Month: August 2019

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t really want to go.  Yesterday was the first day of school for my kids, and my plan was to eat cookies as they came home and then chill out together and hear about one another’s day.  We would have dinner and get to bed “on time.” But then the invitation came – “We’re going to be short staffed at the pantry this week. Do you think you guys will be able to make it?”

 

There are a lot of things I get asked to do that I can say no to without a moment’s hesitation and without any guilt.  But this time it wasn’t so easy. One kid wanted to go. The others were less than enthusiastic – they wanted to lounge after their first day of school, too.  And I don’t want them to get the message that their hearts are less important to me than some stranger’s pantry.

 

But I’ve been thinking about what it means to be on the lookout for God’s invitation.  It’s not enough to simply acknowledge that God is at work. God is at work in and through people.  Sure He’s still in the miracle business, but quite a lot of the time He invites us to be part of the miracle. Hanging out at home with my kids and some cookies is a wonderful place to be, but I’d rather be part of someone else’s miracle.

 

So we readjusted.  When the last kid got off the bus, instead of putting our feet up, we rolled our sleeves up.  And when we got there, it was evident that it had been God’s invitation.  My son has been wanting to work in the freezer room, and without asking, that’s where he was assigned.  But that’s not all. He got to hand out 230 pizzas, his absolutely most favorite food.

 

This week I helped new families check in, which was a challenge for my very inadequate Spanish.  But by God’s grace, I was able to connect with people who shared their heartaches, their financial hardships, struggles with sickness, and their strong desire for their loved ones to be saved.  And then there was Louisa, who must not have believed me when I told her my poquito espanol was muy mal because she told me in very rapid Spanish in a noisy room that they were in a tough place.  They had prayed that God would help them, and then they found out about the pantry. Her gratitude was bigger than her joy. She kept hugging me, and all I really did was help her fill out a piece of paper.  I got all that in place of a cookie.

 

Everyone who left the pantry last night was carrying boxes or bags of goodies.  But I left with a heart full of God’s goodness. I am so deeply grateful to the God who sees us and responds with mercy and compassion.

 

And there was even an extra box of donuts to bring home at the end of the night.

 

“He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.” Ephesians 3:20

My nieces and nephew were recently here for a visit.  The kids played a lot of games. My nephew picked up a Rubik’s cube that was lying around and he was hooked. He brought the cube with him in the car, worked on it while playing other games, watched tutorials on how to solve it.  He was hooked. And eventually, with quite a bit of persistence and determination, he was able to solve the puzzle.

 

Apparently being able to solve the cube is a sign of some kind of genius.  It’s the kind I don’t have. I’ve never been able to figure out what combination of twists and turns will get the squares in the right places on all six sides.  The first Rubik’s puzzle I was given wasn’t even a cube, but a flat panel that folded to make interlocking rings. I tried and tried, but eventually gave up and the game was lost to childhood disinterest.

 

This leads me to the question – is it only a good gift if you win easily?

 

You see, the person who gave me that Rubik’s puzzle loved me and wanted to bless me with a gift.  But it wasn’t an easy gift. It required more patience and dedication than I had. Instead of rising to the challenge, I gave in to frustration, which ultimately led to my defeat.

 

The Bible says that our heavenly Father gives good gifts (Matthew 7:11).  But I think some of His gifts are like Rubik’s cubes. They aren’t easy gifts.  They’re not particularly fun. They require patience and dedication, a commitment to keep trying in spite of difficulty.  There are times we might not like them very much. And if we quit too soon, all we can say is that the experience left us frustrated and disappointed.

 

But if we will keep going, these hard gifts hold the promise of a particular kind of satisfaction that only victors know.  It’s the triumph of the mountain summit, of the finish line of the race, of the metal tested and proven.

 

The Lord works patiently to reveal the treasure that lies hidden within each of us, and His gifts invite us to do the same.  When we work with patient steadiness to unlock the treasures the Lord has given us, it’s good for us. He gives us instructions, tutorials, guidance for each step of the process.  It’s good for us to learn to love the way He does. It’s good for us to do the kinds of things He is doing. That’s one way we come to know Him more fully and have a deeper understanding of who He is.

 

Maybe the Lord has handed you a Rubik’s cube kind of gift and you’re thinking, What am I supposed to do with this?  No matter how hard I’ve tried, I just can’t seem to get the hang of it.  All I can say is don’t give up.  Don’t quit too soon. Who knows whether this turn will be the one that unlocks the treasure hidden at the heart of the gift?

 

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 2 Timothy 4:7