A Time to Fear

“The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color.”  Natalie Babbitt's first line of Tuck Everlasting.

All my life I have loved these summer days she's referring to. I should have been a lizard. I relish the long hot and humid days with more hours of light to laugh, dance, and live. Summer really is my favorite time of the year, especially when I'm at my happiest place, the beach. If all of that wasn't great enough, the end of the week, the 5th to be exact, brings my birthday!

The  past three years have threatened to steal my joy of this favorite week.

Three years ago to this day, a call came. It brought news of my sweet sister in the hospital giving birth to her second son at 36 weeks. He was already with my Jesus.  I fell immediately onto the stairs where I was standing, stunned. I would somehow pick myself up off the steps, make my way to the hospital with a close group of other sisters. We would surround her, hold hands, and pray. In the dog days to follow we would bring meals, assist with funeral arrangements, and mostly cry.

Two years ago as sisters we remembered the  anniversary of that sad day.  August 4th came and brought my husband home early. I remember smiling in the kitchen when I heard his key in the front door. I loved that he was surprising me, maybe for my birthday?! I rounded the corner and knew immediately by the look on his face that was not the surprise. He would take the next few minutes and tell me some of the hardest news a loving provider will ever have to tell his wife. He'd lost his job. "Happy Birthday," we would joke through our sobs.

I so wish the run of bad summers ended there, but that wasn't God's story.

It's July 29th again. I pray and wait all afternoon for the call. My sister is at the Breast Center hearing her plan of treatment for the cancer we learned about only a few days ago. The call comes from her husband. He tells me it's worse than we thought. The treatment will most likely be a double mastectomy, and harsh chemo. I again fall to the ground. I'm out front where I've gone to escape from the noise inside. I finish the conversation, promising to call our other sisters who are also waiting by their phones, but first I throw my phone in the grass, bury my head in my hands, and weep.

Many years before this the three of us sat with our husbands and other friends as a group and studied the book of Ecclesiastes. We were young, not a gray hair on our heads. Probably too young to appreciate the truth of chapter 3:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born
and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a
time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to
search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

The days, weeks, and months have passed again. Today is July 29th.  I don't really wish to look back, but it's impossible not to. These moments have left cracks in my soul too deep to ignore, and they leave me with a question my flesh can't help but ask. What next, God? What anvil will fall from the sky this week? My precious week of summer has become a time to fear.

This year, during this time I fear, God has placed me at my happy place, the beach.  Have I mentioned I love the beach? I am with my family. My petite four year old has taken a love to the ocean. She rides the waves with my strong husband. I watch and wonder will the sea suddenly rip her from his hands? Is that what's next? We plan to drive home late. Will we find ourselves in a ditch bloody because a driver fell asleep?  Will a call come in the middle of the night about my grandfather? It's clear the potential for another stroke is high. I hear thunder from a far off storm, will one of us be struck by lightning?

No joke. These are the thoughts that race through my mind. The ones my husband says makes him never want to see what really goes on in this head of mine.

Thankfully, my onslaught of horrible thoughts is interrupted. I recall the verse He gave me yesterday as I watched the sun faithfully rise over the ocean once again.

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because
fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect
in love.

I breathe again. His whispers of love begin to softly soothe the aching cracks.

A whisper comes in my oldest's eyes as she runs to me wet and out of breath, exhilarated from riding the waves with her Daddy. I know that feeling. My Abba never let go.

His whisper comes from my youngest heavy in my arms who stares at the waves crashing one after another at my feet. She sighs, puts her head on my shoulder and softly sings, "Jesus, I adore thee..." Yes the act of singing has provided much comfort.

He whispers to my eyes and my soul as I watch a sunset splashed with too much color on the drive home. When we safely pull in and open the doors I am greeted by a chorus of crickets very much alive.

No where in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 does my God tell me there is a time to fear. Read it again.  It's not there. Verse 11 does cause me to pause though;

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity
in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from
beginning to end.

The first sister I mentioned is pregnant with what will be her second child since that horrific July 29th. She is nauseous and tired, but she bears something beautiful.

My husband continues to enjoy his new job, and after many months of uncertainty we are humbled beyond words at how Our Father has beautifully provided our daily bread.

My sister posts a picture of herself and her husband on a date celebrating the fact that she is alive a year later. Her words come across the screen and  interrupt as I write this. They tell of a heart forever changed. One that is left only to tell her story of how God showed up. She desires to bring hope to others, the beautiful hope that never fails.

According to Ecclesiastes there is not a time to fear.  There is however, a God who can't be fathomed. One I am to hold in reverence.  After listening to His whispers of love and seeing His beauty displayed, how can I not stand in awe of Him?

This first week of August I desperately want to hear His whispers of perfect love drive out my fear. I want to sing or write of His wonderful deeds. My eyes will often be looking to the sky. Not for falling anvils, but for his Glory.

Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

This Green Love Seat

We sat here about nine years ago, and after I finished a long story about nothing, he turned to me and changed my life for the better.  It's here where he took a knee and asked me if I'd let him love me forever.

Thankfully, I was smart enough to say yes.

In the nine years that would follow we would fall into a daily routine.  We would travel. We would celebrate and love two precious gifts of life. We would mourn the loss of loved ones. We would be ungrateful in times of plenty, and learn to be thankful in times need.

More recently we would take to the uncharted waters of unemployment for 15 months, sell our first home, accept a gracious offer and move into my in law's house.

So back on the green love seat I sit. Today I sat here and worked on a reading lesson with my oldest, cuddled my youngest, and stole a kiss with my love when he returned home from the good job God provided.

I sit here again my mind consumed with a to do list before bed. He gets a text, pauses the show we are watching and says, "It's the realtor. The seller's appraisal came through, and we are good."

My breath catches in my throat. Our eyes meet, we silently smile at each other the same knowing smile we smiled nine years ago, and he presses play.

The show continues and here I sit on this green love seat. I am caught off guard again by the idea that my God would choose to love me so. To allow our next dream, buying our own house to raise our girls in, to come true. I am filled with a scary and wondrous sense of awe.

I could allow doubts and fears to steal this moment from me, or I could remember that He came to give life, and give it to the full.

So I do what I've been doing a lot lately. I pull out my iPhone and start typing feverishly. I write and remember His faithfulness. I remember the verse He's sewn into my heart over the past two years. 


Philippians 4:4 ~ Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again Rejoice!

Rejoicing tonight not in the fact that we are steps closer to an earthly dream, but that I am only one thankful thought away from my heavenly King.

Thank you Jesus for meeting me again on this green love seat.

Newness

I sit in the dark hospital room. The light from the muted TV is enough to read from Sarah Young's Jesus Calling.  "As you follow me I lead you along paths of newness: ways you have never imagined. Don't worry about what is on the road up ahead. I want you to find your security in knowing me, the one who set you free."


Paths of newness.


Yes, it's new here holding a left arm that reaches uncontrollably and shakes when you squeeze it tight. His energy making ripples up the muscles of my right arm. He's still fitful although a little less than yesterday.

He's lost in the fog of the past, unaware of the room he's in or the fact that it is his 30 year old granddaughter sitting next to him at 4:30 in the morning.

But he's always loved someone to talk to. So we talk and my arm shakes from holding his. I try to remind him of where he is. I wonder if it will make any difference? The rule follower in me does it anyway.

That's a trait I received from my Granny, who taught me if we're going to do something, whatever it is, we should do it just right. "Just perfect!"

My Papa is not as much the rule follower. His eye's always twinkled when he'd bite into that fried chicken he knew he wasn't supposed to have. The same twinkle was there when he'd nudge me in my bed on Christmas morning. He has a hard time waiting to open his presents so he'd always sneak in, wake me first, and make me wake the others.  His face still smiles when he feeds his great granddaughters too much popcorn from the Christmas tin. He has a laugh and a happiness that draws you in. Even if he mumbles sometimes and the story is way too long.

He has a fight too. One that most likely began as a kid surviving the Great Depression and only grew stronger on a PT boat in the South Pacific during WWII. The fight remains this morning. He tries to use my nearness as leverage to pull up and escape from this bed. Escape from this body that is limiting him. Escape from this life that has been full and 90 years long. Wanting to go home and with a robustness the stroke has not killed, he says, "Go Gator Go!"

We have little idea of what the next few days will look like. Oh how I want to tell him to keep fighting to keep on trying. I know that's not for me to decide. God's ways are higher than my ways. So I sit here as he finally sleeps, silently cheering Him on toward whatever is next on this new path. 


The Seminole fan in me can't believe I'm actually going to say this but, "Go Gator Go!"


Blessed to love and be loved by this cattle rancher, gardener, American hero, Florida Gator, and my forever Papa. 

Bumper Cars

I remember coming off, my heart racing, doing everything I could to hold back the tears.   I declared very loudly to my Mom that I did not want to do that again. The seat belt burn still stinging across my neck.

I love roller coasters, I love pirate ships, and I really love the tea cups, but I'd be just as happy to never ride the bumper cars again. So what's the difference?

Control. 

Control is the difference. When the roller coaster starts I know where I'm headed, up and then down, around, maybe even upside down, depending on the type of snake it is. The pirate ship swings back and forth with a predictability governed by gravity. What goes up must come down. And the tea cups, they just spin and spin and spin until my head feels dizzy, like it did when I was two and a half feet tall, twirling with my eyes to the sky.

The bumper cars are a different story. Once that electric floor is turned on, the wheel is mine and I'm supposed to steer. I make choices about how this ride works. I can take this car wherever I want. Sounds exhilarating, and it is.  For that one brief second before everyone else starts moving. I may only get four or five feet before I'm faced head on with that kid, squinting and smiling his devious smile. He's ready to take me out. I brace myself and speed up, ready for what I know will happen. When WHAM out of nowhere, I'm sideswiped.

This was the cry of my sister's heart recently. "I'm just so tired of being sideswiped."

If you've lived on this planet you know what she means. At some point in time we've all been sideswiped, probably more than once. One of mine came when my husband came home early, not because the boss gave him a few hours off, but because he gave him a pink slip instead. Maybe your sideswipe came from the mouth of a doctor who used words like malignant or inoperable. Or from the sight of men in uniform not yours approaching your door. Or a betrayal by the one person you trusted the most. The list is too long and too hurtful.

Sideswiped.

The numbing pain comes sudden, it takes your breath away and leaves you with little sense of your bearings. Why? Why did God make us ride the bumper cars? Why is there a current that seems to pulse through life leading only to chaos, sideswipes and pain?

Back to the garden we go. You see, from what I know of my Savior, I don't believe God made the bumper cars. Sure He holds the key to the switchboard and can turn them off at anytime. Thankfully, out of His goodness and love, He gives me more time.

No, in the beginning, I think God created the Merry Go Round. The horses spun safely and steadily around their center. The lights shone bright, and the music was in perfect harmony. This sweet ride was what God intended. But in walked temptation. The allure to try something new, a different ride. One that offered its riders control.

As much as I want to blame Eve, I know given the choice I would have chosen the same.

Control. 

I know because it's what I'm choosing everyday, when I grumble about not being where I want to be, when I complain because my children don't sleep when I want them to, or when I fly off the handle and let my angry thoughts pile up until they spew nasty and hurtful words. I want it the way I want it. I want control.

Sadly Eve's and my desire for control has turned the Merry Go Round into the bumper cars. Those graceful and steady horses are now a bunch of old and stinky, rubber scuffed cars. Deceived. Believing they'll have control of their ride, and it'll be fun. The bumps and bruises are just to be expected. They keep jerking back and forth around the metal cage, targets waiting to be sideswiped.

This is depressing news. Isn't this blog supposed to be happy? Forgive me for crashing the Bumper Car party, but experiencing, admitting and understanding the hopeless dirty vessel I'm in is crucial if I ever want to find my way back to the peaceful Merry Go Round.

The good news? Life isn't the bumper cars forever. Thanks be to Jesus, there's a Merry Go Round awaiting us. Wondering how to get there? It's not as hard as one might think. Meet the conductor of the carnival, hear the story of how He sent His one and only son to walk onto the electric floor, to be bruised by the collisions of our sins, in order to make a way off this wretched ride. Then get out of your stinky car and follow Him off.  Let him lead you to the Merry Go Round.

I can't promise you won't be sideswiped as you escape. In fact you may even be more vulnerable to oncoming cars. But the Rescuer is good, He grabs your hand tight, and He gives you a helper who provides protective gear to armor up with as you make your exit.

For me, it's worth the climb out of the car. I'm still training my eyes on my rescuer so I don't lose sight of Him in the chaos. Forever following Him until we arrive together at the Merry Go Round where I can breathe in steady rhythm, hear the music from the angels and bask in the light that shines from His face turned toward me.

Thankful for the promise of the Merry Go Round, where I'll never be sideswiped again.

Truth~

Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.


2 Corinthians 11:3
But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.


John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Hebrews 12:2
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Revelation 21:4-5
'He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"