From Henri Nouwen:
On Power in the midst of powerlessness:
“A theology of weakness challenges us to look at weakness not as a worldly weakness that allows us to be manipulated by the powerful in society and church, but as a total and unconditional dependence on God that opens us to be true channels of the divine power that heals the wounds of humanity and renews the face of the earth. The theology of weakness claims power, God’s power, the all-transforming power of love. . . .A theology of weakness is a theology of divine empowering. It is not a theology for weaklings but a theology for men and women who claim for themselves the power of love that frees them from fear and enables them to put their light on the lampstands and do the work of the Kingdom.”
On Joy and suffering:
“There is suffering ahead of us, immense suffering, a suffering that will continue to tempt us to think that we have chosen the wrong road and that others were more shrewd than we. But don’t be surprised by pain. Be surprised by joy, be surprised by the little flower that shows its beauty in the midst of a barren desert, and be surprised by the immense healing power that keeps bursting forth like springs of fresh water from the depth of our pain.”
- - - -
Two very special words: “spring” and “break.” Two days and counting.
I’ve been trying not to obsess on this on my blog. BUT MY GRANDDAUGHTER COULD BE BORN ANY DAY NOW.
I love Nouwen. He was one of those people who had the gift to just inspire - but also to help me see a completely different perspective. And being able to honestly see some thing from a different vantage point is conducive to growth.
Now, back to work everyone, and look busy, Jesus is coming.
Cheers,
Jeff
I love to be surprised by joy!
A little papaw advice… always have lots of Juicy Fruit gum and let your granddaughter help you feed the dog and let her ride the lawnmower with you. (maybe not that last one - it’s not very safe but I turned out almost ok!)
Terri - Great advice. Maybe I need to invite people to give more of such advice. First, I’ll need a lawnmower that one can actually sit on. But I get the gist.
These quotes are both true as I have both in God over the last few months while suffering with GBS. Great post Mike!
Mike, obsess all you want. Some of us only know you through this blog and like to hear all the news! We’ll be praying for a safe arrival!
But Mike, why wouldn’t you obsess about the imminent arrival of your granddaughter? It’s right on theme today, right on target!
Weakness - especially of knees when thoughts of her come to mind.
Suffering - through the loooooonnng wait for her arrival.
Joy - of anticipation in realizing that shortly you’ll hold her in your arms.
Mike,
If you want to read an interesting and relevant birth announcement, click on over. You might get a chuckle.
Obsess away! You have earned the right to brag all you want…..and it is your blog — you can write about ANYTHING you want!! Even post pictures (hint, hint)…..
Mike,
Thanks
What a blessing to be a grandparent! I am so happy for you and Diane!
I’m with Jenni… I don’t think there will be a rebellion around here if a few pictures of your new granddaughter were to appear. Obsess away!
Loved the newspaper clippings EBC posted. So you were an Orlando Cepeda fan, huh? When we moved out here, we were offered a house to rent next door to him. Sorry to say I had never heard of him before that day!
‘If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for a person’s salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example.’
Thomas a Kempis (c.1418)
In my reading of the Christian spiritual masters — from the author of Mark’s Gospel to Annie Dillard — I am struck by their almost universal insistence that suffering is not just an unfortunate but inevitable experience. Suffering is at the heart of what makes Christian spirituality distinctly Christian. It opens the door to deeper and more authentic spiritual relationships with God and others — provided the sufferer is willing to pass through it into the new places that suffering offers.
I do not intend to make light of suffering or whitewash it — far from it. I am just reporting what deeply wise Christians have noticed about suffering within the Christian walk. What can we expect from a religion that takes its inspiration from a crucified Lord, and that began when the Creator decided to deal with human suffering by entering it Himself?
‘Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God’
Ignatius of Antioch (c.117)
‘Without our suffering, our work would just be social work, very good and helpful, but not the work of Jesus Christ, not part of the Redemption.’
Mother Theresa (1975)
‘To journey for the sake of saving our own lives is little by little to cease to live in any real sense that matters’
Fred Buechner (1982)
There is nothing to compare to the first time of holding your grandchild. I will never forget the love that flowed and the depth of love for my child for giving me such a gift! We thank God everyday for our two wonderful grand daughters. It is the sweet sound of music to our ears to hear them run in the house, calling our names and wanting a hug. We soar.
And you will too. You can even obsess, because any grandparent will relate and anyone not a grandparent wants to understand and is jealous for that time. So go ahead and obsess with pics and notes and any way you want to share with others your great joy.
We are praying for good health for all. Revel in the excitement!
Congratulations ahead of time to you and Diane on the arrival of your little piece of heaven. Look forward to the pictures. Wasn’t it just yesterday we were shooting hoops and walking to class? We blinked and a generation has unfolded. Look forward to seeing you at Pepperdine.
I don’t know why I am surprised at the suffering…sometimes it seems to be the only thing that is consistent. Why should I think myself exempt from it? That temptation to “feel as if we’ve gone down the wrong road” is around every corner. The joy that catches me by surprise happens in the love from my husband, the laughter of a friend, and the prayers of my community.
Also, SWC in Houston is looking forward to baby Cope’s arrival. Jenna says “Beth, if I touch you, you’ll get it! It’s catching!” Ha ha.
My grandparent advice, Mike, would be to read to her and buy her lots of books! Make that something special you do from a very young age to instill in her the love of reading, beginning and ending with Bible story books and the Bible as the source of not only good stories, but THE book to go to for answers in life.
And have something special at your house that she doesn’t have at home that she looks forward to every time she comes to visit. We have a couple of things here at home. One is a gracefully crafted hinged wooden sea gull that is suspended from unseen fishing line from the ceiling that gently floats and flies in the air when a string below it is pulled. All of our grandkids and visiting children love to be lifted up and held so that they can “gently, be gentle” pull the string to make the bird fly.
The other thing we have is a small basket of toys that they all love to get out to play with each and every time they come over. They know where we keep it and want to go get it out each time while they are here and then they know to pick up all of the toys and plastic blocks and letters and put them back in the basket and put them away.
Those are two things they know and remember always about coming to “Grandma Dee’s” house to visit with Grandma Dee & Tom (always “Tom” - no grandpa or other title - just Tom!)
Cheers & Blessings to you and your family today and especially in the birth of a child! Dee
P. S. We are “expecting” a new baby granddaughter any day now, too, so really share in your excitement and obsession. My daughter-in-law, Lynn, has had a very high risk pregnancy, so please pray for her if you will that the baby will be healthy and that delivery will go well for Lynn and the baby. Giving birth is still a very fragile endeavor many times and in solely in the hands of God.
Yep, take a book to the hospital and read it to her there. Always have a book basket just for her at your house. Buy all the Kevin Henkes children’s books! And of course buy the “I’ll love you for forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be” book. The official title is “Love you forever”.
Obsess already, we are all waiting!
Mike-
Being a grandfather is rich. It’s so much more than spoiling them a little and handing them back to their parents. That baby will be yours, and not yours, so you will have a chance to look objectively at parenting. I remember the concern and responsibility was so sobering when I first became a father, wanting to do the right things and having all the first-time jitters, being smack in the middle of starting a new job, making house payments, trying to figure out what marriage was all about, you name it. All that is gone now and I am free to concentrate on love, and little else. It is liberating to love, with the opportunity to show your granddaughter a piece of who Jesus is by your love, unencumbered by the worries new parents will almost always face. What a blessing to introduce her to the personality of our Lord through your love. That, my friend, is worthy of obsession, because it should be our true identity. Unencumbered love.
Nouwen has been such an incredible influence on my life through his writings. Thanks for sharing those quotations.
Nouwen is awesome. Everything he writes leads me to new concepts about the Jesus-style.
Regarding your granddaughter…..buy her a pedal car….for Easter! You gotta get her something for Easter and the other Crappaw will get her an outfit. Duh? Get her a car….and she’ll like you best!
Enjoy being a grandfather. It is great ! I understnd the exciting expectation. Our third grandson was born last Thursday. What a wonderful experience. A new born child reminds us of the freshness of innocence and the wonder of God and His power.
Mike,
A new joy is about to enter your lives, one like no other. It will spin your hearts around and leave them soft as cotten candy. Grandparent joy is like no other. It’s not explainable. It must be experienced.
A good thing to do: Since the time my grands started talking, I’ve kept a file of their cute sayings, questions, and antics with dates for each. Oh, I love the wisdom of these-fresh-from God creations and their perspectives about life. You can even share these at a later date with your grandchild.
One of my favorites is when my daughter phoned early one Sunday morning and asked, “Do you think it’s okay for Adam to go to church with his spurs on?”
Grandma Cathy’s answer, “You betcha.”
Abundant joy not to mention sermon material is on the way through this sweet baby granddaughter.
Mike all of the advice you have received today is good. The joy of grandchildren is beyond compare. It is fun to have them run to you with those glowing joyfilled faces and outstretched arms. Then when they leap into your arms and wrap their little hand behind you neck to place a wet slobbery kiss on you cheek and squeeze with all their might you just can’t find any thing like the feeling you get.
However their is another side of grandparenting.
The kids will love you no matter what you do but the Mommie may have some issues with those half dozen cookies you gave her an hour before she went home. Or the king sized hershey bar just before bed time.
In the style of a famous teacher :
You have heard it said, “it is the grandparents job to spoil the grandchildren and send them home.” but I say to you watch out!because in accordance with another famous saying ” what goes around comes around” and you never know when Matt is going to ask you to keep them for the weekend so he can spend some quality time with Jenna.
Two things:
First, I’m glad my name isn’t Orlanda! Second, what name did the future new grandpa decide to go with?!
Seen on an airbrushed t-shirt in Gatlinburg, Tennessee:
“If I had known grandchildren would be so much fun, I’d have had them first!”
I don’t even know if that’s possible.
You’ll be a great grandpa just being you! Of course, the gifts won’t hurt either. Girls like sparkles and glitter, you know. Can’t wait to “meet” her and see some pics!
Obsess and gloat away, it was this time two years ago that we anxiously awaited the arrival of our granddaughter.
Laughter and giggles are in store, and the first time she calls you by name and holds your hand, it is a slice of heaven on earth.
Excited for you and Diane, nothing will compare!
1) Wait until she’s about two. Invite her to spend the night.
2) Around ten p.m., break out the chocolate milk. Give her about a gallon of it.
3) She’ll be up until 3 a.m.
4) When Matt and Jenna come to get her the next day, say you don’t know what in the world happened, but little Copette would NOT go to sleep the night before. Complain about how tired you are.
My parents did this over and over with Julia and I don’t think they ever figured out the possible connection with the chocolate milk. And my mom was a preschool director and early childhood expert at the time.
Have fun!
Your granddaughter! Wow! That is a word I don’t thinK I have ever associated with you and Diane, but I am so excited for you all! My Mom says the only thng more wonderful than the holding your sweet baby in your arms is holding your babie’s sweet baby in your arms! I can’t wait to hear all about her! She is gonna be a blog star no matter how hard you try to down play it, so don’t try!:)
Explanation of the comment by Nancy above.
I wanted another brother. Had one brother and one sister. The fourth child was on the way, and I was counting on a second brother.
And I wanted him to be named Orlando — for my favorite baseball player at the time, Orlando Cepeda.
When he turned out to be a she, I — according to the family story that lives on — apparently asked if we could name her Orlanda. Unfortunately for me (at the time), the name was rejected. Nancy was chosen.
Baby Cope will be one lucky girl! My prayers are with all four grandparents as you await and anticipate her arrival. When you see Matt and Jenna give them each a hug from me. If you forget that is OK too! Cogratulations!
Great post! Nouwen is great. God’s strength is perfected in our weakness. He will strip away what we depend on so we will learn to depend on him.
Amen.
We have a neat tradition with our 9 grandchildren. I put their photo ornaments on our “grandchildren” Christmas tree every year–one photo ornament for each child for each year that they have blessed our family. Our oldest grandson is thirteen, so we are accumulating a lot of precious memories. The grandkids love looking at their pictures. Also, it reminds us of how truly blessed we are.
Maybe Matt and Jenna will go for Orlanda?