Yesterday afternoon, while our girls were at a Christmas party, a friend and I spent some time together and had a lovely and refreshing visit. We are within a couple years of one another and we each have 10 children (does that sound peer dependent, or what?), so we enjoyed both commiserating with and encouraging one another, having many of the same experiences at this stage of life.

One of the struggles we both have had is sleep deprivation. It’s not hard to fall exhausted into bed when you have had a busy day, but it’s not easy to fall back to sleep when you wake up in the middle of the night and your brain starts to mull over all the things that you need to do or all the concerns that crowd your mind about your children, or world affairs. I have learned to use that time to pray, pray, pray, and I am grateful for the quiet hours to do that, but I still find myself dragging and occasionally incoherent during the daylight hours when I would like to be sharper. Having adult children who still need a mother to talk to, and small children who are still supposed to act like children, whom I would like to become responsible and godly adults, which requires much time and energy, is a draining joy that I cherish, but not many can relate to the unique experience of mothering such a wide variety of ages. Some days make me think of the line in “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” about how “sorrow and love flow mingled down”; a mother knows well how the sacrifices of her love are gladly given, but not without cost. It’s a small reminder of the privilege of sharing the suffering of our Lord and understanding just how great His sacrifice was for us, and how great His love.

The other day I read a George Herbert poem to my children which gave me comfort about the lack of rest and more resolve to fight against complaining—to myself and to my family, and especially to God—when I don’t get the sleep I would like. At first, I didn’t notice the meaning of the title, but as I type this, I am impressed with the picture of restlessness as a “pulley” drawing us toward God.

The Pulley
by George Herbert

When God at first made Man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
“Let Us” (said He) “pour on him all we can;
Let the world’s riches, which disperséd lie,
Contract into a span.”

So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure.
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.

“For if I should” (said He)
“Bestow this jewel also on My creature,
He would adore My gifts instead of Me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature;
So both should losers be.

“Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to My Breast.”

Many of us are blessed to be married to men with chests…men who protect and cherish us and our families. This kind of man is becoming an anomaly in a culture which celebrates androgyny and is embarrassed by the differences with which God created men and women and intends for us to live. A God-hating society will reject that design and call good what is perverse, calling evil the masculinity of men and femininity of women.

One shining example of the beauty of God’s design for marriage and for men and women is the Chancey family. Both Matt and Jennie exemplify the joy of a union that glories in the complementary differences of a husband and wife. Jennie has beautifully honored her husband by nominating him for the Old Spice Man of the Year. If he wins, the cash prize will be donated to Persecution Project, a ministry to Africa which our family has supported for several years. The winner is chosen by online voting. I hope you will take the time to go to this site and cast a vote for Matt and for godly manhood. Read Jennie’s warm tribute to her husband and think about how you can honor and encourage your husband, too.

The contest ends tomorrow.

R.C. writes about the contest here (and about the nasty character assassination against a godly man and his godly wife for their bold stand for the distinctions I mention above).

Kim and Perry write more about Matt here. Thanks to them for this button.

I bought a couple of Christmas CDs the other day, and after I’ve listened to them a few times I may tell you what they are, if I like them. I took a chance. Has anyone bought any new Christmas “albums” this year they particularly like? Do tell.

Nor do I think it a matter of little moment whether the language of a people be vitiated or refined, whether the popular idiom be erroneous or correct….It is the opinion of Plato, that changes in the dress and habits of the citizens portend great changes and commotions in the state; and I am inclined to believe that when the language in common use in any country becomes irregular and depraved, it is followed by their ruin or their degradation. For what do terms used without skill or meaning, which are at once corrupt and misapplied, denote but a people listless, supine, and ripe for servitude? On the contrary, we have never heard of any people or state which has not flourished in some degree of prosperity as long as their language has retained its elegance and its purity.

~Milton to Benedetto Bonomatthai,
September 10, 1638
(found in Richard Weaver’s In Defense of Tradition

A week ago I took my 9-year-old son to have his arm checked one last time. Last spring he broke it, playing on a trampoline with his buddies on a Sunday night, at our fireman friend’s house. That unexpected accident hard providence led to so many x-rays that I think our little boy will glow in the dark for some time to come; the break was near his elbow in an area with a growth plate, so the orthopedist wanted to be extra-sure the healing was properly taking place.

When the accident first happened, we went to our pediatrician first, as the routine is that you need a referral to a specialist. We got the original x-rays done, then waited for the confirmation from the pediatrician that yes, there was a break, and only then were we told we would have to find an orthopedist near us in our insurance network. I prayed and looked at names online, and picked one because the doctor’s first and last names were the same as two of my children. My methods are very scientific.

Though I didn’t know what I was doing when choosing the doctor, God did.

Steve took our son to his first appointment where he got his cast. When they got home, Steve was tickled to tell me that the doctor had nine children. When my turn came to visit the orthopedist, I noted the Focus on the Family and Creation Illustrated magazines in his waiting room. At our most recent visit, the doctor shared with me about the mission trip he just took to Kenya. God had sent us to a Christian doctor.

Leaving the radiology building after the x-ray last week, we saw a man waiting in his truck in the parking lot, reading a Bible. We also noticed a bumper sticker with a Christian message. Lately, God has been impressing upon me that His people are everywhere. That thought has been not only comforting me, but making me almost giddy with joy.

As I write this, I’m sitting in the lobby of a pentecostal church which has a woman minister. Before you wonder what wrong turn I took when I left that parking lot, I should explain that I’m here because my girls are practicing for a Christmas concert with a community ladies’ chorale, and this is where the rehearsals are held. But the pastor (sigh, I do have trouble calling her that!) was leaving with her two young children and stopped to visit with me before she left, and we had a lovely conversation about the state of the world and the confidence we both share in God’s provision for us during these uncertain times. We hugged when she left and I think we both felt encouraged from our discussion.

God’s people are everywhere.

Just this afternoon, Anna and I drove with a friend to the other side of the county, and we went to an apple farm to get some fruit. The first folks I saw at this busy place were familiar faces. It was a young woman (hi, Charlotte!) I’ve known since my oldest children were small and she was a teenager, when we lived in the Bay Area, there with her husband and their young family. She used to babysit for me and taught Hans his first piano lessons. We went to the same church in those days, and now they live within an hour from us and attend a reformed church where we have several friends. What a blessed providence to see them today, to have a few minutes of sweet conversation and encouragement from that meeting.

God’s people are everywhere.

I explained the concept of the now and the not yet to a young friend recently, the idea that right now we have all we need from God from the moment of our salvation, yet we look forward to the not yet when we will truly possess what we already have. Paradoxes are nearly impossible to understand, let alone explain, but if we can just grasp and accept their existence, it gives us a much deeper appreciation for the greatness of our God. One of those paradoxes is that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Many Christians are concerned they are facing an uncertain future, not knowing if there is going to be a time of want due to economic suffering, if there will be a time of persecution due to political oppression, or if there might even be a total loss of freedom due to a tyrannical do-goodism that we are hearing more than just whispers of from those who are taking the reins of power.

Yet Christians do not face an uncertain future. Of all people, we know that our future is secure. We know who is on the throne, and no man put Him there. He, however, puts men where He wants them to be, and His people are everywhere. From the first to the last, God has ordained His plan and He will make it come to pass, and it will be perfect, and His people and His church and His kingdom will be perfected in every circumstance, every trial, every meeting, every parting, every step of the way. He is so good, He does not leave us to face this life alone. Not only does He give us His Spirit to teach and comfort us, He gives us one another for encouragement. Perhaps you need encouragement right now, as you look at what seems to be a bleak landscape. Or, you may need to be an encourager to those around you who are facing what truly is a bleak landscape because their perspective focuses on a limited view. When you stand on God’s shoulders, the view is much better.

It’s time for hope, and I am filled with it right now as God has mercifully reminded me so often lately of His sovereign hand in my life. I know there will be times when I need the encouragement I’m now trying to offer you, and I know that in His goodness and love for me, our Lord will provide what I need when I need it, as He has faithfully done since He plucked me out of my darkness and not only saved me from my sin but gave me an inheritance that is beyond comprehension. That has not changed, nor will it ever, as He has promised never to leave me nor forsake me. My joy in Him will not be taken away, no matter what else is taken away from me.

I don’t have a crystal ball that tells me what is going to happen and neither do you. We have something much better in the Word of God, which never changes. There we see that our hope is still the same, and so is the job we have as long as God gives us life, and breath, and all things. That job is to serve Him faithfully in whatever circumstances He gives us, and that is possible in His strength. Let us encourage one another not to grow weary in well-doing. Let’s continue to speak the truth to one another in love, but also let’s keep our eyes open for other believers around us who are brothers and sisters in Christ and who will be needing to see your light shining in the darkness, especially if things continue to get darker. You may even find yourself being encouraged by them, too, even though you don’t see eye to eye on all the details.

Last year at the Jamestown 400 celebration, Anna and I enjoyed a talk by Dr. Paul Jehle (you can find it at Behemoth.com, called “The Providential Nexus of Plymouth and Jamestown,” a talk which is not only appropriate for Thanksgiving, but for these times), who compared the settlements of Jamestown and Plymouth. The Jamestown folks have a reputation which is partly undeserved, for being money-grubbing and lazy adventurers, while the pilgrims whose sacrifices we remember this week are considered the more pious lot who based their settlement on Christian principles. The northern colonists, who were known as Separatists, had some contempt for their southern neighbors whom they considered rather worldly and compromisers because of their association with the Church of England. In 1622, though, the Massachusetts Christians suffered severe hardship—their colony was almost wiped out from sickness and lack of food. They were in dire straits and praying for help, which God sent by those from whom they would least have wanted it: the Jamestown colonists sent a ship with supplies which sustained them and helped them survive that suffering.

We need each other, and God’s kingdom will benefit as we work together in humility and obedience to our Lord and King. Pray in faith, as the pilgrims did, and see in what amazing ways God brings His purposes to pass.

The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer…The believer feels no shame, as though he were still living too much in the flesh, when he yearns for the physical presence of other Christians. Man was created a body, the Son of God appeared on earth in the body, he was raised in the body, in the sacrament the believer receives the Lord Christ in the body, and the resurrection of the dead will bring about the perfected fellowship of God’s spiritual-physical creatures. The believer therefore lauds the Creator, the Redeemer, God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for the bodily presence of a brother. The prisoner, the sick person, the Christian in exile sees in the companionship of a fellow Christian a physical sign of the gracious presence of the triune God.

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together