In Memory

I couldn't help but be deeply touched by this story that ran on "CBS Sunday Morning" yesterday. The miners and sculptors of Vermont marble take extraordinary care with the production of veterans' headstones. Let us take extraordinary care with this Memorial Day, remembering even amidst the cookouts and pool parties all the men and women who have given their lives so that we may enjoy this holiday freely and without fear of attack.

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

Dreams into Deeds

Today was the first full day of summer vacation here in Shelby County, Tennessee, and the kid in me wanted us to kick it off with an adventure. One of the things on my personal list of things to do this summer is to visit as many parks as possible, and today seemed like the perfect day to start.

I chose the “Playground of Dreams” at Hughes-College Hill Park in the Memphis suburb of Arlington as the first stop on our summer park tour. I just love the name of it, and how it came to be. The children of Arlington dreamed up the playground, contributed to its design, and gave it its name. The Arlington community then came together to raise the funds and build it.

The Cotton Patch Version of the New Testament, penned by one of my heroes, Clarence Jordan, says

Now faith is the turning of dreams into deeds; it is betting your life on the unseen realities. (The Letter to the Hebrews 11:1)

The children and community of Arlington didn’t just dream about having a playground; they then stepped out on faith and made it happen. They risked their time, their dollars, and their hopes on it. If they hadn’t, it wouldn’t be there today.

There is a famous quote by Walt Disney that goes, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” No offense to the late, great Walt, but he failed to mention that faith has to come in between. We can dream all kinds of things without believing they could ever be real. Faith is what it takes to make your dream the reality of your life.

I could dream or wish that God exists without really believing it. Of course, my believing God exists is not what determines that it’s true. But if I don’t really believe it, I can’t have a real relationship with God. Sometimes my faith, my belief, becomes shaky and thin, but the dream remains while my faith recuperates and the relationship re-grows. It’s the most important dream of my life – that God IS and that God is LOVE. 

Another of my dreams is to be an instrument of God’s love in this world. I could dream that, but really believe that I’m not good enough, not big enough, not brave enough, not worthy enough. I could dream about impacting someone’s life with the grace and love of God, but never actually care for someone in need, never give a dollar to charity, never whisper a prayer for someone, never even speak a kind word to another person. But I have faith that God wants to and will use me to spread his love, and so I don’t just dream, but I actively look for opportunities to love and to serve. I BELIEVE that I am an instrument of God’s love and I ACT accordingly, even though it may require taking emotional, personal, or financial risks.

This blog is a part of that dream and a part of that risk. I’m risking my eyesight by staring at my computer so much (ha ha). I’m risking my time, which means I risk the possible consequences of not doing other things while I write. I’m risking embarrassment (my least favorite emotion) if anyone doesn’t like my writing or finds something wrong with it and attack if anyone takes offense at it. But I believe in it; I believe that sharing my thoughts is a way of sharing God’s love. And so I act on faith and click “publish.”

I’m so thankful you’re here. What do you dream? And how does your faith turn your dreams into deeds?

The Magnet that Saved My Sanity

Before we moved here, there were several agonizing months in which my husband (hereafter known as “Big Boy,” or “BB” for short) searched for a new job while desperately trying not to lose his old one first. (Long story.) Each time he sent off an application for a job in a different city, I spent the following “wait and see” period trying to make peace with the idea of living in that place.

Memphis was the hardest. It didn’t put us any closer to BB’s family in Georgia, it put us a LOT farther away from my family in North Carolina or our friends in Virginia (where we both went to school), and it didn’t even have any mountains or ocean nearby. And like all the possible new places, it took me away from the schools I loved for my boys and the tight circle of friends I loved like sisters. Plus, I think we waited the longest with the Memphis job to find out whether or not he got it.

Waiting is not something I do well. Worrying, on the other hand, I can do like a pro.

At some point in all that waiting, one of my “sisters” gave me a simple gift that turned out to be a lifeline: a magnet that reads, “The LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9.”

My dear friend told me that when she saw this, she just knew I needed to have it. She was more right than she could have imagined. It turns out that there’s more to this verse than the magnet lets on, as I discovered the next time I opened my Bible. The whole verse says,

I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9, NRSV)

You see, “The LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” is not a mere pithy saying that you put in a cross-stitch sampler and hang in your guest room. It’s a FACT. And more than that, it’s a FACT that goes with a COMMAND: “Be strong and courageous instead of frightened or dismayed.” The two are inseparable in spirit. No matter which one you start with, you end up with the other (try turning the verse around: “The LORD your God is with you wherever you go; therefore, be strong and courageous, and do not be frightened or dismayed”).

By the grace of God and the inspiration of my friend’s gift, this verse enabled me to make peace with Memphis. God would not send us to Memphis alone, and he would not send us to Memphis for no reason. If I really believed that, then the only sensible thing for me to do was to stop being weak with worry, but to be strong and ready to go as soon as the road was revealed. (The book of Joshua says "be strong and courageous" three other times in chapter 1 and once in chapter 10. You know, in case it didn't really sink in.)

By the time Big Boy got the job offer in Memphis, I was ready. Now, the LORD my God IS with me in Memphis…

…and so is the magnet.

What the World Needs Now...

…is another blog, right?  Actually, well, yes. I’ve long thought that everyone has something unique to say – about life, the world, themselves, and God. Especially God. No two people are the same, and no two people experience God in the same way.  Plus, I think that in the U.S., blogs are Generation X’s (perhaps unconscious) way of fighting for the survival of the English language before Generation Y destroys it. (No offense to any of you youngsters… but come on. You can’t deny it.)

So here I am, on the Web just like almost everybody else, it seems. I’m here with the hope that something I say will be helpful or encouraging to you, and if you’ll join me in this peculiar community that is blog-world, I have no doubt I’ll be blessed by you.