New Addition...

[I love the fact that when I write a title like "New Addition..." there's no way I'm talking about having another baby! I love that fact as much now as I loved the fact that when I wrote it in 1994, 1995, and 2001, I WAS talking about having a baby.

What is the best time of my life, you ask? Today.]

Our new addition is Pepper. She is a 15 month old Shih Tzu who came to live with our family on Sunday, May 25th. Her old family wasn't able to spend as much time with her as she needed, so... we got a call, drove a couple of towns away, and three hours later, we had a new addition to the family.

She is a wonderful dog. There's a bit of training, but she's been a sweetie. She is house-broken. She's learning how to walk on a leash. She sleeps in her crate at night and rests there while we're away. She's gotten a new toy, a tennis ball, that is her new favorite, favorite thing.

We are blessed!

Saving Susan - Part 3

What, if anything, can we do to save Susan?

That’s a loaded question. On the one hand, both you and I know there is nothing WE can do to save Susan. Only Jesus can save Susan. But on the other hand, the final item on the “To Do” list we have from Jesus before he ascended to heaven is this:

…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Matthew 28:19-20

When you take “The Great Commission” in Matthew and pair it with Deuteronomy 6:4-9, we’ve got a mandate as parents, coming and going. We have to teach our children to obey the Lord. There’s no getting around it. There’s no delegating it. There’s no wishing it into existence. We have to DO it.

So here’s a start, some really tiny baby steps, to head us in the direction of being the grown-ups He’s called us to be in order to shepherd our children into being the grown-ups He’s called them to be.

1. Teach by example. What is your witness in your household? Not when everyone’s at church or an extracurricular activity or a social function, but behind the doors of the place you live. Are you climbing further up and further in each day… drawing close to Jesus in your personal quiet time? Getting caught by your children reading God’s Word? Praying? Obeying even when you know it might cost you?

Do you realize that the Shadow-lands are just the beginning point of the story and that the greater adventure awaits OR do you get caught up in our equivalent of “nylons and lipstick and invitations”? Did you notice that those things can break into the categories of material possessions, appearances, and social standing? Hummm…

“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” I Corinthians 11:1

2. Be deliberate. It’s a fallen world and with few exceptions, there is nothing in the world that is going to rise up and help you parent your children to become more like Jesus. I think that’s why God’s parenting “advice” for us comes in the form of commands:

”Train a child in the way he should go…” Proverbs 22:6

”Impress [these commandments] on your children. Talk about them…” Deuteronomy 6:7

”Teach them to your children…” Deuteronomy 11:19

These statements are imperatives, which means they carry a “you gotta do this” connotation with them and not hidden qualification of “when you get a chance, if it fits into the schedule.”

3. Persevere. Parenting is for a lifetime. It is so easy to think that we’ll get a little break once the babies are weaned/ potty-trained, once they can dress themselves/ pick up their toys/ play quietly while we take a nap, once they stop needing homework help every night/ a ride everywhere/ money for everything. It’s easy and it’s dangerous.

Once they are teens they can not only entertain and take care of themselves in ways we parents have hoped for over the years, but they WANT to entertain and take care of themselves. So it gets very easy to let them. And we find ourselves going through an afternoon without really talking to them. And then maybe an afternoon and an evening. And then a day… you see what I mean. We disengage, ever grateful for the periods of calm and a little resentful when we have to step up to the plate and actually parent.

Here’s the challenge. Communicate each day. Fifteen minutes. Carve out the time to sit down and talk with your teen(s). Go for a walk after dinner. Go to their rooms to say goodnight and sit down and listen. Stay engaged the full 15 minutes…even if they don’t open up and share their deepest hopes and dreams or their darkest struggles and fears. Just be there. All there. 15 minutes. Everyday. Persevere.

”Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

So while the ending of The Chronicles of Narnia still bums me out a little concerning Susan, I go back to the beginning of the story… to the dedication of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that C.S. Lewis writes to his goddaughter:

I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it.

Little girls do grow up and get silly for a while. So do little boys. But if they keep growing, guided by a loving Hand through the loving hands of their parents, there’s always hope they’ll come back to Narnia.

Keep moving…further up and further in.

*********************************************************

Train a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6

Saving Susan - Part 2

Who is Susan?

First of all, C.S. Lewis would have fit if he knew people were dissecting his story as either allegory or, heaven forbid, Scripture. It is neither. Really, the stories are just stories. But they have an added kick of conveying deep spiritual truths to which we in Christian circles have become somewhat immune.

Lewis has his finger on the pulse of the Susans in the world, as he deals with the fact that sometimes we “get it” and sometimes we just don’t. In his explanation of the reason for writing the Chronicles and why they are NOT allegory, he shares…

I thought I saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralyzed much of my own religion since childhood. Why did one find it so hard to feel as one was told one ought to feel about God or about the sufferings of Christ? I thought the chief reason was that one was told one ought
to. An obligation to feel can freeze feelings. And reverence itself did harm. The whole subject was associated with lowered voices; almost as if it were something medical. But suppose by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stained-glass and Sunday school associations, one
could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could.

See? The problem with kids leaving the faith isn’t new. The problem with immunity to the message isn’t new. These are the ancient perils of growing up… or not growing up, depending on which side of the coin you’re on. What happens to Susan happens to many of our kids… they fall in love with this world and lose sight of the wonder of the other.

“Oh Susan!” said Jill, “she’s interested in nothing nowadays except nylons and lipstick and invitations. She always was a jolly sight too keen on being
grown-up.”

“Grown-up, indeed,” said the Lady Polly. “I wish she would grow up. She wasted all her school time wanting to be the age she is now, and she’ll waste all the rest of her life trying to stay that age. Her whole idea is to race on to the silliest time of one’s life as quick as she can and then stop
there as long as she can.”

Lewis C.S., The Last Battle (New York: Collier Books, 1978. 135.)

Yeah… well… there’s where I get all conflicted with Lewis because in that quote I find the answer to the question: Who is Susan? Deep breath…. Susan is me. And you. Susan is all of our children and all of us.

I am alternately angry with Lewis for pointing out that Susan’s missing from Narnia because she grew up too fast and grateful to him for showing me that I’m in danger for not being grown up enough. Spiritual truth, again.

Here’s a question for you: Where are you? In the Kingdom, I mean… where are you? Are you standing there at the end of the last battle with the other kings and queens, getting ready to move further up and further in. Or are you missing… not quite there yet?

You see, you can’t take your teen by the hand and lead them “past watchful dragons” until you get by them yourself.

The thing that gets me over my issues with Lewis about Susan’s absence is that he doesn’t say things are over for her. The rest of the Friends of Narnia are there forever as a result of the railway accident and their faith that the other world is real. But Susan is M.I.A. While we know that at the time the others arrive in Narnia for the final time, Susan is immersed in the things of this world, we don’t know that she stays captivated by the Shadow-lands.

I love that ambiguity. There is absolutely no indication that Susan was at the railway station with the others. She’s just missing. And if she’s missing, there is hope she’ll turn up in the Real Narnia someday.

Saving Susan - Part 1

I love C.S. Lewis. Like nearly everyone else in the world who loves Lewis, I first fell in love with his writings when I read The Chronicles of Narnia.

As I read those stories now, I am, for the most part, Lucy, though I have to admit that I see a lot of Eustice in me too. And some Jill. But for some reason, the first time I read them, I really wanted to be Susan. She was the older, more regal queen-- sophisticated, wise, brave, courted by princes. Then I read The Last Battle.

Now, if YOU haven’t read The Last Battle, you probably ought to stop here. Consider this the spoiler alert. Instead, go find all seven books of the Chronicles and read them, but for goodness sake, read them in the order in which they were originally published and not in Narnian chronological order. Lewis published them in the order he did for a reason… they really do build upon each other, spiritual truth upon spiritual truth, so don’t let the pure plot of the story get in the way of the most important ideas.

Spoiler alert aside, The Last Battle made me so angry at C.S. Lewis that I vowed I am not about to read the next book. I’m done with this stuff. Oh yeah… this is The Last Battle… and the last book in the series, no matter which way you read it. So much for catharsis.

You see, what made me so very mad was that at the end of the series, the end of Narnia, the end of the characters’ time in the Shadow-lands of either world, Susan was missing.

“Sir,” said Tirian, when he had greeted all these [ancient kings and queens of Narnia]. “If I have read the chronicles aright, there should be another. Has not your Majesty two sisters? Where is Queen Susan?

“My sister Susan,” answered Peter shortly and gravely, “is no longer a friend of Narnia.”

“Yes,” said Eustace, “and whenever you’ve tried to get her to come and talk about Narnia or do anything about Narnia, she says ‘What wonderful memories you have! Fancy your still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children.’”

Lewis C.S., The Last Battle (New York: Collier Books, 1978. 134-135.)

Are you kidding me? I was there… Susan went in through the wardrobe, got a bow and arrows and a dagger from Father Christmas, walked with Aslan as he strode toward the Stone Table, watch the first ray of dawn strike Aslan’s lifeless form, saw the Table crack as the magic worked backwards and Aslan came to life, fought only when necessary to defeat the White Witch, and was crowned a Queen of Narnia at Cair Paravel… and once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia… right? And that was just in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. For goodness sake, Susan was my hero. What do you mean she doesn’t make it back to Narnia at the end? She had the same adventures as the rest of the children and yet Susan is missing at the end!!! Jack Lewis, you’ve gotta be kidding me!

But sadly, he wasn’t.

Lewis, over fifty years ago, had his finger on something that has come to fruition at an alarming rate in recent years. Our kids are leaving the faith. They categorize the spiritual training they receive in their youth as “funny games we used to play when we were children.” The difference between Lewis’ portrayal of older adolescent apostasy and what’s happening in our world today is that not only are we losing Susan, but Peter and even Lucy aren’t doing too well either.


We have to ask ourselves a couple of hard questions:
1. Who is Susan?
2. What, if anything, can we do to save Susan?

It just ain't right...

We went to Lyon's Farm yesterday with Zack's kindergarten class. Gramma gave us some money and asked us to do four things: 1) Buy some strawberries for her to freeze; 2) Buy some peas, if they were in yet; 3) Find out what kind of green beans they'd planted; and 4) Find out where they're going to have their veggie stand in the city limits this year... still @ Asbury Methodist?

1) Got 22 lbs of strawberries (which Gramma froze into 16 quarts).
2) They didn't have peas ready yet.
3) The lady at the cash register didn't know what kind of beans were planted, but she did know they weren't white half-runners, so it didn't really matter.
4) There will be no farm fresh local produce stands in the city limits this summer.

I had a little conversation with Mr. Lyon about the produce stand. Seems that the same world-class city council that brought residents the joys of banned garbage disposals has also made it so that local farmers cannot set up roadside produce stands this year.

I had to stop and ponder that. Hummm... Fresh fruits and veggies are much healthier for my family to eat. Check. Gas costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.60 per gallon. Check. We have an issue with ozone/ air pollution in the summer, so we're supposed to drive as little as possible. Check. Buying locally grown produce is not only healthier for my family, but it's healthier for our local economy and our environment. Check.

Our city won't issue permits to local produce vendors, so I'm either going to have to buy non-locally-grown produce at the grocery store or drive to the other side of town to go to the farmer's market or haul everyone into the next county to Lyon's Farm. Either way it's a 15-20 mile drive and instead of having one truck come to town, you have scores of cars driving all over the place. Consumers pay even MORE in gas and food costs. Local farmers get even less for their crops.

Yep... that's about typical for our brilliant city council. Problem is... it just ain't right.

P.O.W....

If I were a puppy, you'd say I've been a little "yippy" and "nippy" the past few days. You know how dogs get when they're really excited... they yip and yap and bark at everything. Sometimes they may even get a little rough and nip the hand of those who love and care for them.

That's me.

I was pondering my emotional state this morning, thinking about how self-control is my weak spot when I'm stressed. When we did Beth Moore's "Fruit of the Spirit" study in SBS (Summer Bible Study) a couple of years ago, one of the truths that stuck in my heart was the point she made about self-control. For women... for me... it most often involves the mouth. We wrestle with what goes in AND what comes out.

Yep, that's me... and never more so than when I'm stressed.

So this morning I was contemplating self-control as a point of weakness. In my mind, I called it a P.O.W. Then, I thought, I can't call it a P.O.W. That means Prisoner Of War.

Whoa!

Yes, it does. And that's exactly what I am when I let my lack of self-control get the better of me in the stressful time. I am a Prisoner Of War.

Finally, receive your power from the Lord

and from His mighty strength.

Put on all the armor that God supplies.

In this way you can take a stand

against the devil's strategies.

This is not a wrestling match against a human opponent.

We are wrestling with rulers, authorities, the powers

who govern this world of darkness,

and spiritual forces that control evil in the heavenly world.

For this reason, take up all the armor that God supplies.

Then you will be able to take a stand during these evil days.

Once you have overcome all obstacles,

you will be able to stand your ground.

Ephesians 6:10-13 (GWT)