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Today's Lenten Devotion
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Listen To Your Life
I am the vine. You are the branches.
-- John 15:5
When I think of vines two childhood memories immediately come to mind. My grandfather had a grape arbor and when the grapes were ripe my brother and I and our cousins gorged ourselves on the luscious purple fruit, which my grandfather no doubt intended for making wine.
The other childhood memory of vines is swinging on them in a vacant lot behind a friend's house. I grew up at a time when there was more open space in New Jersey and parents could be less concerned about their children playing unsupervised. We were Tarzan and Jane as we swung from those vines - I often wonder what they were. I only know they were strong enough to hold us and no one ever got hurt.
When we abide in Christ, the vine of truth, we are nourished, strengthened, and protected by His love.
According to popular wisdom, opposites attract. That was certainly true of my parents, especially in their approach to life. My father's motto was "BE PREPARED FOR THE WORST." My mother's was "TRUST IN GOD AND ALL WILL BE WELL." For most of my early years I followed my father's dictum. I not only prepared for the worst, I expected it.
I am a worry-wort by nature and was delighted when Kevin Henkes came out with his children's book, Wemberley Worried. Wemberley worried about everything. Big things, little things, and things in-between. On her birthday, Wemberley worried that no one would come to her party. When every one came, "See," said her mother, "there was nothing to worry about." But then Wemberley worried that there wouldn?t be enough cake. Soon, Wemberley had a new worry: school. What if no one else brings a doll? What if the teacher is mean? Wemberley worried all the way to school. Of course everything worked out just fine. Kevin says he modeled the main character after his daughter, but he described me as a child perfectly!
When I was a junior in college I contacted tuberculosis. Four other students also came down with the deadly disease. When the college authorities investigated they discovered a member of the kitchen staff was a carrier. One of the students died and I came close to dying. The primary treatment for TB at that time was bed rest. I spent a year in a sanatorium and it changed my life forever! I was not prepared for the worst. I adopted my mother's philosophy and trusted in God that all would be well.
I am a person who likes to feel in control. I like order. Guess that's why I became a librarian! When I was a college freshman I had my life planned for the next 20 years! But you and I know that life doesn't work that way. My spiritual journey has been learning to let go, to let God. "Hold me by the hand and guide me with your instruction," I pray with the psalmist (Psalm 73). And God is faithful. I can count on Him to disrupt my fairly quiet life every now and then to remind me who really is in charge! Sometimes it's an exciting invitation to teach in South Africa or Japan. Sometimes it's the sorrow of a failed relationship or a serious health problem that keeps me close to Him.
Many of you know that last September I had hand surgery. Dr. Lee Osterman, a world-renowned hand surgeon and a wonderful human being, reconstructed my wrist, repaired ruptured tendons in three fingers of my hand, and transferred a muscle in my forearm in a 4-hour surgery. The surgery was followed by five months of therapy and I'm now on a home program of exercises to strengthen my hand and retrain the muscle.
When I realized that I had to have surgery and that Medicare does not cover home care for hand surgery I was dismayed, to put it mildly. I live alone and have no immediate family. How "could I manage daily tasks, such as feeding, bathing, dressing myself" I felt overwhelmed. When I turned to God for guidance, wonderful things began to happen. My Holy Trinity family prayed for me, the women of ELCA brought meals and provided transportation to physical therapy. The library volunteers under Sheila Wall's fine direction kept the Sunday School library running smoothly.
I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. You are the branches who show God's glory by bearing much fruit.
Something else happened that continues to make me marvel at God's mysterious ways.
The year before my surgery - when I was trying to avoid surgery by taking physical therapy - I met a woman recovering from hand surgery. To protect her privacy I'll call her M . She was a trained nurse and had worked with disabled children. She loved her work, but had to give it up when her rheumatoid arthritis became so severe she could no longer lift the children in her care. M now worked part-time as a sales person in a department store. When she heard I was to have surgery she said she had a week's vacation time coming and would take the week following my surgery and stay with me. She refused to accept any money for doing this. I couldn't understand my good fortune and kept asking God for an explanation.
M came the day I arrived home from the hospital. She slept a good deal of the time - this was fine with me as I was sleeping a good deal of the time too. When we weren't sleeping we talked a lot and I learned about the problems in her life. M has a 20-year old son who is autistic; her older son is serving with the U.S. army in Iraq. There wasn't much I could do about either of those concerns except to listen.
But when she began talking about how exhausted her job left her and about her dissatisfaction with her rheumatologist. I was able to direct her to a more caring rheumatologist and to start her thinking about finding work that would be more satisfying. M's new rheumatologist is helping her manage her arthritis better and M's is now studying to be a Medical Office Specialist.
She and I talked about God's hand in this. I needed help and she was moved to offer it; she needed time away from her family and job to gain a clearer perspective on her problems. God brought us together so we could help one another. Recuperating from surgery offered time to read and reflect on spiritual matters. I've started a spiritual journal and I encourage you to do the same. Fill it with your favorite verses from the Bible, quotations from books, photos of family, friends, nature, whatever makes you more aware of God and His blessings.
My readings ranged from the Bible, especially the Psalms, to The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd. I discovered The Eyes of the Heart, "a memoir of the lost and found," by Frederick Buechner, one of Pastor Mary's favorite writers. I'd like to close with a quotation from Listening to Your Life; Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner, compiled by George Connor. HarperCollins, 1992:
There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him, but all the more fascinatingly because of that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly ...
If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say as a novelist and as a preacher, it would be something like this:
Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments and life itself is grace.
Amen
Ellin Greene
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