A Miracle and Too Much Same Old Same Old

 At church we have been praying about Lil's medical needs over several years of difficulty.  She has had numerous facial surgeries to remove recurring tumors.  Nerve damage over time resulted a year or so ago in her not being able to blink normally, and her cornea began to dry out before they realized what was happening. A lot of intervention happened right away, and the worst crisis seemed to be averted.  Of late, however, her vision has been too compromised for her to be able to read anything in normal-sized letters.  A few weeks ago, we heard that an appointment was scheduled with a cornea specialist in Kansas City, and we were asked again to pray that help would be found.  On Monday, those on our church email list got this message from Lil and her husband: 

"Last night Lil tried to read the large print text on her phone with her right eye and couldn’t.

Today upon arrival in the Kansas City area for our appointment with the cornea specialist the receptionist told Lil, “You came to the right place!” As we waited I showed Lil an interesting text on my phone that I had just received without thinking. Lil exclaimed, “Arthur, I can read this!” She could see and read the small print on my phone with her right eye for the first time in months! 
During her eye examination the specialist confirmed, “Your cornea is smooth and clear. There is nothing wrong with your eye!” Now after the appointment she can clearly read even small print with her right eye!
We aren’t sure about the exact time the miracle happened, but we think it happened while we were sitting there in waiting room! This was also a miracle of timing! We stand in awe of our Good God! Lil says this is a MIRACLE in capital letters! 
We want to God to get the glory He deserves! He has made the blind to see! Lil is overwhelmed at the gift of being able to read the Bible and journal again!
You have prayed for us and supported us! We are deeply grateful and we are very thankful! We want you as a church to know... Thanks for all you have done for us!

All those exclamation marks!  And still the words hardly capture the exuberance all of us feel at having seen God at work in such a tangible way.   

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Here's a fairly long and very worthwhile article on lament.  The story that functions as a lead-in perfectly encapsulates the problem that results from not feeling that Christians have permission to say anything that isn't happy happy happy.

Here's what I wrote on Facebook when I shared the article:

"Listen for lament—find some place to sing with other believers the songs of sorrow. Pray the Psalms—line by line until you join the throng that wrestles with God and receives the blessing of a limp and a new name. Then your heart will not be as afraid of lament, nor your soul so leery to live the paradox of sorrow and joy. Then we may learn to sing with a new passion the words we must learn from those who not only sing of sorrow, but lived lament until it broke loose into the freedom of joy . . . "

This is only one piece of the wisdom found in the article below, on lament. I was interested especially in understanding how sorrow and joy can be experienced simultaneously and expressed both privately and communally. Praying and singing the Psalms seem to be key components of how it happens."

You'll also find in this article help in differentiating between complaint and lament.  This seems like a key distinction.

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Here's another Facebook post from yesterday.  

This morning I heard a House Wren song for the first time this season. Better get that bird house out ASAP. Where to put it so that it's audible on summer mornings without being too loud right outside an open bedroom window? That's the question. #Housewrenphenology

Update:  We couldn't find the little yellow and red wren house that has been knocking about somewhere indoors for too long, and Hiromi announced that we'd just have to buy a new one.  I never heard the wren later in the day, so maybe we had only an unattached male who has flown off now to seek a mate elsewhere.  I am sad that we may have missed out on having a whole wren family's dietary needs supplied by insects that might otherwise decimate our garden crops. 

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Here is the most involved FB post from yesterday.  It provides a broad context for something that I have referred to in snippets and allusions elsewhere--the gap between what it takes financially to maintain a modest standard of living and leaving enough time to accomplish what is necessary for meeting other commitments and obligations.  I'll copy the image first.  

Next is the text that followed the image.

Brenna Quinlan is in Noongar Boodjar.

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Feeling overwhelmed?

I hear you. Once we start running on the treadmill it can be hard to step off. We need money to get by in the world, so we work as hard as we can, so much so that we end up short on time to do those money-saving and soul-nourishing things we used to do. You know the ones - camping with the kids, riding or walking to town, getting out into the garden, reading books. A life short on time starts to cost us more money...so before long we need more work, and around and around it goes.

The system sets us up for this kind of life. GDP grows when people are toiling away and filling the gaps with purchases that they would otherwise produce themselves. Seeing the psychologist, drinking more than you know is healthy, and getting takeaway for dinner again because you're too tired to cook is all great news for GDP.

The good news is that you have some control over the balance of your life. Sometimes it's as simple as making the time to step back and look at your patterns with fresh eyes (friends can be great mentors for this). Rest is a radical act, and is a human need often left behind.

What ways have you found to restore the balance in your life? And what resources have you found to be helpful?

Finally, my introduction to the image and the text following it.

Miriam Iwashige

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Shared with Public

I heard Amish writer-naturalist David Kline describe this exact problem in an illustration from his own life as a dairyman. When several silos were to be taken down at a nearby university campus (with a college of agriculture), he and several other farmers in the area arranged to see to the dismantling and removal, in exchange for being able to have the materials at no charge. Each of the farmers ended up with a very expensive "new" silo on his own farm, with a vanishingly small cash outlay. He noted that for many of the "farmers" around him who also had off-farm jobs, taking time off to get those silos home and rebuilt didn't make sense financially because they could make enough money to buy the silos outright by simply working more hours at a high-dollar job. I get it. The logic still seems problematic.

I won't go into all the reasons why (hint: think about taxes), but I think it's a mistake to discount the value of time spent working together with our family and neighbors--in pursuit of an affordable option that may require a great deal of effort and time to accomplish. I doubt that the underlying motivations for discounting this option are usually as nefarious as the worst forms of greed, impatience, covetousness, and discontent, but I'm pretty sure that their opposites can most easily be developed in the absence of a high-paying job away from home that is pursued at all costs.

The Lord's provision, the university's excess, and Amish sensibilities all came together as one good example of how "The Catch-22 of Modern Living" may not be as permanent or as ubiquitous as we have been led to believe. I'd love to see a lot more widespread commitment to seeking ways to work around this Catch-22.

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I'm sharing a writing challenge here at the end.  For now, I'll wait to take on the challenge (at least for public consumption).  Here's the challenge:  In 75 words or less, write what happened in Washington, D. C. on January 6, 2020.  Submit it in the comments here, if you would be so kind.  Also, Dan Rather wants to hear from you.  Read about it here.  I'll post a picture to jog your memory.