Finding the Answers

Yesterday I received my new cell phone in the mail. I opened the box and eagerly pulled out the contents. There it was. My beautiful new gadget with its handy little slide-out keyboard, a multitude of tiny little buttons, and a slick new screen.

I got my old cell phone and took out my loaded SIM card (I looked it up…it stands for Subscriber Identity Module) and reloaded it into my new phone. Then I plugged my new phone into the wall so it could get some juice into the rechargeable battery. After it had some time to get revved up, I unplugged it and turned it on. That was about as far as I got.

The phone was an unsolvable puzzle to me. In no way did it resemble my old phone. I had no luck navigating the touch screen, and sliding out the keypad didn’t help at all. I called my teenage son Dylan into the room to see if he could help. (Why are teenagers just so much better with this stuff?) His first words: “All of your stored numbers are gone.”

WHAT??? The representative I had talked to before making my purchase had assured me that all of the numbers would be there when I got my new phone and transferred my SIM card. I asked Dylan if he could tell me how to store new numbers; no, he had no idea how to program this new phone, it was so different from his cell phone. Did he know how to change the ring tone so it would be different from my husband’s phone? Again, no. My frustration built steadily as my efforts to decipher the new phone led nowhere.

So this afternoon, I’m taking my new phone up to the local outlet for our wireless provider and I’m going to have one of the nice salespeople there show me how to use my cell phone. I’m going to ask them my questions and let them show me the map of this new terrain. They know this phone. It came from them.

At some point last night, it occurred to me how very much this situation reflected how we often deal with new circumstances in our lives. We find ourselves in new or difficult settings, in positions we’ve not dealt with before, in trials that may eventually destroy our foundations. And we panic.

So we go to our most convenient problem-solvers. We ask around for advice. We read books. We take classes, attend seminars, hire mentors, do everything within our own power to seek a solution.

Only when we realize that none of these sources provide answers do we finally turn to the one who made us. The one who created life itself. The one to whom we can give all of our confusing, perplexing, confounding problems and trust that He will unravel the knots of life and make straight our paths. We finally come to God and put these matters in His hands and allow Him to have control. And then the answers come and the way is made clear.

So I’m taking my cell phone to the retail store to get some answers. And then I’ll program in my son’s cell phone number and give him a call.

“Make me know Thy ways, O Lord;
Teach me Thy paths,
Lead me in Thy truth and teach me,
For Thou art the God of my salvation;
For Thee I wait all the day.”
(Psalm 25:4-5)

So

So I’m abundantly enamored with the word so.

Chandler Bing is largely responsible for my overuse of the word. Yes, Matthew Perry’s character on Friends. He was often using the word and placing emphasis on it in the middle of a sentence. As in, “You are so not wearing that jacket again today.” Or, “You are so driving me to that appointment.”

Of course, that wasn’t the only influence that Chandler had on our dialect in the 90s. He was having a heyday with flipping the emphasis around on his words, so sentences would come out, “Could you be more ridiculous?” And “Did I say I liked it?” I’ll find myself throwing that power onto the third or fourth word into my sentences too sometimes, and I know I have Matthew Perry to thank for it.

So back to the word so.

You know what that little word does. So much power in two little letters.

Just imagine you’re a little kid of about five or six years old. You’ve snuck into the kitchen and opened the freezer to find that wonderful mint chocolate chip ice cream that you saw your mom put in there yesterday afternoon. You pull it out and put it on the counter, then reach into the silverware drawer to get a spoon. You’ve just lifted off the top of the ice cream carton and are just about to dip into the creamy lusciousness, when you hear your mother’s footsteps enter the room. And your mother says, “So.”

Later that day, you’ve gotten into an argument with your best friend about whether you’re really getting a new bike for your birthday. Childhood arguments inevitably degenerate at some point into “Are not.” “Am too.” Are not.” “Am too.” “No, you are not.” “Yes, I am so.”

You’re in a busy restaurant. Everyone is bustling about and a low hum fills the air as people talk and clank forks and knives against plates. Waiters and hosts move about as people are served and led to and from tables and the business of eating carries on. Suddenly a hush falls over the room. Someone special has arrived. Heads turn and whispers share the news of the celebrity presence. Well, you know who it is. It’s that big important so-and-so.

Now that I have a son, Christmas morning is a special delight. On Christmas Eve, my husband and I spend time putting out all of the presents that we have gathered for our family and packages that have been carefully and beautifully wrapped. I want that moment when our son walks in on Christmas morning to be perfect. So before I go to bed, I look back at everything and make sure that everything is arranged just so.

You just went to a concert at the park. Was it great? Was it bad? Well, it was so-so.

And so on.

Just a little two-letter word. But it’s so ubiquitous. It’s so versatile, so meaningful, so applicable in so many situations.

So what? So there.

Returning

(the familiar story of the prodigal son in a different setting...)

Coming to the garden gate

Grasses green and weeds at bay

Left for tending by another-- 

Cared for by the one that stayed.

Long the journey from the haven

Out into the fields free blown. 
Longer yet the travel homeward,

For the destination’s known.

What’s familiar looks so foreign, 
But the eye’s the thing that’s changed. 
What was left is ever constant; 
What’s returned is not the same. 

Letting go came in an instant--

Turned and left with not one thought.
Gone so far and such a distance,

Seemed the path back home was lost. 

Turning back broke every vessel, 
Every bone crushed in the strain. 
Only spirit made the journey; 
Nothing else would yet remain. 

Drawing close to home and garden--

Spirit stumbles, buckles, falls. 
One last grasp toward the gateway,

Locked outside the haven walls. 

No hope left and none deserved 
For leaving what was giv’n by grace. 
Then a sound erases silence— 
Creaking of the op’ning gate.

Lord, Let Me Be a Spinning Plate for Thee

If you're of "a certain age," you'll remember the guy who always showed up on "The Ed Sullivan Show" spinning plates. The poor guy would start one plate spinning around a tall stick, then another, then another, then another. By the time he got the fourth or fifth plate spinning, he'd have to come back to the first plate and second plates to give them a good spin to keep them going before he could even think about launching a sixth plate.

Eventually, he'd have a good dozen or so plates spinning on those tall sticks while he ran around between all of them, holding each stick and giving each plate a good spin to keep it revolving around its axis. And at the very end of his act, he'd quickly run down the row, retrieving all of his plates in a hurry before they slowed down enough to begin dropping down to the ground.

Now before I get to my spiritual illustration in all of this, let me point out that I'm no scientist. I'm sure any physicist or eighth grade science teacher worth her salt could point out the flaws in my theory, but I'm going to use the image for my point anyway. So just go with me here.

I think there are two reasons these plates were able to spin in mid-air successfully. First, they kept moving. And second, each of the plates had a focal point.

And if you've ever read any books on Christian living, you know exactly where I'm going here.

Number one: If we don't keep moving spiritually...if we don't keep learning and growing in Christ...we're going to fall down. We've got to keep looking for ways to move ahead as Christ leads us. We need to listen for His voice as He calls us to follow Him in the ever-changing adventure of life and store up His word in our hearts to strengthen us for the times ahead.

Number two: If we don't have a focal point, we will become spiritual frisbees. If our plate-spinning guy had launched those plates spinning without those sticks, that's exactly what his show would have become...with disastrous results for the audience in the first few rows! We must keep our hearts and minds focused on Christ and His will for our lives.

Balance is an important quality in our lives; the older I get, the more I realize this to be true. Movement is also necessary...not just physically, but also mentally and spiritually. Look back at your life over the past month or the past year and see if you're in the same place that you were before.

Those plates may have seemed like they were staying in the same place because they kept the same focus, but remember...they were always moving. How could you tell?

I plan to resume posting to my blog. I started this site, my "marginal notes" a few years ago when I was working with my friends Kim McLean and Devon O'Day in their Hippie Chick Twang offices. But I got sidetracked with other projects and quickly lost momentum and motivation to write so after two entries, the blogging stopped.

My amazing sister Christie began her blogsite a few months ago so I feel challenged to rejoin the writing circle. (If you enjoy tearooms or Victorian nostalgia, I highly recommend visiting her blog at www.christiegrammyshouse.blogspot.com...it's a pure delight!)

It's my intention to share views that I believe are important, observations that make me laugh, and the poetry I've written from the heart. I hope my writing will make you think, give you a smile, or warm your soul. If I can do that for you, my friend, it's been a good day.

Here's one of my poems to start things off...


Reunion

I will not say good-bye for we will meet again
When I too cross the river of life.
I will see your dear face when I pass through the door
And enter the eternal side.

I will miss you until then and look for your smile
And listen for you in the wind.
So haunt me if you like; I’d welcome it so
If you’d follow me ‘round, my dear friend.

Please flicker the candle when there is no wind
And crunch the leaves where no foot’s trod.
Rock the chair where no warm living body has sat
And whistle a tune in the fog.

So when I am finished with travels on earth
And leave this tired body behind,
I’ll look for you in the sweet prism of heaven
And welcome your image so kind.

After we’ve talked and I’ve met your friends there,
We’ll take just a moment or two.
I’ll acknowledge the candle, the chair, and the leaves
And I’ll say, “My dear friend, that was you.”

~ Lynn

A gorgeous day in Tennessee

It's amazing what a difference a couple of days makes.

Earlier this week, we watched in horror as the unbelievable force of tornadoes leveled the homes of many of our middle Tennessee neighbors. Then today I spent six hours in beautiful, clear sunshine helping my brother and his wife get moved into their home in our neighborhood. It's the middle of February but you'd swear it's the middle of springtime.

Our lives are like that, as I'm sure you know. We have times that it seems we can barely hang onto our senses at all, then in no time be enjoying an incredible peace and calm. And the other way around, slipping from serenity and harmony into severe, nerve-jangling crisis.

How wonderful to know that no matter what, God is with us. In the storms, in the calm, in the rain, and in the sun. He's there and He will carry us through anything that life brings our way.

One of the up sides of aging is learning how true that is. When I was a young adult, I was afraid that every time of adversity would be here to stay. Now that I'm approaching fifty, I know that these times will pass, that just as the storm yields eventually to a sun-filled sky, so will life regain its balance and clarity if we hang on and give the Lord time to lead us into the next chapter.

Hard times are still hard. But I rest in the Lord knowing that He will carry me through them and that "this too shall pass."

Late one night...

I'm up way past bedtime on a Friday night at the end of a busy week, so instead of going to bed I'm beginning my first blog...my debut, if you will. I've always made my best decisions on Friday nights past 11:00...not.

This was my first week working at Hippie Chick Twang in Nashville with my friends Kim McLean, Devon O'Day, and Joe Johnston, and I'm discovering what I truly love doing--working in a creative environment with people who love music and love the Lord. I have tons to learn about the music business and they're educating me as we go. In the meantime, I'm proving to them how much I care about our business succeeding and our mission being fulfilled...namely, getting the music to the people.

I have much more to write about, but I'll close for tonight. If you're reading this, I hope you are experiencing the grace and peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Shalom...