Monthly Archives: August 2019

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Faces of Change

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Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. James 1:17

It’s often said that the only constant in life is change.  That has been true for us this summer.  Within our family: we have sold or are selling four homes, buying three, two families have moved, Marie and I are in the process, our three grandsons have changed schools, Adrienne and Tom just got married, and Adrienne has gone from single woman to wife and mother.  I’m sure there are more changes, but that’s about all my mind can process at the moment.  Most of these changes are intentional.  The boys, however, had no say in the matter, but seem to be adapting reasonably well.  As reflected in our family’s situations this summer, some change is chosen and some is not.  No matter whether we choose change or whether it is thrust upon us without our consent, there are usually benefits that are enjoyed and challenges that cause frustration.  It is incumbent upon us to recognize that both are God’s will for us and must be received graciously and thankfully.

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Graceful Perseverance

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His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”  Matthew 25:23

This past weekend, my daughter and I performed the father daughter dance at her wedding reception.  It was not flawless, but it was fun and was, by the accounts of others, beautiful and well done.  However, those three minutes and thirty-one seconds of dancing were the end result of hours of instruction and practice.  Throughout the last few months there was a fair amount of perseverance for both of us.  My daughter was juggling work, moving, wedding planning, dance lessons with her husband, and at the end a sinus infection in addition to lessons with me.  For my part, the normal responsibilities of life, the extra activity necessary for the wedding preparations as well as getting our home ready for company and the frequent dance lessons caused by body to get too run down.  On one occasion my wife and our dance instructor ended a dance lesson shortly after we began because I was too fatigued to function well.  The Monday and Tuesday prior to the wedding, I was also struggling to do anything of value.  In short, the celebratory dance that was enjoyed was culmination of a fair amount of graceful perseverance.  It was a series of choices to take risks and rise above adversity to live well.  It was choosing perseverance.

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Dancing With the Father is a Matter of Trust

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6

As we make final preparations for our daughter Adrienne’s wedding this weekend, one of my main concerns is the father daughter dance.  As much as I love to dance, I prefer to avoid the spotlight as I struggle to remember all of the steps and provide the proper leads while also trying to maintain the proper form.  It is not just a matter of looking good, but also, in some cases, a matter of personal safety.  The picture above is of Christine and me at her wedding nine years ago.  By the grace of God, Marie and I have had the privilege of parenting our two daughters who have grown into lovely women.  As such, these two dances signify transition in that my role as their father takes a back seat to their new life with their respective husbands.  That said, as their father, they still trust that they can come to me with anything knowing that I will do my best to help them.  In that regard they place much trust in me.  However, as much as I desire to help them, I cannot provide the assurance that their Heavenly Father can. Most of what follows has been published before but is a favorite of mine and has much to do with the title of this blog site.

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Wholly Committed or Halfhearted?

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Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.  1 Kings 8:61

Roughly twenty years ago, I was in the hospital for observation to see if they could determine why I was having seizures.  It was a one week stay in a unit that had four rooms with glass fronts; each patient was hooked to 80 electrodes and under both physical and video observation all of the time.  The situation created an environment that lent itself to intimacy.  In order to provoke seizures, the first tactic was to discontinue seizure meds.  This was a concern to one young man in the room directly across from mine.  He had not been married long and with the help of his medication, his wife had never seen him have a seizure.  He had several violent ones that week, however, she showed up every day to visit and help him as best she could.  In contrast, the man in the room next to him came to my room one night upset.  He was a successful businessman who, from his own account, had an active and fun life with lots of assets and parties.  As his seizures threatened his ability to work and therefore, his lifestyle, his wife had decided to leave him.  She told him that it wasn’t what she “signed up for” and had no intention of being his nurse.  These are the two sides of commitment. 

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Love is an Action

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To convey Christ's command to love

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  1 Corinthians 13:4-7

For us, this is wedding month.  Lord willing, on August 17th our older daughter Adrienne will wed her fiancé Tom.  That leaves us in a whirlwind of finalizing arrangements, finishing decorations, polishing dance steps and of course making the final payments for everything.  It’s a busy time with the expectation of a joyous celebration which makes the effort worthwhile.  In that light, my plan for the next few posts is to focus on topics related to marriage and weddings.  However, I will do my best to applicable whether one is single or married.  That said, this first post of the series takes a look at love. 

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