Libby's New Look

Our little Yorky-poo, Libby, had a long-awaited groom on Tuesday. She got her hair cut very short around her face and neck, but left longer on her ears and body. When the groomer brought her to me with two tiny pink bows at the base of her ears, I thought she looked like a Hollywood starlet peeking out of a fur coat. The accomodating folks at the vet's took a picture of her with me.

Yesterday Dave used his camera phone to get a picture of her on the move with her new look.

So Much Straw

For the last few months, I've felt--as Thomas Aquinas is reported to have said three months before his death--that all I write is "so much straw."

Aquinas, a Medieval Catholic scholar best known for his Summa Theologica, was a prolific author who apparently experienced a vision or mystical revelation and suddenly ceased writing. When asked by his secretary for the reason behind this abrupt termination, he said, "All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me."

I don't know what was revealed to Aquinas, but I think he suddenly understood how little most of life's strivings and daily business matter in God's cosmic scheme. God granted him a glimpse of glory that totally eclipsed his life's work.

I share the feeling that all I've done is so much straw. Yet we are called to work while it is day. We know that right now counts forever. In some way we don't really understand, our paltry work matters to God.

While I share the sentiment of Aquinas and feel that my work is all straw, by God's grace I'll keep baling.

Two Months Later

Two months ago today we moved my sister to a nursing home about a half hour away. Tommorrow we must move her to another nursing home about an hour away.

She keeps trying to exit the building and since it is not a locked facility, this created a lot of problems for the staff. We hope that she will adjust quickly to her new surroundings and will be able to be medicated less. It took about six weeks for her to adjust to the first nursing home, and that was with the remarkable assistance of our foster sister who works there.

We tried hard this week to find something closer to home, especially for the sake of my parents, but nothing was available. This week it has become increasingly clear to us that this was our only option.

We had a family meeting today and everyone present agreed to go ahead with the move. We have peace with that decision.

My sister is a unique nursing home resident because she is only 53 years old. She is Down Syndrome and has early onset of Alzheimer's.

Change is difficult for people with Down Syndrome; change is distressing for people with Alzheimer's. Please join me in praying for a relatively smooth transition and for my sister to have peace.

Geeking Beeke

Am I the only one who gets annoyed at advertisements on email accounts?

My Gmail account picks up random phrases or words from the contents of messages and slaps what its cybermind views as related advertisements on the side of my work space. So while I'm discussing "belief systems" in the context of writing a Christian catechism, Google is trying to entice me to link with sites about Shamanism or Buddhism.

My Yahoo account flashes "I geek..." ads across the top of my workspace. I really don't care that the burly fellow geeks superheros and especially that the pretty young woman geeks vampires (although the little boy who geeks worms is very cute and reminds me of my pastor's youngest son). When these ads first began flashing on my screen, I was surprised to see an older woman who was--apparently--geeking Beeke. I thought, "Can it possibly be that this advertisement is promoting Dr. Joel Beeke and his Reformed theology?"

It wasn't long before I learned that my first glimpes of that particular advertisement had been cut short. I discovered that the kind-looking older woman was actually geeking "beekeeping" instead of "Beeke."

It made more sense, but I confess to a small measure of disappointment as well as a large measure of laughter at my own expense.

Halfway! Yea!

Today is a happy day!

Today I was able to send away Lesson 13 in the Grade 5 catechism curriculum I am writing. Since the volume will have 25 lessons, this means I am just over halfway—an attained goal that makes me ecstatic!

I was asked in July if I would be willing and able to write the lessons with a December 1 deadline. I figured out a schedule that appeared viable and agreed to the work. I submitted an outline in the form of a table of contents, indicating which questions and answers of the Heidelberg Catechism will be covered in each lesson.

I also submitted the first two lessons before the end of July. I struggled with several lessons, but was able to submit seven more in August. The most recent four lessons, submitted this month, have gone a bit better.

During the last few weeks, I've gotten into a better schedule that helps me handle my many writing commitments. I try to work on each of my primary commitments in two-hour blocks every day. Since I have more commitments than available blocks of productive writing time each day, this doesn't always work out. And sometimes a catechism lesson takes far more hours than I'd expected. But aiming for this schedule helps avoid my excruciating frustration at reaching the week's end without working on something crucial.

My intense schedule has been very difficult for me to handle, but God has been gracious above and beyond my wildest imaginings. It would have been great to have had one or two years to think about and work on the catechism project, but he is providing what I need to write these lessons to an intense deadline. He graciously brings to mind scripture I know, things I've read over the years, sermons I've heard preached, knowledge I've witnessed at classical examinations, and memories of growing up as a child and raising children of my own to help me identify with my young readers.

This morning my heart overflows with thankfulness in being able to reach this halfway milestone on my catechism project journey. My prayer is that these lessons will be extremely helpful to instructor and that through them many young hearts will be touched with the truth of the gospel.

Mind Control

On this soggy morning, I'm working hard on mind control.

Which is to say, I'm trying to control my mind's view of routine things in my life.

I'm thinking about things I like: getting work accomplished, spending time with family, and spending time with God. And I'm thinking about things I don't like: spinning my wheels in my work, wasting time, and stress.

Sometimes it seems that the more stress I have, the more time I spend spinning my wheels. And the more time I spend spinning my wheels, the more hopeless I feel and the more time I waste. And the more hopeless I feel and the more time I waste, the more impossible my deadlines become and the more stress I have.

I'm thinking that I need to control not only the things I do, but also the way I view them. I want to enjoy my work. I'd like to feel thankful for each well-crafted sentence rather than panicking about pressing deadlines for huge projects.

I'm thinking that if one project isn't going well, I need to work on another. I need to take Elisabeth's Elliot's sage advice to "do the next thing." And while I'm doing those things, I need to think about how much I enjoy what I do.

I need to take every thought captive. I need to take control of my mind and think of each moment as a gift from God.

Looking Up

On most days, I take our little Yorkypoo Layla outside five or six times. She is very good about doing her business quickly and it generally only takes about five minutes, so it takes very little time from my work. And it is good for my mind and my body to take an occasional break from my computer and chair.

Sometimes I "run" up and down the driveway a few times with Libby. And I am using the word "run" here to mean "plod and stumble clumsily at a slighty faster pace than walking." With arthritic knees, my running is not pretty.

When I "run" or go for walks with Libby, I find that I nearly always look down and think. I see grass and weeds springing up in the cracks of the driveway.

But my favorite time to take out Libby is early morning, just before dawn. On some summer mornings, the sky is a blend of pink, gold, and blue in a beautiful and soft color that defies description.

On those mornings, like this morning, I look up.

And I am reminded that I spend far too much of my life looking down. I realize how often I focus on the cracks and weeds, instead of looking up to behold breathtaking beauty.

May God grant you and me the ability to keep looking up!