Our mouse

We have a mouse in our house.

At least we did; there hasn’t been any sign of him for a few days.

Our cat was the one who brought this happy news to our attention. Poised like a furry statue over my husband’s briefcase at 6:00 one morning, Ollie was not to be disturbed from her steely, frozen gaze. She was stalking something, and no amount of petting or cajoling would pull her from her post.

I wasn’t alarmed. Ollie is regularly mesmerized by things… a tiny bug, and more often than not, her own shadow. So I continued frying bacon and unloading the dishwasher, until all chaos commenced. Ollie pounced, and the mouse broke free of his hiding place, finding refuge behind a backpack in the corner of the kitchen.

I have no illusions of being anything but a “girly-girl”, but my response surprised even me. Screaming at the top of my lungs, I attempted to hoist myself up on the island in the kitchen. Unfortunately, the last pull-up, bench-pressing or hoisting this body has seen has been at least 20 years and 30 pounds ago. I immediately felt a sharp pain cutting through my sternum. Can you break a sternum? I know you can at least strain one, because mine is still sore.

Amid the chaos, the mouse escaped, and we’ve not seen him since.

The irony is that only weeks ago my 101 year old grandmother had a mouse in her home. After the mouse had found the poison left for him by the exterminator, he very respectfully died, positioning himself on the floor of my grandmother’s bedroom. She awoke to find him in the middle of the night and without a thought, swept him into a shoebox and slipped him out into the hall of her apartment.

The difference between my grandmother and me, is that while I fretted and talked about the mouse, she simply took care of it, she did what needed doing.

I’m afraid my walk with God resembles my behavior with the mouse. Over the years I have come to know some of God’s Word and His ways. I sometimes know what needs to be done to grow closer to Him, to be more like Him, and to love others better. But too often, rather than doing what I know I should do, I only think, fret, and talk about what I should do.

Theological facts are like the altar of Elijah on Carmel before the fire came, correct, properly laid out, but altogether cold. When the heart makes the ultimate surrender, the fire falls and true facts are transmuted into spiritual truth that transforms, enlightens, sanctifies. A W Tozer, That Incredible Christian, 92-94

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May I find the courage of my grandmother, to figure out what needs doing, and then do it!

Shepherds, how do you find the strength to move from knowing what to do, to doing it?

Those Noisy Birds

I was looking for quiet on Sunday afternoon.

Wanting to escape the noise of the dishwasher, laundry machine and one of the many football games being broadcast in our living room, I decided to step outside for a moment of silence.

Best laid plans. I don’t know if you’re much of a bird watcher, but you don’t have to be an expert to notice that the birds are certainly on the move these days. It’s migration time. According to one article, thousands of birds will choose a stopover point no bigger than a few hundred square feet to rest during their long journey.

Sunday’s rest stop was in my backyard. The woods just 20 feet behind my house were filled with chatty, busy birds. As if the noisy chorus wasn’t deafening enough, add to it the percussion of walnuts thudding to ground under the weight of the countless birds. My backyard made Lucas Oil Stadium seem like a monastery retreat.

Amid the frenetic chaos, I was struck with a thought. These birds were in complete unity. They seemed to have decided together when, where, and how long to stop during their thousand mile journey. I didn’t notice any of them trying to thwart the plan; they miraculously all seemed to know their purpose and how to go about accomplishing it.

The birds seem to have figured out something so easily forgotten. Unity is important to God.

Ephesians 4:3 says the following:

Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace.

A W Tozer reminds us that this unity is best accomplished as we individually are tuned to God.
"If a hundred pianos were merely tuned to each other, their pitch would not be very accurate. But if they were all tuned to one tuning fork, they would automatically be tuned to each other".

Those birds all seemed to have been in tune with their Creator last Sunday. They worked together, and all went about accomplishing their mighty feat of migrating thousands of miles.

As Shepherds, will you share a time when you experienced the strength and joy of unity when you and others were all in tune with God?

Quiet Please

I haven’t golfed for over 20 years, but this past weekend, if you’ll pardon the pun, I gave it a shot.

Golfing just felt right this Sunday. The weather was perfect and the crowd non-existent. (This may have something to do with the fact that the Colts kicked off right about the time I teed off.)

Walking onto the first fairway, I soon remembered why I love the game. With the green carpet stretching out before me and the blue canopy of sky overhead, I was struck with the peace and quiet. All was still, save the occasional sound of a ball being well hit, or plopping politely if it found the water.

Ironically, not far into the game, I managed to sabotage the afternoon. Thinking I actually knew what I was talking about, I began offering every possible instruction to my family with regard to golf etiquette, the appropriate club choice for each shot, the certainty that the obviously flawed direction of my husband’s feet or placement of my son’s grip would be the ruin of their shot, blah, blah, blah…

Our peaceful, afternoon was shattered by the lecturing of yours truly.

Why is it that I tend to be my own worst enemy when it comes to enjoying quiet? Setting out on a morning walk with every intention of spending time with God, I usually fill most of the quiet with my own voice in prayer requests. Rather than being still before God, I talk, talk, talk, and miss everything I might have learned from Him if I’d only kept quiet.

Ruth Haley Barton, the author of Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, cautions,
“The discipline of solitude is a key discipline for all those who seek afer God. It is the primary place where the leader’s soul is strengthened.

And A. W. Tozer gets practical…

It is important that we get still to wait on God. And it is best that we get alone, preferably with our Bible outspread before us. Then if we will, we may draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak to us in our hearts. I think for the average person the progression will be something like this: First a sound as of a Presence walking in the garden. Then a voice, more intelligible, but still far from clear. Then the happy moment when the Spirit begins to illuminate the Scriptures, and that which had been only a sound, or at best a voice, now becomes an intelligible word, warm and intimate and clear as the word of a dear friend. Then will come life and light, and best of all, ability to see and rest in and embrace Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and All.

A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, the Speaking Voice

Shepherds, will you share with each other the ways you make room for solitude with God in the posts below?