A Lack of Gray

"But Mom," Vince wailed.  "I can't use it now."

"There are other colored pencils you can use,"  Elaine told him.  "Why don't you color a picture that doesn't use gray?  We will sharpen it when we get back home."

"But I need to color this picture," he said.  "It is a picture of a Slate Gray Junco and it is very beautiful, but you cannot color it without a gray colored pencil!" 

Clearly this piece of advice had done little to assuage Vince's upset feelings.  The absence of a gray colored pencil was the most important thing to him on our next to last day of vacation.

I had to think about how many times the little things in life upset me.  It's not colored pencils (I haven't gotten on board with the whole adult coloring book craze), but there are plenty of other little speed bumps that can make the difference between my day being smooth or hard.

I suppose the problems really have more to do with me and my selfishness.  When I am too focused on myself and my perceived needs (that is to say my wants), then anything that disturbs those things is bound to upset me.

At the same time, when my focus is on Jesus and others, it is far easier to take things in stride.  At the end of the day, I will be more satisfied when my focus was on serving others than on having everyone in my path cater to my wants.

I often wonder about how Jesus dealt with crowds and multitudes constantly following Him and pressing into His personal time and space.  It had to be pretty hard at times and I am sure He was physically exhausted, but He also loved everyone of the people following Him and that made all the difference.

Love really does make the difference, even enough (maybe) to let you weather the storm of a broken, gray-colored pencil.

"You Forgot"

It was a sunny, sleepy afternoon and Elaine and I lay down for a nap.  This is not an uncommon occurrence on weekends when I am on call.  Even doctors get tired...

At some point, during our attempted snooze, a dark figure in a trench coat surreptitiously wandered down the hallway to our bedroom door.  It looked both ways and then crouched down, slipping a scrap of paper beneath the door before darting back down the hallway to begin studying about birds again.

So it was that half an hour later, Elaine discovered on the floor of our bedroom a cryptic message, written in pencil.  "You said 'I would make cookies on Sunday' YOU FORGOT"

That was all.

Of course, Elaine hadn't forgotten, she had just decided that such a project could wait until after a nap, but Vince was sure that she had.  He had waited enough of the afternoon for the promised cookies to appear and when they didn't, it was time to take matters into his own hands.

In the course, of time, Vince did get his cookies.  Chocolate chip they were, gluten-free, and tasty enough to satisfy an eight-year old's appetite for sweets.

The Bible is full of promises as well.  Some are good, promises of strength and victory, and some are promises of coming judgment.  It is awfully easy to read those and believe that God has forgotten at least some of what He has promised.

Second Peter says that "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."

In the midst of discouragement, it is tempting to thing that God remembers us no more.  That He doesn't care and that we are on our own, swimming against a current that threatens to sweep us over a waterfall that would make Niagra look like Hindostan Falls. 

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

God is faithful.  He doesn't forget His promises and when He says things like "I will never leave you or forsake you," that's just what He means.

If there is one important thing, it is to remember that God has a plan and that nothing can shake that plan for you and me.  And nothing will shake Him up or make His plans for us come to naught.  That's awfully comforting when it feels like things are falling apart.

Or when chocolate chip cookies don't appear at the right time on a Sunday afternoon.

"Bossy Anna!"

"Vince, don't talk with food in your mouth!"  Anna said, her voice a little muffled from the spaghetti she had in her own mouth.  "It's just not polite!"

"Anna, stop bossing me!"  Vince shouted back -- still with plenty of pasta filling his own cheeks.

And from the high chair across the table came Victoria's high-pitched, clear voice "Anna, stop bossing me!"

Victoria has picked up a lot of phrases things like, "Good idea," "Just a second,"  and the words to "Jesus Loves Me."  Now, she knows the phrase "Bossy Anna!"

It isn't that we have been intentionally teaching her most of these things.  She just picks them up.  Clearly we say them more than we realize.

Back in 1993, the famous philosopher, Charles Barkley notoriously said "I'm not a role model.  Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids."  Which meant, in other words, "I don't want to be a role model," nothing more or less.

Regardless of his wishes, there were lots of young men who were following his moves, on and off the basketball court, and trying to emulate them.  The same is true for the rest of us as well.

There are many who follow in our footsteps -- friends, brothers and sisters, or our children.  They pick up more than phrases we say, they learn behaviors, actions, and attitudes.

I do pray that my children and others around me might learn good things from my life and godly behaviors.  I didn't sign up to be a role model, but I am one, like it or not.

Let the things others learn be Christ-honoring things.

Not just "Bossy Anna!"

What's in a Name?

"Dad," my son, Vince, said to me the other day.  "You know, the Goliath Bird Eater Tarantula is not very well named because even thought it is really big, it seldom eats birds at all.  It mostly lives on insects."

"Oh," I said.  "I didn't know that."  Frankly, I hadn't even known there was a tarantula with such a name as the Goliath Bird Eater, but Vince is always sharing some new botanical or zoological information with me.

"You know, the Blue Footed Booby is well named, though," he continued.  "Because it really does have blue feet, although they are brightest on the adults."

"Have you ever seen a Blue Footed Booby?"  I asked him curiously.

"No, Dad," he said, as though I was a bit of a dim wit.  "The are marine birds that are native the tropical Pacific coast.  They aren't found in Indiana."

So much for that.

Vince is at the age where he thinks things should be named appropriately.  Of course, that could lead to some very long names.  Something like: "Very Large Tarantula that mostly eats insects, but very occasionally might eat a bird if it could happen to catch it."

When it comes to medicines, almost all of the names are made up and tell you nothing about the medicine.  Names like Prinvil or Norvasc are short, but maybe "Excellent Blood Pressure Pill," would make patients more likely to take them.  Or maybe, instead of Amaryl, we could have the "Works Real Good on Sugar," pill.

I don't suppose the FDA would allow a naming process like that and that's fine.  Medical professionals are perfectly capable of remembering names and doses of medications without their names being descriptive.  At the same time, I wonder what we would named if each one of us would be named if we would had a totally descriptive name.

In the Bible, people really did have descriptive names.  The woman Naomi had a name that meant "Pleasant."  After she returned from a sojourn in Moab during which time both her husband and two sons died, she requested that people call her Mara, which means bitter.

What would people call you if they used a description for your name?  I hope it would be something good, something that speaks of love and kindness rather than a name that speaks of anger, greed, or selfishness.

There is no doubt that to be "well named," (as Vince would say) is rather to be chosen than great riches.