the encouragement a pilgrim needs to keep going.

I imagine that if my dad were to write a chapter of the Bible, Psalm 37 is sort of how it would come out:

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.” (Of course, if my dad wrote this, there would be a selah halfway through — just enough of a pause to allow for a quick swipe of Blistex.)

Yeah, he could have written that passage. Practical and powerful. Single-minded. Those verses always take me by surprise: pithy, no-frills directives for how to live life.

How about this one?

“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the wicked man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.”

And oh, the awesome theology! The answers to the questions that always seem to nag us. Should Christians be wealthy? Should Christians be healthy? Should Christians be successful? Should Christians’ prosperity put the wicked to shame?

…Well, yes. In the grand scheme of things, yes. When the last enemy is defeated, and the mortal have put on immortality, and God is having His last laugh (that’s in this chapter, too, by the way, if you ever have one of those days where you just need to know that God will laugh at the wicked. Laugh.) In that Day, there’s a guarantee that every Christian will be wealthy, healthy, and reigning with Christ. In actuality.

But for all of those times down here on planet Earth, when I start to wonder why we’re imprisoned and killed, poor and starving, serving as the low man on the totem pole, or whatever, it’s nice to read this:

“Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord sustains the righteous.”

Nothing like a little perspective to make sense of theology and real life. Nothing like stepping back, away from Time, and realizing that the Lord holds all of this together, and He holds us — in suffering and trials, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in want — in His loving hands.

That is all the overcomer I need to be.

(Perhaps tomorrow I will continue on in this chapter. After all, we’re only halfway through, and right ahead is, “The steps of a man are established by the Lord…” How good is that to hear?)

be mine.

I love Valentine’s Day, which you probably could guess if you happen to read any of my sisters’ blogs. Growing up, this day of cards and cookies, hearts and flowers, was always celebrated with a family meal. We’ve had Valentine’s Day breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner — time of day didn’t matter; what did matter was that we were all there, together. It never took much to make it special: a pink tablecloth, and lacy doily on the platter, a few foil-wrapped chocolates and a red-enveloped card at each place setting. That, and the excitement of taking a special moment to say I love you.

This year was our first real family Valentine’s Day meal. Last year, we shared the celebration with my family, which was fun, and Jameson was too much of an infant to care one way or the other.

But this year, with his usual enthusiasm for and perception of the festive and special, he took great delight in watching me cut out hearts and change the tapers to pink ones. He especially loved scribbling with red crayon on a valentine for his daddy (and when I wrote the message, “Hugs and Kisses, Jameson,” he grabbed the card and gave it a big kiss. Aww!)

On Thursday evening, our meal was simple — just pancakes and strawberries — but he was oh-so excited when we put him in chair at a table with lit candles, a special tablecloth, and a cup of cookies and valentine at his plate. His eyes glowed. Special effort is not lost on him, that’s for sure.

We had Valentine’s Day redux last night — a fancy meal with our friends, Jared and Andrea. Baked brie, mixed greens with apples and candied walnuts, pork loin with port fig sauce, roasted new potatoes, carrots a la Kevin, and chocolate cake with ganache and raspberry sauce. Yum, yum. But mostly, a special evening of sharing friendship. It was very nice.

*****

I’m excited about passing on the traditions of Valentine’s Day that I grew up with. It was always a celebration of love for one another, and especially of our parents for each of us. I never (and I mean, never) understood all of the single people bemoaning how depressing a holiday it is, or cynically mocking it as a Hallmark money-making venture, or all of the commiserating that goes on each year. I was never less content with being a single daughter on Valentine’s Day; if anything, I felt especially loved and appreciated and fulfilled. And I tend to think that’s an awfully good New Testament take on the holiday.

glorious maker

I needed to read this yesterday.

Sometimes I get so used to thinking of my daily tasks being worship to God, that I begin to think God is small and mundane.

And it’s supposed to be just opposite: that a great and glorious God would care and be honored by my daily worship doesn’t make Him small; it makes laundry amazing… and Him all the more so for gracing my little moments with the Beauty that heaven itself cannot contain.