Development #2

I briefly alluded to this in the previous post. The other significant event of the weekend was an internal one.

Our pastor's been going through the Old Testament kings in his sermons. Although I can't remember all the names or the order of their reigns, I can regonize their cyclical progression between faithfulness and absolute apostasy.

Enter Josiah. During his reign, he organized a big house cleaning at God's House. In the process, some of his religious leaders found the book of the Law. [Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, where the ten commandments and what-not were given] Like my pastor pointed out, if they were just now finding the book of the Law, that means somewhere along the way it was missing.

Who misplaced it?
And why had no one gone looking for it in previous years?

The application that I took home from the sermon was to make God's Word a priority in my life, to not let it get covered up and misplaced and become a forgotten religious symbol. I'll be honest - although I have been teaching a Sunday school class, and leading a children's small group on Sunday nights, and leading worship with the youth on Wednesday nights, the actual work of reading and meditating and appropriating scripture in my daily life is not one I have given much time to lately. I have spent time in the Word preparing for those activities....sometimes....when I can't just "wing it". And I spend time in prayer [more on that later]. But let's look at Psalm 1 and what it says about the Law of the Lord.

"Blessed is the man [whose] delight is in the Law of the Lord, and on it he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."

Is my delight in the Word of God? Well, my delight is in the Lord. I rejoice in my salvation - ish. But I approach daily spirit-filled living the way I approach being an American. I know I am a resident of America. I'm proud to be an American. I'm grateful for those who gave their lives for my freedom. I contribute to Toys for Tots, and give to the Salvation Army to help my fellow man. But I only really meditate on what that means during a couple of holidays that call for remembrance. Generally, I don't pick up my George M. Cohan songbook or my American History textbook from 11th grade and read about the battles and laws that were enacted to grant me this freedom.

Similarly, I know I am a resident of God's kingdom. I'm grateful for God's grace and Christ's sacrifice. I serve in my church to the point of exhaustion. I meet with other Christians because ...well, they're my friends and I like them. But I only really meditate - I mean let it sink way down past the surfacey acknowledgement - on all that this journey cost Jesus and what it means for me, about once a week. More when we get closer to Easter or any time we partake in the Lord's Supper.

The goal has been more time in God's Word, not for the sake of time, but for the sake of absorption. And in order to better understand the contrasts that should exist between God's kingdom agenda and interests and my own.

Has it been easy? O my goodness, no. Our daily schedule is so full that by the time work is over and the last music student has left my house at 6:30, all we want to do is eat a late supper and watch a good movie. We want to absorb a little quality time with each other and let obligations fade into the eerie glow around the television. When you've gone through a seminary education and used the Bible for a textbook, picking it up can sometimes feel more like a duty than a delight. But I have a hard time justifying watching a movie as real quality time when we could be reading God's Word to each other. Sunday night, I retreated to another room to do some reading. Then the rest of this week so far has been morning prayer with short scripture thoughts. But those morning prayers have only led to another discovery.

We'll call that development #3, and save it for tomorrow.

A big weekend

Of all the people whose blogs I have followed in the past, only two are still at it. One is an unremarkable homeschool mother and rancher who has become a remarkably popular figure and has published a cookbook and appeared on national television programs. On second thought, forget the fact that I called her unremarkable. I mean - she got famous writing about calf nu.. Aww heck, I can't even say it. She's pretty outrageous.

The other gives daily writing prompts to inspire and help those of us who just toy at this hobby a remedy for the most persistent cases of "writer's block". I've gotten a nod or two of recognition from the site....which is what keeps me coming back. I need to be needed. It's a sickness. And I like comments.

I took a summer/fall sabatical, feeling overwhelmed during our build/move/get mom home from the hospital/nursing home activities. I felt very uninteresting. I didn't have time to read, to think, to absorb, or write. I tried a few floundering attempts, but I wasn't taking in enough to put out any kind of thought-provoking product.

Enter this past weekend.

Two things happened that have hopefully turned the tide.

First, we met with our social worker and made some big progress on our adoption application. This was our first homestudy interview. The house was clean and we put our best foot forward. And answered personal question after personal question. We will have three more of these. While interviews are taking place, we will be waiting on background check results and US Immigration form approval along with accompanying visas.

The most significant part of the interview was the question on the I-600A, the US form. The next to last question was "Are you petitioning visas for more than one child?" Answer - yes. That was easy. We were pretty open to multiples or siblings. And Nepal will let you adopt one male and one female - not related - at the same time, in the same age group (say, under a year, for example). That was definitely a consideration. We have also been open to sibling groups with children under four or five. But we didn't have a number. For this form, we had to settle on one. So the number we settled on was Three. **Deep breath** Here goes nothing.

Why do people say that when, really, they're about to risk EVERYTHING?
Shouldn't the saying be, "Here goes everything" ?

On to important development number two....
More on that in the next post. Time for class.