God is a Thumb Tucker

Friday 2/22/2013 6:50 AM

This morning there was frost on the ground and the roofs of houses when I left for my run.  I run in shorts and a tee shirt without any sweat pants or sweatshirt.  The beginning of the run can be a little chilly but by the time I get a couple of miles into it I usually warm up nicely.  The exposed extremities of my body, ears, hands and nose, suffer the most from the cold.  I have discovered that if I tuck my thumbs into my fist it helps to keep my hands warm.  My fist seems to warm the thumb and my thumb warms the fist.  I tucked my thumbs this morning and as I ran I thought to myself, “Today’s run is a real thumb tucker.”  The similarity to the term describing a baby as a thumb sucker was not lost on me and I reveled in the pun for a time.

As I continued running I began to contemplate the security provided my thumb by placing it within my closed fist and a few Bible verses began to flit through my mind.  Psalm 17:8, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”  In Exodus 33:22 when Moses was concerned that if he saw the full glory of God he would die, God tells Moses, “When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed.”  Psalm 91 begins with these words, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. … He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”  These verses all reminded me of God’s faithful, loving care for me throughout my lifetime.

As I sat down for my devotions this morning Isaiah 49:14-16, a verse that I memorized a number of years ago, suddenly came to mind.  “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.’  Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?  Though she may forget, I will not forget you!  See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”  The image that immediately came to mind was that of my thumb tucked into the palm of my hand, protected from the harsh elements.

Stan and Judy are visiting for a couple of days and last night I reminisced about my childhood with Stan.  I recalled how God had cared for me as young boy growing up, as a young man raising a family, dealing with trying circumstances and how he continues to lovingly care for me in the present.  The protecting wings of God have definitely covered me throughout my lifetime.  The Bible says that believers are the body of Christ.  Today I feel as if I am the thumb and God is a thumb tucker.  I am warmed and protected by a faithful God, a loving family and a supportive community.  Praise God for his loving care.

Trusting God

Tuesday 2/19/2013 4:20 AM

My psalm for the week is Psalm 25, one that I committed to memory a few years ago.  It begins with a simple statement of faith, “In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.”  It may be a simple statement but it is loaded with possibilities.  David states his request in verses 4 and 5.  “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.  Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”  God, of course holds up his side of the bargain.  “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.  He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. … Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?  He will instruct them in the way they should choose. … The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.”  It seems it doesn’t matter to God if I am a sinner or one who fears God, if I trust God and ask for direction, God will deliver.  Praying for God to teach me his way is a loaded prayer.

In her book Clinging–The Experience of Prayer, Emilie Griffin writes, “Prayer is, after all, a very dangerous business.  For all the benefits it offers of growing closer to God, it carries with it one great element of risk: the possibility of change.  In prayer we open ourselves to the chance that God will do something with us that we had not intended.  We yield to possibilities of intense perception, of seeing through human masks and the density of ‘things’ to the very center of reality.  This possibility excites us, but at the same time there is a fluttering in the stomach that goes with any dangerous adventure.  We foresee a confrontation with the unknown, being hurt, being frightened, being chased down.  Don’t we know for a fact that people who begin by ‘just praying’–with no particular aim in mind–wind up trudging off to missionary lands, entering monasteries, taking part in demonstrations, dedicating themselves to the poor and the sick?  To avoid this, sometimes we excuse ourselves from prayer by doing good works on a carefully controlled schedule.  We volunteer for school committees, to be readers in church or youth counselors, doing good works in hopes that this will distract the Lord from asking us anything more difficult.  By doing something specific and limited ‘for God,’ something we judge to be enough and more than enough, we skirt the possibility that God–in prayer–may ask us what he wants to ask, may suggest what we should do.”

I often joke with my small group that if I don’t want God to tell me what to do I simply stop reading my Bible and stop praying.  Griffin would probably agree that this is an effective strategy of avoiding the call of God.  In reality, I often hear the call of God but I fail to act in obedient faith.  I don’t trust God.  It is easy to pray for someone who has recently suffered a loss but when God suggests that I invite the person to lunch and share in their grief I step back; worried that I may accidentally open a wound that has begun healing.  It is easy to pray for those who are outcasts of society, but when God suggests that I greet a former member of my church who is gay, and attending worship with his parents and his partner, I refuse to do so because I fear the awkwardness of the situation.  God does his part in teaching me his way, the way of love, but I fail to act.  God has promised to equip me for the task to which he calls me but I do not trust God to be true to his promise.

I wonder how long it took for David to come to a point where he could write confidently, “In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.”  I am still not to that point and I wonder if I will ever get there.  Perhaps I should pray about it.  Of course, if I do that God will undoubtedly give me more opportunities to practice.  Maybe I’ll volunteer for a school committee.

Tingles or Husks?

Monday 2/18/2013 6:38 AM

Today I read a quote by Phillips Brooks that resonated with me.  “The (greatest) danger (in life) is that we may fail to perceive life’s greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to render the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God–and be content to have it so– that is the danger.  That some day we may wake up and find that always we have been busy with the husks and trappings of life–and have really missed life itself.  For life without God, to one who has known the richness and joy of life with him, is unthinkable, impossible.  That is what one prays one’s friends may be spared–satisfaction with a life that falls short of the best, that has in it no tingle and thrill which comes from a friendship with the Father.”

Jesus said he wanted his disciples experience life to the full.  I want to experience the life that is truly life, not the husks and trappings to which Brooks refers and to which I too often aspire.  I also want this for my family, friends, students and acquaintances.  Unfortunately it seems that whenever I attempt to share my feelings with others I am perceived as “holier than thou” or as someone who is trying to cram their own views and beliefs about God down others’ throats.  I don’t want to settle for second best nor do I want that for those I love.  I need to pray that I will not settle for a life without tingle and thrill and pray the same for those I love.

Think and Do

Sunday 2/10/2013 6:13 AM

I love the written word.  I enjoy the turn of a phrase, plays on words, etymology, double entendre, etc.  When I read something or hear someone speaking, the words enter my brain where they are dissected, checked for anagrams, homonyms, synonyms, and so on.  From there they are sifted through the sieve of my knowledge and experience where new thoughts and ideas emerge to be mulled over and eventually digested.  I could probably best be described as an intellectual contemplative.  I tend to think more than do.

Because of my bent toward contemplation, my devotional time is spent reading the Bible and other meditational writing, reflecting on what God is trying to say through it all and then journaling my thoughts and inclinations.  While discussing spiritual growth in her book The House of the Soul and Concerning the Inner Life, Evelyn Underhill writes, “The necessary food for growth is obtained through our spiritual reading and meditation, as well as by more direct forms of communion.”  This point of view resonates with me but I know others for whom reading and meditation is nearly impossible.  Their bodies are wired differently from mine and contemplative reading is nearly impossible due to dyslexia or because they are easily distracted.

I remember my shock when I discovered that an individual from my church never read her Bible on her own.  Her only exposure to the Bible was when she attended corporate worship on Sunday morning.  I was aghast.  I wondered how she could call herself a Christian if she never spent time reading the Bible or other devotional materials.  Then she shared that she experienced God’s smile when she volunteered her time tending to those who were mentally disabled, when she brought a meal to someone who was sick or when she hosted a neighborhood block party, a biannual occurrence she orchestrated to build community.  Her intimacy with God was fueled by actions rather than thoughts and I realized that I was projecting my own proclivity upon her.

When I was in elementary school I learned to read using a book called Fun with Dick and Jane.  A workbook entitled Think and Do accompanied this reader.  I don’t remember all the intimate details of the book but think and do seems to describe the different ways God uses to grow his people.  God has created each of us with different gifts and abilities and, according to the Bible, he has placed us precisely where he wants us.  When each part of the body of Christ exercises his gift and develops it the body will grow.  Unfortunately, too often the body has an autoimmune disorder and attacks itself.  One part of the body judges another to be ineffective because it is not the same, much like I did my friend.  Perhaps someday we will remember to think and do.

Maintain

Tuesday 2/5/2013 5:03 AM

We in the Christian community are encouraged to grow in our faith.  Any sign that our faith is on hold or, heaven forbid, ebbing is met with renewed spiritual fervor in an attempt to jumpstart a new cycle of growth.

Today I read an excerpt from Howard Thurman’s book The Growing Edge in which he reminds me that there is nothing in life that experiences unlimited growth.  Both plants and animals grow for a period of time and then simply maintain the life they have.  Thurman writes, “I am always reminded that the experience which may be mine at a particular moment may be an experience in which things are stopping.  Or it may be an experience in which things are just beginning.  It is important that I know which process is taking place.  An intimate part of growing into life is the development of a sensitiveness, an apprehension of process in its totality, that I may be enabled to know the character of the event with which I am dealing.  Then I will not act in the house of death unnaturally by not accepting it.  All of this is to say that there is inherent in life and brooding over the life of man the creative mind and the spirit of the living God.”

I need to be less concerned about the growth of my faith and concern myself more with knowing God, trusting him to do the necessary brooding over my life to determine which areas to grow and which to kill off.  In a word, maintain.