call 911

A member of my extended family has a 5-year-old boy. He was having a hard time putting on his shoes. What did he do? He called 911 and asked them to help! He’d been told that’s what you’re supposed to do in an emergency. Do you think DuVal’s tend to take things too literally? At least the police didn't show up at their house!

be always unhappy

Concerning the outworking of our inner transformation, St. Augustine writes: “On earth we are wayfarers, always on the go. This means that we have to keep moving forward. Therefore, be always unhappy about where you are if you want to reach where you are not. If you are pleased with what you are, you have stopped already. If you say, ‘It is enough,’ you are lost. Keep on walking, moving forward, trying for the goal.”

family

Yesterday Debbie and I were up at 4:00 a.m. for her to catch a plane to Memphis. Her 84-year old mom fell and has been in ICU for four days with blood that has pooled in her cranium. The neurosurgeon believes there will be no lasting effects from where she hit her head. Her mom has Alzheimer’s and can’t figure out why she has to stay in this “office” with all these people she doesn’t know. When Debbie’s sister Rita visits she has to bring a word search with the words circled so that “those people whoever they are” will think Grandmama is “smart” and maybe then they will let her go home. Debbie may be in Memphis a month or more, but that’s fine. We both are committed to family. With all the dysfunction we have on both sides, we love them, and amazingly they love us. They are a part of us, and we are a part of them. And we are grateful for blessings large and small.

a battleground

For many people marriage is a battleground. There’s the story of a couple who came upon a wishing well. The wife leaned over the well, made a wish, and threw a dime in. Her husband was competitive and didn’t want to be outdone, so he tossed in a quarter. He leaned too far over, lost his balance, fell in, and drowned. His wife was stunned for a minute. Then she smiled and said, “Huh, it really works.”

don’t want to settle

I’m coming to understand that my actions often show that I don’t really believe God can heal the wounds in me that I’ve learned to live with. I may say I believe it, but the reality is I don’t pray for healing. I don’t engage in the spiritual practices that would prepare me for healing. I don’t purposely take steps to cooperate with God in actually healing the brokenness within me. Does this mean that though I would never consciously admit it, I have unconsciously given up any real hope of change? I don’t want to settle for that.

rather be ruined

This hit me right between the eyes. W. H. Auden writes: “We would rather be ruined than changed.” How many of us keep doing the same thing again and again even though it doesn’t bring us happiness. Even though it separates us from God. Even though it alienates us from our deepest selves. In our ever changing world, our choosing not to change is choosing to become stagnant. Even more, since all that is truly alive grows and changes, our choosing not to change is choosing to shrink and die. And still, we do it over and over again.

shutting God out

There’s a woman who was raised by deaf parents. She tells of how she would simply close her eyes to shut off the relationship. It infuriated her parents who had no way to communicate with her except through signing. If I was honest, I’d have to admit there are times I’m like that with God. I close both my eyes and my ears to God. I seal my eyelids tight. I put my fingers in my ears. I may not literally do that, but when I don’t actually take time to look for God or listen to God (and that’s most of the time) then I am in reality shutting God out. And I’m the one who ultimately loses out, whether I realize it or not.

pleasing God

Thomas Merton writes: “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.” I can relate to that. So often I feel like I have no idea where I’m going or what I’m to do next. Still, I attempt as best I can to journey daily with God. I hope this pleases the Lord, because that is my heart’s desire.