such small hands

Eight Months In

I remember clearly when the 2020 coronavirus pandemic became real to me. On March 14, after many conversations, prayers, and talks with Amy, Ken and I canceled our annual vacation in Crystal River, Fla. We had just shipped our golf clubs three days before -- our decision was that quick. News of the virus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, was everywhere. We felt that leaving home, getting on a crowed plane and waiting in busy airports, was just too risky.

The virus was a hot topic of conversation at the St. Paul Women's Retreat that morning. Little did we all know that would be one of the last times we would be together in a large group for several months. Sunday worship on the 15th might have been canceled, or we just didn't attend. My 11 am Jazzercise class on Monday the 16th was the last in-person class I would attend until an outdoor class in the summer.

Church services and Jazzercise were live-streamed on the Internet. We went out only to buy groceries. Date Night became carry-out and delivery. We got used to using the Uber Eats app. Schools began teaching online, with classes via Zoom -- an online meeting app that would become way too familiar for everyone in the months to come. Work meetings, Bible studies -- almost everything -- became a Zoom meeting.

Michigan went under a stay-at-home order on March 23. A federal stay-at-home order went into effect through April 30. So no visits to the kids in New Jersey, which was getting hit even harder than Michigan.

Whose Calling? Yours.

This is the talk I shared at the St. Paul Women's Retreat yesterday. 

“For consider your calling, sisters: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” -- 1 Corinthians 1:26-30

As we consider the many different aspects of our calling as Christian women, I want to focus on how a Christian’s daily work is a holy calling and a priestly work because of God’s gift of faith.

So let’s look at a passage in the first chapter of Exodus. Exodus is so dominated by the strong personality of Moses and the wonders God performed in freeing His people from Egypt, it is easy to overlook two brave and faithful women who played an important part in God’s story of redemption.

Perhaps this is why Moses mentioned these women by name — Shiphrah and Puah — and told their story. God used their faithful obedience to make Israel the strong and numerous people that Moses led out of Egypt many years after their story.

Exodus 1:15-21

Remember that the faithful women in the Bible weren’t all that different from you and me. They were real, human women who trusted a great God. I’ve heard other Bible teachers say that we can gain a lot of insight from Scripture by putting ourselves in the place of the characters. Shiphrah might have told her story this way:

 

I am Shiphrah, midwife to the Hebrew slaves of the Egyptians. My friend and partner, Puah, is home taking care of her newborn son — her sixth child. I have five of my own. Yes, the Lord God has greatly blessed us! And here’s the story of how that came to be … I knew the stories of my ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and how our people came to be in Egypt through God’s providence for them. I have wanted to be a midwife since I was a little girl. I have always loved babies and thought there could be nothing greater than to help bring new lives into the world. My friend Puah and I came to be the chief midwives for the Hebrew people — assisting the older midwives when we were still young women. That one day when Pharaoh called us to the palace — we were terrified — and he told us that from now on we were to kill every baby boy and let the girls live. We were horrified by his command, but said nothing at the time. This was a very great evil that Pharaoh was telling us to do. So we did not obey his command. We didn’t know what would happen to us, but we couldn’t disobey the Lord God in this way. Then Pharaoh called us to come back to the palace. We thought that this would be the end of us. We didn’t know what to tell him — it was obvious that we were not following his command. Puah and I prayed together that God would be with us, just as He was with our father Joseph in prison. We asked God to give us the right words to answer Pharaoh. When he asked us why we let the little boys live, we just seemed to know what to say. Hebrew women are stronger than Egyptian women, we said. By the time we get to the home, they have already given birth. This was not a lie to save our skins. We had seen it happen many times. It seemed to us that the hand of God was with the Hebrew women as they labored and they brought forth strong, healthy babies. For some reason, our answer seemed to satisfy Pharaoh. For the time being, our people were safe. Maybe what we did was not such a big thing. It is just what any of us should do, no matter what job we are doing. We were faithful to God and obedient to Him in our calling. He used our obedience in a mighty way, making Israel a large and strong nation.

 

By worldly standards, Shiphrah and Puah weren’t wise — but they knew that the fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom. They weren’t powerful — but in God’s strength, they defied Pharaoh. They weren’t of noble birth — but their names are written in the Book of Life.

We can never tell how God might want to use us to do great things in another person’s life. Not all of us are called to acts of civil disobedience like Shiphrah and Puah. But all of us are called to be faithful and obedient right where we are.

God has placed each of us in unique situations — families, the church, our workplaces. We interact with people as we shop, go to doctor’s appointments, take our kids to school or day care.

As we finish our time together today, and when we return home, let’s spend some time thinking of ways God might use us to glorify Him in our callings.

2017 Non-resolutions

I'm doomed to fail at my New Year's resolutions, but still I think about setting goals for how I would like to change my habits in the next 12 months. So here are some of my thoughts from earlier this month.

• Fall more in love with Jesus. When I read this over now, it sounds like an empty, Christianese phrase. What I mean is this: "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18)
• Pray and do acts of kindness. I want to put feet and hands on my prayers. I want to do things that make a difference --- even if they're small, even if it matters to only one person.
• Play more golf. Especially now that Ken is healthier. I may never be much better than I am now, but it's still fun.
• Read books. I'm starting the year with a couple of Hemingways: "A Moveable Feast" and "The Sun Also Rises." Because Paris is still so fresh in my mind.
• Write real handwritten letters; I'm shooting for one a week.
• Make a pie crust from scratch. Because I like a challenge.
• January has been a mess, what with minor health hiccups and adapting (still!) to schedule changes that started in the fall. I need to get back to Jazzercise on a regular basis.

Good Things in 2016

The last few months of 2016 left many people feeling as if the year itself was an active agent of evil, and the sooner we kicked it to the curb, the better. I felt a little of that, too, although I knew it had been a good year --- not a milestone year like 2015, but a good year. Here are a few of the good things I remember from last year:

• Another year of being cancer-free and having a healthy, functioning kidney transplant
• Another year of being happily married to my best friend
• Serving my church on a Mission/Vision/Strategy committee, caregiving for our new Mothers of PreSchoolers (MOPS) group, and being liaison for Care Net Pregnancy Center
• Spending time with family in Florida, a summer family reunion and at Thanksgiving
• Getting lots of exercise, eating healthy and meeting fitness goals for the year
• Remodeling the master bathroom
• Ken's back pain from arthritis and herniated discs getting better without surgery
• Exploring new-to-us areas of Michigan's Upper Peninsula --- Marquette and the Keweenaw Peninsula, beautiful waterfalls
• Clean mammogram results
• Spending a week in Paris with Amy for my 60th birthday
• Fostering a stray kitty for a few weeks, getting him a place at the animal shelter and seeing him adopted into a forever home
• Christmas with Amy and Anton in Pennsylvania
• New Year's in Key West

 

At the Moment

Outside my window... the sun is shining brightly, but it’s only 32

I am thinking ... that it would be a shame to run the vacuum and disturb my cat snoozing peacefully in the sun

I am thankful for ... God’s grace and steadfast love

From the kitchen ... either leftover grilled chicken, salmon patties, or eggs since I’m dining solo tonight

I am wearing ....yoga pants and a Lost Lake hoodie

I am creating ....a beautiful red crochet shawl

I am going ....to choir practice tonight after supper, working on music for Holy Week and Easter

I am reading... “Knowing God” by J.I. Packer for the third or fourth time in my life

I am hoping... to enjoy the warmer weather this weekend, maybe taking a walk

I am hearing... Gidget softly snoring

Around the house ... feeling good about Ken’s painting job in the basement

One of my favorite things ... binge-watching “The West Wing” on Netflix

A few plans for the rest of the week: maybe putting in a few more hours of work, dusting and vacuuming downstairs, date night on Saturday

I Need a Little Christmas, Right This Very Minute

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into His presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, He is God!
It is He who made us, and we are His;
we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise!
Give thanks to Him; bless His name!
For the Lord is good;
His steadfast love endures forever,
And His faithfulness to all generations.

I put on some Christmas music last night while I was making dinner. I don’t care that the First Sunday of Advent is still more than a week away, and Christmas itself a month off. World events of recent weeks have left me wrung out and sorely in need of Joy.

Taking a cursory glance at my Facebook feed, it seems to me that we Christians have been an especially joyless, thin-skinned passel of sourpusses lately. From the annual boo-hooing about store clerks saying “Merry Christmas” vs. “Happy Holidays” to the tempest in a Starbucks coffee cup — it just wears me out. I need Hope. I need tidings of comfort and joy.

Aye and therefore be merry. Rejoice and be you merry. Set sorrows aside. Christ Jesus, our Savior was born on this tide. — “A Virgin Most Pure”

Surely human beings from the dawn of time celebrated a winter holiday because they also needed Hope and Joy. The darkness encroaches on shortening days, and we need to be reminded that the sun will come again, that there is still reason to celebrate. For us Christians, that winter holiday is Christmas. I know it pales in theological significance to Easter … and yet there would be no Easter without Christmas — because “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Besides, Christmas has all the best music and food!

Yet with the woes of sin and strife, our world has suffered long. Beneath the angel’s strain have rolled 2,000 years of wrong. And man at war with man hears not the love song which they bring. O hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing. — “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”

The Baby in the stable came to set us free from our worst enemies: death, hell and sin. In the midst of cancer, terrorism and injustice — all of the things that weigh down our hearts — there is Hope. So, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, set sorrows aside. Sing the carols, light the tree, frost the cookies. Show all the weary world the tidings of comfort and joy. 

Abiding in the Word

Like most Christians who love the Bible, I have often struggled with having a daily “quiet time,” several minutes a day set aside for Bible reading, study and prayer.

Our fathers and mothers in the faith tell us that early morning is the best time for this, and yet that just hasn’t always worked in every season of my life. Crazy work hours, taking care of young children, etc. often means that alone time with God is postponed until later. But I’ve found that it’s so important that it’s worth making an appointment with God to do it — whenever you can do it. A few other things I’ve learned about myself and my time alone with God:

1. I REALLY need it! Because the Word of God transforms me. The times in my life when I have neglected daily time in Scripture have been times when I have wandered so far away from God, only He could bring me back. I think my own thoughts. I think what’s wrong is right. “I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” — Psalm 119: 11The day just seems to go better when I start with absorbing what God has to say, asking Him to order my steps that day, and taking all my stresses and concerns to Him.
2. I need quiet and solitude. No music, no one else in the room.
3. I need to hear from God before I let in the “noise” of e-mail and social media. Until just recently, I spent the first moments of my day checking e-mail and Facebook. Then I’d get to my quiet time after my husband left for work. My reason was that my brain was just too foggy before that first cup of coffee to think about reading the Bible and prayer. Trouble is, my brain would get too cluttered with the stuff going on in the world and what I needed to get done that day before it could rest in God’s word. Starting this summer, I’ve been trying to change this habit.
4. I need structure. I can’t just open my Bible to some random place and start reading. I lose focus, get distracted with other thoughts, and pretty soon I’m falling into old, bad habits. So I have found three resources that help me stay accountable and in the Word:

 

• Small group women’s Bible study at church. We’ve been meeting for several years, these women I trust with my secret heart, on Monday morning. What a great way to start the week! We’ve done several of the Beth Moore studies, and in recent years have been using the LCMS Lifelight materials. We’ve done books of the Bible: Acts, the Gospel of John, Ecclesiates/Song of Solomon … and topics, such as the Christian’s Mission. The workbook has five days of “homework” that help you dig into Scripture, think about it and apply it.
• Love God Greatly. When our women’s group is on recess (usually for Advent, Lent and summer), I turn to the Love God Greatly studies. There’s a reading plan for five days a week that uses the SOAP study method — Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer — plus suggested memory verses and weekly challenges to apply what you’re learning. The summer study was on Psalm 119, which I loved, and they start Galatians after Labor Day. I started doing these with an online group. Lately, not many in the group are still doing the studies, but we keep in touch and pray for one another.
• First5.org smartphone app. This is a recent discovery that I have started using in “between times.” It’s encouragement to spend the first five minutes of your day in the Word. Monday through Friday you get a brief devotional and there’s a video weekend wrap-up with the devotional writers. First 5 just finished John’s gospel and started Genesis today.

I hope that sharing some of my quiet time strategies might encourage you to devote regular time daily to God’s Word. What do you do in your time alone with God?

New Things: A Housework Plan

I’m one of those women who love the benefits of a clean home, but hate to clean. I believe that King Solomon was inspired by the sight of his servants endlessly dusting the palace treasures when he wrote, “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14)

That said, I do envy those who keep a spotless house. About a month ago, after cleaning from top to bottom, I knew I needed a more organized approach — one that wouldn’t devour an entire Saturday. But articles like this one, promising me a clean house in only 15 minutes a day, just make me laugh and laugh. OK, maybe if you live in an efficiency apartment, you can get all the dusting done in 15 minutes, or clean all the floors, or the bathroom.

We live in what I think is a fairly typical — even somewhat small — 1,500-square-foot house with three bedrooms and 2½ baths. It takes me at least 30 minutes to dust just the first floor, another 30 minutes to dust the upstairs bedrooms. So a one-size-fits-all plan isn’t going to work for me.

I reached out to my Facebook friends for their tips on getting a handle on housework. With their help, and a breakdown of the various jobs that need to be done in MY house, I came up with a chore chart.

Best piece of advice was, do something every day. Next best advice was, do a load of laundry every day. Just because Mom always did hers in one day doesn’t mean I have to. I put a load in before my shower and it’s dried, folded and put away before I’m off to Jazzercise at 10:45.

The Day's Load

So here’s my housework plan. Some chores take longer than others; it all evens out. Your mileage may vary.

Every Day

• Make the bed
• Scoop cat litter boxes
• Clean kitchen counters, stovetop and microwave
• Wipe down all bathroom sinks, counters and toilets
• One load of laundry

One Chore Per Day

• Dust downstairs
• Vacuum downstairs
• Damp-mop wood floor downstairs
• Dust upstairs
• Vacuum upstairs
• Vacuum and damp-mop bathroom floors (wash rugs)
• Clean toilets, shower and tub
• Vacuum living room furniture (cat hair!)
• Vacuum basement steps
• Wash basement steps
• Vacuum basement
• Clean doors downstairs
• Clean doors upstairs
• Degrease kitchen cabinet doors

The chore list is not a slave driver. After working this plan for a couple of months, I’ve found that some jobs don’t have to be done that often, such as washing the doors and degreasing the cabinet doors. If they look fine, I skip it and move on to the next job on the list. If I want to rest on Sunday, I do. If life intervenes and I miss a day or two, I just pick up where I left off.

You know what? The house does look a lot cleaner overall. I don’t look around feeling disgusted and overwhelmed. I don’t feel embarrassed if someone drops in, or scurry around to clean when Amy & Anton spend the night. And that just feels good.

Our New (to Us) Approach to Eating

The DASH diet has been around a long time. I just learned of it in January, when it was again named one of the best diets in the country by U.S. News & World Report. DASH is an acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

Ken and I both are on blood pressure medications, and we’d love to take less of them. We both wanted to shed a few pounds. So when I proposed this new way of eating, Ken was totally on board.

I checked out some websites, found a Facebook support group page, and bought a book for my Kindle to learn how it all worked. You’ll find a ton of DASH diet books on the shelves and on Amazon, but I chose “The DASH Diet Weight Loss Solution” by Marla Heller, because it seemed to fit our goals and I just liked the tone. It doesn’t promise a quick fix; it presents a long-term lifestyle change that’s doable and sustainable.

The list of Don’ts is pretty short:

• Very limited added sugar
• Very limited refined starches

The Do list is much longer:

• All the non-starchy vegetables you want
• Up to 3 servings of fruit a day
• Up to 3 servings of whole grains a day
• Low-fat or non-fat dairy
• Lean protein
• Nuts, beans and seeds
• Healthy fats (for example olive oil and avocado)

I have three meals and usually three snacks a day. Some kind of protein is included in every meal and snack — it may be meat, nuts, beans or dairy. My favorite snacks are cottage cheese with chopped tomatoes and fresh ground pepper, or plain nonfat yogurt with fresh fruit. 

No Crust Pizza from the "Weight Loss Solution" book

I try to incorporate veggies in every meal — even breakfast — which may be a hard-boiled egg or a frittata muffin and a slice of Canadian bacon. I try to keep plastic containers in the fridge well-stocked with cut-up celery, peppers, radishes and cucumbers. 

We’re allowed two or three planned splurges every week, so on our date night we may treat ourselves to some really good bread, or potatoes. Maybe we’ll go out for ice cream one night to celebrate a small victory or milestone. We always save room for Sunday morning Bible study treats, because St. Paul has some talented and generous bakers! 

So far the results have been everything I’d hoped. Ken has lost 21 pounds so far. I lost about 19 and I'm trying to hold steady at about 108. I was able to decrease my blood pressure medication. Our cholesterol and triglycerides are lower than they were before DASH. Overall this eating plan is working well for us and we’re sticking with it.

 

All Things Made New

I started 2015 with a theme Scripture and a list of goals for the year:

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” 2 Cor. 5:17

• Go to Jazzercise four times a week.
• Do 50 new things by the end of the year.
• Seek a new area of ministry now that I’m no longer on a church board.
• Be more intentional and meditative in my quiet time.

The “50 new things” idea came from a conversation with my oncologist during a follow-up appointment near the end of 2014. Dr. S. had been doing it, saying it was a breath of fresh air in his routine and perspective on life in general. So I set out trying to keep track of all the new things I did for the year — new experiences, foods, whatever.

I didn’t expect the flood of newness that has come into my life in the past seven months. There’s been a new approach to eating and weight loss … a wedding … a plan to take better care of the house … a more consistent approach to my daily time in God’s word. I want to share what I'm learning on the blog, encourage a reader or two, and learn more from you.

At almost age 59, I think I have at least some parts of my act together. The year has been about more than a new restaurant, recipe, movie, book, tourist attraction, etc. It has been about creating new habits, healthier habits. It’s about turning off the screens earlier (still working on that one!), being content with what God has given me, and turning to God’s word in the morning before I turn to Facebook or e-mail.

Even now, I’m still a work in progress. God is still making all things new. In me.

What about you? Did you set goals or make resolutions for 2015? Are you making progress toward reaching your goals?