"Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world." C.S. Lewis said it many a time in his speeches, and it is written at least once in his writings. How wise He was!
Whether it is a 2 AM or 2 PM or any time in between, I've noticed that when I am hurting, I cry out - if only in my mind, "Oh God!." Yes it's true, we do call on Him when we are in pain, don't we?
It's happened to me several times! I remember it well when I crashed a Moped in Bermuda and lay sprawled out in the middle of the road, endeavoring to assess what had happened and if I could move at all. It happened when the pressure cooker blew and scalding potato water burned the skin from my hands and thighs. I remember it again when I had a knee replacement about twelve years ago, and I would sit in the recliner in the middle of the night wondering why I felt so punished. It happened when I faced the surgeon's knife in 2005 for a cervical fusion and fear enveloped me like a blanket of doom. And it's happening now when awakened in the early, early morning hours with stabbing pain in my shoulder from a parking lot fall. Yes, I call out to God and wonder why I must suffer with this at a time when I really need to be getting adequate sleep for all the tasks that lie ahead on a daily basis. But in reality, I know.
You see, it's that in the middle of the night that there's not much to do but write and spend time communing with God. He knows that I need an excuse to sit and ponder, to read, to write, to spend time in quiet pursuits instead of in doing, doing, doing! And maybe having a fall such as I did, is the way to get me to a doctor - I'm so busy doing so much, that I tend to neglect myself.
When people are flat on their backs, the only way to look is up. God knows that and He will make it happen if He knows that ultimately it is in our best interest. That's what love is - A God-given power of choice to do that which is in the best interest of another, regardless of my feelings. To be sure, God ALWAYS does what is in our best interest, even if it hurts Him - or us in the short term.
It is true, Mr. Lewis, and I wish you were still alive to hear me, and others, agree with you. Pain does arouse us. It alerts us mainly to our need for God and it forces us to submit to His control of us and to the loving give and take relationship He offers.
Lord open our ears, will you please, so that we hear your slightest whisper and don't have to be alerted to Your Presence by the screaming siren of pain.
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Monday, July 20, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
We Fall Down, We Get Up
Our little Molly has digressed from the perfectly behaved little mini-schnauzer pup to a defiant little girl! What in the world has happened, we ask ourselves. What did we do wrong?
Molly came to us as such a little angel. She seemed to know that outside was for going potty and inside was for playing and snuggling. She has reversed things! This morning at 6:30, I took her out for her early morning duties, and she sat and just looked around at the scenery! Granted, it is very beautiful here, but she has awakened us with her whining, and heretofore that has meant it was time for a bathroom break. Not today. Actually I took her out three different times, and three different times she sat and looked at the scenery or licked the morning dew off the grass. But in-between one of those outdoor excursions, she did her business in the kitchen, where we had her blocked in. WHAT?
I have to admit, it reminded me of humans. We think we get it right, only to discover that somehow we have bungled things up again. Old habits die hard. One song made famous by singer Bob Carlisle (made famous by "Butterfly Kisses"), states,
"We fall down, we get up! And the saints are just the sinners who fall down and get up."
So Miss Molly is still a saint who has fallen down and will get up. I too, am a sinner who falls down much more often than I'd like, but I do keep getting up. Kind of foolish of me to think that a little puppy wouldn't fall down if a grown-up Grandma human does!
The important thing is that when I fall down, God doesn't scold me. He picks me up on His lap, so to speak, and says, "What happened, kid?" Often I have no answer, any more than sweet little Molly does. Is she being defiant or is she just being human like me? - no really, doggie.? I think that she is just being the imperfect little critter that she is, and she'll get up. She'll do what she needs to outside and she'll be the sweet girl she is, inside and outside. She just needs from us the same kind of longsuffering love that God grants to me.
"God, grant us patience with ourselves, with each other and even with our little puppies!"
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Molly came to us as such a little angel. She seemed to know that outside was for going potty and inside was for playing and snuggling. She has reversed things! This morning at 6:30, I took her out for her early morning duties, and she sat and just looked around at the scenery! Granted, it is very beautiful here, but she has awakened us with her whining, and heretofore that has meant it was time for a bathroom break. Not today. Actually I took her out three different times, and three different times she sat and looked at the scenery or licked the morning dew off the grass. But in-between one of those outdoor excursions, she did her business in the kitchen, where we had her blocked in. WHAT?
I have to admit, it reminded me of humans. We think we get it right, only to discover that somehow we have bungled things up again. Old habits die hard. One song made famous by singer Bob Carlisle (made famous by "Butterfly Kisses"), states,
"We fall down, we get up! And the saints are just the sinners who fall down and get up."
So Miss Molly is still a saint who has fallen down and will get up. I too, am a sinner who falls down much more often than I'd like, but I do keep getting up. Kind of foolish of me to think that a little puppy wouldn't fall down if a grown-up Grandma human does!
The important thing is that when I fall down, God doesn't scold me. He picks me up on His lap, so to speak, and says, "What happened, kid?" Often I have no answer, any more than sweet little Molly does. Is she being defiant or is she just being human like me? - no really, doggie.? I think that she is just being the imperfect little critter that she is, and she'll get up. She'll do what she needs to outside and she'll be the sweet girl she is, inside and outside. She just needs from us the same kind of longsuffering love that God grants to me.
"God, grant us patience with ourselves, with each other and even with our little puppies!"
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Thursday, July 2, 2009
Who Do You Trust?
Last week I received an e-mail telling me to NOT accept the new one dollar coins just minted. The reason that it was requested that we reject them, is that the government has removed "In God we Trust" from those coins.
IN GOD WE TRUST. Wouldn't it be wonderful if that was the case?
We have certainly lost trust in our government who is spending our income and the income of our children and grandchildren for generations to come. And what will become of health care and how will we survive tripled utility bills that some are predicting?
We have lost trust in the News Media. Wherever you turn, the news they broadcast is slanted, twisted, told in half-truths, distorted and much of the real truth is eliminated! And then we turn on Fox News and have a heart attack or at least a rise in Blood Pressure - gloom and doom, or is it reality?
We have lost trust in our insurance companies, who change the rules mid-stream and don't bother to inform us until we go to claim some insurance monies at the doctor's office and are told that we don't have insurance. WHAT?
We have lost trust in Credit Card companies who send lovely, complicated letters telling us that our interest rate is going up - no fault of our own, but due to the poor economy. Wait a minute! If the economy is poor, how is raising the interest going to help those who are negatively affected by the economy?
We have even lost trust in doctors. We are afraid that they are being controlled by the insurance companies (like the insurance companies allow eleven minutes for an initial psychiatric exam). How in the world can a doc diagnosis a psychiatric disorder in 11 minutes? And what about those meds they order for us to take. Have you watched the commercials that list the numerous life-threatening side effects of medications?
Truth is, it doesn't really matter if our money tells us that we trust in God or it doesn't. Sure, it is indicative of the state of affairs this world is in, but is it indicative of your state of affairs and mine?
The question is: Is "In God I Trust" written on your heart?
Larry King, Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, Hugh Downs and numerous other commentators disclose the gloom and doom facts, but . . . Regardless of what we are told about the world's condition, we can rely on what God has to say:
Psalm 46: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. . ."
Read the rest of that Psalm. It may be great to memorize it, as you might find it to be a blessing when you feel that all around you is calamity and distrust. God IS the one constant we can trust, regardless of what our money says or doesn't say. Just remember that!
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IN GOD WE TRUST. Wouldn't it be wonderful if that was the case?
We have certainly lost trust in our government who is spending our income and the income of our children and grandchildren for generations to come. And what will become of health care and how will we survive tripled utility bills that some are predicting?
We have lost trust in the News Media. Wherever you turn, the news they broadcast is slanted, twisted, told in half-truths, distorted and much of the real truth is eliminated! And then we turn on Fox News and have a heart attack or at least a rise in Blood Pressure - gloom and doom, or is it reality?
We have lost trust in our insurance companies, who change the rules mid-stream and don't bother to inform us until we go to claim some insurance monies at the doctor's office and are told that we don't have insurance. WHAT?
We have lost trust in Credit Card companies who send lovely, complicated letters telling us that our interest rate is going up - no fault of our own, but due to the poor economy. Wait a minute! If the economy is poor, how is raising the interest going to help those who are negatively affected by the economy?
We have even lost trust in doctors. We are afraid that they are being controlled by the insurance companies (like the insurance companies allow eleven minutes for an initial psychiatric exam). How in the world can a doc diagnosis a psychiatric disorder in 11 minutes? And what about those meds they order for us to take. Have you watched the commercials that list the numerous life-threatening side effects of medications?
Truth is, it doesn't really matter if our money tells us that we trust in God or it doesn't. Sure, it is indicative of the state of affairs this world is in, but is it indicative of your state of affairs and mine?
The question is: Is "In God I Trust" written on your heart?
Larry King, Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, Hugh Downs and numerous other commentators disclose the gloom and doom facts, but . . . Regardless of what we are told about the world's condition, we can rely on what God has to say:
Psalm 46: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. . ."
Read the rest of that Psalm. It may be great to memorize it, as you might find it to be a blessing when you feel that all around you is calamity and distrust. God IS the one constant we can trust, regardless of what our money says or doesn't say. Just remember that!
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