Sacred Mundane: The Blog

I find myself returning often to John Piper’s thoughts on Enjoyment and Idolatry.  The one that’s haunted me lately is #2:

Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is disproportionate to the worth of what is desired. Great desire for non-great things is a sign that we are beginning to make those things idols.

If we all came equipped with desire-o-meters or emotion-o-meters, this would be an interesting study.  Often I am challenged by the realization that I often desire/enjoy/care for things in a pretty ridiculous proportion to their relative worth.  Or, conversely, I’m challenged when I realize how often I can be deflated/discouraged/downcast over things of relatively small value. In fact, sometimes I have to stop myself in the middle of the day and do a little self-test: “Kari, why are you frustrated or discouraged?  Oh, you think your house might not sell and you will therefore be unable to move into the new house that’s being built.  Hm.  Ok. If that happens will God still be good? Yes.  Ok. If that happens will you still have a place to live (i.e. not be homeless)? Yes. Ok.  If that happens will you still be able to flourish and serve God and raise your children, even if you had to live in an apartment for the rest of your days (oh the horror!)? Yes. Ok, then I think this is a disproportionate amount of care.”  Maybe that sounds strange and mechanical, but for me, it helps to self-talk myself into reality.

The little scenario I was just referring to obviously is in regard to our house. Yes, we are building a house, but to our surprise, our little rental home in Corvallis (which is now empty–long story), has not sold. And because it’s empty, we are now paying rent and a mortgage (=not fun).  And even though we are qualified to buy our home even if that Corvallis house doesn’t sell, we both feel that it would be financially irresponsible to take on two mortgages, so if it doesn’t sell we’ve decided we will just have to walk away from the new house (and the money we’ve already put down).  I can say without a shadow of a doubt that God led us to go forward with the building of this house, that’s one thing I know for sure. I also feel certain that He’s led us to sell the Corvallis house and I can even say for sure that we’ve taken some steps of obedience with regard to how that all came about (another long story).  However, as anyone who’s walked with the Lord any amount of time can tell you, just because you obey God and follow His leading doesn’t mean He’ll make it all go exactly as we want.  (Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble? Job 2:10)

A few weeks ago I was feeling stressed and discouraged about the house situation.  I wanted to be excited about the house, but couldn’t because I didn’t know for sure if it would happen.  So I felt anxious.  And Jeff was so good, so matter-of-fact. He simply said, “What’s the worst that can happen?  If our house doesn’t sell, we don’t get to follow through with this new house, and we lose a pretty significant amount of money. Yes, that would be painful. But it would not be the end.  We’d still have an apartment. We’d still have a job.  We’d still have eachother.  It wouldn’t be the end.”  And he was so right.  I was giving a disproportionate amount of care to this concern.  While I was spending all my prayer time talking to God about real estate, there were prayer requests on our church’s prayer chain, truly dire situations, that received no more than a cursory flare prayer up to the Lord of Hosts. Forgive me, God.  Disproportionate care.

I know nothing I’m saying is new.  We all battle it.  I spend more time praying about non-eternal things than eternal things.  Ouch.  More time praying about unsold property than unsaved family members. Ouch. And please hear me, I’m not saying that we should’nt pray about our daily needs, that we shouldn’t rejoice over little kisses from God like toilet paper on sale at Safeway (that was tonight) or a perfectly timed coincidence today that made me able to visit my friend’s new baby right after her birth. Those “little” things are big because they are from God.  But when we have “great desire for non-great things” we’ve allowed disproportionate care to creep in and steal our joy.

On the continuum of victory in this area I’m somewhere in the middle (aren’t we all).  The praise is that I can honestly say I absolutely love our little apartment, I’m happy as a clam here, and if God decides to withhold our new home from us, He will still be good and I will still be happy.  And since it is His money, He can decide who keeps it anyway.  There are some God-things about the house that I would be sad not to see come to fruition (more on that later–amazing brand-new Christian I met at church is building the house across the street!), I think God certainly thinks up the coolest stories, so I’ll let Him write it as He pleases.

The prayer is that I still allow disproportionate care into my heart on a pretty regular basis.  A grand family-picnic I planned for tonight didn’t quite pan out, and instead of shaking it off I found myself frustrated and irritated.  Why? It’s such a small thing.  Disproportionate care.  Lord help us desire and care for things only in proportion to their true worth–the worth You assign to them.  Protect us from disproportionate care, and help our joy to be found in that which can never be taken away.

Six years ago today I walked down my parents driveway and took my place beside my best friend … and I’ve been there every since.  Six years ago we kissed for the first time, beneath the scorching sun, pledging our vows to love each other above all others for as long as we both shall live.  I’m so glad I did.

Today we went and visited that same spot, otherwise known as my parents’ house.  It might seem odd to spend one’s anniversary at your parents house, but when you have a toddler and a nursing baby, this is perfect–babysitter, crib, and endless children entertainment all wrapped up on one.  Though we didn’t go out for an expensive dinner, take a grand excursion to some exotic locale, or splurge on diamonds or pearls, we did what we enjoy best–spend time together.  It reminded me of this thought on love, taken from that article I posted recently on a father’s love for his son with down syndrome:

I am writing of love not as a matter of grand passions … I am writing about love as the stuff that makes the processes of human life happen: the love that moves the sun and other stars, which is also the love that makes the toast and other snacks. Love is the most humdrum thing in life, the only thing that matters, the thing that is forever beyond the reach of human imagination.

Love that makes the toast.  Yes.  I also indulged this weekend and read a novel, just for fun, from one of my favorite series, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.  In it the main character, Mma Ramotswe, says “there is plenty of work for love to do.”  Yes. There is. There is always plenty of work for love to do.  These are the things that love does (a few I borrowed from a reliable source 🙂 ):

1. Love gets up in the middle of the night and sleeps with toddler when he gets scared (last night).  (I didn’t even know until I found our quilt on Dutch’s bed this morning.)

2. Love volunteers to change diapers.

3. Love is patient. (1 Cor. 13:4)

4. Love makes special playlists on the ipod so I can listen to my favorite songs when I run.

5. Love boils water for my tea before I get up.

6. Love is kind. (1 Cor. 13:4)

7. Love takes no offense, believes the best.

8. Love takes you to Old Navy for $5 t-shirts and doesn’t even balk when you buy two of the same color.

9. Love holds Heidi after an early-morning feeding so I can sleep in.

10. Love was faithful to only use flattering pictures of his wifey, when he used our wedding as a sermon illustration this morning. 🙂

11. Love plays scrabble in bed at night.

12. Love wears his shoes until he has holes in the soles (true!), but lets his wifey get the sequined flip flops.

13. Love works hard to devote himself to pastoring without neglecting his family.

14. Love always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Cor. 13:7)

15. Love shares his thoughts, ideas, hopes, fears, dreams, without reservation.

16. Love prays.

17. Love fiercely guards his purity.

18. Love speaks softly, calmly, gently.

19. Love takes out the garbage and cleans that gross area at the base of the toilet.

19 1/2.  Love calmly takes over and saves the day when I thought this post got deleted and was ranting and raving and frustrated (when really I just posted it to the wrong spot).

20. Love never fails. (1 Cor. 13:8)

I’m thankful today for the things that love does.  Happy Anniversary, hon.  I love you.

I love where I live.  Today I got up and the morning was refreshingly cool after yesterday’s heat.  All the windows were open, and I pulled on a sweatshirt, boiled water, then sat in my favorite chair with my steaming hot tea, the morning sun streaming over my back through the window onto the open Bible on my lap.  I closed my eyes and had a truly perfect moment, and all I could think was, “Oh I love Oregon!”  Don’t get me wrong, other states are perfect for other people, and I’m not trying to be a state-snob.  I have family in New York, Utah, Arizona, and California, and they each love love love their own states and each one is perfect for them. But for me, oh for me Oregon is amazing.  Today we also drove halfway across the state to Bend for a short weekend visit.  Every time we make the drive, I am amazed again at the beauty. And because I’ve never taken the time to sing the praise of our state, I thought I would today.  God certainly was perfectly genius in all His creation, but I happen to think He was exceptionally praiseworthy in His crafting of this little square of green.  Why not give thanks for the ways we love where God has placed us?!

Why I love it where I live.

1. Snow is a novelty.  Everything shuts down and we have an excuse to rest and play.

2. I actually like rain. I know, weird–I was made to live here.

3. Green! Green and green and green and green. Every time I drive through our town and see the tree-lined streets and rolling green hills I can’t help but thank God.

4. Fresh air!  You don’t notice it until you don’t have it.

5. Mountains and ocean all wrapped up in one day’s drive.  What a great idea, God!

6. Seasons.  Just when I start to get tired of a season we get to move to the next one! Nothing like putting on jeans and a sweater around the end of September.

7. Portland.

8. PERFECT water. I will admit I am a water-snob.  I adore Oregon water.

To be fair, there are downfalls. We don’t have In-N-Out Burger, HOV lanes, or H&M.  With the addition of these, it’d be perfection.  Until then, I’ll take it as is and thank God for His beautiful handiwork in all of creation … and especially here.

Why do you love where you live?  List 8 things you love about your location…I’d love to hear!

Nothing earth-shattering here but just had to take a second to praise God for little things like soap and silverware.  Last Friday night we had a group of friends over from church. It was my first time hosting a group in our little “making do” apartment here, and it definitely took some creativity.   Thankfully a friend let me borrow a frying pan, so I had a frying pan and a saucepan.  We didn’t have enough glasses so a few people used mugs and water botttles, and the 8th plastic flork shattered while trying to shred the chicken, so were one utensil short.  Half of us got real plates and half used paper, and since I don’t have a cutting board I used Dutch’s placemat (which is now ruined), to chop everything for the salsa.  All in all it was a blast, and I couldn’t imagine a more easy-to-please group of people (See Rend the Heavens, right).  It was great.

And here’s an example of how God takes care of the details–I got the plastic fork prong, thank goodness. When it shattered, I had to pick the pieces of plastic fork out of the chicken. Well, I thought I got all four prongs.  Apparently I only got three.  Because while I was digging into my chicken lime soft taco all of a sudden–ouch!–I knew immediately what it was and tried to covertly fish it out of my mouth. Woops.  Thankfully no one else got plastic fork prong in their taco and everyone left with full bellies and happy hearts.  But I think to myself, “Hm, plastic forks are not that fun.”

So Sunday, Jeff and I rolled up our sleeves and thought we’d at least try to unearth some of our kitchen boxes.  I didn’t have much hope, as things are stacked ceiling high in the back of my dad’s shop, and each box has several labels on it, crossed out and labeled again because of so many moves. But guess what we found?  Silverware! AND, pots and pans. Not only do I now have my own pot, I have TWO frying pans, TWO sauce pans, and a great big spaghetti pot. Oh yeah.  This morning I ate cereal with a REAL spoon–oh glorious day!  We even have oven mitts. I know.  Lifestyles of the rich and famous.

Other little things that I’m so thankful for: soap.  Ok this is weird I know but I refuse to buy soap, like the kind you use in the shower.  It seems like we always get yummy kinds of soap or shower gel and so forth for birthdays and Christmas, so I just insist on using it up and never buying any.  Well we ran out, and our stash of gift soaps was in storage.  So Jeff had to use the cherry blossom shower gel I got for my birthday. 🙂  Well guess what else we found in a box? Soap! Yup!

I also wanted to start potty training Dutch, but the little boy potty seat we’d bought on sale was…yes, in storage. Did we find it, oh yes we did!

I’m sure this seems totally ridculous to many, but I’m so thankful for how God led us to just the right boxes. We only opened three boxes, and there are dozens and dozens that were inaccessible. But just the right ones were there, and now we’re set for the summer.  This reminds me of a story I know, about sparrows and God’s perfect provision (Matt 6).  God can situate the boxes just right so we can find what we need.  So today I’m thankful for little things, like soap and silverware.