Trials - Dene's Blog

Popcorn

5/7/2015 0 Comments

Popcorn is our snack of choice when watching ball games. We make it the old fashioned way—bacon grease in a large saucepan, bulk popcorn from a large plastic bag, and salt. Heat it over high heat, shaking the pan until it stops popping. The stuff out of the microwave cannot begin to compare.

   We still wind up with what the industry calls “old maids,” kernels that have not popped. Usually it’s the kernel’s fault, not the popper’s.

   They tell me that popcorn kernels are the only grain with a hard moisture-proof hull. That means that not only can moisture not get into the kernel, but the moisture inside the kernel cannot get out either. As you heat them, the steam inside increases until the pressure reaches 135 psi and the heat 180 degrees Celsius (356 for us non-scientists). At that point, the starch inside the kernel gelatinizes, becoming soft and pliable.   When the hull explodes the steam expands the starch and proteins into the airy foam we know as popcorn.

   I found two theories about old maids. One is that there is not enough moisture in the kernel to begin with; the other is that the hull develops a leak, acting as a release valve so that pressure cannot build enough for the “explosion.” Either way, the kernels just sit there and scorch, becoming harder and drier as they cook.

   Isn’t that what happens when we undergo trials? Some of us use the experience to flower into a stronger, wiser, more pleasant personality. Others of us sit there and scorch in the heat until we dry up completely, no use for God or His people, let alone ourselves. The resulting bitterness is reflected in the cynical way we view the world, the way we continue to wallow in the misery of our losses, and the impenetrable barrier we raise whenever anyone tries to help us. As Israel said when they had forsaken God for idols and knew they would be punished, Our bones have dried up, our hope is lost, we are clean cut off, Ezek 37:11. When we refuse to seek God in our day of trouble, when we forget the blessings He has given us even though we deserved none, that is the result.

   But God can help even the hopeless. He can bring us back from despair.
He can make our hearts blossom in the heat of trial if we remember the lesson about priorities, about what really counts in the end. If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable, 1 Cor 15:19, and that is exactly where we find ourselves if we allow anything in this life to steal our faith in God.

   Trials are not pleasant; they are not meant to be. They are meant to create something new in us, something stronger and more spiritual. When, instead, we become hard and bitter, we are like the old maids in a bag of popcorn, and when the popcorn fizzles, it’s the popcorn’s fault.

For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Cor 4:17,18.

Dene Ward

Solitary Confinement

2/26/2015 3 Comments

I have been alone many times in my life. My vision problem meant I spent a lot of time alone indoors instead of outside playing with other children. We moved a few times, and being naturally reticent, I was slow to make new friends. Being a preacher’s wife, and then a law enforcement officer’s wife meant I often found myself on the outside looking in—people were often uncomfortable around me. Finally, living out in the country for the past thirty years, where “next door neighbors” can be as far as half a mile away, has also kept me isolated from others. However, I learned a long time ago how to be comfortable with myself. To me, being alone seldom means being lonely.
    Far too many people who live in cities, bumping elbows with hundreds of others every day, while never really being alone, are still lonely. Loneliness in the middle of a crowd must be the most debilitating kind there is. When you think no one understands and no one cares, you might as well be on a one man raft in the middle of the ocean.
    No Christian should ever feel the burden of loneliness. Apart from the always pleasant surprise of bumping into a brother or sister in the middle of the week “out there in the world,” or being warmly welcomed into an assembly far from home, there is that “great cloud of witnesses” who are cheering us on, an Older Brother who has experienced every pain we have, and a Father who will listen any time of day. He is never too busy or too tired for any one of his children.
    So if you find yourself feeling lonely, ask yourself why. There is an obligation to reach out for help that the person in the middle of his self-pity wants to deny. “No one loves me” excuses any sort of behavior, we think. But you will never experience the type of loneliness that the Son experienced on your behalf when, solely because of all the sins ever committed—including yours—he was separated from the Father, for God cannot countenance sin; and that Older Brother of ours took them all on his shoulders as he hung on a cross—completely alone for the first time in all eternity.
    So think again about loneliness and remember that no loneliness you ever experience can match that, and any loneliness you do experience is your own fault—you have placed yourself in solitary confinement. That Brother and that Father are always there, even if the brethren down here sometimes let you down. Reach out and take hold of the comfort and fellowship that is there for the taking.
    Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear… Him who knew no sin he made sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him…And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Isa 59:1,2; 2 Cor 5:21; Matt 27:46.
    God forsook him, and left him hanging there alone because of your sin and because of mine, and so we will never have to be lonely again.

Dene Ward

It's All About Me

2/2/2015 0 Comments

I have studied Abigail for a few decades now but, just like always, I noticed something new this time through.
   Most everyone knows the story: a bad man married to a good woman, a woman who dares to stand against him and do right. But let’s speculate a little—and it really isn’t much speculation at all.
   1 Sam 25:4 calls Nabal “a churlish and evil” man, or, in the ESV, “harsh and badly behaved.” That is not the half of it. Look at the way those two words were translated in other places. “Churlish” is also “obstinate, hard, heavy, rough, stubborn, and cruel.” “Evil” is “grievous, hurtful, and wicked.” This man wasn’t just a grouch, he was mean and cruel, and it came from a wicked heart.
   Now imagine a “beautiful and discerning woman” married to such a man. It almost had to be an arranged marriage—she certainly didn’t fall in love with him. Since he is extremely rich and she is still in prime childbearing age (we find out later), he is probably older than she. This is also a time when no one would have said anything about physical abuse. As you keep reading in chapter 25, the man’s servants are clearly terrified of him. I do not doubt for a moment that they had all suffered physical punishments from him, probably many unjust. I wouldn’t even be surprised if Abigail hadn’t suffered the same. God’s Law protected women from men in every way possible, but for a man like this the Law meant nothing.
   So along comes David’s army, men who had protected Nabal’s servants from passing raiders by the way, which means his livestock--his wealth--were also protected, and David is now in need of provisions for several hundred men. Surely this “very rich” man who was already in the middle of a celebration time when the food would be plenteous, v 4, 8, could spare some for them.
   David carefully instructed his men exactly how to approach Nabal. If you have one of the newer translations you will miss this. ESV says they “greeted” him, v 5. But that word is one that means far more than saying hello. It can also be translated salute, praise, thank, congratulate, even kneel. All those words involve respect and honor. Yet Nabal drives them off with exactly the opposite attitudes—disrespect, dishonor, and ingratitude for their service to him. “Who is this David?” he asks, accusing him of rebellion (v 10, 11), though Abigail knew exactly who he was (v 28, 30), the anointed of God.
   Abigail knows nothing about this event, but Nabal’s servants know plenty about her. They come running, afraid for their lives for the way their master has treated a warrior and his army. And Abigail saves the day, gathering up as much as she can and sending it on to David, riding up herself to reason with him and beg for their lives. When she asks David to remember her, she isn’t asking him to save her from her lot in life. She goes back to the man and the responsibilities she sees as hers.
   Now think about this. What would happen today if something similar occurred to a beautiful young woman, stuck in a loveless marriage to a horrible man, a cruel man who probably beat his servants and maybe her as well? Do you think she would have had any concern for anyone else?
   Abigail was not so wound up in her own misery that she couldn’t see the misery of others. She probably cared for the servants her husband abused. She didn’t whine about not deserving this kind of life. She didn’t expect everyone to wait on her hand and foot or bend over backwards for her because she was mistreated, nor did she fall into a useless heap of flesh because life was “unfair.” She just “dealt with it.” Instead of being a drama queen focused only on her own problems, she looked for ways to help others as the opportunity arose. She did not allow her misery to blind her to the needs of others.
   We could talk about her “going behind her husband’s back,” but let’s quickly notice this—she saved his life too, at least until God came into the picture and took it Himself. “Looking to the good of others,” we call that nowadays and label it the highest form of love. Abigail did this for everyone, including the undeserving, and regardless of who did and did not do it for her.
   Abigail understood this, and so should we: it’s not about me, it’s about Him.

[Doing] nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself; not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others, Phil 2:3,4.

Dene Ward

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Glowing in the Dark

10/28/2014 0 Comments

I found a verse the other day that intrigued me—for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, Rom 14:17. While the meaning is obvious—in the context of eating meats sacrificed to idols, Paul is telling them that being in the kingdom is a matter of the inner man not the outer man—I still wondered why those three things were chosen among the many traits describing Christians.

   Before much longer I found Romans 5:1-3. Those three things are not three separate items, as if they can be chosen one without the other, they are a chain reaction. I am justified (made righteous), and as a result have peace with God, and that creates joy in my life.

   Keep reading down to verse 5 in Romans 5, then add 12:12 and 15:13 to the mix and you see that joy is inextricably bound with hope. The Greeks did not use “hope” the way we use it, a wish for something that could go either way, but as a confident assurance or, as Keith likes to say, “a vision of a certain future.” Along with the apostle John in 1 John 5:13, I should be able to say, “I know I am saved; I know I have been forgiven; I know I have a relationship with God; I know I am going to Heaven.” Is there anything that should inspire any greater joy?

   Being joyful does not mean we may not face sad times; it does not mean we must not ever grieve in a trial. What it does mean is that we will bounce back from those times because joy is the foundation for our lives. If, instead, I come through a trial with an attitude only toward myself, what I have endured, and what I believe others should be doing for me because of it, my joy has turned into bitterness. In fact, I have not successfully endured that trial at all. Whenever I allow something to smother my joy, in at least that much I have allowed that thing to be more important to me than my relationship with God.

   This is easier said than done. I used to wonder how to have this joy that everyone kept telling me I was supposed to have. God does not leave us without direction. Col 1:9-14 gives us several techniques for having joy. Be filled with the knowledge of Him; walk worthily of the Lord; bear fruit in every good work; give thanks for our salvation. Do you know what that boils down to? Focus on the good things and stay busy serving others.

   Joy is like a glow-in-the-dark toy. The more I focus on what God has done for me and what he expects me to do for others, the longer I sit in the light and the stronger my glow will be. But if I sit too long in the shadow of sadness and grief, focusing too long on myself, my joy will begin to fade until eventually it is gone altogether.

   If you find yourself alone in the dark today, it’s time to come back into the light before your joy disappears, along with the hope that reinforces it. This is a choice you make, one that has nothing to do with what happens today or what anyone does to you, but with the path you choose to take regardless.
That the proof of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ: whom not having seen you love; on whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:7-9.

Dene Ward

A Poor Excuse

9/25/2014 3 Comments

            I was in the middle of making an excuse the other morning when suddenly I heard myself. Yes, I was tired, I had a headache, and serious things were whirling around in my mind. So surely my snappy tone of voice was understandable, wasn’t it?

            Let’s check this theory out. Jesus is supposed to be my example. Simply making the claim to be his disciple means I try my best to do what he would do. So if I look at what had to be the worst time of his life on earth, the last twenty-four hours, then I can measure myself against the true standard.

            Over the Passover meal, when his disciples were once again arguing about who would be the most important in the kingdom, he finally lost his cool. “Shut up! I have more important things on my mind than dealing with your petty concerns right now.”

            He was so concerned about the upcoming trials he would need to endure, he never once thought about what they might be going through, and left them to their fears and confusion. “Grow up!” he told them. “It’s high time you figured this out for yourselves.”

            When one of his best friends betrayed him, the other apostles were still murmuring among themselves about who it must be. “Be quiet,” he said. “This isn’t about you.”

            He was obviously in tremendous pain as he hung on the cross, so how could he even begin to worry about his mother and her care? “Can’t you quit that sniveling? You’re only making things worse.”

            Well, that’s how it might read if it were me going through those trials. Instead, Jesus left an example that shows me there is no excuse for poor behavior. Despite what he was going through, the like of which I have never had to endure, he kept his thoughts on others. He kept his voice tempered. He kept his actions loving. Not even his enemies suffered a tongue-lashing of the type I find so easy to dish out when I am upset or do not feel well.

            For you see, God does not allow trials in our lives so we will have excuses for sin. He allows them so we will grow and get stronger. When I excuse my behavior because of what I am going through, I fail the test. Unless I recognize where I failed and determine not to do it again, I will not get stronger; I will only get weaker. In the process I will make it more likely that the next time I will fail again. And again. And again. Till there is no more need for trials at all because Satan has me exactly where he wants me, and I am too weak to even think about fighting back. Even those I claim to love will know to stay away from me when things are not going well, and so my last avenue of help is also gone.

            The sad truth of the matter is the one who is best at making excuses is one poor excuse for a Christian.

For hereunto were you called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. For you were going astray like sheep; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls, 1 Peter 2:21-25.

Dene Ward

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Refreshment

7/10/2014 2 Comments

We worked our boys hard when they were growing up, weeding and picking the garden in the heat of a Florida summer, standing in a hot kitchen working the assembly line of produce canning and freezing, mowing an acre’s worth of our five with a push mower—not a walk-behind, but a push mower—splitting and stacking wood for the wood stove, hauling brush, raking leaves, and dumping them for mulch. After hours of hard labor and buckets of sweat, nothing thrilled them more on a hot summer afternoon than a refreshing dip in a nearby spring.

            Springs, even in Florida, are cold. It is almost painful to step into one--they will literally take your breath away. I was one who gradually eased my way in to avoid the shock, but the boys wanted to “get it over with,” and usually jumped off the pier, the floating dock, or the rope swing, whatever that particular spring had as a point of entry, and if I was standing too close I “got it over with” too.

            One of their favorites was Ichetucknee, probably because that one took up most of a day as we rented tubes and floated down the river from the spring head, leaving the water three hours later when we reached the picnic pavilions. Even by that point in the float, the river was still close enough to the spring that we could chill a homegrown watermelon in its cool shallows while we ate tomato sandwiches and leftover fried chicken; and we never had to worry about snakes or alligators.

            We were always the only ones around clothed from our necks to our knees so we got a lot of strange looks. The clothes did not help a bit with the cold. They were for modesty only. Nothing about a freezing wet shirt sticking to your body will keep you warm, even in a patch of sunlight. Yet when I finally got wet enough that a mere splash did not make me squeal, the water was a refreshing respite from the sauna we call summer down here.

            Peter told the people of Jerusalem that if they repented they would receive “seasons of refreshing” in Acts 3:19. I am told that the word actually means “breathing,” as in catching one’s breath after hard labor or exercise. That indicates to me that God is not promising us a life of ease. Yes, we have blessings that others do not have, and that only those who are spiritually minded can even recognize and enjoy, but we will still experience heartache, persecution, illness, and other trials of life. We are expected to wear ourselves out with service to any in need, as long as there is life in us. God has no truck with laziness.

            But we have this promise—as surely as ice cold spring water lapping against an overheated body can refresh and renew, we will have refreshment from above that soothes our aches and heals our hurts, that rests our souls with the peace of fellowship with God, and that bestows grace on our tortured spirits. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, Jesus, Acts 3:19,20.

Dene Ward

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Girls Raised in the South

5/5/2014 0 Comments

            Girls raised in the South, or GRITS as one of my coffee mugs calls them, are some of the strongest people on this earth. These women were nurtured on grits, greens, cornbread and chores from the time they could chew. They work hard and long without complaint. They know that getting dirty is healthy and sweat is not a terminal disease so they don’t avoid either one. They can hoe row after row in the hot sun, shell beans till midnight, can, blanch, and preserve in a steamy kitchen for hours, cook for an army every night, and then clean it all up and start over the next morning.

            They show up like magic when others are hurting and do whatever needs doing. They find their way in any kitchen, heating up casseroles seasoned with love and tears, stirring pots of vegetables flavored with fatback, slicing tall layer cakes and mile high meringue pies, sinking their arms in a sink full of suds, and grabbing up a basket of laundry on their way out the door to be returned clean, mended, ironed, and folded before the house of mourning even realizes the clothes are missing.

            They will take anyone’s children in their laps and dry up tears, listen to sad stories, and tell a few funny ones to bring back the smiles. They bandage skinned knees and aren’t too prissy to change a needful baby’s diapers, no matter who it belongs to. They will even offer a little discipline on little bottoms that think since Mama’s not around no one else cares—they care. They can play tag, hide and seek, and red rover, make mudpies and sand castles, and then go home and finish whatever needs doing, no matter how late it gets. They will stay up all night with anyone who needs it, then get up and go again as if nothing has happened.

            How do they do it? The women I grew up watching had one magic ingredient—love—love that involved selflessness, strength, and purpose, and was borne from the heat of life. Maybe living in the South made that come more naturally, just as the southern heat and humidity makes the sweat pour more profusely.

            God applies the heat to us as well. In Isa 48:10, God told His people,   Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. Affliction hurts. It burns in a flash and roasts in constant pain and fear. But eventually, the heat refines our souls and makes them pure and strong.

            What, you think it unfair that God would do this? Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If He would do it to His own Son, who are we to get some sort of special dispensation? In fact, the special dispensation is in the trials. If God never put us through these things, we would be weaklings, always babes, never maturing to spirituality. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

            There is another result from all this fiery testing, perhaps the best result of all. God speaks of a group of His people in Zech 13:9, saying, And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my people'; and they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'" I will go through whatever it takes to have Him declare me His child and answer my call, won’t you?

            Even now, as the long hot summer approaches, I am ready for it. It reminds me that just as the southern heat strengthens my body, the spiritual heat can work wonders on my soul. I know from watching both of my grandmothers, and my mother and aunts. I know from working side by side with other women as we toil for our families and neighbors, and for the Lord, too, as we serve our brethren.

            You need to become comfortable with the fire. If you can’t stand the heat, the kitchen is the least of your worries.

Each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 1 Corinthians 3:13

Dene Ward

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Dragonflies

5/1/2014 0 Comments

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            Keith called me outside one Saturday. I was in the middle of something important and was a little irritated. It is hard enough to do things these days when I have to lean so close, squint so hard, and put up with the resulting headaches trying to see what I am doing. Then he wants to interrupt me, and I will just have to start all over again. But I sighed, a louder one than was called for, and dutifully went outside.

            The afternoon sun was waning, for which I was grateful. No matter how dim the day I have to reach for sunglasses nearly all the time now. He took me to a shaded spot on the west side of the field and pointed. Then I saw it, or them as it turned out, probably a hundred dragonflies darting here and there all over the place.

            He felt bad for me because I could not see them all the time. In fact, I would not have known what they were had he not told me, but I think my vision of them was the best. He saw them in the shade as well, when they once again became ugly black bugs, but I only saw them as they came out of the shadows, the sun striking their wings and lighting them up like tiny golden light bulbs. Then they would disappear, but more would appear in their place, over and over, darting here and there in movements no one could possibly predict. I think my view was much more magical than his, and therefore far more delightful. We stood there watching them for several minutes. I probably could have stood their longer since I had the better view, a view he would never have because he could see so well.

            No matter what we may be going through in this life, God always prepares good things for us, but we will never see them if we always stay inside ourselves, commiserating with ourselves, rewinding over and over the tape of all our troubles till we can recite them from memory to anyone who asks, and even some who don’t. There is a silver lining somewhere if we just search, and in the searching who knows what treasures we might find? Besides, it will keep us too busy to complain so much.

            Go out there today and look for those silver linings—or the golden dragonflies, or whatever God has specially prepared to help you through this day. You will find them, but only if you have a mind to.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:5,6.

Dene Ward

A Rude Awakening

4/29/2014 0 Comments

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            I was sound asleep when it started. I knew I was asleep but somehow I carried on a regular conversation with myself.

            “You are too asleep to do anything about this. Even if you woke Keith up, he could not hear you. Maybe you could point.” So I whacked him across the chest with my left arm. He sat straight up in bed shouting, “Hunh? What’s happening?” He turned on the light.

            By then it had started. I was still asleep, but I was bouncing rhythmically and grunting, “Uh—uh—uh” with every bounce. He thought I was having convulsions and about to die.

            “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? What’s wrong?!!!”

            I was still asleep and could not answer him. Even if I had been awake, I probably could not have said anything. It hurt that badly. Finally I managed to point (still sleeping), and somehow—being married for 39 years maybe?—he figured it out. I had a charley horse. But which leg? He just grabbed the one nearest and started pushing against my heel and rubbing my calf muscle. He got the right leg—actually the left leg, but it was the right one.

            Finally I woke up. I lifted my toes and pushed against his hand. Five minutes later it was over with, but I still had a knot in my calf muscle the next morning and it took fifteen minutes before I could walk flat-footed.

            Charley horses must be the worst pain possible for something that is so harmless. They will not kill you—you just wish they would for a minute or two. Then you realize that it will soon be over and everything will be fine.

            That is the way the early Christians dealt with trials and persecution. Peter says, now for a little while, if necessary, you have been put to grief in many trials. He recognized that they were grievous, they did hurt, but they were only “for a little while.” After telling his readers that they would suffer, the Hebrew writer says, For you have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a very little while, He who comes shall come, and shall not tarry Heb 10:36,37.

            Sometimes that grief is tremendous. It certainly was for those Christians. We all recognize that we must die. We know that one or the other spouse will, in most cases, go before the other. That is normal. We all know that we will bury our parents. That is the natural order. It still hurts, but we understand it. When the unnatural happens, it hurts even more. I have known women who dealt with widowhood in their 30s and 40s. My own in-laws buried a ten year old daughter whom cancer had stolen from them. I cannot imagine the pain. I know one good sister who had to endure both of those things—a widow at 40 and an only child, a daughter, who died unexpectedly a long time before she did.

            How did she make it? She realized that these trials are transitory. They do not last. That trite old saying is trite because it is true, “This too will pass.” Only one thing lasts—the joy we will have as we exist forever with our Father and Savior. Hang on to that hope.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been put to grief in manifold trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perishes though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ: whom not having seen you love; on whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Pet 1:3-9.

Dene Ward

Attitude Shmattitude

1/23/2014 2 Comments

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  Long ago and far away I remember someone saying, immediately after a sermon on the subject, “Attitude shmattitude. I am sick and tired of hearing about attitude.”

            I thought to myself, “And you, sir, certainly have a bad one.”

            Hanging by one of the magnets on my refrigerator is a quote by Charles Swindoll that ends, “…We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”

            My neighbor recently returned from a trip to Alaska, a trip she and her husband have wanted to make for a long time. They flew to Anchorage, then rented an RV and traveled the state for two and half weeks. As they were returning the RV, ready to fly back home, she fell in the parking lot, face down. It was a nasty fall. The ER doctor put 14 stitches in her face. Five of her front teeth were knocked out, and she is still, after two months, receiving the dental repair work for that, already totaling $10,000. She needed a doctor’s note before the airline would allow her on the plane to fly home. She was in a wheelchair, of course, and the other passengers were staring out of the corners of their eyes—being too polite to stare straight on. (We’ve all done it.) Her husband finally told everyone she had had a run-in with a grizzly bear, and she looked so bad someone actually believed it.

            You know what she said after she told me about it? “It’s okay. It was the last day not the first, so our trip wasn’t ruined. I can’t eat very well, so I’ve lost about 20 pounds. I can’t chew on my nails, and for the first time in my life I have nice looking nails. And I fell so flat I’m lucky I didn’t break my nose as well.”

            She put me to shame. She had come up with four blessings in her mishap, when I wonder if I would have been doing anything but moaning.

            As Christians our attitudes do make the difference. The way we handle adversity should make people ask us, “How can you do that? What is your secret?”

            Those early Christians knew the secret. They rejoiced “that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor” Acts 5:41; took “pleasure” in all their sufferings “for Christ’s sake” 2 Cor 12:10; “received the word in much affliction with joy” 1 Thes 1:6; and “took joyfully the spoiling of their possessions” Heb 10: 34. How? They had their priorities straight, and that kept their attitudes straight. They truly believed a better place awaits us.

            That is what faith requires: for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek after him, Heb 11:6. Sometimes I think we focus so much on the first part of that, that we miss the second part. If I want this world and its “stuff” so badly, then maybe I don’t really believe there is a reward waiting for me. If I do not have the attitude of Paul that “to die is gain,” then my faith is an empty shell. Why in the world do I bother?

            Attitude, shmattitude. Don’t get sick and tired of hearing about it. It can help you make it successfully to the end, which is really only a beginning that will never end.

But call to remembrance the former days in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly becoming partakers with them that were so used. For you both had compassion on them that were in bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one, Heb 10:32-34.

Dene Ward