Asking is Easier!

“Dr. Waldron, there is something wrong with my son!”

The son in question was sixteen months old and playing on the floor, oblivious to the expressed maternal concern. I asked a series of questions to figure out what was going on, only to have all answered in the negative.

“He’s just so fussy.” His mother told me, anguish seeping from her words like water from a sponge.

I resorted to performing a physical examination of the child, not very impressive, but hopefully it would give me an idea of what was wrong. His ears were OK, throat looked fine, but when I looked in his nose, I discovered the source of his problem.

There was a little blue object looking at me from within Chad’s nasal cavity. Upon retrieval, I found two baby M & M’s.

Unfortunately, Chad was unable to talk – at least enough to tell me what his problem was. His mother didn’t know how to help him, because she didn’t know what was wrong.

This is one of the great things about being human. We can communicate. We can tell others stories about ourselves, we can explain who we are with words. More importantly, we can pray, opening our hearts to one who listens to all requests.

Too often, we act like 16-month-old Chad with M & M s in his nose. We act cranky and difficult to get along with and still do not make an attempt to communicate our needs to God.

Prayer is the question that holds within it all answers. As we open our souls to communicate to God, He hears and provides for us.

God knows our needs, but he wants us to ask. He wants us to tell Him what to make better, even if it is so simple as M & M’s in our nose.

A Great Work

One of the great things about having company is that Legos get picked up.

Our three older children were tasked with this mission and went (somewhat somberly) into the basement to do this thankless task.  Eventually, they reemerged with the news that the task was done.

Vince came up the stairs last of all.  "Dad," he told me.  "We are all done.  As we were picking up Legos, I thought of a verse that goes well with it."

"What verse is that, Vince?"  I asked him.

"'I am doing a great work,'" he told me.  "I won't tell you the rest of the verse because it doesn't go as well with it.  But it is about Nehemiah and how he was doing a great work and could not stop it, even though Tobiah (Nehemiah's enemy) wanted him to."

The verse is from the book of Nehemiah (6:3).  Nehemiah was doing the daunting task of rebuilding the city walls around Jerusalem and was opposed by various men who tried to distract him from the work.  His answer each time was that he was doing a great work and could not come down and leave the work.

I suppose it is easy to think of only "big things" as a great work.  Things like, say, building a wall around a capital city, climbing Mt. Everest, or competing in a hot dog eating contest.  But life is made up of a lot more small tasks that don't seem particularly great or important.

It is awfully easy in the midst of these not so great tasks to get side tracked by interesting, but relatively unimportant things.  Whether we are picking up Legos, building a wall around Jerusalem, or raising children, it is important to remember that the job is important and most be completed before the next one is begun.

Few things are as discouraging as having to pick up a room full of Legos, but there are plenty that take longer and more rewarding in the end.

Whatever task we are facing, we must not stop, for we are doing a great work.

Too Many Alligators

"Dad," Elliot asked from the back seat of our mini van.  "Are their poisonous frogs in other countries where there is war... like Asia?"

My five year old son has been fixated on frogs lately and some of the question he asks about them are pretty random.

"I guess so," I said.  Certainly there is some country that is dealing with war that also has at least one species of poisonous frog in it.  That certainly would be my guess for Jeopardy.

There was silence for a little while, as Elliot gathered his thoughts together.  Soon he began again. 

"I wish I could kill all of the alligators and crocodiles," he said forcefully.

"Why?"  My wife, Elaine, asked him.

"Because they eat frogs!"

"But if they didn't eat frogs, there would probably too many of them.  Anyway, there aren't any alligators in Indiana."

Elliot thought a bit more.  "Well, I wish I could invite all of the frogs to Indiana then and I would teach them about Jesus and how to stay away from alligators and crocodiles."

My son is young and can be forgiven if he doesn't understand that there is purpose for all of the things that God has created -- large and small, ferocious and timid, alike.  While it is tempting to believe that more frogs and fewer alligators could only be beneficial to everyone involved, odds are that it would upset a balance that currently exists.  Both are important.

This is the way in creation.  It is also the plan for our lives.  For, God gives us both frogs and alligators -- things that we want and circumstances that we don't -- in order that we can grow.  It is all to easy to rail against the things we don't like, desiring only that which we believe would make us happiest.

I cannot imagine a world with only frogs (even if my son can), for it would be a pretty dreary place.

Fortunately, I don't need to worry.  God has everything in hand and will continue to give me both frogs and alligators for the foreseeable future.

I am glad -- not because I enjoy the hard times, but because it tells me that God cares enough to give me what I need.  That is a blessing indeed.

A Puzzling Situation

The puzzle was amazing – it weighed over forty pounds and contained 18, 240 pieces. Very few would attempt to complete such a difficult puzzle, but that is exactly what Mr. Richard Gontarz did in 2005.

Day after day, Mr. Gontarz labored over it. Day after day, he neglected family and friends trying or order this chaos. Finally, after ten months of effort – over one thousand hours of work, the puzzle was completed – nearly.

For, Mr. Gontarz discovered on completion of the puzzle that one piece was missing. His house was searched from top to bottom without results and it became apparent that Buddy, the family beagle had eaten it.

Many people speak of life as though it was a puzzle. They see confusion and chaos in the daily decision they face. They work so hard and still face uncertainty that everything will come together.

They struggle for goals that always seem just out of reach. Then, at the end of life, they look back to the realization that there is something missing – that something was always missing for them to experience completion.

Jesus is that missing piece. He is the part of the puzzle that must come first. When He is in a life, it ceases to be puzzling, but rather a daily revelation. There are still daily decisions and much hard work, but Christ’s presence brings order to the madness.

In the end, the life that is begun and maintained with Christ will come together in a picture. This puzzle, begun on faith, will end as a reflection of the One who began it – Jesus Christ.