THE BLESSING APRON

 After my husband's death, a friend asked for one of his dress shirts for a special project. He had many nice shirts that he wore to church or formal occasions, or to substitute teach. In the public school classroom, his shirt-and-tie attire wordlessly communicated higher expectations for the students. (And yes, after decades of dealing with classroom behavior, he was a pro about class control.)

My friend's project? Transforming a nice collared shirt into a memory apron for me. The day she delivered it, I cried as I pulled it on. For the sweet memories of my late husband associated with that garment. And for her loving work in giving it a new role.

I hope I'm not stretching this love-gift too much by associating it with another apron involved in a love-gift. Instead of what we consider an “apron,” it was a First Century towel that Jesus tied around Himself to lovingly wash His disciples' feet before their last supper together before His crucifixion. Though this meal was described in all the Gospels, only John included the foot-washing detail.

Having visited a Third-World country, I “get it” about dirty feet. In Bible times, the street dirt contained human and animal waste, soiling their feet and primitive sandals. Hygiene and “good manners” mandated removing one's sandals near the door and washing feet.

Somehow, that nicety wasn't observed when the disciples secured someone's large second-story room for their observance of the Passover meal. Maybe they thought a servant would show up and do it. They never imagined Jesus doing such a dirty job. None of them “stepped to the plate” (to borrow a baseball saying for this dining room) for this humble duty. Instead, they focused on their plates of food as they lay on their sides at the low table, one pair of filthy feet after another fanning out behind them.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (John 13:3-5)

My old aprons bear the stains of many meals I prepared for my family or delivered to share with those in grief or need. Others blessed me that way, like the year I royally broke my ankle and was recliner-bound for weeks. A dear older friend symbolically “washed my feet” by bringing delicious meals while I was laid up. Years later my husband and I still talked about that, especially her famed roast beef sandwiches with dipping broth.

That amazing, generous cook was my apron-friend's late mother. Mom to daughter, daughter to me....what a legacy of grace and giving. What a practical reminder of Jesus: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

BLUE GOLD

It started—honestly--with an old-fashioned folding wooden clothes drying rack. My husband, who likes to fix/resell, found it somewhere, cleaned it up, and had me put it in the online want ads. There it sat for weeks until we got a call from folks about four hours' drive away. Could we hold it for their anticipated trip to our town? Sure.

Okay, here's the backstory that involves blueberries. Some of the sweetest memories of my childhood are the blueberries that came off about six bushes in our home's back yard. Our valley was infamous for hungry robins, so after a few years of unwillingly feeding the wildlife, my dad enclosed the blueberry patch in a “cage” he built of chicken wire. Oh how the flying critters fussed. But we got our blueberries, and, frozen, they treated us all year.

Fast-forward several decades to marriage, and knowing my love of blueberries, my husband planted several bushes in our back yard. Instead of the chicken wire cage, I just draped them with netting to ward of bird pecks when the berries started to form. Typically I got two big mixing bowlfuls a year off them. Popped in the freezer, they provided enough toppings for my breakfast cereal for the year. At other times, my husband knew that just buying a carton of fresh blueberries at the store meant more to me than a mink coat or high-brow perfume (neither of which I have owned or desired).

This year, something happened. I barely got a handful of berries. Major crop failure.

Cherry season came and my husband was invited to glean at an orchard. Oh, he went at it. He gave away bags and bags to friends, most of them older folks who appreciated the sweat equity behind such a gift. But his list was shorter than the supply, and we had a plastic dishwashing tub in the refrigerator left.

Enter the customers for the wooden clothes drying rack. Two women came as promised, fresh off hours of either purchasing or gleaning some of the produce of our valley. Right away, by their dress and hair style, I identified them as folks of the religious persuasion that advocated the “simple life.” One bought the clothes rack without quibbling on the price and then asked, “Do you like blueberries?”

She may have well asked, “Do you like fresh air? Giggling babies? Air-dried laundry? Words of appreciation? The hope of eternal life?” We didn't go through that list but she told me to get a container and she'd share some they had picked. I grabbed a small mixing bowl, thinking that was greedy. My husband hollered from the garage, “Give them that tub of cherries in our refrigerator.” Oh, her eyes lit up at the mention of cherries, whose harvest had just ended. I wanted to keep my plastic dishwashing tub, so found a cardboard box they could take and started dumping the cherries. As soon as I emptied my plastic tub, she brought out her huge box of blueberries and--to my astonishment--dumped them into the same tub! It was a summer's harvest for me—and more.

And then they left for their long trip home to presumably can and freeze their bounty for the year. I rinsed and bagged their berry gift, and tucked the blue bounty into our freezer. And I--blessed unexpectedly--cried.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:3)

“Celebrate [God's] abundant goodness.” (Psalm 145:7)

And finally, as we obey God in our finances and generosity, He says, “I will pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” (Malachi 3:12)

Blue gold. What a blessing.

DOWN BUT NOT OUT (Psalm 34:1-10)

Look closely: the bees are busy--as is God in the details of our lives.

(An ongoing series on the 48 psalms listed as “recommended reading” for times of depression, as listed in counselor/pastor David Seamands’ book Healing for Damaged Emotions.)
I’ve lost track of the times I’ve gone back to Psalm 34:18:The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

It provides perspective and hope when life doesn’t always go as we think it should. In this psalm David wrestles with the coulda-woulda-shouldas of his life. 

The psalm’s inscription describes his circumstances: “Of David.  When He feigned insanity before Abimilech, who drove him away, and he left.” First Samuel 21 tells how, after King Saul threatened to kill David (his already-anointed successor), David fled a nearby town whose worship center also housed the enormous sword of the Philistine giant Goliath, whom David had killed during his boyhood. He took that sword along to a Philistine town where he hoped to find refuge. Bad idea. His reputation preceded him, and his life was again at stake. Despite their bloodthirsty reputation, the Philistines did grant immunity to crazy people. So David pretended to be mentally off, scratching the doors of the gate and drooling all over his beard. The ruse worked and they shoved him out of the city.  From there he found his way to wilderness caves where he could hide.

David was the one who was brokenhearted and crushed. Yet He doesn’t blame God. Instead he praises Him:

I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.

My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. (vv. 1-2 NIV)

His ability to trust God in the worst of times may be why this psalm is among those suggested for study by those prone to a sad and hopeless outlook on life. When we’re down, we’re less likely to perceive two graces of God: His protection and His blessing.

UNSEEN PROTECTION 

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (v. 7)

David’s experience of divine protection wasn’t unique.  Sometime later in Bible history, the prophet Elisha was a marked man for prophecies the king of Aram didn’t like. When the prophet and his servant got up one morning, their town was surrounded by the enemy. The servant reacted as I might have: “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?”  Elisha replied with prophetic coolness: “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 5:16). Then the servant’s eyes were supernaturally opened to see the hills full of angelic defenders.

That’s not just a Bible history event. Another such story came from Dr. Clyde Taylor, founder of the National Association of Evangelicals. As a young missionary in Peru, he called on a tribal chief to explain their presence in the area. Later, at dusk, he noticed a big canoe with several men whistling what he knew were signals. Sensing something amiss, he and his friends decided to stay in the jungle that night, not in a hut.  Two years later, when the chief became a Christian, he admitted to Dr. Taylor: “We intended to kill you that night.  But you were too many. On your roof were crowds of men, all in white robes.” (1)

UNLIMITED BLESSING

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. (v. 8)

Many claim this verse like a Costco tasting station. They make the rounds of the carts where helpers in white netted caps encourage shoppers to try those tooth-picked or mini-cup food samples. We do the same in sharing Christ when we say, “Try God.” But God can’t be chopped into spiritual samples. Truly knowing Him and His goodness means taking that first step of obedience to follow Him, finding out that He is indeed good. To those who know and trust Him, He offers “good things.”  Not “entitlements” or luxuries, but “good things” that rise from a trusting relationship with the One who holds our futures in loving Hands.

 Next: Psalm 34:11-22

(1) Leslie B. Flynn, Thanks: Seeing God’s Word with a Thankful Heart (Carlsbad, CA: Magnus Press, 2005), p. 143.