There Are No Strangers

My kids have gotten so used to me having conversations with random strangers that they just roll their eyes and look at each other as if to say, “here she goes again!” when it happens.   I don’t know why people feel drawn to strike up conversations with me (or then again, maybe I do!), but at any rate, it seems like I must have “that kind of face” or maybe I look like a big sister or little sister or something…or maybe it’s because I go everywhere with a big smile on my face!

Today, though, I can tell you it was because of the shirt I had on.  Yes, you heard me right, because of the shirt I had on.  My husband just bought me the coolest new top, a black tee shirt top with fleur de lis swirls on it and a large cross outlined in blue rhinestones on the left side of the tee.  It really is neat!

As I walked down the baking goods aisle of the local Vons store, an older woman walked toward me.  She commented as we drew nearer to each other, “great shirt!  Did you get it in town?”  I proceeded to tell her yes and tried to describe where the shop was that I had gotten it.  When she asked me if it was a Christian store, I replied that it wasn’t, “but I’m sure she has some Christian blood in there somewhere.”  “Don’t we hope we all do?” was her response as we parted ways to my “amen!”

As I rounded the end cap of that aisle, she had rushed around from the next aisle to meet me there.  “I was just  baptized yesterday in the Cedar Lake here!  Calvary Chapel…and I’m 60 years old!” she beamed at me.   My congratulations to her was from one sister in Christ to another, no strangers here!

You see, the way I look at it, we all have the potential of spending eternity with one another–and if God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, then I love those he loves.   See why I walk around with that smile on my face?  I’m so glad to have met, if even for just a moment, a sister in the Lord today; I’m looking forward to spending a lot more time with her someday.

My mama used to say of me when I was a toddler, “Elisabeth never met a stranger!”   May that still be said of me today, I pray in Jesus name!

Kite Children

As our children become older, they remind me more and more of kites!  Yes, kites…  Let me explain:

Do you remember flying kites in your youth (or if you’re lucky to have remained youthful, maybe you still fly kites to this day)?  When the wind was steady and constant, you could let the kite out farther and farther, until you could barely see your kite, but you still felt its tug on the string.

When the wind was gusty, you had to keep the line a little (or a lot) shorter.  The kite would dip and soar with the wind as it did a beautiful dance in the air.  The pull on the string would increase and then lighten as the kite responded to the wind. 

What about the really turbulent winds?  You would have to either back up slowly or even run backward in short bursts of speed to keep the string taut and keep the kite aloft.  At times the kite would dance and gyrate, seemingly out of control, yet as long as you held the line tightly and maintained contact with the kite, keeping it out of trees and power lines, you were good.

And then there were the moments when your kite, under the influence of a downdraft, would suddenly turn its nose earthward and, giving in to the pull of gravity, literally dive to the ground!  Nothing you could do would stop it from smashing into the earth it had been trying desperately to escape just moments before.  Rushing forward, you would check it closely and anxiously to see if it was damaged in any way. 

We watch our children stretch up higher and higer toward independence and adulthood, pulling at the string in our hands and we hold on, knowing on the one hand that we can’t keep them on too short a line, but knowing on the other hand what the battering winds of society, peer pressure and the pull of the world can do to them.  So when all is calm and steady, we let them climb, all the while holding the string firmly in our hands.  That string connecting us reminds me of the Holy Spirit and the way He lets us know when the winds are getting stronger, more turbulent and we need to reel in or back up a little to bring the line taut and keep this most precious kite aloft.

Sometimes though, our kite-children turn nose down and head for the earth, giving in to society’s gravitational pull, and dive downward.  At those times, remember, you are holding the string in your hands.  You are not flying this kite all alone!  We rush forward in those times, check for damage and then help our kite-child soar again in a divine partnership with God.

Our children aren’t meant to stay in our hands forever.  Eventually the string will be pulled out of our hands and they will begin to fly under their own power.  Yes, we are aware of potential power lines and trees that might snag them, but we take comfort in the sure knowledge that the string is still connected to the kite and held by the hand of the One who loves them far more than we can ever love them.

It is helpful as we watch our kite-children grow up, making choices and decisions we are not comfortable with or even downright opposed to, that our God is the One who, like the widow who swept her house for that lost coin (Luke 15:8), goes to the ends of the earth to gather His sheep to Himself.  He leaves the 99 and searches for the one whom He loves dearly (Luke 15:4). 

When watching our children make choices and decisions that trouble us or even tempt us to be frightened for them and for the consequences, remembering Paul’s words, as he speaks of believers and unbelievers united in marriage, in 1 Corinthians 7:14 brings such comfort:  “for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.”  Holy!  As in sanctified, consecrated, set apart for God’s purposes!!  Even when turning nose downward and heading for the ground?  Even then!

I questioned God in prayer asking if Romans 8:28 was a promise that applied to my wayward child:  “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”  As I asked that question, I felt prompted to recall the comforting words of 1 Corinthians 7.  They are called, because they have been set apart, holy through a believing parent or parents.  They have been taught to love God and, praise Him, He loves them with a love that will never sever the string by which they are held to his side, pressed there tightly under His wing.

So believing that all things—the dips and whirls, the downward swoops and the crashes—are caused by God to work together for good is our act of faith.  It is our choice as parents of these wonderful, beautiful, amazing kite-children.  Ahhh, it so much better to trust and hope and wait for God as He flies these precious kites, urging them ever more toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).