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For Now We See in a Glass, Dimly. . .
My eleven-month-old granddaughter, Zoe, is one strong baby girl! She is all muscle and purposeful will as she speed crawls through my house exploring the toys, bookcase, or the basket of onions and potatoes under the kitchen table. And she always leaves a trail. I close the bathroom door securely and put up baby gates so she can't speed crawl up the stairs and fall, or get to the litterbox to explore. Picking up books and potatoes after her is one thing. . . She's a quite a challenge for me to keep up with, but I love watching the delight in her big blue eyes as she explores the things that are safe for her. I find it fascinating, actually, when at this tactile stage of her development, you can almost see her thoughts form as she touches and tastes the world around her.
One place in my house that really frustrates her, though, is the small display case in my dining room. With its glass doors she can see the china teapots, the cut glassware, the butterpats that look like doll-sized dinner plates, and the miniature pear- and apple-shaped salt and pepper set inside. She tries relentlessly, every time she's here, to reach through that glass so she can learn about those shiny, colorful items in the only way she knows, and she cries in frustration every time she can't. Her smudgy fingerprints all over the glass, she looks up at me with big, sad, pleading eyes that say, Please, Grandma, please? "You only think you want that, baby girl," I tell her, "but, trust me, it would break and hurt you. I love you too much to open that door." And she sobs.
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11
While the things I ask the Lord for are not usually material, how many times have I looked up at Him with big, sad, pleading eyes that said, Please, Lord, please? And how many times has He looked down at me and said, "You only think you want that, baby girl, but, trust Me, it would break and hurt you. I love you too much to open that door."
Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all people; and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord; looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble. . . Hebrews 12: 12-15a
What would God have me or you do instead of pleading for things He's made clear aren't beneficial for us? Strengthen our hands and stop distracting ourselves with strolls down paths that wind through places and things never meant for us. Stop seeing ourselves as weak-handed, feeble-kneed victims of circumstance. Instead, actively pursue peace with people, and holiness before the Lord which will keep us from developing bitterness about not having what God, who loves us so much, refuses to open to us.
My granddaughter's name, Zoe, is the Greek word meaning "life," and with her strong, healthy body and bright, curious mind, she is the embodiment of that name. The name is a translation of the Hebrew name of the same meaning, Eve. Life was supposed to be Eve's only destiny. How heartbreaking that her discontentment and taking of something God hadn't planned for her led her to its opposite instead.
While we can't go back and change history --Eve's or our own-- we can choose, by the grace of God, that from here on out, we will pursue peace with people, and holiness before God. In doing so, we can change our future.
Daye Phillippo
October 2012