Tetelestai

We've been reminded lately how God has everything planned out and knows the end result. We have been working through a furnace issue at our new house in Rochester. We've lived here a little over a year, but the past couple of months the furnace hasn't been working all the time.
Of course we had a little help with people coming into look at it, but the final verdict in the end was a new furnace on it's way, the night before Christmas Eve. After hours and possibly even holiday time, we were a little worried about what the cost was going to be.
But God had it covered, we received 2 checks and cash for the new furnace. We thought God had answered our prayers through all this. We were amazed. The cash would have covered the furnace, but God had even bigger plans that made me to stop and realized God's plans are much bigger than I expect them to be. When we got the bill, it read "paid in full, Merry Christmas." When I saw it I saw the words "paid in full" tetelestai - it was a great reminder of the Christmas season. Christ came that Christmas long ago to give us the greatest gift, our bill would be paid in full.

A $90 Lesson and Defining Roles

I LOVE opportunities to be humbled (since "God gives grace to the humble"!), and I had another one today.

The house seemed cold this morning, and when I checked the thermostat at about 7:30 it was only at 60 degrees. We keep it cold at night, so I figured it was still warming up. At 8:30, it was still at 60 degrees, so I went down to check the furnace. The first thing I did was to pull out the furnace filter and put in a new one. I hadn't changed the filter in a while, and it was really dirty (it's been really cold this week). Actually, when I saw how dirty it was, I kicked myself for not changing it earlier. I've been really busy lately and spacey too. I looked at the list of "what to do before you call the repairman" and checked off each thing: make sure the "on" switch is on, make sure the furnace filter is clean, make sure vents to the outside are free of ice (had to go outside to check that). The furnace is less than five years old. I figured the problem was minor. Then I checked the diagnostic red and green lights and found out that the issue was with the primary limit. Hmmm...something told me that primary limits could become "limited" by a dirty filter. I pulled the furnace sides apart looking everywhere for this "primary limit". I even read the owners manual, but it seems that the primary limit is in a special place where only expensive repairmen can find it. After trying everything I could think of, I called Will and asked if we could get a repairman in. The repairman came this afternoon and confirmed my suspicions. The filter got too dirty and switched off the primary limit. Somehow, he was able to find the afore-mentioned switch and, after some interesting pounding from the basement, he came back up to present the $90 bill. (I'm guessing that he probably was just sitting down there banging on the wall and putting in the recommended time to appear as though he had "fixed" something) : ). But, all is well. The bill is paid. The furnace is fixed. I am humbled. I'm thinking that God knew the repairman needed some Christmas money.

Now, on to the matter of defining roles. You see, I have changed the furnace filter for the past four years (very regularly). But every time I change the filter I think kind thoughts toward Will because I really believe this is his job. I consider myself doing a good deed--helping him out since he is a busy man. I've never really considered changing the furnace filter my job in the marriage. So this morning, when the filter was dirty, I didn't immediately blame myself, I blamed him. : ) I don't ultimately think I'm responsible for this task; I just fill in when needed. I have this same attitude toward several other tasks around the house, mostly ones that my dad always did (taking out the trash, changing the oil, shoveling the driveway). These things are an act of love that I do for Will. In his mind, though, I'm guessing that he sees me doing these things as me taking on that role in our marriage. We probably need to talk. : )

Our Advent Calendar

I've been searching for a good countdown to Christmas calendar for a few years. And this year I decided to make my own. I wanted it to have 25 different pieces from a nativity that the kids could pull out each day of December until Christmas. I will also put a few m & m's or some small piece of candy as well as a verse. It was hard to find a nativity set that had enough pieces. I finally found a playmobil set that comes completely apart. I made up 25 pieces and put it together. I still would like to get an angel for the beginning and a figure for Elizabeth or something else - but for now this will work - it's been fun.

A different kind of grace

We made the mistake of trying to teach our older two kids about grace too early. A couple of times when they deserved consequences, we gave "grace" and withheld the painful consequences. Our intentions were good; we were eager to make the gospel plain to them. We wanted them to understand how gracious God is to us in sending Jesus to be our substitute when we deserved His judgment. Unfortunately, they were too immature to believe that they deserved painful consequences. They understood that, for some reason, we were inconsistent. Undoing the damage has been a good lesson for both parents and kids. Our oldest son, now six, spent the last year or so begging for "grace" every time he received training from us. Backpedaling, we've had to explain that these painful consequences ARE grace. God is gracious to him in giving him parents who love him, who uphold biblical standards of right and wrong, who model the holy character of God by giving painful consequences in response to sinful choices. The pain IS grace. It teaches him to follow after God in the future. This momentary pain can save him from a lifetime of painful consequences, if he will humble himself and receive the chastisement with joy.

Often, I respond to God's testing with the cry of David from Psalm 77:9

"Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?"

God has the same response for me as I have for my son,

"This trial IS grace. I am gracious every time I burn the dross from your soul. I love you too much to leave you in your sinful state. I love you too much to leave you alone. I will continue to do whatever it takes to make you more like myself. Trust My love."

Call me crazy

Call me crazy, but I honestly didn’t see it coming. You might not have either, had you been there.

We’ve been practicing for the annual kids’ Christmas program at church. We only have about three weeks of rehearsal left for a program that I helped write. The kids are going to portray various Old Testament characters that describe how their stories point to the birth of Christ. I am sure I’m biased, but I think it’s going to be a really good program. It’s crunch time now, though, and we’re trying to practice as if it were the “real thing”. Today everyone tried on his or her biblical costume, and it was pure chaos. Each little kid wanted some individual attention about how the costume was supposed to fit.

One of my newer sixth grade girls is a very resourceful person. She has an idea for everything. Her costume “fit funny”, so she wanted to take her costume home and do some sewing on it to “fix it”. She wanted to lead the ribbons, wanted to hold the signs, wanted to help with the word cards. I was getting frustrated and was starting to feel impatient when she kept doing a certain part of a dialogue wrong. She apologized meekly. For a fairly resilient girl, I could tell she was starting to feel down. I felt badly for being short with her. She meant well. I tried to smile at her and keep the train moving. We were practicing the Adam and Eve scene when I described to the kids that we would have a tree as a “prop”. My assistant director was going to find a fake snake to hang in the tree. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Okay, we'll have a tree here in the middle with a snake in it. When Adam says 'leave the garden', Eliana is going to come out from behind the tree dressed as an angel with a sword in her hands."

My resourceful sixth-grade friend: (raising her hand again) “Can I bring my snake?”

Me: "Sure! That would be great. I’m sure that would help Mrs. Brack out."

My resourceful sixth-grade friend: (HUGE grin. Unmistakable ecstasy and joy…over-the-top glee?)

Me: (Thinking—Hmmm…she’s pretty happy about that. I’m glad we’re friends again. I was afraid she was as frustrated with me as I was getting with her.) "Okay, Adam, keep going with your part."

My resourceful sixth grade friend: “Don’t worry at all, Miss Amy. Sally doesn’t ever bite!”

(This could be the best Christmas pageant ever!)

Sitting on the "Q"

It's been said before that kindergarten is just a little microcosm of the real world ("all I really needed to know I learned in kindergarten..."). Well, this week things are really falling apart for my kindergartener. Up to this point, my son had been sitting on the "T" of the big rectangular kindergarten carpet (for large group and story time, etc.). I guess the teacher decided to change the seating arrangement and now he is sitting on the "Q". This is a horrible thing because each letter also has a picture next to it, and Q has a queen. Queens, of course, are the very last thing that six-year-old boys want to sit on or next to. His little world has simply fallen apart! My first response was a desire to call the teacher and ask her to put a girl on the "Q". My husband is much wiser than I. Will admitted that it isn't very fun for a boy to have to sit on the "Q", but he pointed out to our son that God was in control when He allowed our son to be put on the "Q". My boy's job now is to love whoever sits on the "P" and the "R".

Oh, how often I have had to sit on a "Q"! It is always nice to have a friend who is honest with me about the situation--that it's no fun to sit on the "Q". Even better, though, is to be reminded that God put me on the "Q" and that He has people on the "P" and the "R" for me to love!

Two is Company

Two is company on the first day of school.

They actually can't remember when they didn't have each other as company.
They are only 14 months apart.
(For me? I've enjoyed the quarrel-free day today!) : )