Mourning

A groan, the wrenching sound
of a heart torn out,
shredded…
arms lifted skyward 
in the still of night,
begging...
tears pumped profusely
from the soul,
sodden...

The future disintegrates.
My crumpled dreams are 
thrown away.
I’m a discarded quarry,
scraped until I’m bare.
Where are you???

Hush child!  Be still.
Know that I am God.
I hold you close.
My “where” is all around you,
with you in your pain,
loving you.

I’m underneath you,
carrying you when 
your knees buckle;
behind you every moment,
defending your bare back
tenderly;

out in front, scouting ahead,
sweeping other dangers
from the path;
beside you, gripping
your hand, so you won’t slip,
or stumbling, fall;

and best of all, inside you,
where my peace is whispering
in that still voice
which you will hear,
eventually, when sobbing
is exhausted
and silence spreads
to let my breath brush balm
on all your hurts.

Hush, beloved daughter.
Your tears are kept as treasure,
reflecting
rainbows all around
as I smile on you,
even in the dark.

Jesus said, in the first beatitude, that we gain spiritual happiness when we admit our spiritual poverty and walk with him in his Kingdom. So why does he continue his teaching by talking about mourning?

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matt. 5:4 NET)

The word used here, πενθοῦντες, is a present active participle: “those who are mourning” right now. Mourning is deep grief caused by something serious. As the second step in this path to spiritual maturity, it does complement the realization of spiritual poverty that precedes it. As I said last week in the story of how the Lord revealed my need to give him total control, I did shed tears over my condition. This next step addresses that mourning with what is called a “reversal”, a complete change of situation. “The beatitudes and the reversals that accompany them serve in the sermon as an invitation to enter into God’s care, because one can know God cares for those who turn to him.” (NET note, Mat. 5:4)

Think back to a time when you became overwhelmed with sorrow at your own failure, a serious misstep. That is contrition, a key element in our turning around, changing direction. When we bring that to our loving Lord, he assures us that we are forgiven, that his love covers our sin.

This can also refer to grief that is caused by seeing injustice and evil in the world, or that heartbreak you feel when someone you love (your child, your mate, a close friend, a Christian leader you have trusted) falls. In this broken world, that can happen, and in the dark moment of mourning we can wonder where God is (as in the last line of the heartcry in the poem above).

When I wrote this lament, I was in that place of deep hurt and despair. And it was not the only time I found myself there. When someone you count on strays, and deceives you, there is grief.

One day a national pastor that I trusted came to share with me his suspicion that another coworker of ours (we’ll call him “S”) was being unfaithful to his wife, hiding it from us. I was startled, although there had been times when it seemed that he had not progressed as much in his faith as we had hoped. We set up a test, following a clue to where his alleged mistress lived. She was cooking in her courtyard, and claimed she had not seen S at all. But as we sat there, waiting, the pastor dialed the man’s phone number, and we heard the phone ring in the hut behind us. Later, when we delved deeper, we found multiple instances of deceit and taking advantage of our trust. Cutting off our working relationship with S was the right thing to do, but it made our hearts bleed. We were mourning this injustice to his wife and kids as well as to the ministry and the dishonor it threw at our Master. And we mourned over his spiritual state, which was shown up as pretense. He showed no contrition.

Jesus felt that grief too:  he wept over the state of Jerusalem. The psalmist wept, crying out to God: “Tears stream down from my eyes, because people do not keep your law.” (Ps. 119:136 NET)

But here in the second beatitude Jesus promises comfort to those who mourn. Sometimes we need to wait for that ultimate consolation that will come when he makes everything new and wipes away all tears from our eyes.

Meanwhile, even in our life here and now there is a mysterious process through which our Lord brings confidence in him and equips us to deal with “godly sorrow.” As Matthew Henry says, “in gracious mourning the heart has a serious joy, a secret satisfaction, which a stranger does not intermeddle with. They are blessed, for they are like the Lord Jesus, who was a man of sorrows, and of whom we never read that he laughed, but often that he wept.”[1]  

Right now I think of the sorrow that so many Ukrainians are feeling, seeing their land attacked, loved ones killed. People who minister there, whether currently in or out of the country, are mourning over refugees who have left all behind, families separated, loved ones in great danger. We could list many other countries where the massacres continue, whether done by terrorists, jihadists, criminal gangs or autocratic governments.

Feeling that deep pain is legitimate. But let us not forget that Jesus promises comfort to those who mourn, a consolation that comes from our confidence in God and the way that he has proven his lovingkindness for centuries:

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Cor. 1:3 NET)

I look back at the sad case of S, our national coworker, and yet I am comforted in knowing that his wife stayed true to the Lord to the end of her life. In addition, to our astonishment, right then the Lord supplied another person to our ministry team to take S’s place, someone completely trustworthy and with a passion to serve the Lord in the specific way needed

Our Lord is indeed the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort.

[1] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 1629.

That Day He Took Control

Frustrated with my habit of sliding
two steps off the path, and always hiding
the fact that no matter how hard I tried,
I was not faithfully following you,

I finally let tears come and wash away doubt:
I knew on my own I could not figure out 
what walking with you was really about.
And that was when you came through.

You said that in order to stay the course,
I would have to rely on your spiritual force
that could take control, now that remorse
had opened me up to this cleansing.

So since then I’ve walked with you day by day,
not letting anything turn me away
because you rule, and I’ve chosen to stay
attached deeply to you, my true Lord.

Fifty-six years ago – I think it was February or March – I was sitting on a wooden bench in church, in Ferkessédougou, Côte d’Ivoire. My family had recently come back from a home assignment in the U.S.; I had completed the first semester of seventh grade there. Rather than try to adapt back to boarding school in the middle of a semester, we had decided to just be at home the rest of that school year. It became a critical turning point for me, a place where I had to put an ebenezer – a stone of remembrance.

I had been a believer since I was little, one of those kids who grew up knowing from the beginning that Jesus is the Savior, that God loves us. Family devotions had planted the Word in my heart. During the previous year, while attending church in the U.S., I had even declared my faith publicly by being baptized. But through those years I also battled straying, sliding backwards, especially as a “tween.”

Having that downtime at home gave me a moment to really think some things through. Maybe it should not have startled me that as I sat in church, struggling to get my French back in line so that I could follow the message, I began to really check in with the Lord. I was so tired of my back-and-forth walk as a believer. Increased maturity gave me more insight into why I was struggling so: I had not really let the Lord take over as my Boss. Humbled, sad, I admitted it and told him that this time I was giving in and would no longer slip away. I really meant it!

That was the beginning of a consistent lifelong walk, holding onto him and counting on him holding onto me. What made the difference? It was my admission that I did not have it in me to do this alone. That fits with what Jesus said is the foundational step to being a real Kingdom citizen:

               Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:3 NIV)

Being “poor in spirit” means recognizing you are spiritually destitute, and only God’s gracious mercy can relieve this.[1] I had come to that point, throwing myself into his arms for help. His response was amazing.

He gave me hunger to know him, and showed me books on missionary bookshelves that encouraged new growth. He provided dorm parents the next year, for 8th grade, who truly discipled us (Don and Glenn Bigelow). Uncle Don did devotions for us “Bees” (the 7th and 8th graders) using the Phillips New Testament translation. Suddenly the Scriptures were relevant, easy to understand and apply.

I’m not saying I was perfect – far from it! It is just that the journey has continued, with the One in charge grabbing me and correcting my walk when I stumble, healing hurts, and strengthening me by always being with me, always at work.

This year I am participating in a Sermon on the Mount memorization project associated with the mission we served with, WorldVenture. As our guide Peter Persson (another retiree) has shared his research findings regularly, it has pushed me to dig in deeper too.

One thing that several great commentators have made clear is that this first Beatitude provides the starting point for progression to the other character traits that Jesus underlined. Knowing one’s own need to depend on the Master, the Lord, for spiritual growth and strength is where we need to begin. Then as we get to know him better and better, he matures us spiritually and our character develops the way he desires.

We can tell it is what he desires because he characterizes each step as those who are “blessed.” Since this has a rather vague meaning in our modern world, the various word studies show that it means one is happy due to their relationship to God. Here is one dictionary definition that really speaks to me:

In the Old Testament the idea involves more of outward prosperity than in the New Testament, yet it almost universally occurs in connections which emphasize, as its principal element, a sense of God’s approval founded in righteousness which rests ultimately on love to God.[2]

As we have continued reading Renovated, by Jim Wilder and Dallas Willard, in our family devotions, this key aspect of developing a loving attachment to God has made so much sense to us. His love for us reaches out to us, and as we get to know him better and better we love him too, increasingly. As a result we can actually become more like him.  His kingdom is near – right here, actually, where he rules. We walk in it, learning to live out its ethics even now.

I find this deeply encouraging. We call out to him, and when he “hears” it means that he answers. He comes to us and pulls us out of our slough of despond, out of our inconsistent efforts to transform ourselves. He makes us “blessed” or “happy” in the spiritual dimension in which we have been longing to thrive, once we have recognized our poverty in that area and our dependence on him. As David said in Psalm 40:

16 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you! May those who love to experience your deliverance say continually,”May the LORD be praised! I am oppressed and needy! May the Lord pay attention to me! You are my helper and my deliverer! O my God, do not delay! (Ps. 40:1 NET)

[1] Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 1 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887), 36.

[2] Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 1 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887), 35.

Living Together with Christ

more and more at home
he is
entering with glad assurance
no longer knocking and
wondering if I will see him as
interruption
intrusion
guest 
who puts me on my toes
my best behavior 
politeness
with an edge of tension
whisking litter out of sight
swabbing the sink
shutting a bedroom door
mess
out of sight
out of mind

I used to make sure
I paid attention
at the right times
served tea
observed the niceties
we were friends
but hardly intimate
coworkers
but with schedules
daytimers and appointments
lots of lists

he was in
but not all the way

then came pain
and long confusion
followed by bleeding
distress
hurt
and
(open as never before)
I threw myself at him
no more appointments
just whenever
need grabbed my heart
and tears could not be dammed
I needed him
and every time I looked
he was still there
in my home
waiting in the chair
or walking by me
in the hall
or by my bed at night

and I forgot to shut the doors
(he knew anyway)
and I messed up on the tea
so he served me
and starting out the day
we reserved 
time for us
because it's precious
not because we "should"
shut the outer door
sit close and talk
listen
and be held

we are at home
it happened
when I opened up
in desperation
yes
and mislaid protocol

and now
the thought of being home
with him
turns on the lamps
and stokes the fire
my heart burns warm
and I run fearlessly
to sit by him
assured of his glad welcome
delight
leaping into his eyes
to have me seek him out
for conversation
or just some quiet
together
where deep unspoken yearnings
move before his eyes
and he
(who knows them all already)
sees
and prays for me
and pours new strength
into my inner being

pain
you were my friend
causing me to throw
caution to the wind
and live where it matters
with my Lifegiver
Lifemate
Lover
trusting him
and so he is at home

When you live with someone, sharing a home, you get to know them in a whole new way. You bump into each other in the laundry room, or the hallway, on the porch or in the yard. You can hear each other’s choice of music or movies. You know their tolerance of noise, their work ethic, and how they spend their days off. Do they clean up their messes? Are they helpful?

When we returned to the U.S. for a home assignment in 1995 and needed a place to live, our pastor and his wife offered us their mother-in-law basement apartment. That turned out to be a wonderful way for our families, adults and kids, to get to know each other. Their daughter, Meghan, and our daughter Ariane even called themselves “fake sisters” from that time forward! A similar offer gave us a home for a year when we were evacuated from civil war and had no place of our own yet.

Likewise, in Côte d’Ivoire, there were two occasions when a pastor needed temporary housing for himself and his family. Recently graduated from pastoral training and assigned to a certain village, he did not yet have the pieces in place for a home. Those two families became “family” to us, living with us for over a year, sharing in cooking, childcare, and praying together. We grew much closer than we ever could have without living together.

Often when we think of “living together with Christ” our minds leap to the future, to our heavenly home. But the truth is that in the following verses, “life with him” is actually referring to walking with him daily here on earth as well, sharing “home” and building closeness. Let’s contemplate the ramifications:

He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. (1 Thess. 5:10 NIV)

“Whether awake or asleep” – in other words, in this life or after death – we are able to actually live with him because of the price he paid. Day in and day out he is right there, right here with us.

Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,12 continue to live your lives13 in him, (Col. 2:6 NET)

13 tn The present imperative περιπατεῖτε (peripateite) implies, in this context, a continuation of something already begun.  . . . The verb is used literally to refer to a person “walking” and is thus used metaphorically (i.e., ethically) to refer to the way a person lives his or her life.

This translation note underlines the effect that living together will have on us. It changes us, and this is shown in our behavior.

Living with those two Nyarafolo families in our home with us, two different years, changed our understanding of their passion for ministry, of extended family dynamics, and of what mattered most to them. We learned that playing with their children, dancing with a toddler, holding a crying baby, sharing meals and praying together built intimacy, just as much as conversation did. They reciprocated by helping with cooking and drawing water from the well, explaining cultural challenges, encouraging us. We became increasingly like a big extended family with multiple shared experiences and passions. It was reciprocity (a high cultural value there) lived out in concrete ways.

The spiritual discipline of “practicing the Presence” can seem abstract to us. What we need to realize is that our Lord is with us whether we are aware of it or not. He is everywhere in the world, but when it comes to his own treasured ones the reality is intensely personal. he actually makes his home in us and wants us to make our home in him!

Remain9 in me, and I will remain in you (Jn. 15:4 NET)           9 tn Or “Reside.”

Reside in him, and he will reside in us. Could it be any more intimate than that? Life together with the Lord is actually sharing our most intimate inner spaces all the time. When we build awareness of that, practicing tuning in to his Presence, it changes us, just like the example of sharing a home with other humans does.

 –We are safe, never left alone or unprotected.

 –When someone is that close, we do our best not to offend them; we maintain peace.

— We care about what matters to them.

–We can hear our housemate laugh, or shout a warning (“there’s a snake in the kitchen!”).

–We hear a child cry and we both rush to see what’s up. Our hearts are united.

 –When there is challenging work to do, we can do it together.

A friend recently told me that her counselor has a timely question that she poses when she has just shared about some difficult moment: “Where was God right then?” What a great way to be reminded of his constant nearness!

When we are about to make a phone call and are not really sure how the conversation will go, we can whisper to our Best Friend and Counselor, “Please help me know what to say.”

When we start peeling Granny Smith apples to make a special pie for loved ones, we can thank him for providing such an extraordinary flavor and this opportunity to share it.

When we hear gunshots in the neighborhood, we can reach for his hand and know that he can handle this.

When we find out we need surgery, we can remember that he is there inside us, beside us, all around us, even when we go under anesthesia.

Living together with Jesus is one of the most astounding privileges we have! We live with the King of Everything! King, yes, and our Friend. We walk life’s path with the best Guide ever! We share our most intimate space with the One we can trust, the One we can rely on to show us how to deal with messes and how to make life ever more beautiful. This is not a hardship but a totally undeserved gift. There is no better Lifemate.

He says, “I am with you, always.”  I say, “I am his, and he is mine!”

War, and the Place of Protection

Living inside Your love
I move within
a world protected
not that I am
never wounded
but that you
keep me safe
from ultimate harm
from all malignant
and pernicious evil

inside the loving kindness
of your heart
I’m held where 
goodness is
my atmosphere,
your tenderness the song
that plays incessantly
and heals me,
fills me with new hope
for this poor world

When I wrote the poem above, it was August 2002. I did not know it then, but looking back I can see that the Lord was preparing me for September, when war would break out in Côte d’Ivoire and it would seem that evil was winning.

Glenn and I had signed up for a workshop in Bouake, the second largest city and in the center of the country. Our son Bryn, 15, was taking 10th grade online, so we thought leaving him with a coworker in Ferke would be best for him. But the night before we left he begged not be left. Both Glenn and I had been busy with many other commitments, and he wanted to be with us, whatever that might mean. That, too, was the Lord preparing the way before us.

The workshop was training missionaries to facilitate the Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills Workshop. Eighteen of us were there, from several West African countries, being trained by three instructors skilled in member care. But then, on September 19th, we heard gunfire that seemed to be coming down the main road toward the SIL conference center where we were housed. We were having breakfast, preparing for the day, and shrugged off the noise as probably an indication that the city police had at last located a band of robbers that had been active in the city for months. Then one of the other trainees came in with her radio in hand. The morning news was saying that mutinous soldiers were attacking at least three cities in the country! What would happen now?

Fortunately our instructors were also trained in crisis management. We were told what to do “if” danger came near. Two different times, mortars blasted and zoomed for hours over the three-story building where we were housed, targeting government soldiers on the other side of the courtyard. Following instruction, we lined the second-floor hallway of the building, sitting on the cement floor, waiting for the blasts to end. Our one refuge was prayer, trusting the love of our Lord and Master, knowing he was with us too. We ended up being marooned in that courtyard with war ongoing in the city for eight days, when finally a 24-hour ceasefire was arranged to give foreigners who had passports the right to exit the city.

That is a very short summary of that tense week, when not only was our future up in the air but also the future of this loved country and of dear coworkers and national friends, scattered elsewhere. It was finally decided that we needed to evacuate Côte d’Ivoire, and it was three years before we could return – going back into a divided country with the rebels still in charge of the region where we lived.

Having been in a war zone, and having left Bouake with other foreigners while wondering what the future would be for the young people lining the roads and watching us leave while they could not, I empathize with Ukrainian Christians who are crying out to God for protection and for peace in their country. Meanwhile, the battle rages and is closer and closer to the major city. They cannot know if their Father’s choice will be to save them, or take them through tough new times, or whether he will call them Home. But they cry out to him, remembering his love and his sovereignty. They are already living in the kingdom of heaven, under his rule.

God is love, and living together with him in the here and now of troubled times is the only sure place of peace. In that month before the war broke out in 2002, what I was hearing from the Lord (and wrote in that poem) was preparation for the coming terror. I would still deal with fear! Would my son be hurt? Would my sister and her family, still up north in Ferke, be shot? Would my best Ivorien friends have safety in their scattered places – would they have food and water? The one thing that was not in jeopardy was God’s love and the truth that he will accomplish his purposes, even though that may not be the way we would have hoped. He is in charge, and he alone knows the future. When suffering and hardship comes, he will still be living together with his children, guiding them and speaking to them. And his love will finally, in his timing, bring them home to live forever with him in peace where no evil can come near them.

 Knowing this, we pray for Ukraine, and especially for our brothers and sisters there. “Christianity Today” is updating its online news on Ukraine regularly as it hears from pastors and other Christian leaders there. This word from Vasyl Ostryi, a pastor at Irpin Bible Church 18 miles northwest of Kyiv and a Kyiv Theological Seminary (KTS) professor of youth ministry, really hits home:

“When this is over, the citizens of Kyiv will remember how Christians have responded in their time of need,” he wrote for The Gospel Coalition. “We will shelter the weak, serve the suffering, and mend the broken. And as we do, we offer the unshakable hope of Christ and his gospel.” (https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/february/russia-ukraine-invasion-putin-war-christian-churches-prayer.html)

“Unshakeable hope”! Yes, this is what we can cling to in any tough time, whether it is war or crime or pandemic or other personal distress that is changing our life story. We Jesus-followers always live inside his lovingkindness, because he has promised to always be with us, “even to the end of the world.” We cannot be separated from him. His life in us holds us firm and gives us the ability to reach out in love to the weak, the suffering, the broken.

Even during that time of waiting for release from our hiding place in Bouake, God gave us a way to help some people suffering, with no protection from society: Liberian refugees. They came asking for a safe place to stay, since they were already being targeted by some as perhaps fomenting or participating in the attacks all around the city. We were able to find ways to keep them sheltered and fed, hidden away in the classroom/dining building, for at least a few days. What happened to them when we needed to leave? We don’t know. But we heard that at least some of them reached safety.

Let’s join our brothers and sisters in Ukraine in their prayers for their country, for their families, and for opportunities to share the love of their Master. Another example is this prayer also on the “Christianity Today” digital website: “Prayer requests from Donetsk: “First, to stop the aggressor. But then for peace of mind, to respond with Christian character and not from human hate.”

And may we live the same way, wherever we are today, offering help and healing to those who need it, those the Lord puts on our hearts or in our path. Christians will be salt and light in their communities when they love their neighbors and show mercy, no matter what is going on. May it be so!

(photo from http://www.pexels.com)

Longing for Quiet

The words come crashing in
like chattering kids.
They're only in my head
but they are deafening.

I cannot stem the tide.
A billion babblings 
jostle for position.
One sinks, one bubbles up.

He says, "Be silent,"
and I long for quiet
to listen for his voice,
to know that he is God.

I'm desperate to hear him
through the clatter,
within static and
underneath the noise,

Somewhere at a center point
is silence, deep inside
my cluttered cave.
And he is there.

Yes, the words came crashing in, when all I wanted was silence.  I wrote this poem when I was still in in ministry in Côte d’Ivoire. The workweek was full of Bible translation studies, linguistic challenges and exegetical discussions as well as hours of interaction with friends, especially nationals. We often had visitors until 8 p.m. or later each evening, or meetings we needed to attend.  Even when sleeping, my dreams would swirl around language enigmas or discoveries.

I desperately needed to find a way to let go of those preoccupations and just be quiet, waiting. Several books on spiritual growth had urged the practice of solitude and silence as a way to pursue giving better attention to the Lord’s voice. One example in the book Can You Hear Me? Tuning in to the God Who Speaks, by Brad Jersak, had really convicted me of my lack of attention in that area: how would you feel if someone you love were to call you regularly but just blab the whole time, never letting you ask a question or share anything? Yet that is what prayer usually is like! It had been hard enough just to carve out daily Bible reading and prayer. How could I find space for silence, away from all the demands of ministry and community, a place to actually listen?

I know this is an issue for many of you, too. It is tough to develop enough patience to just sit quietly without “accomplishing” anything on a to-do list, or to leave the phone on silent. And there are the anxieties raised by the daily news, or by family issues.  I’ve shared before that while in translation ministry, eventually I had to carve out a three-hour space, 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., on Saturday mornings when I would sit alone in my courtyard (under the golden rain trees, or in the big gazebo if it was raining). I told coworkers not to interrupt me unless it was really urgent. And for me, it took at least an hour, often more, for my inner being to be released from its concerns and preoccupations. After much practice, it was then that I began to sense certain impressions that I knew were from the Lord. I had a special journal at hand and would write what I was hearing. For me, it often came out in free-verse poetry, wording that I had not anticipated. Sometimes it was a lesson that nature was modeling for me, or an encouragement to contact someone, change direction, or study a certain part of Scripture etc. The peace that would come with that message confirmed it was from Abba. I was so grateful!

As I said, it did take practice. Now my surroundings have changed and I have had to discover new ways to continue listening. Usually it is in our rehabbed attic, my Skyhouse nook. When the weather is not so cold as now, I have sometimes driven the car to a sheltered spot in a park – I love going to Belle Isle, where I can sit by the river. What works for you? How do you find space to just be quiet with the Lord, open and ready to listen?  I would love to hear from you. We are unique individuals with different environments and communities. But our loving Father is always present. He loves to communicate with us. He will find the best way for each one of his children. We just need to be silent and listen.

You can find my book of poetry on the discipline of listening, When He Whispers: Learning to Listen on the Journey, at the following marketplaces:

Direct from the publisher, WestBow Press: https://www.westbowpress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/824658-when-he-whispers

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/When-He-Whispers-Learning-Journey/dp/1664224106/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=when+he+whispers+learning+to+listen+on+the+journey&link_code=qs&qid=1620606002&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-he-whispers-linnea-boese/1139300248?ean=9781664224100

Christian Book Distributors: https://www.christianbook.com/when-whispers-learning-listen-the-journey/linnea-boese/9781664224100

Loving Listening

Your lovingkindness wraps me up,
welcoming me with arms open wide
to hold me, grace pouring over me;
no, I don’t deserve this.

You listen to me, lovingly
letting me pour out to you
my worries and concerns.
I’m comforted, secure.

We meet there in the middle, 
a precious place of peace and joy,
one purpose in your calling me:
to live together with you.

I yearn for lovingkindness,
and eagerly run toward it,
hoping it will course through me
transforming who I am.
             (Ps. 23:6; Jn 15.7; 17:21,26; 2Tim 2:22)

Just think of all the blabbing prayers being offered to God right this minute all around the world. And he hears all of them, listening to the ones that come from those devoted to him (Prov. 15:29). That is one proof of his omnipresence and amazing love that blows me away. He listens.

We cannot listen to everyone at once, but if we are to become like him, a capacity to listen well should indeed be one of our goals. 

“Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy.“(Eph. 4:24 NLT)

Being righteous is being who we ought to be, doing right. Being holy means being set apart, living out the ethics and morals that come with living together with our Lord, citizens of his kingdom.

Hmm – “living together with our Lord” – this is a reference to close companionship. When we live with someone as loving and kind as he is, we naturally becoming increasingly close to them. The loving attachment actually changes us. Think about this:

[Christ] died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thess. 5:1 NIV)

“Living together with him” — this describes each of us attached to him, and to each other, in life on earth as well as after leaving this world. This truth has been underlined for me for years, but this year more than ever. I am participating in a group memorizing the Sermon on the Mount, and it has led me to read the deep writings of Martin Lloyd Jones and Dallas Willard on those passages. What the Word says, and what these authors keep repeating, is that knowing and loving the Lord our God is indeed the first commandment, the essential one for our growth in becoming those blessed people that Jesus listed in the Beatitudes. It is not an instantaneous fix, either, but a progressive kind of maturation as we get to know the Lord better and better. It’s like the way that I know my husband Glenn much better now than I did when I married him! Building an ever deeper conversation and daily walk with the Lord means I get to know him better, which leads to ongoing progress in maturing spiritually. And that changes what I view as important in my relationships with others.

That verse in 1 Thessalonians says that as a result of living with Christ, we should be encouraging each other, building each other up. Learning to truly listen to someone is a key way to to do this, but many of us are not very skilled in doing that well. We tend to interrupt or try to offer a quick fix. Sometimes we assume that we know things about a person that we actually have not yet given them space to explain. If we listen well, first, and wait for understanding to grow, then we can offer words that are appropriate and even offer that “unmerited favor” that is grace:

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, (Jas. 1:19 NIV)

You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Eph. 4:29 NET)

When I was going through a period of loneliness during our years in Côte d’Ivoire, I met a woman from another mission who had recently arrived in Abidjan, a major city that we sometimes visited. I was at a church there one Sunday, and my 3-year-old got too squirmy to be able to sit quietly. I took him outside, and there I met Janet, walking her 3-year-old around. We began to share our life stories. A very special connection began! And even though we only saw each other once in a while, months apart, I knew I now had a safe place for the kind of encouragement I needed as I shared my journey and listened to hers. We learned from each other.

What made the difference? Someone was listening to me without judging me, but empathizing and praying with me.. I had a mature friend with the same devotion to Christ as me, who also humbly shared what she was learning.

Developing these qualities of being an encourager who listens well takes time for most of us. It is part of our process of maturing as we keep on growing in attachment love for our Lord, letting him direct us in our conversations.

And then, of course, it can also be that the Lord is telling us that there is someone who is truly in need of a safe friend right now. An incident here in my Detroit neighborhood showed me that I need to pay attention to him when he prompts me to go offer a loving moment to someone.

I was making a cup of tea in my kitchen but could not stop thinking about the widow who lived across the street. She was also a believer and our times of connection in the past had been sweet. But I had been traveling and hadn’t seen her for a while.

I set my cup down and walked over to her house. After knocking repeatedly and trying to get the doorbell to ring, I wondered if this was really a good time. I could hear television noise; maybe that was drowning out my knock. Just as I was ready to leave, the tv was turned off and I heard sobbing. Now what should I do? I knocked again, and this time I heard footsteps and the door was opened. When my neighbor saw me she pulled me in, hugged me and kept sobbing in my arms. When we sat down she shared that this was the date of her husband’s birthday, the first time it had shown up since he passed away. I let her pour out her grief.

That was all the Lord wanted from me that moment: to listen lovingly. I was so glad I had obeyed the prompt!

If we prioritize growing in our intimacy with God, and recognizing his voice and his prompts, it will become a way to better fulfill the second commandment: to love that person next to us in our community. Listening may be just what they need.

Let’s be quick to listen, just like our Lord, our loving Father!

When a Handhold Makes All the Difference

You hold my hand, you love me:
King of this whole world, you lead me,
making my right hand your chosen tool
so that each act becomes
a holy service
in your master plan.

You hold my hand, you love me:
Lover of my soul, you treasure me
and nurture every gifting given
and make each weakness
a new way 
to intervene with strength.

You hold my hand, you love me:
Father-love that cares for me
that clears the rubbish from the path
and grasps me tight
when gale-force winds 
would sweep me off my feet.

You hold my hand, you love me:
Spirit-love that fills me up
and squeezes out the selfishness
so that instead your love and joy
reach out with grace
to spread your peace.

One of my favorite childhood memories is actually more like a GIF, a movement that happened over and over, time after time: my Dad’s hand reaching down to mine. He would grasp my hand, my fingers would then wind around a couple of his his fingers in return (the most I could hold on to), and off we would go. He had very long legs, so I had to scramble to keep up. But I was secure. Sometimes he was holding me so that I would not get lost in a crowd, in an airport or a store. Other times he just wanted to communicate that father-love that was so precious as we walked down a path.

That picture of safety in a father’s grip is easy to relate to, if you’ve had a good father. One that was always harder for me to grasp was the Scripture’s motif of God holding his loved one’s right hand. Why specify that right hand? Usually it is God’s right hand that is the focus. It is the hand by which he acted, the image of power and rescue:

Your right hand, LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, LORD, shattered the enemy. (Exod. 15:6 NIV)

Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. (Ps. 17:7 NIV)

5 You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great. (Ps. 18:35 NIV)

. . . even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Ps. 139:10 NIV)

In many parts of the world, this imagery of the right hand being the “good hand” (the left hand reserved for dirty work) is still alive and active. It was definitely viewed that way in Nyarafolo country in Côte d’Ivoire. So when a father reaches out to hold you by his right hand, you are truly safe.

Your own right hand is made for good activity, too, in the Scriptures. When God holds your right hand, he is going to help you accomplish what is before you:

For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. (Isa. 41:13 NIV) . . .See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. (Isa. 41:15 NIV)

In these verses God is making his people valiant, successful in fighting against evil. His presence at our active side does take away our fear so that we can be strong:

I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Ps. 16:8 NIV)

Yet I am always with you [Lord]; you hold me by my right hand. (Ps. 73:23 NIV)

Maybe you are left-handed. Don’t feel left out!  The Scriptures are using imagery that was meaningful to the cultures in which they were spoken. Whichever hand is the one you mostly use for action, think of God holding that hand, strengthening it, and guiding it so that it can do what he wants it to do.

Maybe, like me, you can remember your mother holding your hand with her hand as you grasped an electric beater for the first time, making sure you could manage it well. Or maybe it was Dad’s firm hand on yours to tighten your grip when you were finding yourself too weak to turn a testy jar lid. Those hands showed you how to do something, and added their strength to yours.

When our Lord holds our right hand, we are empowered – not to just follow our own whims, but to accomplish what he has in mind.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isa. 41:10 NIV)

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.  (2 Thess. 2:16 NIV)

Another memory with GIF replay in my mind is when one of my parents said, “Linn, would you please hold your little brother’s hand as we cross the street!”

Just has I needed to reach out lovingly to protect my sibling, Jesus wants us to reach out in love to our brothers and sisters in His family. The command he gave that tells us succinctly what he wants us to live out is this:

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (Jn. 15:12 NIV)

How did he love us? He gave himself for us!

So picture yourself walking your life path firmly attached to God, our Lord and Father and Savior. He is holding you by your hand of action, teaching you how to do what you should, giving you strength to do it, pouring his love into you so that it flows out to others. His commands may seem way beyond our paygrade and not at all what we would naturally think of doing, but with him holding our hand by his powerful hand, it is much harder to run off and do our own thing. Our fingers wrapped around his, we can stay on the path he is walking, do what he wants.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Mic. 6:8 NIV)

Just Cling!

Cling to the Vine!
Just cling, cells interlocked,
bark intact, and let the sap flow:
slowly but surely through winter chill,
tingling gently, keeping you alive;
vibrantly pouring when summer sun
saturates the world with heat; 
a constant feeding in the sleep 
of night. Rest, but cling.

“Cling!” Jesus said. “Don’t let go! If you do, it’s over!” He could not have been clearer about how essential it is to cling to him.

“Remain in me. as I also remain in you!” (John 15:4)

 If we do that, we are like the fruitful branch on the vine that stays vibrant and will soon have grapes hanging from it. The life-giving sap flows from the trunk, the center of everything and source of nutrition, into the branches. If the branch falls off, whipped by the wind or struck by an animal, it withers and dies. Jesus underlined the importance of staying deeply attached to him – clinging to him – or letting go and just shriveling up.

Attachment theory has become one of the core tenets of psychology. Look it up and you can find pages of intriguing information. One of the foundational elements is what happens during the first two years of a child’s life. If that baby comes to know their mother or other primary caregiver as a safe place, with secure bonding to them from the time of birth, they are able to develop healthy emotional and psychological health. They learn to trust the caregiver who responds to their needs and provides loving touch, like cuddling or carrying the baby close to them. I was very close to my dear mother, but I was also deeply attached to my grandmother. She lived with us and took care of me while Mom taught nursing and Dad finished his medical training. When I was two years old our family left the U.S. for Africa, only returning every four years. But each time we were back, I loved being reunited with Grandma Slater. The attachment that I’d formed as a baby held firm, showing up in a very special relationship.

During the two years right after Glenn and I graduated from university, already married, we were living in Pontiac just a few miles from Grandma. She could not drive, so once a week I spent a day with her to take her shopping and then to use her washing machine. Those hours together further cemented our bonding. When I would arrive she was usually sitting at her table with a cup of hot water, reading her Bible and writing notes in a notebook. Those were challenging years of finishing training, paying off debts and dealing with the loss of our first baby in the womb. Her love for the Lord, and for me, was solid support that I needed.

Back to the imagery of the vine and the branches: Jesus made it very clear that the vital energy of the sap that would keep a branch strong and fruitful was, translated to human terms, love.

4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. , , , As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love..  (Jn. 15:4, 9-10 NIV)

The Father’s love was Jesus’ constant sustenance, and he tells us – his beloved disciples — to participate in that current of love too. To have it we need to “remain” in him: stay securely attached to him, so that his essential love flows into us. Then we can be “fruitful,” living out that sustaining love by loving others. That, he says, is his command, the fruit that he demonstrates that we belong to him!

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (Jn. 15:12-13 NIV)

What kind of love does he have for us? He says it is completely self-giving. The most comprehensive word for it is the Hebrew hesed. Compare the English translations and you will see how translators need two words or a compound to come close to its meaning: unfailing love, loyal love, faithful love, steadfast love, lovingkindness.

If we are drinking in that love daily, staying firmly attached to our Lord like a clinging branch, we will become healthy friends of his (cf. John 15:14), actively loving each other and those in our community. Dehydration, what happens when the attachment is broken, is deadly, he says.

It is essential that we maintain that close connection! Those of us who have access to his Word in our own language need to keep delving into it to know him better and better and understand his commands. Prayer then grows into two-way conversation. One good thing I learned at boarding school, from age 10 to 15, was to set aside time each morning to read the Word. A bell would ring before breakfast, and all had to become quiet for 20 minutes. Not everyone really grabbed their Bible. But as I grew in my faith, that time became a precious pre-breakfast feast that I needed, and the habit stuck. The year that I was in eighth grade my dorm parents, Don and Glenna Bigelow, allowed us older kids in the dorm to rise with the sun on Saturdays, before the get-up bell would ring. We could go outdoors and spend time with the Lord there. I loved that freedom of walking in the wet grass with the birds, and learning to listen to the Lord as I poured out my concerns to him. It was truly formational.

This bonding to the Lord starts with a one-time action of choosing to follow him but must become a lifelong love-based attachment. May his love be our safe place and strengthening nourishment, overflowing to those around us!

Making Every Effort

Your Word grips me:
If I really know you, Jesus –
my Lord, Rescuer, Messiah—
then I may actually
participate in who you are,
“the divine nature”!

To be like you
and a member of
your healthy Body,
doing my part,
is what I really want.
So I will try hard,
make every effort!

But without your Spirit
(my guide and comfort)
my efforts come to nothing.
I struggle, hoping that
the gifts you gave me
are enough, But without
direction, I stumble.

I am yours: your daughter,
your servant, your Linnea.
A little finger? An ankle?
An eye, in your Body?
You made me with
a purpose; may I 
live it out, for you!

I need to know you
more and more,
better and better
every day of my life
in order to become
increasingly like you,
following your prompts.

Have you ever worked really really hard at something, doing your best to succeed, only to fail?  I sure have. Let me choose which of the stories inundating me from my past I should share with you, not to wear you out with my distresses.

The one that truly sobered me took place my freshman year at Michigan State University. I had always been a straight-A student. So yes, I hit college running hard with great expectations, with a major in pre-med at that time. (How that changed is another story!) One of the required courses was calculus. Math had always been more challenging to me than any other subject (except P.E.), but I expected to do my “usual”: work hard and succeed. I did put every effort into it that I could. But I got a D grade, just above complete failing!  How could I expect to succeed in my major with that grade dragging me down?

It’s true that I was in a class of 600 students. We were assigned to small study groups, but the instructor for my group was really at a loss as to how to help us. He was a graduate student from a foreign country who obviously had no experience teaching something like calculus. He tried, but we couldn’t understand his accent very well, and his answers to questions did not help me. I couldn’t believe I had done so poorly!

I was dating a really cool guy named Glenn Boese at the time. He was in his sophomore year at a community college and had already taken calculus. He was one of those types who was fine with getting a B; he was not a perfectionist but instead liked to save some time for sports and other fun stuff. When I retook the calculus course to save my grade point, he coached me a few times when he visited on a weekend. Suddenly some very basic key concepts made sense, and I was off and running, feeling out of breath but really working hard – and getting a final grade of A- (3.5).

I learned in a very powerful way that without essential basic knowledge, the rest of the uphill journey was impossible.

This is true of spiritual growth, as well. When I was in Côte d’Ivoire, involved in Nyarafolo Bible translation, my co-translator Moise and I were assigned many of the shorter New Testament epistles to translate as we raced to our finish line. As we worked through the first chapter of 2 Peter, both of us were wowed at the powerful words in the first part of chapter 1, which wraps up its teaching like this:

Therefore, my brothers and sisters,make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Pet. 1:10 NIV)

Try your hardest, it says!  Make every effort you can, because if you do the things listed above, you will never stumble but reach the goal of forever with Christ, with applause!

I was so moved that I began memorizing that section. Even that seemed to take “every effort,” but it also made me meditate on the connections in Peter’s argument. In addition to saying “make every effort” twice, in verses 5 and 10, there is another key to achieving this goal. It is knowing God, and specifically our Lord Jesus. This foundation is underlined in the introduction:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Pet. 1:2 NIV)

Wham-bang! It is very clear that we cannot develop mature spiritual character without knowing our Lord! And this is obviously not just knowing about him, but knowing him as a person. How can this happen? When we want to get to know a fellow human being, we spend time with them in conversation and life activities. Getting to know God requires this as well. We need to be truly connected to him! That was made clearer than ever to me when Moise and I struggled with how to translate “godly” into Nyarafolo. The idea of “piety,” used in most of the French versions we referenced, meant nothing. Then we noticed the rendition in the Francais Courant (kind of “common French”) version that says: “attached to God.” That worked in Nyarafolo, using a strong term that indicates a strong, clinging attachment.

So, his divine power has given us everything we need to live out our attachment to God, by knowing him (my back-translation of part of verse 3).

Recently a friend introduced me to Renovated, by Jim Wilder. He takes the teaching of Dallas Willard about growing in spiritual maturity and explains it using both Scripture and his training in neuroscience. I highly recommend it! One thing that blew me away was his explanation of how attachment love is essential to achieving deep human relationships, and essential in our spiritual maturation as well:

“Attachment love is central to an older path to Christian character. Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) spoke of attachment in a proverb widely attributed to her: ‘We become what we love and who we love shapes who we become.”[1]

This differentiates knowing about God and truly knowing God, which changes us. Attached to him, bonded to him, loving him, his power (v.2) fuels every effort that we make to become like him!

This is how children bond to their parents, and – when it is a healthy attachment – grow up to follow in their footsteps. I know my parents’ lives deeply influenced me that way.

So, with this basic knowledge of him in place, making every effort to add all the qualities he wants to see in us (verses 5-7) will not be mere striving without getting to our goal like that first attempt at succeeding in calculus was for me. His Spirit lives in us. Through conversation with him and through delving into his Word, we can get to know him more and more. Deep attachment to him is that basic piece that will result in increasing maturity and productivity as we press forward to our high calling and reward as we enter life forever with him. May we each live out his purpose for us by growing in our relationship with him, deeply attached!

[1] Jim Wilder, “Neuroscience and Developing Character,” in Renovated: God, Dallas Willard and the Church that Transforms by Jim Wilder  (Shepherd’s House,   NavPress, 2020), 74.

Sustenance in the Cold Dry Wind

The delicate clusters of golden rain,
	their petals showering dry ground,
	wine for the wasps and giant bees,
	sustenance for ants, and for my soul –
the sun rising through haze with joy,
	highlighting intricate branch formations
	soaking the blossoms and mango babes,
	life source for nature, and for this day –
doves silhouetted against the sky,
	perched on bare trees or the slope of thatch,
	calling out love notes with tenderness,
	whipping through morning air, in pairs –
you, Abba, renew me this way,
	the touch of your fingertips on your world,
	the proof of your kind and creative grace,
	your Spirit caressing us in the wind.

My dad was a bird watcher. When we first arrived in Côte d’Ivoire (evacuated from Congo), I remember walking the dusty dry red paths with him, getting used to in this new environment so radically different from the forested Congo mountains, looking up at birds in the trees. Dad told me, “God blessed Congo with amazing plants; here, he has blessed the land with birds.” We were indeed amazed at the variety of colors and bird songs high in the sky and next to us in the parched earth. It was a part of our healing journey, and Dad kept on treasuring all winged things throughout his life. Once the rains came that first year in a new country, he discovered great plant life was there too as the land came to life!

I could never match his knowledge of all the bird species (or that of other missionary friends), but I reveled in the melodies that filled our courtyard in Ferkessédougou each morning and evening after I returned with Glenn as a missionary myself. A chorale of birds accompanied me on those Saturday mornings of solitude under the golden rain trees. This time of year it is “winter” over there, too – no snow, just cold wind off the nighttime desert to the north, and drought. Dust coats the green that is left; most trees have lost their leaves. But then in March the golden rain bursts into bloom, heralding the coming “spring” of mangoes and rains.               

It was all a great picture of God’s goodness to the land and to life on it. He carried it through its annual rest, the dry season wait, and then showered it with blessing. Sound familiar? Here in Michigan we have different weather, and different birds and fruit, but as the seasons change and winter turns to spring, our wait is rewarded.

It is in the middle of the barren times that we practice waiting. In our lives, it may be that we are begging God to bring hope, but there is ongoing suffering in our bodies, our family or close community, or our nation. These words of Jesus recorded by Matthew seem hard to understand:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knock, the door will be opened. (Mat 7:7,8)

And then verses 9-11 throw the challenge back to us: is it normal for any of us parents to give our child a stone when they just asked for bread? Or would we snicker and give them a poisonous reptile instead of the fish they wanted for supper? Only the wicked parent acts like that. We all fail in many ways, but those of us following our Lord do know how to be kind, how to give good gifts to our kids, and that is even true of most parents in the world. Now, to the point: do we not trust our good God to act as our loving Father and kindly answer our prayers with a good gift? What is going on when we wait, and don’t see an answer?

The truth is, this world is broken and bad things happen to good people. Who gets blamed? All too often our fingers point to God. Instead of trusting him to work things out according to his timing and beneficent purpose, we gripe. But God points out that if we know how to be kind to our kids, we should know that our Father God – who is holy, perfect – also is kind and gives good gifts to his kids. We need to think about the reality of what can be involved in good parenting. We might delay giving a phone to our son until he is older and mature enough to handle the responsibility. In the same way, he has a reason for making us wait.

It seems odd that the next verse (12) says:

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

What is the connection here? Instead of reaffirming that God only does what is good, even if his ways are not always easy for us to understand, this is a command to the listeners. The Greek word οὖν that is translated “so.” in NIV and ESV could also be translated “therefore.” It definitely links this verse to what comes before. Often commentators see it as indicating that this statement  known as “the Golden Rule,” summarizes all that Jesus has been teaching to this point. So this is what it means to be a disciple. And it does indeed apply that way. We all would appreciate being treated with kindness and justice, so if we act that way toward others, we would also be doing what was right, following Jesus’ teaching.

But how does it apply to the immediately preceding verses about trusting our heavenly Father to respond to our requests?  We should respond to the requests of others the way we would want them to respond to us, the way our Father responds to us. In other words, do what is right, with kindness and wisdom like that of our Father.

This responsibility may not always be what we had in mind:

Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (Matt. 5:42 NIV)

We are not to cling to our possessions but hold them lightly. When someone is truly in need, we are ti meet that need, and trust our heavenly Father to take care of us too. He says that when we ask, he hears, and he answers. He treats us the way we want to be treated, with love. His loving care for us has already been underlined in chapter 6:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matt. 6:26 NIV)

Ah! If your Father even takes care of the birds, can’t you trust him to take care of you, too?

So I go back to that moment when I was watching the doves silhouetted against the morning sky, perched on the skeletal branches of the trees, all nature waiting for the coming rains. But the birds were singing!

I turn to my Father:
you, Abba, renew me this way,
	the touch of your fingertips on your world,
	the proof of your kind and creative grace,
	your Spirit caressing us in the wind.

The waiting can be done with joy, with humble trust in the gracious attention of Abba. He knows what is going on, way more than I do. His Spirit is not only near but within those of us who have given ourselves to him, and he is our comforter. We just need to listen, be alert, and notice the pictures of Abba’s care all around us. When the answer takes a while to come, or is not what we expected, we can still be completely sure that he is good and is acting according to his purposes. Even perfect – completely set apart with nothing bad in his character. We can trust him completely. And we are to be like him, act like him:

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt. 5:48 NIV)

That is another way to describe “holy.” Jesus is quoting the Law:

‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. (Lev. 19:2 NIV)

May his Spirit work in us to increase our personal attachment to our Father and make us increasingly like him! He will sustain us with his creative grace as we wait, and watch, and listen to him.