 |
| Could this tree get any lower? |
Last Sunday
our Pastor preached from the book of Mark, chapter 14, about the woman who
anointed Jesus with expensive perfume. The disciples were indignant and
felt that the perfume would’ve been better used for sale and profit; then the
money distributed among the poor. I’m
sorry to say I probably would’ve agreed with the disciples too, as our Pastor
shared that the expense for this perfume was a year’s wages of work.
 |
| Our Alaskan Bible Church Front Entrance |
What a
challenging lot of thoughts rolled around in my mind as I thought about all
this. The Pastor continued to read in
Scripture....
What was it that Jesus commended the woman for and corrected the
disciples about? The woman was
worshipping Jesus by her action, however ridiculously expensive that was. Her heart was right, only God could see
that. The disciples may have had a financially
sound idea, but their hearts were full of indignation, not worship.
Each one of
the disciples could’ve very well given to the poor as part of their worship before
God. But it really wasn’t about that… it
was the fact that God could see into their hearts past their sorry excuses and
call it for what it was.
To be
indignant is to be “affected at once with anger and disdain; feeling the
mingled emotions of wrath and scorn or contempt…” Interestingly enough, Judas Iscariot arose after this gathering and betrayed Jesus in his anger.
Only God is
able to see into the hearts of men. We
need Jesus and we need to worship Him.
It’s not about us and our selfish desires to appear more righteous than
so and so. What’s really in our
heart? The Scriptures are able to
discern joint from marrow, Jesus was and is the Word, He is able.
Well, our church
service got over, but I kept musing on this Bible Lesson of indignation. Two days later I was driving on my way to my
dreaded appointment with the Surgeon. I
say dreaded, because I knew what I was facing… another verdict of C-section
only. On the way there my little
fireball began singing from the back seat, “Let the Lord have his way, in your
life every day. There’s no rest. There’s no peace until the Lord has his
way.” I saw one way signs and yield
signs and I have traveled this road of C-sections for the fourth time. I laughed, prayed and committed it all into
the Lord’s hands.
That peace
that passes understanding…… it’s real and it’s tangible and it was the least
stressful Dr. appointment I’ve ever had. Yes,
May 29th is my allotted surgery date. My baby’s birth was already foreseen and
chosen by God. Isn’t that comforting? Since I don't have any pictures of my trip to the Surgeon's office I thought you'd enjoy this reenactment upon our arrival at home.
 |
| Singing fireball at it again... |
 |
| WOW this is loud, just doing what I saw the Dr. do today... |
While driving to the Dr.'s. that day, the
question the Pastor had asked on Sunday came to mind: “What else in this world costs a year’s wages
in one quick moment?” I have an answer…
a C-section, it’s ridiculously expensive.
The
indignation and perhaps just curiosity for others usually presents itself in a question, “Why
in the world would you undergo that so many times or isn’t 2 or 3 kids
enough? When are you going to be done?”
Here’s the
answer… the Bible says children are gifts from the Lord many times over. Why would I not believe or trust Him at His
word? When we begin to suffer, we
question, doubt and fear that maybe what God said isn’t really true….
Jesus
assures us that everyday will have enough trouble of its own and He didn’t say
this with a child on his lap. When a
child sat on His lap, He was instructing the disciples on how they would enter
into the kingdom of heaven….”Unless you become like a child.”
Have we
learned somehow in our culture to despise our children and limit their
influence in our lives? How many of us
at one time before we knew and understood the truth viewed children as a
necessary experience but expensive on the pocket book? I was born into this world, raised in church
but had very worldly viewpoints on the true value of a child until I learned by
reading Scripture what the truth is and it doesn’t change.
The book of
Genesis and Malachi cannot be argued with… God wants godly offspring. It takes raising and training up of children
in righteousness to have godly children.
It’s written all throughout the Bible, these truths. Just because the ungodly do get saved and do
become godly later in life, doesn’t mean that we use that to excuse ourselves
from the responsibility of raising our children to be godly now.
I choose the
suffering of child birth because it is brief and it will pass, but children
will last for an eternity. The money part…
ha ha just read my blog, listen to other Christians, they will all tell you the
same thing. God always provides and
always will. His grace is endless and He
owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Do
you trust Him at His word? I do. I will.
I accept whatever He has for me.
C-sections are on His agenda, not mine. It’s His money and His way. I’m finally O.K. with that. I haven’t always been, sometimes I still want
to fight, but then I realize it’s all in His control anyway and then I just let
it go.
For those of you still not convinced and view this
as completely illogical… how about some math?
My husband
and I are raising 6, nearly 7 children.
So let’s say that the average North American family raises 1-2 children
each. That makes my family equal to
about 4-5 families worth. We are
actually the better stewards (I’m not bragging here, just stating some facts
for back up.) and here are a few reasons why…
One mortgage
payment, one home to heat, paint, fix, and repair to house 7 children…. versus
4 or 5 more houses times how many years of raising children for each of those
families.
Now, why
would a few children in 4 to 5 different families be acceptable but not the 7
in my family? Is that logical?
We now own
three vehicles with no payments. 4 or 5
more families…. 10 or more vehicles
Insurance
and gas associated with all those vehicles times 4 or 5 over 18 years….
The cost of
food can be cheaper in bulk with far less energy to cook on one stove or oven
than say 4 or 5 ovens. Just a thought….
The cost of
clothing is a huge savings as you compare the price of new versus used and how
many years you can hand shoes and clothing down, including your cousins.
Our cheese
never goes moldy, sour cream lasts less than a week, yogurt even quicker, hardly
any waste in our fridge. I could go on
and on about all the little things but you get the picture, just think about
how much less energy and material wealth goes into raising more children under
one roof.
Please tell
me what is illogical about this sort of math?
Maybe I
should add one more thing just because I hear it so much…. Over population and
running out of land and resources… Can I just say one thing? Go drive the Alaskan Highway through Northern
B.C. You’ll just laugh the next time
someone uses that line.
Oh, forgot
about the college affordability question: nobody can afford it, that’s why most
people go into debt. Who are we
kidding? Why are large families the only
ones accused of being unable to afford a college education….We save the government
tens of thousands of dollars by educating our children at home. AND there are no tax breaks for us.
Have you
ever checked into your local school district about how much money per child
their school receives? You’ll be shocked
at the price of education these days… all those grade school years are costing
the state more than a couple years of college down the road. Don’t believe me, go look it up; you’ll be
flabbergasted, guaranteed.
So, it’s all
in how you look at it… who’s the one being fooled here? Am I disillusioned or are you? I’m not missing out on anything by having a
wonderful lot of children. I’m gaining
daily and investing in eternity. How
about you? Are you worshipping God fully
or just in a socially acceptable North American Christian way?
Only God can
see in your heart: Do you have indignation residing in your heart at the way some families have chosen to
worship or do you rejoice in the truth, beauty and glory of God’s plan? He’s not asking us all to break open a bottle
of expensive perfume…. What He is asking is that we worship with a pure heart,
Him alone, no matter the cost.
