Nothing Compares

Count your blessings, my mother used to say. She has been gone nine years today, and I still miss her so much. I miss everything about her, and it hits hard on a day like this. But this happens to be a day where this one lesson of hers shines. And it shines through the Christmas story.

Count your blessings. I have so many. Do I dare start listing them? No, I would surely leave off something or someone important. The list is as close to infinite as something created in a finite time can be. Can I at least list categories? Maybe. Family. Friends. Church. Career. Mission. Wow, just to start to list them would be daunting.

But it is a finite number. And I guess I could count them.

So there is this song from our Christmas musical that we sang tonight. And there is this line:

I could count all the ways that my heart has been blessed. But nothing compares to this.

What is "this"? What could there possible be that would dwarf all orther blessings? Take a few minutes to listen:




The gospel of Jesus the Messiah. There is nothing - nothing - that compares to it. The incarnation - God taking on flesh as a baby. The cross - God taking the punishment I deserve on himself and defeating evil. The resurrection - Jesus conquering death, so that one day I will see him face to face.

Truly, it's a story without compare. And it's my story.

There is another song, one that was a favorite of my mother:

This is my story, this is my song.

Praising my Savior all the day long.

It's a story without compare. No, nothing compares with this.

Thank you, Father.

A special day

It's only happened four times. Ever. Today is both Mother's Day and my niece's birthday, a day of remembrance for me and a day of celebration.

Mom

Haley

Among other implications, I only have one place to put a profile picture on Facebook.

But seriously, it is a day full of mixed feelings. I miss my mother terribly, and at the same time I am so thankful for what she did to make me the man I am today. (To get a wonderful description of her, take time to listen to the audio link at the bottom of this blog post.) And I am so very proud of my niece Haley, who has graduated from the University of Alabama and has a wonderful heart, following in the footsteps of her mother on that.

Two amazing people being celebrated on the same day.

It calls to mind a scripture that seems to be very strange. In the second of the Ten Commandments delivered to Moses, the LORD instructs his people not to make any graven images - any idols to worship. And then he says this,

(F)or I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgressions of fathers by dealing with children for the iniquity of their parents to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 

- Exodus 20:5-6 (New English Translation)

What a seemingly odd statement - difficult for our Western minds to get our arms around it. We are so individualistic, and we tend to think of God's action in terms of intervention and miracles. But this statement would not have been at all surprising in its cultural context, for they understood YHWH to be God who works through history and his hand is in the details of daily life. So really, this passage is just expressing a truth that we all can observe:

The choices we make have consequences.

When people follow the instructions of the Lord - living consistent lives of loving God and loving people - and teaching their children to do so, the way God has wired human nature means that there is an excellent chance of that faithfulness being passed down. And unfortunately, the opposite is true - when children have terrible examples to follow, the results are tragic way too often.

This would be a principle that Paul in the New Testament would call "reaping and sowing" - you get what you plant. Now through Jesus we have the  amazing grace of God, which busts up the cycle and gives people from the worst backgrounds a brand new start.

I say all this to make a point about my mother. She fostered an atmosphere of love, obedience, and trusting God with the details of her life. She helped those who were in need, often without anyone ever knowing. She provided a listening ear for her children and grandchildren so that we knew someone was there who would love us no matter what, but guide us to the truth.

And, true to the passage above, I see her fingerprints on her grandchildren. Holly. Hunter. Macy. Haley. Brooke. Her grandchildren, the nieces and nephew I love so much, bear the mark of their grandmother's faith. So, there it is - to the third generation.

The hard scriptures are just as important as the easy ones. I am thankful for this one - and for my mother who lived it out.

Message received

I don't remember my dreams very much. I would say that I don't dream very much, but I know better. Scientists say that we dream every night when we enter deep sleep, but we only remember some of them.

The one last night? Oh, I remember.

This was only the third time I remember dreaming about my mother since her passing. Maybe because my subconscious thinks it's painful, or maybe...well, I have no idea. But for some reason I don't dream about her.  I wish I would, because during the dream - for just a few minutes - she's alive and with us. Dreams can seem so real.

As I've mentioned before in this blog, dreams are fascinating to me and I think they are often very meaningful. Movies (like Inception), stories, and other media that explore the nature of dreams are some of my favorites. I have come to believe that most dreams:

• Help us process what happened that day, or
• Bring to the forefront what our deepest desires are, or  
• Are used by God to get a message to us.

So last night, I spent some time my Mom. It was sweet. It was also very familiar. Like she did so many times, she was giving me some advice. I can hear her now, telling me what she would do and why. I think this was the third type of dream, because 1) the advice was so wise, and 2) if God wanted to get my attention, yeah, hearing from my Mom would do that.

What was it about? Oh no...that's between my mother and me. And it sounds really good to say that, even if it was a dream.

Message received, Lord.

Mother's Day 2011

Today we pause to honor mothers and how important they are to us all.  I had the greatest mom in the world. I still miss her terribly and look forward to seeing her in heaven. Words can't even express it.

To honor her today, here is a link to the blog post I did for her birthday last year: Mom. The writing isn't especially good, but the audio clip of my cousin's eulogy for her is the best tribute ever. She was awesome, and Chip captured it beautifully in his remarks. Listen to it if you have a few.

So here's to her. And to my sisters who have turned out to be amazing mothers. Happy Mother's Day!