INUNDATED WITH BLESSINGS--EVEN ON CRUTCHES

Something cool happened last night, Night #3 after surgery, as I got up in the dark and grabbed my crutches to use the bathroom.  I was in a fair amount of pain and didn’t want to wake my hubby who had served me so much since the surgery. 

As I hobbled out of the bathroom, grimacing in pain, I suddenly had a realization.  It was like a landslide of recollections of where everything came from—like one of those back-to-basics talks we often have around the holidays about how every good gift we have comes from God.

Starting with those crutches that held me up.  I recalled Alison, the campus nurse, meeting me after hours in the health clinic to secure those for me, having already positioned them to my height.  She got me the wheelchair as well, even though I didn’t have my checkbook on me for the $100 deposit.  It would have been OK if that hadn’t worked out because my neighbor, Ralph, called to offer his wheelchair, having seen Randy’s post on our in-house website. When I pondered how many people had gone out of their way just for my equipment, I  pictured the text that had arrived that day from David, a guy on our campus who had had a foot procedure days earlier from the same podiatrist.  He was just checking in with me, making sure I was recovering OK. 

Speaking of that podiatrist… Dr. Mark Senft, is a renowned foot doctor, who happened to have gone to the same high school as my dad and who was recommended by two other friends.  That’s not normal to have an excellent specialist in any medical area on this island.   Other than an occasional cast or baby delivery, most people go to Oahu for advanced health care.  But I didn’t have to.  God provided that.   As I rounded the corner on my crutches I glanced at the huge tropical bouquet that my sister in-law and mom had picked out, full of my favorite flowers. There was also a basket on the floor of  fresh fruit and chocolates from my friend Ingrid who’d stopped by hours earlier to show some Aloha. 

I resolved to shift my perspective from how-hard-this-is to how-good-God-is. 

It is He that provides all that I need in the easy times and through the hard times.  It is He that has given grace to my husband and boys to tirelessly serve Mom, bringing me water and pills, my phone for the hundredth time, or a blanket. 

A common phrase today is, “You got this!”  I say it to myself as I balance my cast on the waste basket each time I lower myself onto the toilet.  But I need to change my chant to “He’s got this!”  He has it, like cattle on a thousand hills, hand-picking just what I need from the hand-picked Bird of Paradise my mom got me, or the hand-picked muscle ointment my friend Dee delivered on Day 1.  God’s got this!

While I’m writing this, I am interrupted by a knock at the door.  Ingrid, my Norwegian downstairs neighbor, decided to deliver some freshly-baked raisin rolls.  Just what my queasy tummy needed from this pain medication!  God is good!  It occurs to me that He doesn’t just have it, he has it in the perfect timing! 

“My God shall supply all of your needs, according to His riches in heaven.”  Riches like steamy-warm rolls, and lovingly-scrawled cards, and hugs, and chick-flick movies from my hubby who would never watch “Moms’ Night Out.”  God has it. 

It reminded me of what happened when I was pregnant with Evan and needed to transform our office into a baby nursery after my brother in-law moved out when I was seven months along.  Only, Randy wouldn’t let his pregnant wife wield a paintbrush with strong paints that we were using to seal up the paneling. So, I had to trust God as he prompted friends to step up to get the job done.  I realized just before the baby arrived that something like 17 friends and family members had pitched in to help get the room completely ready.  It was a wild recollection!

Last week when I was preparing for surgery and really had no idea what to expect, a girlfriend from Portland called to fill me in on the O.R.  “It will be really cold, ‘cause they have to keep the machinery cool.  Oh yes, you don’t have to leave right away.  If you aren’t ready or feel  sick, request to stay longer.”  So I did.  These perfectly-placed pointers landed in my ears hours before surgery-time. 

Another insight came before surgery.  It was a “still small voice” over a couple days reminding me that my husband is absolutely worthy of my trust.  He is so strong in the laid-back and taking-care-of dept., that I can trust him when my own life seems out of control.  I just needed to recognize those little reminders from my Father, that Randy’s got this.  That God’s got it, working through my husband, and neighbors, and girlfriends, and family x a thousand hills. 

I WANT TO BE AN HERB

I WANT TO BE AN HERB                                Written in November, 2014                                          

           No, I’m not touting reincarnation, but I just wonder how I would do as an herb.  

This morning I was on “kitchen duty” in our cafeteria.  That meant getting up quite early to scan ID cards of breakfast-goers by 6:15.  I found myself enjoying the morning.  I hadn’t been to breakfast before in the new cafeteria.  The view was splendid.  There was a cool breeze.  I watched the sun approach Hualalai volcano, pause and stretch the edges of its rays over to the south and north, and then climb over, inch by glorious inch.  The expansive floor and round tables were bathed in golden light, causing the green plants in the centerpieces to pop with color. 

I tried to be cheerful for the bedraggled college students and families as I took their meal cards and scanned them.  I thought, “If I’m cheerful in staff meetings and while teaching, why shouldn't I be cheerful here right now—even if I’m not a morning person?” 

When my shift was over, I strolled by bush after bush of fresh herbs, intentionally placed by the landscapers of the Aloha Lanai Cafeteria.  I plucked off a couple favorites:  fresh basil and lemon balm.  I rubbed them in my fingers and breathed in their fragrance as I climbed in my car.  It occurred to me that whichever leaf I pulled off that basil bush would smell like basil. Each tiny or large scalloped-leaf on the lemon balm tree would smell like minty-lemon.

 

I got thinking about those herbs.  They had multiple uses:  they were attractive greenery.  They embellished our meals, and they were healing agents.  Recently I invested in some essential oils, and I know their healing effects: oregano helps with foot fungus.  Lavender minimizes stress.  Lemon oil increases a sense of well-being and can clean up gunk and residue on the arms of my wooden chairs. 

I’d like to be one who whatever way you catch me, or rub up against me, you get a fragrance.   You get Kris all the time as one who is helpful and cheerful and enthusiastic.  You don’t smell complaining or whining, you smell Jesus. I’m not saying I’m there yet, but I don’t want to be someone who hides my face when things aren’t going well.  

David Hamilton, one of the Bible scholars in our ministry, talks about integrity.  He says it’s an unbroken line from the very roots of what someone believes to the fruit that yields from those beliefs.  They are consistently the way they are, not sometimes on, sometimes off.   But like a mint leaf which emits its smell more strongly when crushed, I believe my fragrance will come through those difficult circumstances.

Paul and David talk about similar concepts:  “…For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances: whether well-fed or hungry, whether in plenty or in want. For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil. 3: 11b-13) I don’t think it’s just doing the all-things, it’s being able to be content whatever the circumstances.  “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of Christ.” (Phil 1:27) Even if you have morning kitchen duty.  Even if you work with people who are not doing well and you have to wade into their issues a bit before you get through.  “He shall be like a tree  planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers.” (Psalms 1:3)

GOD, HELP ME TO BE AN HERB.