Skip to main content

the pile

Things pile up. Snow. Troubles. Meetings. Appointments. Garbage. Dirt. That's just life.This week I have activities 6 nights in a row and am stealing a few moments just before I leave for home group to write something here and eat a delayed lunch. I have not cleaned my house in 12 days (don't jump to conclusions, the cat litter is still scooped out daily). My car developed a strange noise last week which resulted in two lengthy trips to the mechanic and many an insightful but unplanned hour spent reading in the garage waiting room. More inspectors and my builder tracked through my house snapping pictures of all things crooked and cracked. I did two airport runs and will do another one in 3 days. I had my supposed-to-be-annual trip to the doctor where I gave him samples of bodily fluids and let him poke and prod me (everything in excellent shape, he told me). It was a snowy day so the nurse doing the blood tests was stuck in her driveway and the doctor had to do the needlework himself which was an interesting experience for both of us (let me just say...tiny veins!) and this double duty delayed everything in his office by an hour or so. Oh, and shovelling snow, of course, so that we could actually use the front steps again, was squeezed in there somewhere.

Not that I am complaining (well, to be honest, I am, but I am trying to write words that reflect the attitude I would like to have). The dull, heavy, wet and gross-smelling blanket of discouragement seems common this time of year. Thankfully, Jesus has been saying these words to me this past week:

Do not be discouraged.
Do not be impatient.
Be thankful while you wait.
I am your summer.

Yep, mankind has become pretty good at snow removal so that society can function to a workable degree, but we can never change the season. Only God can do that. And we have to trust that he will. This season of discouragement and stagnancy (insert your own situation here) is not permanent. So go ahead, laugh at that snow in your driveway; mock the ice on your stairs, for they will cease to exist in a short time (wow, can you tell I've been reading the old testament prophets?). But God's goodness and faithfulness and care for his children in a loving and kind manner will go on forever.

This is a photo of me with some strange hair shape (due to sunglasses) squinting (or sleeping) in front of the snow pile right beside my house at the end of the street. Many road signs are illegible due to the incredible amount of snow. So hey, it is perfectly normal to feel like you have lost your way a bit. But just stay on track, you'll be okay. Oh, and the pile is actually bigger than it looks because I am standing a few feet in front of it so the perception is that I am slightly larger than I am. A delusion I am happy to propagate, as you know. Okay, okay, stopping with the endless comments and getting ready for home group.

Comments

Shelley said…
I love that..."I am your summer."

gee this winter is long, isn't it. even I, a snow-lover, am tired of it.

thanks for this, I am going to send it to a friend with SADS. She will love it.

Popular posts from this blog

Names of God

The Hebrew word "YHWH" (read from right to left) This past Sunday I gave a talk on the Names of God, the beginning of a series on this topic. This first talk was to be a gentle introduction so I thought it wouldn't take too many hours of preparation. Well, I quickly discovered that the research is almost bottomless; every time I thought I had a somewhat definitive list of names, I found another source which added a few more or gave a different twist on some of the names I had already come across. After several hours I was getting overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data (and that was only looking at the Hebrew Bible). I wondered how I could present this to people in an orderly and accessible fashion and within a reasonable time frame. Not everyone is up for a 3-hour lecture crammed full of detail on a Sunday morning. So I took a break and spent a bit of time meditating on this problem and asking the Spirit for guidance. And then I thought that being overwhelmed by Go

it's a mad mad mad world (of theology)

The mad dash for the end of term has begun.  I have finished all my required readings and have jumped into research reading.  One of my papers is on the madness of theology (the correlation seems more obvious to some of us than to others).  Truly inspiring stuff, I am finding.  Let me share a few quotes here: There is a certain madness in Christianity – in a desert God who is jealous and passionate, in a saviour who speaks in apocalyptic terms, in a life of sacrificial love, in the scandal of particularity.   In principle, a confessional theology should bear the mark of this madness, but the mark or wound must constantly be renewed. - Walter Lowe, "Postmodern Theology" in The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology , 2007.   “In the Scriptures the odd phenomena constituting the ‘Kingdom of God’ are the offspring of the shock that is delivered by the name of God to what is there called the ‘world,’ resulting in what I call a ‘sacred anarchy.’   Consider but a sampling o

comedic timing

Comic by Joel Micah Harris at xkcd.com One of my favourite jokes goes like this: Knock, knock. Who's there? Interrupting cow Interrupting cow w--- Moooooooo!! Timing is important in both drama and comedy. A well-paced story draws the audience in and helps it invest in the characters, while a tale too hastily told or too long drawn out will fail to engage anyone. Surprise - something which interrupts the expected - is a creative use of timing and integral to any good story. If someone is reading a novel and everything unfolds in a predictable manner, they will probably wonder why they bothered reading the book. And so it is in life. Having life be predictable all of the time is not as calming as it sounds. We love surprises, especially good surprises like birthday parties, gifts, marriage proposals, and finding something that we thought was lost. Surprises are an important part of humour. A good joke is funny because it goes to a place you didn't expect it to go. Sim