Wee Bairns

“The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10).

In my college years I worked as a trail guide in Colorado, leading boys on weeklong treks into Rocky Mountain National Park. On one occasion one of my hikers—a small, frail chap— lagged behind and took the wrong fork on the trail. When we arrived at our campsite he was nowhere to be found. Greatly alarmed, I backtracked to find him.

Just before dark I came upon him sitting on a rock by a small lake, hugging his knees, and sobbing. In my joy and relief, I gathered him up in a giant bear hug, hoisted him on my shoulders and carried him down the trail to our campsite. 

George McDonald, describes a young woman finding a “wee bairn” lost in the woods.  She gathered him up in her arms and carried the tiny infant home to her father, at which point she gained an insight that “was never afterward to leave her: now she understood the heart of the Son of Man, come to find and carry back the stray children to their Father and his.” When afterward she told her father how she felt he answered her “in just four words and no more: ‘Lassie, ye hae it!’“

So, I want you know that Jesus has been looking for you all your life. He came to find you, no matter how far you may have strayed and how lost you may be and to carry you home to your Father. God has “Love to seek and Power to save...” (John Greenleaf Whittier). You may not know much about God, but if you know that much, “Ye hae it!”

DHR

Sowing in Tears; Reaping in Joy

“He who goes out weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him”—Psalm 126:5

I’ve done time in two seminaries, one conservative and one liberal, but not one of my professors ever told me that serving the Church meant suffering. Jesus, on the other hand, told Paul plainly that he must suffer for the sake of his name (Acts 9:16), and so it is for us.

Certainly there are happy occasions when we are surprised by joy, when people hear the Savior’s voice and follow him, but these serendipities go hand in hand with intense and sometimes brutal opposition. Apathetic, hard-hearted congregants, implacable, mean–spirited critics, small-minded obstructionists are always with us. All ground is cursed and works hard, even holy ground.  Thus we “go out weeping” and we “sow in tears.”

Perhaps there’s a reason: Just as all other work fails to fulfill us, so, “God will not allow Love’s work to impart full solace, lest it steal the heart” (John Keble). We may try to find peace and satisfaction in the work that God alone can give. Failures, disappointment and loss accompany all that we do so that our hearts may be drawn ever steadily to Jesus.

And so we “go out weaping and we sow in tears”—it is necessary. But we should know that our labor is not in vain. Nothing we do for Jesus will ever be lost or wasted. There will be a bountiful harvest in the end: We shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing our sheaves with us!

David Roper

“Let us keep to the work of this present sowing time, and find strength in the promise that is here so positively given us. Here is one of the Lord's shalls and wills; it is freely given both to workers, waiters, and weepers, and they may rest assured that it will not fail: “in due season they shall reap....” (Charles Haddon Spurgeon).

Goldilocks and the Two Bears

“Only by pride comes contention; but wisdom resides in those who listen and learn” —Proverbs 13:10

A number of years ago, Carolyn and I spent a few days camping on the flanks of Mount Rainier in Washington State. We were returning to our campsite one evening when we came across two large male bears brawling in the middle of a meadow.  They were mauling one another, snapping, snarling, tearing up the ground and making a frightful fuss.  We stopped to watch.

There was a hiker standing nearby and I asked him what the fight was about. “A young female,” he said.  “Where is she?” I asked. “Oh,” he chuckled, "she left the area about 20 minutes ago.” 

So, I mused, the squabble had nothing to do with the young sow; it was all about being the biggest bear.

It seems to me that most fights are “not about what they’re about,” if you know what I mean. They’re rarely about policy and principle, right and wrong; they’re mostly about pride. The Wise Man swings his axe at the root of the problem: The ground of all contention is hubris—insisting on our way, demanding our rights, defending our position, our turf and our egos. That’s something to remember the next time we find ourselves in a heated argument. We should stop and ask ourselves what the fight is really about.

On the flip side, “wisdom resides with “those who listen and learn.” (The Hebrew verb means, “to allow oneself to be instructed.”) Wise indeed are those who humble themselves—who set aside their own selfish aims and ambitions; who acknowledge the limits of their own understanding; who listen to the other person’s point of view; who allow their own ideas to be instructed and corrected. 

This is the wisdom from above that sows righteousness and peace wherever it is found (James 3:17,18).

DHR

Quiet Folks

“All the troubles of life come upon us because we refuse to sit quietly for a while each day in our rooms”—Blaise Pascal

“Be still and know that I am God” —Psalm 46:10

A fishing–friend of mine recently passed on a slim volume entitled, Fishin’ Jimmy. It was written in 1889 by New Englander Anne Trumbull Slosson.

Fishin’ Jimmy is about a man who lived in Franconia, that little valley in New Hampshire made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Great Stone Face. (Unfortunately, in 2003 the face crumbled into history.)

Fishin’ Jimmy was an angler who fly–fished the streams and ponds of that region for a half–century or more. I was intrigued by the story because some years ago Carolyn and I camped in Franconia Notch and I fished those very streams.

Fishin’ Jimmy was a genial, kindly, accessible man, a lover of men and women, boys and girls, a friend of publicans and sinners. He was simple man with a deep faith who walked with God in quietness and  confidence.

One thing troubled Jimmy, however. He wanted to become a “fisher of men.” That was what the Great Teacher had promised those first fishermen who left their boats to follow him.

“I allers try to think that ‘t was me in that boat when he come along.” Jimmy muses. “I’d make b’l’eve that it was out on Streeter’s Pond, an’ I was settin’ in the boat, fixin’ my lan’in’ net, when I see him on the shore. I think mebbe I’m that James—for that’s my given name, ye know, though they allers call me Jimmy—an’ then I hear him callin’ me’, ‘James, James.’ I can hear him jest plain sometimes, when the wind’s blowin’ in the trees, an’ I jest ache to up an’ foller him. But says he, ‘I’ll make ye a fisher o’men,’ an’ he aint done it. I’m waitin’; mebbe he’ll larn me some day.”

What Fishin’ Jimmy did not know is that the Great Teacher had “larned” him. Jimmy had walked a long time with Jesus and his ways had rubbed off on him. Fishin’ Jimmy had become a center of peace, a man who touched lives profoundly wherever he went, who left behind the unforgettable fragrance of Christ.

David, Israel’s poet, speaks of those like Jimmy who “live quietly” and yet deeply (Psalms 35:20). In every age God has his women and men who have withdrawn from life’s ambitions and jealousies and have entered into the secret of a life that is hidden in God.

This doesn’t mean that these folks escape life’s dangers and dilemmas, but it does mean they have the ability to live with tranquility in the midst of them. Though much trouble may remain, confusion, apprehension, instability and despair have begun to dwindle away. These are the “quiet ones” who show poise under pressure, who are unshaken by life’s alarms and who radiate wisdom and peace wherever they go.

Ordinary folks, unfamiliar with the hidden depths of God, necessarily live busy, fussy, care–ridden lives. They’re always fretful, always restless, always looking for that illusive “something more.”

But those who have learned to turn their energies toward knowing and loving God (and being loved by him) can be calm in the hustle and bustle of the marketplace as well as the tedium and weariness of the commonplace, quiet in the midst of life’s homeliest duties and demands.

F. B. Meyer says that most of us are like folks living in a one–room house located too close to the street. There’s no way to get away from the noise and commotion outside. But we can build a little sound–proof room within and make it our dwelling place—a secret chamber in which we ponder God’s word and talk things over with him. It’s in that quiet place that we learn peace and bring that peace out to others.

George MacDonald, that wise, old Scot, put it this way: “There is a chamber—a chamber in God himself which none can enter but the one, the individual, the particular person. Out of which chamber that man has to bring revelation and strength for his brethren. This is that for which he was made—to reveal the secret things of the Father.”

We’re distracted because we’ve lost that orientation, but we can learn to be quiet. We can take our anxious worry and nervous energy to Jesus. When people disappoint us we can confide in him. When storms sweep over us we can hide in his presence. When people jostle one another and jockey for position, when they compete for fame and fortune and their passions begin to stir us we can run to that chamber, shut the door and quiet our hearts again. We can be calm and strong…

Firm in the right; mild to the wrong;
Our heart, in every raging throng
A chamber shut for prayer and song.

—author unknown

DHR

No Spanking Zone

A wooden plaque hangs on our front door:

Papa and Nana’s House

Hugs and Kisses

No spanking zone

Milk and Cookies

Kids spoiled while you wait

It’s what we want our home to be for our grandchildren and for everyone—a place of happy, playful, care–free affection, a refuge of unconditional love. 

“Spiritually, if not literally, we can (all) love as grandparents,” Margaret Guenther says, “Parental love is weighted with concerns: Will this child learn the multiplication tables and state capitals? Know how to tie his shoes? Maybe earn a living some day? By contrast, grandparental love asks for nothing: no conditions are attached.”[1]

Assuming that we’re growing in grace as we grow up, we should all be becoming more “grandparental” in our love for one another, fretting less over other folk’s sins and shortcomings and letting them grow in God’s time and way, not dismayed or disillusioned by occasional bad behavior. We can enjoy God’s children and let them be.

God’s children are just that—His children, not mine—and thus they are His responsibility. I can be “irresponsible” in the literal and best sense of that word. I can point others to righteousness in a non-judgmental way, but I’m free from the heavy burden of trying to correct or control them. I can love and pray with calm detachment. I can be forgiving, merciful, lenient and kind-hearted, knowing that it is not condemnation, but the kindness of God that draws men and women to repentance (Romans 2:4).

Papa and Nana’s house—no spanking zone; milk and cookies; hugs and kisses. God’s children are welcome here!

DHR

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[1] Margaret Guenther, Toward Holy Ground, p.46