Religion

My Two-year Old Professional Distractor

TimeClock from Bing Images I was finally free. After my many attempts at updating my blog throughout the day had been thwarted by my two-year old professional distractor, it was time, at last. I could breathe deep, soak in the silence, sit at the computer, and write without interruption.

One keystroke into my blog post, I heard the door creak open in forewarning that the third escape attempt was now underway. Soon enough, the little escapee was tugging at my pant leg, staring me into compliance with his heart-melting teddy bear eyes. “Mommy, I need you!” How could I resist?

Since he was a baby, I’ve cuddled him to sleep every night. Usually, I wait for him to be completely knocked out before I tiptoe away. And sometimes, I abide at least three Mommy I Need You rounds before he’s officially “out.”

That night, I wasn’t so patient. I plopped him in the high chair, turned on some sure-to-put-him-to-sleep music, handed him a sippy cup, and returned to the blogosphere. Convinced he was finally asleep after several minutes of quiet, I turned to find him peering around the back of his highchair, just staring at me with those eyes as if to say, “What on that screen could possibly be more interesting and important than me?”

There are days I get so involved in the tasks before me that I forget the most important thing is to be involved in the lives of those I love. My computer screen may be calling me. A million important tasks might be screaming my name. But love is calling me to be involved in what’s most important. At the end of my life, do I want it to be said that I was very involved in the task at hand? No. I want to be known for being committed to the work of love.

It won’t be long enough that my kids are saying, “Mommy, I need you.” And even beyond those years of them saying they need me, I want to show them I love them by being involved in their lives—meeting their deepest needs for quality time, even if it means sacrificing my own plans.

“My whole life I complained that my work was being interrupted until I realized that the interruptions were my work.” (Henri Nouwen)

True Love…is INVOLVED (Day 13, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

Love Makes Sense

Equation from Bing Images This is a test. This is only a test. For the duration of one sentence I will attempt to write something legible while placing my fingers on random keys. Pty8w 8s 9ho6 q 53w5l, j fdldzg gbjx jx kn,h z fdxg. I repeat, this is only a test.

Now, if you can, please interpret the fourth sentence of the previous paragraph. Can’t do it? Of course not. My fingers weren’t on the home keys. I placed them wherever I wanted, and just typed.

When it comes to typing on a keyboard, you have to follow some guidelines if you want the outcome to make sense. It’s the same in love. Love was never meant to be confusing. In reality, it’s as simple as, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

As a teacher, I spend a lot of time developing my young students’ reading skills. The goal is for the children to learn certain words, but with the limited options given for a particular skill set, some stories in their little readers don’t make sense. One time, after reading one of those nonsensical stories, a five-year old student asked, “What was that supposed to mean?”

We can try to make our own guidelines for love, just as I placed my hands on the keyboard wherever I wanted. But the outcome will make about as much sense as the random words strewn together in a children’s reader or the completely illegible sentence in the first paragraph here. Only when my hands are placed on the home keys do the words come out in a logical way.

Jesus is our “home base” when it comes to love. He is the one who created the golden rule of do unto others, and he is the one who lived out the golden rule by living a life of perfect love and dying a death of sacrificial love. When I feel confused about life and love, I just have to look at the ultimate definition of love. And that makes sense.

True Love…MAKES SENSE (Day 12, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

A Deeper Hunger

Harvest from Bing Images Katniss Everdeen and Anastasia Steele: two different stories, two contrasting journeys. Both are hungry. For one, this hunger leads to heroism, for the other, to the arms of a sadistic villain.

Though both stories portray a culture of brutal violence, there are glaring differences between the themes of the Hunger Games and 50 Shades. Katniss—the heroine of the Hunger Games, recognizes this culture of brutality as wrong, not succumbing to its pervasive evil. Instead, she hungers for something better. Her undying loyalty to her sister grows into a sacrificial love for her people. She will not bow to President Snow. And she will give her life to defend her people from his malicious plans.

In stark contrast to the Hunger Games, 50 Shades celebrates the culture of brutality, painting a deceptive picture that a person can fall into the arms of unabashed violence and emerged unscathed. The story attempts to normalize what is a nightmarish reality for millions of human trafficking victims across the globe.

Katniss’ hunger is driven by a love for her people. This love leads her to become a symbol of courage, saving her generation from pervasive evil whatever the cost. Anastasia’s insecurity leads her to find fulfillment in torturous, manipulative lust, and in so doing she leads a generation into the same deception that has entrapped untold numbers in abusive relationships, modern slavery, and the grave itself.

Mother Teresa once said, “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” How we go about satiating our deepest hunger will, in the end, determine whether we are filled or left empty. A hunger driven by selfishness will lead to pain; a hunger driven by selflessness will lead to life.

True love hungers for goodness. It hungers to protect itself and those it loves from the entrapments of deception and abuse, and to free others from lies, manipulation, and violence. The greatest hero of all time had such a hunger. He died on a cross so we could be free from the penalty and power of depravity. He died that we can live in a love that brings life, not suffering and death. God, change our appetites! Let us hunger for what is good. And let this hunger move us to act courageously to protect our generation, and future generations, from that which would seek to destroy.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

True Love…HUNGERS (Day 11, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

The Fad that Never Fades

Clothing Closet from Google Images I’ve lived long enough to see the best and worst of fads come, go, and sometimes come back again. In the seventies, it was bellbottoms, polyester, and garishly bright patterns. For the eighties—big hair, even bigger glasses, bomber jackets, and terrycloth. My high school friend called me in the early nineties, crying because she heard bellbottoms were on their way back in. And who would guess that skinny jeans would strike again in the new millennium?

Fads are as changing as the seasons. But there’s one thing that is more timeless than eternity. Love.

The call to love one another has been going forth throughout all of history. Those who choose love as their favored garment have chosen the one unfading fad. And the God who loves us with an everlasting love has always been and will forever remain.

Love is the one thing that will never go out of style. It has been from before the beginning of the world, and will be beyond the end. Times change, minds change, people change, and fashions change. But love never fades.

“For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” (1 John 3:11)

True Love…is TIMELESS (Day 10, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

Everlasting Love

Eternity from Google Images On Friday, he wrote on a social media site about his plans for the future. That Sunday, friends were writing messages on his page, telling him how much he’d be missed. He was only eighteen, and his life came to a sudden end after a tragic accident.

I didn’t know him well, but my heart has been grieving since I heard the news. So young. So unexpected. So final. And all who loved him were left with a gaping hole in their hearts.

We never know when we’ll take our final breath. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. And what are we living for today?

If we are living with only the hope of our future here on this earth, we’re missing the greater design. There is a hope that is greater than anything this earth can provide. There is a love that outlasts all that our eyes can see. Nothing here is permanent, nothing everlasting. Everything we see is changing and turning, fading and dying.

But God, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, has given us a gift. He’s given the promise of eternal life. We don’t have to live in fear of death, because God has provided life that is truly life—life that is everlasting, in a world with no more hate, only love.

As with any gift, we need only accept it. Though God paid a tremendous price to purchase the gift for us, we pay nothing for this gift. It is a free gift. It cannot be earned, or it would cease to be a gift.

We are free to reject the gift, or to take it and leave it unopened on the shelf of our life. But to do so is to live without the hope and love wrapped inside. When we receive the gift as it was meant to be received, when we open it and embrace it with our entire being, we find hope for this life and for the life to come. We live with purpose each day, knowing that even if tomorrow doesn’t come, something far greater lies ahead.

In Heaven, God will “wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…” (Revelation 21:4). All that will remain is love. This is the ultimate gift, and our greatest hope. It is gift worth receiving.

“Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

True Love…is EVERLASTING (Day 9, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

The Legacy of Love

Elderly Couple from Google Images My family recently lost a rare, precious gem. Her name was Inang, meaning “mother” in Tagalog—a language of the Philippines. She was one month short of 108 years when she passed away. Today, we celebrate what would have been her birthday.

I met Inang about 23 years ago when she was the youthful age of 84. At first meeting, she looked me up and down with a furrow in her brow and spoke in harsh-sounding tones words I couldn’t understand. When another family member graciously translated, I found she thought I wasn’t the best choice for her grandson. Soon enough, she was sniffing me behind the ear (a traditional Filipino greeting), and slapping me on the back, saying, “Kumain ka! Kumain ka.” (Meaning, “You eat!). I was in, and she became my dear friend.

Fast forward to the present. During the holidays at my in-laws, I was changing an outdated picture of my husband and I for a more recent one. When I took the frame off the wall, Inang grabbed it from me and hugged it to her chest, ranting in her native tongue words I still couldn’t understand. I later found she was afraid I had taken the frame down because I was leaving the family. My response was a warm embrace and the promise to stay. She seemed to believe me when I put our updated picture back on the wall.

If there’s one thing I learned from Inang, it’s endurance. She came from a time when if something is broken, you fix it. In her lifetime, she witnessed the industrial revolution, endured two world wars, and observed countless world-changing events. And love is what brought her to the United States. My sister in-law was gravely ill, and that’s when Inang determined to bring her halfway around the world to get help. Years later, she stood by her teenage grandson to protect him when he was tempted to take his life. Thank God she did, because today I’m blessed with a loving husband, and my kids have a gentle, caring father.

Looking back, I think the reason Inang didn’t like me when she first met me is she wanted to be sure I had the quality of endurance she’d developed over the years. She lived in precious commitment to her beloved husband until his passing many years ago, and she continued in faithful commitment to her family through the years to follow. Inang was known for her tough love, and that’s because life made her that way. Endurance is a rare commodity these days, and that’s why I look back on Inang’s life with great reverence. When I grow up, I want to be like her—someone who endures no matter what, especially when it comes to love.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor 13:7)

True Love…ENDURES (Day 5, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

Holding Out for a Hero

Superhero from Google ImagesConfession. I’m an 80’s child, and I watched Footloose. The original version. More than once. And just tonight it hit me how ironic it is that they would play “Holding Out for a Hero” as the background song for a chicken race with tractors. Note that the “hero” in question wins only because his shoelace is stuck around the gas pedal. And he nearly kills his opponent in the process. Nevertheless, Wren’s crush eventually sees this victory as proof that he is the hero she’s been waiting for all along. Who needs a knight in shining armor when you can get the guy who risks his life for chicken race glory?

The song begs the question…what is a hero? Is it someone who will do foolish, even dangerous, things? Is it someone who can prove himself under pressure? Is it someone who will trample over every obstacle in his way to get what he wants?

True love is heroic. It will sacrifice its very life for the sake of others. As for the guy in the movie, his motives were pretty self-serving. Get the friends, get the girl, get the glory. He tried to overcome peer pressure by succumbing it, which is really pretty wimpy. And it almost cost his life and that of his opponent. Not too heroic.

And since we’re on the theme 50 Shades of Love this month, let me just say this: Christian Grey is a wimp. There, I said it. No, I haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but I don’t live in a cave. I’ve heard the buzz. And I can’t figure out why women are swooning over a guy who would be so un-heroic as to brutally beat a girl while attempting to buy her love in return. The guy’s backstory is no excuse—it’s just there to give the reader some sympathy for a guy who’s truly a villain. No hero would torture his beloved, no matter how tortured his past.

So let me present the truest of true heroes. His name is Jesus, and He gave everything to show his love to the world. He once intervened on behalf of an adulterous woman whom the town was set to execute—rescuing her life and setting her free. His self-proclaimed mission in life was to bring good news to the poor, free prisoners, heal the blind, and empower the oppressed. Though he was innocent of wrongdoing, he suffered and died to win our hearts. Now THAT’S what I call heroic. And THAT’S what I call true love.

True Love…is HEROIC (Day 4, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)