Answered Prayer

For those who celebrate the Christmas season, January is often a financially challenging month. Once you receive your bills, you realize (yet again!) that you’ve overspent your budget.

I had barely begun planning our payments when our dryer started making this weird, piercing noise. It was signalling the end of its existence. I thought with great irony, “What perfect timing!” Almost simultaneously, the cell phones of my husband and my son accidentally broke. Didn’t they say bad luck comes in three’s?

Unexpected expenses come up, often at the most inappropriate time. Unfortunately for us, we don’t have a buffer for such. Swiping the plastic card seemed the easiest option – but again, more bills to pay! What else could I do? I remembered to pray…fervently, intensely. And I actually stopped writing at this point as I waited for God’s response.

No, I did not get a cash windfall. But, the noise from the dryer became more tolerable and would actually stop after a few minutes of use. We found old cell phones to replace the broken ones. Not exactly the answer I was hoping for, but there’s a lesson to be learned here. In a world of instant gratification, God is teaching us to live with what we have (and what we can afford).

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. (Philippians 4:11)

Blue Monday

Today is Blue Monday, supposedly the most depressing day of the year. Mondays are always depressing but today, the temperature also happens to be -19 ⁰ C. With the wind chill making it feel colder, it’s difficult to find anything positive about this day.

Now I understand why bears and other animals hibernate in winter. How I wish I could do just that. I want to crawl under my blanket, sleep and wake up in spring.

Here in North America, a lot of people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder during winter. SAD (what an apt acronym!) is a type of depression that scientists say is caused by the long, dark nights and too little sunlight. Waking up when it’s still dark, staying in the office the whole day, and then going home when it’s already dark really does not allow you to see much sunshine. This, plus dealing with the frigid cold, walking in deep snow and wearing layers of clothes every day, can affect you physically and emotionally.

The cold and dark weather really slows down your activities. And just as well, after a hectic Christmas season. Maybe this is God’s way of forcing us to pray more, reflect more, meditate more. As Christians, we should be joyful people - not focusing on the long, depressing winter but anticipating the warm, comforting days of spring.

He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without men's ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Magic Slate

One of the best toys I had as a child was a Magic Slate. For those too young to know, it is a piece of dry erase board the size of a notebook, with plastic cover. You can write on it with a stylus (a piece of wood shaped like a pencil). When you’re tired of it, you simply lift up the plastic cover and the writing disappears – like magic! I used to enjoy writing things on it that I didn’t want anyone to see, and lifting up the plastic cover when someone tried to look. There are newer versions of this toy, now electronic, with erase or delete buttons instead of a plastic cover.

We often talk about starting on a clean slate. Since it is the start of the new year, most of us want to start fresh, start anew – put the past behind and just look forward to the future. But this is easier said than done. For someone my age, I have already accumulated too much emotional baggage. I want to await with great hope and anticipation, but fear and worry weigh me down. I want to have a happy outlook but past hurts, resentments and sins haunt me. So how do I wipe the slate clean? Alone, I can’t do it. But looking at the cross, I know that Jesus has already done it for me.

I want to use my magic slate this year – erase all my fears, anxieties, hurts, resentments and sins. I will be hopeful. I will be happy. I will be blessed. As I mark a major milestone in my life, I claim that this will be my best year yet.

“You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.” (Psalm 16:11)

Joy and Pain

It took almost three years for me to become pregnant with our first child. So when it finally happened, my joy was inexplicable. I still remember the day my doctor told me that my pregnancy test was positive. I stepped out of her clinic grinning from ear to ear. I felt like I was walking on air as I rushed home to share the news with Jojo.

My first child delivery was the longest and most difficult. After 18 hours in labor, the pain was almost unbearable. But all that was forgotten when I finally held our beautiful newborn daughter in my arms.

Joy and pain – they seem to be inextricably woven together. You can’t have one without the other. Childbirth was just the first of many joy/pain experiences I went through with my eldest daughter and the other children that followed. I rejoiced at their many firsts – first tooth, first step, first word, first day in school, first graduation, first prom. I grieved at their disappointments, failures and heartbreaks.

As a parent, I want to shield my children from mistakes. But they, too, have the gift of free will. I am happy when they are able to make their own choices, but sad when those choices turn out to be wrong.

I always say, enjoy your children while they are young. All too soon, the child you nurtured in your womb for nine months becomes a person separate and distinct from you. The baby who used to cling to you will learn to walk and run. You give her wings and soon she flies.

Children can be the source of your greatest joy and the cause of your deepest pain. Yet, you continue to love, even when it hurts. As your children learn to spread their wings, you can only pray that in time, they will also learn to fly back home.

Children, obey your parents (in the Lord), for this is right. "Honor your father and mother." This is the first commandment with a promise, "that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on earth." (Ephesians 6:1-3)

Stop, Look and Listen

A teenage girl was about to cross from the other side of the street to catch the bus I was in. Her father (I presume), who was driving the other way, honked his horn. The girl stepped back on the sidewalk, suddenly realizing that the traffic light was green and cars were speeding by. She just wanted to catch her ride and wasn’t mindful of the danger she put herself in.

Acting on impulse can often be disastrous. It can create blinders that prevent you from seeing everything else around you. How many times have I reacted wildly to events without thinking, or decided based on my emotions at the moment?

The age-old instruction to stop, look and listen before proceeding really makes a lot of sense. In spiritual terms, I call these steps - reflect, discern and pray. Seeking God’s guidance will never lead you astray.

Teach me wisdom and knowledge, for in your commands I trust. (Psalm 119: 66)