Ponderings

Devotionals, prayer & insights from my Bible reading

The grief wound

/ faithsweatandtears / Leave a comment

When someone close to me loses someone close to them, it always seems to rip off the Band-aid that keeps my heart sealed. I don’t think the grief wound ever completely heals. I love you, Nathan.

 

Ri wanted to know if you knew that we were at the beach this weekend. I told him that I didn’t know for certain, but I was sure you’d be glad that he was having fun. He seemed satisfied with that answer.

 

Often times, out of the blue, one of the boys will mention you. Just the other day, Ry said while we were in the car, “I wish Uncle Nathan hadn’t died.” I just said, “Me too, babe.”

 

These conversations always seem to start in the car, for some reason. On another day recently, Ri said – and I thought this was tremendous progress, on his part, to voice his grief!! – “I wish Daddy didn’t die.” I wonder if he & Ry had been talking … who knows?? I just reminded him that you loved him very much, and how neat it will be to see you again in heaven. He nodded and went on to talk about something else. It was as if he just needed to say it and get it off his chest. I was glad to hear him voice it, though; he is the one who seems to bottle up his feelings.

 

Sometimes when I feel like a screw-up and pray that I’m raising the kids to become godly young men (and not outlaws!), I run into someone in the elevator or hallway at work, and they’ll offer encouragement about how well we’re doing. That warms my heart to hear. God seems to put people in my path to encourage me at exactly the right time that I need a boost.

When I grow up … (Prayer Devotional for the week of March 13, 2011)

/ faithsweatandtears / Leave a comment

Do you remember the Monster.com television ad that aired during Superbowl XXXIII in 1999? It featured clips of tongue-in-cheek blurbs by kids saying things like: “I want to file all day;” “I want to claw my way to middle management;” “I want to be a Yes Man!” What makes the commercial so funny, of course, is that none of us had such lackluster dreams as kids.

 

As kids, we believed that we could do anything. Become President of the United States? Sure! Fly on the first manned mission to Mars? Totally! We all have a desire for greatness. Having ambition helps us focus on our goals and stay on track to see them through completion. Think about it:

 

  • What would have happened if Noah was not ambitious enough to finish building the ark? (He was 600 years old when the flood came!)

 

  • What if Moses had gotten cold feet while he was on Mount Sinai and didn’t have the ambition to follow through on God’s instructions? (Like recording the Ten Commandments!)

 

  • What if Paul had not been ambitious to go on missionary journeys and take Jesus’ message to the Gentiles? (What a setback that would have been for the early church!)

 

Ambition, in and of itself, is not wrong. Where we veer off-course is when we focus our goals on personal glorification instead of God’s glory. Let’s redirect our prayer time this week toward ambition balanced with humility.