Déja vu: How NOT to write a Devotional Blog post (in 10 easy steps)

When I wrote this post, almost a year and a half ago, our granddaughter was two. But I find it still rings true, although the exact details have changed. I could write a new post to reflect the perils of trying to write something substantive while parenting a three-and-a-half year old…(substitute “Go, Diego, Go” for “Kipper the Dog” and chocolate protein bars for goldfish)…but I’ve been soothing nightmare fears since 4:30 AM, and now it’s nearly 6:00 and I haven’t made my coffee yet (see steps 1 and 2, below).

So while I continue to ponder self-discipline, and the parallels between our relationships with our children and with Our Father, I think I’ll just let you read this. 

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FIRST PUBLISHED ON APRIL 17, 2013:

Step 1: Set your clock for a bit earlier than usual, so that you can write your first draft before the two-year-old wakes up.  Then hit snooze until the German Shepherd sticks his cold nose in your face and wills you to let-him-out-for-pete’s-sake-what’s-wrong-with-you.

Step 2: Brew a large cup of coffee and decide to check your email while the coffee is brewing. 30 minutes later …when you’ve answered three emails, deleted 12 others, caught up on Facebook (including taking your turn in Words with Friends) and checked the weather… your coffee is cold, and the toddler is stirring.

The Thread of Faith

“May I feel the thread?” asked Curdie.

“Here it is,” said Irene, guiding his fingers to where she was holding the thin, shimmering strand.

“I feel nothing!” he exclaimed.

Irene looked at him, sad and solemn. “And so you still do not believe me. But I do feel it. And aren’t you glad? I found you in that cave, and brought you out, and I couldn’t have done it without the thread.”

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Scene from all for One’s production (2/6/14)

Sometime later, Irene led Curdie to see her great-great grandmother. But Curdie could neither see nor hear her. Sure that Irene was mocking, he stormed off home. “I’m obliged to you for getting me out of that hole, Princess. But I wish you hadn’t made a fool of me afterwards!”

“What does it all mean, Grandmother?” sobbed Irene.

“It means, my love, that Curdie is not yet able to see some things…in the meantime, you must be content to be misunderstood for awhile. We are all of us very anxious to be understood. But there is one thing much more necessary:  to understand other people.”

(Retold from The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald)

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Each time I heard the above lines spoken onstage, it was well-nigh impossible not to think of that famous prayer:

How NOT to write a Devotional Blog post, in 10 easy steps

Step 1: Set your clock for a bit earlier than usual, so that you can write your first draft before the two-year-old wakes up.  Then hit snooze until the German Shepherd sticks his cold nose in your face and wills you to let-him-out-for-pete’s-sake-what’s-wrong-with-you.

Step 2: Brew a large cup of coffee and decide to check your email while the coffee is brewing. 30 minutes later …when you’ve answered three emails, deleted 12 others, caught up on Facebook (including taking your turn in Words with Friends) and checked the weather… your coffee is cold, and the toddler is stirring.

Lenten Thoughts, Week 5

Lent, like its cousin, Advent, is about waiting: forty days (more or less) of preparing for the biggest celebration of the Church year.  As with Advent, there is a strong element of anticipation, of longing for the joy of that celebration. For believers who live in personal relationship to Christ, this longing is not so much for an annual festivity but for its ultimate fulfillment.