Monthly Archives: January 2014

Chew well, swallow, and take a new bite

Leave a reply

TO MARY WILLIS SHELBURNE: On being overconcerned about the past of others and of our own.

5 June 1961

We must beware of the Past, mustn’t we? I mean that any fixing of the mind on old evils beyond what is absolutely necessary for repenting our own sins and forgiving those of others is certainly useless and usually bad for us. Notice in Dante that the lost souls are entirely concerned with their past. Not so the saved. This is one of the dangers of being, like you and me, old. There’s so much past, now, isn’t there? And so little else. But we must try very hard not to keep on endlessly chewing the cud. We must look forward more eagerly to sloughing that old skin off forever—metaphors getting a bit mixed here, but you know what I mean.
(From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III)

I like phrase Lewis uses: “But we must try very hard not to keep on endlessly chewing the cud.” Our moms taught us to “chew well” but after so much chewing it is time to swallow and taste something new. So it is with dwelling on the past. Lewis is not saying to forget everything that is past. He IS saying to let go of past sins and regrets. Once confessed, it is needless and reckless to continue dwelling on them. I think he is also saying to stop dwelling on the past…even the “good ole days.” Why? Because there is more life to live today.

I think with severe illnesses there is a tendency to “chew the cud” a bit on old memories but even when you think the end is more near than far away, there should be a strong pull to face forward in our thoughts, to live today well with anticipation of a bright tomorrow, and to contribute toward the well-being of others when possible.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

Welcome the children

Leave a reply

In honor of the grandchildren coming to play today with Grandma … AND Grandpa and in honor of my wife who really does know all this stuff!

“I was out walking with my 4-year-old granddaughter.
She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth.
I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that.
“Why?” my granddaughter asked.
“Because it’s been on the ground. You don’t know where it’s been, it’s dirty, and probably has germs,” I replied.
At this point, my granddaughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, “Grandma, how do you know all this stuff?
“You are so smart.”
I was thinking quickly, “All Grandmas know this stuff. It’s on the Grandma Test. You have to know it, or they don’t let you be a Grandma.”
We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information.
“Oh…I get it!” she beamed, “So if you don’t pass the test, you have to be the Grandpa.”
“Exactly,” I replied.”

“And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
Matthew 18:5 (Jesus speaking)

One day at a time

Leave a reply

Have you ever tried to live two days at a time? To carry out the tasks of today while trying to anticipate and respond to the problems that tomorrow may bring? We can of course make some preparations for tomorrow but to live in the future as if we could control its outcomes is precisely to be a thief of today’s experience. And whom will you pay to regain what is lost?

What I am learning (and relearning) thus far in this leukemia journey, now 13 months along, is that not I nor the doctors control anything. It is indeed one day at a time. This month-long cold is a good test of my immature immune system’s ability to fight. That and the ongoing GVHD fight continues one day at a time, over what seems like a long period of time.

But what else occurs one day at a time as you and I each fight our own battles? Grace and strength. In his immense suffering, Paul wrote:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) We receive these gifts if we ask and maintain faith and hope to receive them… One day at a time.

One day at a time sweet Jesus
That’s all I’m asking from you.
Just give me the strength
To do everyday what I have to do.
Yesterday’s gone sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine.
Lord help me today, show me the way
One day at a time.

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34

Faith Hope and Love

Leave a reply

Though it was decades ago, I remember it clearly. I was in a hospice room with an acquaintance while he was visiting his dying wife. WHY I was chosen to join him in this intimate setting, I don’t recall, but I clearly remember the very brief conversation, if you could even call it that. He took her hand and said to her, “I want you to know that I have always been faithful to you. I have never cheated on you.” Her eyes remained closed as if to open them required too much effort in her state of suffering. But the hands clasping each other communicated to me more than mere words could impart.

And yet the words seemed as necessary to him as they were surprising to me. And they seemed to come out quite of the blue. If they were a continuation of a previous conversation there was no evidence to it. Rather, it was like the situation I’d seen before where words of love had not been spoken for so long because of embarrassment or discomfort, until the forces of nature could simply not hold them back.

There is something about love and faith that needs to be affirmed both in actions and in spoken word. Oh, it seems we have no problem neglecting them in the routine busyness of life. But these words, and the actions which affirm them, are the relational glue that holds people together. They speak to our great hope that we were loved and that we loved well. And it seems like they are needed to be expressed never so much as in times of despair, when life is threatened or near its end. It is at these times especially that we look to the sum of life and ask what mattered most.

I experienced a number of such moments this past year with my journey through cancer. My mind flooded with so many things I let trip me up throughout the years and so many things I could have done better. But overshadowing all the shortcomings and certainly any claim to “success” were faith, hope and love. In the end, and especially now in the middle of life’s journey, these are what I want to remain. How about you?

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

Hope and joy go together

1 Reply

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12

Why does joy accompany hope? Hope sees beyond the struggles of the present moment. Through trustful eyes of faith hope is assured of another reality to the one we currently experience. We may experience true sorrow or persistent pain now, but it will not always be that way. It may seem we are all alone in our suffering and that there is no way out, but true hope experiences the sustaining presence of God in the most difficult of times. Real joy is not the effervescent giddiness that brings a plastic smile to our face. Rather the very nature of real joy bears a contentment and peace that counters our present pain.

Sometimes we hope in earthly outcomes that align us and others with God. Always our hope is also filled with the reminder of our eternal outcome which is filled with joy greater than perhaps we can fully comprehend. The reality of the christian experience reminds us we are aliens and strangers in this land. We won’t be here forever. Our suffering and disappointments will not last forever. As we walk closer to God we see the world as Jesus sees it:
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

We need this reminder do we not? The troubles of this world sometimes seem so real and so permanent, they would lead us to hopelessness. But when we are one with the one who has overcome this world, we have real hope that brings joy and peace. Examine your anxious thoughts and fretful activities today. Turn them under the control of a real and lasting hope in a world that is already overcome and find the peace and joy that you were meant to find.

Beyond optimism

4 Replies

One day the sun was shinning brightly and the optimist said, “Great day, eh?”
The pessimist said, “The stupid sun will burn the crops.”
The next day it rained. Again the optimist tried to engage his friend, but the pessimist’s only response was: “Stinking rain will wash out all the seed!”
So the optimist took his friend duck hunting, which he loved.
After the first duck was shot the optimist dispatched his dog to fetch the duck.
The dog ran on top of the water, picked up the duck and ran back.
The optimist exclaimed “Did you see that?”
The pessimist replied, “Dog can’t swim, eh?”

The difference between the optimist and the pessimist is plain to see. But what would you say if someone asked you the difference between someone who is merely optimistic and someone with real hope? Psychology tells us the optimist expects the best even though they may have no actual idea of how they will obtain better results. It seems a bit like throwing coins down an old wishing well, “cross your fingers”, and that sort of thing. The one with hope, on the other hand, pursues a path designed to reach a better end. That path may or may not be trustworthy but that doesn’t keep someone from placing their hope and trust in it.

Because hope is not unique to those of spiritual belief, that path might be faith or it might be the efforts of self or others or it might be traditions passed down to them. What all of these “paths” have in common is trust that they will succeed in leading us to our desired end.

What you hope for and what you trust are directly related to each other. The Hindu puts their hope and trust in the karmic perfection of self. A Buddhist hopes they have done enough good and trusts this hope will reward them. Some people who call themselves Christians believe this too whereas the biblical view clearly states that those who put their complete trust in God’s son Jesus will not be disappointed. Some people hope and trust that nature will sort everything out.

In what do you put your ultimate hope and trust? Your ability to earn money? Your talents and physical strength? Your health? Your friends? All of these could be literally gone tomorrow. But there is one hope that does not fail. Examine your heart today. Test your anxious thoughts and see if your hope and trust is firmly and rightly placed.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit. Romans 15:13

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. Hebrews 6:19

Optimist or pessimist?

Leave a reply

Billy Graham was once asked in an interview, “Are you an optimist or a pessimist?” Graham responded quickly, “I’m an optimist.” The reporter pursued: “Why is that?” Graham answered, “I’ve read the last page of the Bible!”

One of the verses I carried in my heart as I went to the hospital for chemotherapy last year was Romans 14:8.
“If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” I thought of it as:
Live OR Die. One of my sisters gave me a book based on the same verse. It is called “Either Way I Win!” That verse has guided me over the years in a number of Live OR Die situations.

It’s not hard to be an optimist when you know the end of the story is secure, when you know you’re in for an adventure either in the here and now or eternity. Do I have questions? For sure! Do I sometimes want to know more of the details? Absolutely. Do anxious thoughts sometimes cross my mind? without a doubt. Does it matter in the end? No, because I know how the story ends. And while it still plays out, I know something else:

NOTHING CAN STOP GOD FROM LOVING US.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

That’s why I am an eternal optimist. How about you?

Undeviating

Leave a reply

In the activities surrounding Nelson Mandela’s memorial last month numerous comments were made about his ‘undeviating forgiveness.’ In other words, they were saying he kept on track, he didn’t waiver or wander from this legacy theme. I’m guessing Mandela would have been the first to admit he wasn’t perfect at this, but none the less, it was evidently considered to be a characteristic that permeated his life.

As you think about someone specific that you know and respect, which of their characteristics would you regard as undeviating? Have you ever wondered how they maintained such focus and consistency in living their legacy? True, some people are more organized than others. Some are driven out of an adverse situation that propels them on their mission with great determination. Some have seen a vision of their end of life, and in that a certain clarity of mindset has settled upon them. I’ve found that cancer has a way of separating out the meaningless from the essentially meaningful. Becoming more aware of your pending mortality brings with it increased appreciation for what is important to you and more focused about how you want to spend the time you have remaining.

What is your undeviating legacy? Of all the things you do and say, what is it that you want to characterize your undeviating life? Once you know this, you will apply this with greater diligence. But then a strange thing occurs. You find that the harder you pursue this in your own power, the more elusive it becomes. You become more tired, worn down by your efforts, and your accomplishment of the goal is less successful.

This is because we were not designed to go it alone. We were designed to draw close to God so he would draw close to him. By dwelling in his presence we begin to take on his characteristics. Jesus says in John 15, “I am the vine. You are the branches. Remain in me and I will remain in you.” And what happens when the branches remains in the vine? They bear fruit. They don’t have to strain their muscles or exert themselves to the point of exhaustion. Staying connected to the vine allows the branches to be sustained by the vine and to bear its fruit.

Drawing close to God, resting in him, is an increasingly compelling activity. The more you come to enjoy his presence, the more you want to spend time with him. And you soon find that you have a desire to live an undeviating life centered around his will, and bearing his fruit.

“Remain in me and I will remain in you.” John 15:5

Inclined to wander or to wonder?

Leave a reply

I don’t recall many memories from my childhood, but one that brings much pleasure (and tells of my age) is that of the circus TRAIN coming to town. The unloading of the animals and tents and equipment was quite the affair. And that was equaled by the elaborate setup processes. And the show…well before the popularity of TV, the show was quite spectacular! There were clowns and acrobats, trained lions, and elephants and dogs. But there were no trained sheep. Why? It seems that sheep are not the smartest of the animal kingdom and are incapable of much training. Left alone, they tend to go their own way, often getting themselves in troubled situations. They need a good shepherd to protect and guide them. When the bible says “WE are all like sheep,” it is not a compliment to us. And yet it is a fitting description of us in many ways.

We, like sheep, are prone to wander. “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” – Isaiah 53:6

Aimless in our pursuits and ambitions we, like sheep, easily go astray. We often become lost following our simple appetites rather than pursuing the green pastures to which our shepherd would have us rest.

In old Testament times, perfect, unblemished sheep were also offered as sacrifices, foretelling the sacrifice that Jesus would later make for us as the perfect Lamb of God. Jesus was referred to as the lamb of God, because he willingly became fully man, while he was still fully perfect God.

Are you, like sheep, more inclined to wander aimlessly through life? Or are you at a point in your life where you are more inclined to wonder at the mystery and the magnificence of a shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep? In this sense, it is indeed a compliment that we become like lowly sheep who listen for his voice and follow him! What is he saying to you in this new year?

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27