"The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things." Oswald Chambers
Photos of the muscovy ducks skimming across our pond are some of the few I took this week. We're having a heat wave here on Pollywog Creek, and with record high-lows combined with high humidity and heat indexes over a hundred, I'm not inclined to spend much time outdoors.
Despite a lack of photography and outdoor activities, I've certainly not been bored. It's been one of those weeks, with spurts of chaos along a steady stream of the less significant stuff of life. A feverish baby and a nighttime trip to the store for tylenol. Potty-training preschoolers, a little one with a stomach virus and the extra loads of laundry that accompany them both. A doctor visit to discuss surgery - for Louis, not me. Difficult professors, bird feeder stealing squirrels and a week of sleepless nights with a restless grandson. Friends and family with heartaches and pain, and praying for wisdom and encouragement. No. I've not been bored.
Wednesday morning I arrived at the home of my widow friend as planned, with just enough time to help her shower, change her bed linens and drive her into town for an appointment. I had not planned on bringing my 2 1/2 year old grandson Gavin with me, but there he was none-the-less. It was just one of those things that couldn't be helped, and with no time for me to make different arrangements, Gavin needed to be on his very best behavior, and I lovingly told him so.
With a handful of toy cars I found in the bottom of his diaper bag, Gavin played quietly by himself on the living room rug for almost an hour. I checked on him frequently.
"What a good, good boy you are," I reminded him often, looking into his big blue eyes and planting a kiss on the top of his head. I expected him to be good, or at least that's what I told him, and thankfully he lived up to my expectations.
Gavin is like most of us, I think. We tend to live up (or down) to who we know or think we are, and also like Gavin, we sometimes need frequent reminders.
"I am who God says I am." Beth Moore
Emily calls it "
the wave" - those seasons when we read or hear the same verse or thought in scripture, in sermons, and in our private study. I'm on a
Hebrews 10:24 wave.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works...
On a preschool level, Gavin demonstrated a way that works. When I reminded him that he was good, he believed me and was "stirred up" to do the "good work" of a busy little boy to obey his mimi. When I remind you and you remind me, and we believe that we are who God says we are in Christ, then we are "stirred up" to the "love and good works" for which those who love the Lord have been gifted and equipped.
