THOSE 'SOUR' SORRYS

 My young-mother years sometimes required settling sibling disagreements. This often ended by my requiring brother and sister to apologize face-to-face in the hall between their rooms. Whatever else could be credited (certainly the Lord's help!), I'm grateful they grew up to be good friends and responsible citizens!

Spats between young children are inevitable as they learn to navigate life. What has saddened me are the apologies (of sorts) I've experienced from adults who, it seems, had too much “save face” blocking the path of genuine repentance. Their replies went like this: “Sorry I got mad at you, but I was having a bad day.” Or, “Sorry to offend you. I didn't mean to set you off.”

I call them “Sour Sorrys” and they are nothing new. One Biblical example: Saul, a tall, handsome guy who had a good start (at least from the “looks” of it) to be Israel's first king. But as his royal life softened with extra wives and servants, fame went to his head. He got so jealous of David, God's choice for the next king (instead of Saul's son), that he repeatedly sent assassins David's way. One time, he asked that they capture David alive—at home in bed--so Saul could have the honor of killing David himself!

Then Saul sent the men back to see David [after David had escaped one assassination attempt] and told them, 'Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.' (1 Samuel 19:15)

Like, how low can you go?

A little later, Saul's anger toward an elusive David caught up. One hot day, while combing the desert to find and kill David, Saul went into a cave “to relieve himself” (1 Samuel 24:3), probably meaning he needed a quick, private "rest stop" in the coolness of the cave. Saul didn't know David was in the same cave, and could have quickly killed him. Instead, David chose the higher road of not harming the king.

This is when I turn to Psalm 63, one of many that David is believed to have written during his lonely, scary time as a wilderness refugee before becoming king himself. The psalm has this preface: “A psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Judah.” As a shepherd, David knew how to survive in the parched, dirty desert without today's “cool-packs,” cell phones and camper snacks. But he also had a God who was watching him. He expressed it in this psalm:

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me....You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways....(Psalm 139:1, 3)

This psalm and the one preceding it bring me hope and comfort when I deal with those who can't say “sorry” from the heart. Who can't honestly admit, “God has shown me my sins against you” nor name at least a few of them as part of the apology. Instead, they revert to “save-face” admissions—some of which we've seen in recent high-profile crime cases.

“Sorry” has become such a feeble word. It's more than “sorry, excuse me,” like when you try to avoid smashing someone's feet or purse-slugging heads when you're moving down a row of chairs to an empty seat. For deep emotional and spiritual hurts, just saying “sorry” is like a band-aid on an open surgical wound. Old Testament Hebrew has several words for “sorry,” including one whose meaning includes the idea of sighing or breathing strongly, such as when the words one needs to say are painful to get out. That's intense “sorry.”

Sadly, when we are wronged, we won't always hear a genuine “sorry” (with sorrow, from which we get our word “sorry”) from the offender. But God knows our anxious thoughts (Psalm 139:23) and hasn't stopped His intention to “lead [us] in the way everlasting” (v. 24). And that includes resolving differences...His holy way.

THE PAIN OF PEARLS

Ow! A splinter in my thumb. I didn't invite it, but it came....and how it hurt—both its “residence” and the hole left behind when I dug it out with a sewing needle and tweezers. That ordinary “injury” came to mind when I learned how pearls are formed. Yes, I knew they came from oysters, but what starts the process? The answer: pain. More specifically, a foreign object (like a grain of sand) that an oyster can't expel back into the water. In defense, it secretes layers of calcium carbonate and a protein called “conchiolin” that covers over the foreign item, in time producing a pearl. It can take anywhere from six months to three years for an oyster to produce the pearl of a size commonly used in jewelry.

I'm glad I'm not an oyster! But learning that nature fact prompted me to think about my response to intrusive pain. Like hardship, loss, or an unwelcome task. Or unpleasant, demanding, “entitled” people who make life, well, painful. I also thought about Jesus' short parable about a pearl:

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. (Matthew 13:45-46)

The interpretation of this parable? Bible scholars find two ways to look at it. One is that this exceptional, valuable pearl is God's gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ. He is worth putting our “all” out for a life-changing discovery and eternal spiritual riches. Note that this parable (similar to the one that precedes it, about a man finding buried treasure in an old field, which became his by buying the field) involves recognizing the value of the “find.”

Another viewpoint suggests the merchant represents the Lord Jesus. The “pearl of great price” (notice the adjective “great”) is the church. To purchase this pearl, He gave His life on a splintered executioner's cross. Similarly to how a pearl is formed inside an oyster's shell through an irritation (like a grain of sand), the church began its formation through fatal wounding of the Savior's earthly body. Thus, the “pearl of great price” is the church.

Whichever viewpoint one takes, this truth remains: the authentic spiritual life will involve pain. That which we don't want—conflict, difficult relationships, financial distress—may be the “sand inside the shell” that causes pain. We can choose to sit at the bottom of the “sea of despair” and complain about our pain. Or we can welcome the healing “coverings” of faith in Christ to turn our pain into something of spiritual beauty.

If you're interested in the largest pearls ever found, check this website:

9 Largest Pearls Ever Found - Largest.org

PRIORITIES

It's late August, and we're going through our annual late-summer “heat waves” with 100-degree temperatures. I'm grateful for today's “air conditioners,” recalling my younger years in stuffy, low-budget rental apartments without “A/C.” Instead, a noisy box fan helped move air so I didn't sizzle like bacon on a hot pan.

Our current blistering-hot days find me thinking of a psalm in which a deer's thirst becomes a spiritual analogy. You probably know the one, which starts:
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? (Ps.42:1-2)

This bold, young deer visited the back yard
in late winter, obviously hungry (those
are rose bushes behind him--ouch!)

If you can remember back to the 1970s to the emergence of contemporary Bible choruses (many out of the Southern California “Maranatha!” ministries), you're probably humming that chorus. It's been running through my mind, too, as I go about my tasks. I recall how this psalm reflected a challenging time in David's life. His comfort and prestige were stripped away, and he was enduring the hard, hot life of hiding in the desert from insane, murder-intending King Saul. Food and water were precious and rare. Yet David found his hope and practical supply in God: The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. (Psalm 28:7)

I suspect that Psalm 42, with its downcast tone (like verse 3: “My tears have been my food day and night”) isn't apt to inspire upbeat “life verses.” The ticking away of days and years has its hard spots, and it's easy to think sadly about past “Glory Years.” Maybe we had more friends. Respect from others. A secure job we enjoyed. Health. A place to live which brought us comfort and happiness. A satisfying purpose for living. Or maybe a measure of fame.

Certainly “fame” was anticipated for Scotsman Eric Liddell, whose amazing athletic achievements were portrayed in the 1981 film “Chariots of Fire.” He was predicted to win the 100-meter race in the 1924 Olympics. But Liddell, a devout Christian who aspired to be a missionary, withdrew when he learned the race's heats would be held on a Sunday. Instead, he switched to the more grueling 400-meter race during the week.

In the movie script, Liddell was handed a note just before the race. Reportedly from his team's masseur, it read: “In the old book it says, he that honors me I will honor. Wishing you the best success always. 1 Samuel 2:30.” Despite the extra strain for him to attempt a race four times his “trained” length, Liddell won with an Olympic record of 47.8 seconds. It would stand until the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

From sports fame he moved on to mission work in China, dying there of an undiagnosed brain tumor in his 43^rd year. But his dedication to Christ's cause made a difference. Of course, he was asked “post-Olympics” if he regretted leaving behind his Olympic fame for mission service. He replied: “It's natural for a chap to think over all that sometimes, but I'm glad I'm at the work I'm engaged in now. A fellow's life counts for far more at this than the other.”

Powerful words about priorities! The Lord was Liddell's strength and shield. And even decades after his death, Liddell's passion for Christ still inspires.
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Enjoy these links connected to Liddell's story. This one presents the “deer” song: Bing Videos
Then, here is the movie reenactment of Liddell's Olympic race (skip the preceding ads): Bing Videos

STICKY SITUATION

I didn't intend for my worn-daily athletic shoes to fill their creases with dirt and pitch. All I did was notice the pine cone and twig debris under the evergreens along the backyard fence. I took a bucket, walked through the mess, and picked up all but the underlying needles. Those would have to wait for another day, when I had a rake and more energy.

I dumped the “collection” in the garbage bin, but as I walked over the driveway, I became aware of a “muck-muck” noise and a sense of stickiness under my shoes. You probably guessed. My under-the-tree task added tree sap and tree junk to the bottom of my athletic shoes. No way would I walk in those over the house rug—so off the shoes came. I hoped that as they dried out, I could pry out the muck with a sharp instrument (okay, my “compass” from high school trig math days—back when the “dangerous” pointed side wasn't yet outlawed).

I didn't have perfect results of “sticky-ickies” removal, but at least my “yard shoes” are back in business, but won't be getting near the sticky tree debris. I guess I could be clever and pull plastic bags over my shoes. Or else use some really antique tennies now delegated to yard-work and not allowed in the house....

I wonder how often, instead of picking up pitch under trees, we let down our guards and pick up the mucky, sticky, unwelcome conversational values of our non-Christian world. I remember my shock and disappointment when a young woman who grew up in a Christian home lost her cool and called me a vulgar name. Where did she acquire such gutter language? Not, that I know, from her Jesus-following parents. But I know she had a second life away from the God-honoring values of her upbringing. It had a screen and a keyboard, and from it, vulgar language and values likely entered her eyes and heart.

The apostle Paul knew how culture clashed with Jesus-centered values. He saw it at every city where he visited to evangelize, but it seems he pulled out all the stops of reproof when he wrote to the church at Ephesus:

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths.” (Ephesians 4:29)

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” (Ephesians 4:31)

“Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place.” (5:4)

The apostle's alternative mouth-style was this: “thanksgiving” (Ephesians 5:4).

Granted, there are times when we need to address tough topics, but it's wrong to resort to the world's lazy and mucky language. It needs to go where my collection of pitch-drenched needles and twigs went: the disposal bin. Which is to say: ditch negativity, raise the integrity level of everyday conversation, including the virtual connections. Aim for words that are “helpful for building others up according to their needs....Be kind and compassionate” (Ephesians 4:32).

If tempted to use the world's coarse vocabulary, think of the pitch-drenched needle debris I scooped up from under the trees. A spoonful of those....ugh!

HEAVENLY-MINDED OR EARTHLY GOOD?

Hope fills my prayers. Hope... that the situations and people that I pray for will find transformation in Jesus Christ. Hope and Biblical assurance.... that God hears those prayers with unimaginable compassion for the people, places and problems that came to this planet He created.

I think C.S. Lewis captured this well—and as I re-read his words, I'm reminded that he made a 180-degree turn from atheism to faith in God. He wrote in Mere Christianity:

“Hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is.

“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”

The apostle Paul was so burdened about people becoming Christ-followers that he imagined himself as miserable as a woman in labor. (Not that he had personal experience in that!) He wrote the church in Galatia, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:9).

He didn't live Sunday-to-Sunday. He lived today-to-promised-eternity and heavenly citizenship, eagerly waiting for Jesus, “who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body” (Phil 3:21).

Writing in old, old age, reflecting on what he'd learned personally from Jesus, the apostle John wrote: “Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

With those words, he thumbed in time to the last pages of history. What encouragement to know the outcome!

I've heard of people who like to start a mystery or who-done-it book, but take a peek at the last chapter to see how it will turn out. That takes the mental exercise out of it! But we don't have to wonder about the incidents and characters, the clue-plants and distractions that are parcel to who-done-its. We know already Who-done-it! The sinless One who visited planet earth, taught, suffered, died, rose, returned to the Father...and is coming again!

GOT YOUR GOAT?

My neighborhood is quite a suburban mix; single-family homes, apartments and townhouses, mobile home courts, and even a pasture nibbled down regularly by a small herd of goats. When God created goats, I wonder if He stifled a chuckle. Their bearded little heads and nervy behavior bring a smile to my face when I drive or walk past their pasture.

One day I thought about the phrase “got your goat.” I knew it was connected to situations when something or someone upset or angered someone else. Like, “Sorry, didn't mean to get your goat.” Why goat​? Why not another animal, like dog or cat or cow or baboon? If you have ever wondered, it's supposedly related to how goats could be used to calm racehorses. If a nervous, on-edge horse's “calm goat” was removed, it would possibly get upset and lose the race.

Well, I won't get into Derby fashion (if you want to, try this link: What To Wear: Kentucky Derby fashion and outfits for women & men | KentuckyDerby.com ) But it's interesting that the cultural icon of animal prowess (read: prizing fast horses) has a big-hat dress code! But goats are also in its culture....

Maybe more needs to be said about goats. They're interesting creatures:

*They have a reputation for being curious.

*They can be taught their name and come when called.

*They're picky eaters.

*Their sneezes are alarm sounds.

*They don't like water. Confronted by a puddle or stream, they try to leap over them.

*They're excellent climbers.

*They have an efficient digestive system. (Sorry, not tin cans.)

*They have distinct personalities: shy, nervous, curious, aggressive, affectionate.

*Their tendency to be fearful means they like having an escape “platform” or “partition” in their resting or eating areas.

In our era, their name has become an acrostic for excellence or prowess—Greatest Of All Time. Sports heroes crave that distinction. Likewise, standouts in other vocations or positions.

You know where I'm going with this. In God's writing of history, only ONE was the Greatest of All Time. Jesus. Got HIM?

BY THEIR FRUITS.....

I was rushing through a local mega-mart this spring when a little plant in a near-the-register display whimpered, “Take me home!” You've seen those random near-checkout display shelves. The ones with the same compelling power as those of candy and gum by the conveyor belt where a child is apt to tug on a parent sleeve and say, “Please, Mommy (or Daddy), please.” The bedding plant looked so forlorn, I almost didn't “listen,” but I did decide to adopt it, and re-homed the plant in the sunniest place in my yard, right next to the mailbox. I put the wire supportive “tomato cage” around the infant plant it as preemptive protection!

I didn't hold much hope for its survival, but that little tomato start hung in there and grew and grew...and now is expressing its gratitude with tiny red, joy-prompting globes. “Cherry tomatoes.” Maybe call them “cheery tomatoes,” too, because their vibrant red skin promises delight inside, and I am not disappointed when I add them to my meal.

With time, my pitiful clearance plant grew strong and fruitful. So it is in the Christian walk, with time as we take in the nourishment of Living Water (scripture) and bask in the Sun of Righteousness (the Lord Jesus). And maybe that's another way of looking at His parable about the fig tree (Luke 13:6-9). In the parable, a barren tree was due for the rubbish pile because it just didn't produce figs. The farmer decided to give it one more year to prove itself. The analogy is to complacent Christians who aren't going anywhere in their faith walk. The lesson of “one last chance” holds both hope and fear.

Tomatoes, of course, are “annuals” with just one chance to bloom and yield fruit. Then the cycle begins again with the tiny seeds in each fruit that can carry on the fruit line. Without reproducing believers, faith would not grow and spread.

Living in an agrarian society, Jesus wisely taught from common things the people knew in their quest to feed and house their families with the basic necessities. And though our times have taken food production to new and sophisticated levels (ever eaten a green house tomato?), the lessons of God's creation never fail to teach again, and again.

Maybe next time you grab a tomato to put in a salad or BLT, pause a moment. That red globe didn't pop out of the air. God had a plan for it to grow and reproduce. Sound (humanly) familiar?