And I don't know a soul who's not been battered, I don't have a friend who feels at ease.
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
or driven to its knees.
But it's all right, it's all right
We've lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road
we're traveling on.
I wonder what went wrong.
I can't help it, I wonder what went wrong.
Simon and Garfunkel, American Tune
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Air conditioning blasting, barreling down the road at 75 miles an hour, Joy and I are knit together by the thread of singing at the top of our voices as we travel toward a favorite coffee shop each Saturday morning. We have been doing it for years. She is the dj and I am the driver or vise versa, depending on the day. it is how I taught her to drive. For those 55 hours of required practice driving, I played James Taylor, Jim Croce, Rich Mullins, Ed Sheehan, Regina Specter and so many more. Music is a balm to us.
But yesterday, as we were driving, some lyrics seemed to be totally appropriate to us now, even though they were written in the 70’s. Attending a concert of Simon and Garfunkel amongst tens of thousands of people, standing, swaying and cheering them on was a favorite memory of mine when I just graduated from high school. I remembered their lyrics from American Tune. The words seem to be describing us today: “I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered, don’t know a soul who is at ease.”
This lyric was written when I was a young college student, in another time of real crisis—but is still true today.
Our souls have been battered, our souls are not at ease.
This week, though, I have continually had so many of you on my heart and I have been praying for you as I remembered these words that describe all of us. We have been troubled by the storms, by Covid, loss of jobs, violence and hatred recorded on the news, political chaos, loss of crops, threats of closing down schools, loss of control of most of our circumstances of life. It is indeed a challenging time.
As I face my launch this week, the focus of my heart has not been as much on Awaking Wonder as it is on praying for so many of you who I have come to know through your messages, emails, comments. I know that if you are on my heart, you are indeed on the heart of God. You are not alone or forgotten. Yet, this is a time when we have the choice to try to see with the eyes of our heart to notice Him and His valiant presence in this world. Our God is a redeemer. He is a lover, He will not leave us alone.
I was on a hike with my son, Joel, this week. We were talking of the mountains of discouraging issues. He said,
”You know, I think that when people go through great crisis, they either become more humble, dependent on the Lord and compassionate for others or they become bitter, cynical and victims of their circumstances.”
I think he is right. How we face our difficulties will determine the pathways of our lives. As I age, I see more and more that my compassion for most all people has grown. My sympathy for struggles, seeing people withtout a shepherd gives me compassion to want them to know the mercy and comfort of Christ.
We must choose to remember: In the darkness of the times, our God is still working, fighting behind the scenes, bringing others to Himself, spreading love and redemption. He has trusted us with these times.
We see the struggles through music as I mentioned the Simon and Garfunkel song. But we also see these thoughts communicated through out art of every form. We see this heart issue also in literature, in the Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. Frodo, insignificant hobbit, living a mundane life was the chosen hero for Tolkien’s epic story. When he was journey weary, small, exhausted, just like we feel now, he said, “I wish it , (these battles) need not have happened in my time.”
Gandalf wisely answered him, “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
Isn’t that the same with us, to decide what God wants us to do with the time given to us. We have agency, the power to decide that we will seek to please him, to seek Him, to decide to trust Him.
I have been reading verses that have held me fast through many years of challenges..
Psalm 46:1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”
Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (one of my favorites)
Psalm 9:9-10 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Isaiah 26: 3-4 Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace—because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock.
As I have learned to lean into these verses, I have written them on the impulses of my heart. The older I get, the more I know deep in my heart. We are not in heaven yet. There is a place where all. will be peace, light, beauty, love. Yet, even in this world, when I stay close to Him, I can see His light, His presence, His control over all things. I have lived through enough dark places, and seen Him hold my hand at every step.
One of the main reasons that I wrote Awaking Wonder is that as I look back, so many parents I know focussed on the wrong issues, the wrong goals. It is easy to focus on results that we can measure, test results, grades, activities, material possessions.
Yet, there is a focus I see that matters: To give our children a living faith, to believe in the constant love and presence of God and his truth and ways, while living in His unconditional love and beauty as they shape their lives on His reality.
This is actually what my new book, Awaking Wonder, is about. To live in front of our children in such a way that they will see us responding to God by faith so that they will know what it is like to do the same when they encounter troubles. How important that we do not measure our lives by the things we have, the activities we are busy in, the test scores we achieve, but the way we learn to walk with and please God every day—and to pass that kind of living faith on to our children.
Awaking Wonder to faith, to beauty, to love, to light in a dark world, to God who is with us, to God who answers prayer.
As I have kept in my heart many times, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose His soul.”
What to do in the times we have been given? Loving our children with our time, our hearts, our words, our touch, our testimony, so that they can still hope in God’s love in dark times.
Living a life of servant leadership, washing their feet, so to speak, by seeking to listen to their conversations even when we are tired, to get up one more time in the middle of the night to soothe a fretful soul, to be patient with one more mess, to be steadfast and persevering during the tedious, challenging times.
Great hearts and souls are shaped during a day after day of faithfulness, patience, affection, house work done in all the moments of life. Building a legacy of faith and love is not about what school, what curriculum, but about us bringing the kingdom of God to bear in our children’s lives on a daily basis.
This is why I wrote Awaking Wonder, because I wanted to help parents understand that our lives are about serving and pleasing Him and then consequently serving our children because it means so much to Him.
Children, Jesus said, are about the kingdom of God.
In the Chronicles of Narnia, Lucy, the youngest child, was faced with imminent fear, Aslan said, “Courage, Dear Heart.”
Today, as you face these circumstances, may you find purpose and live into your capacity to keep going to keep spreading light, to be patient, to invest your love in young hearts.
He trusted us with these times, that in His strength, we would be able to endure with grace and live in the realty of His light.
Aslan the picture of our precious Jesus, still says to us, “Courage, Dear Heart.”
May God grant you courage today, dear one.
To register for the Awaking Wonder Conference, go HERE
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