A Broken Heart and a Grief Stricken Question

Do you ever ask yourself, “If I had been there, what would I have done?”

For a few moments, write yourself into The Story on that early Easter morning. No Starbucks, no Egg McMuffin, no breakfast bar. Just a broken heart and a grief stricken question: “Who will roll away the stone?”

What we know:

It was early, very early, just after sunrise, and three women faced a challenging, emotional task. Someone dear to them died the day before, and they took it upon themselves to anoint the Body for a proper burial. Since two of them stood with the owner of the tomb the previous evening, they knew the location. Staring at a problem of gigantic proportion, they asked themselves the question, “Who will roll away the stone?”

What we don’t know:

• Who first raised the question? Was it Mary Magdalene, or Mary the mother of James, or was it Salome?

• Why had they not thought of this before now?

• Was the question one of worry and anxiety or just a concern for the obstacle?

What they discovered:

Their ordinary question received an extraordinary answer! When they looked up, the stone was rolled away and the empty tomb confirmed the resurrection!

As the Scriptures record:

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed, he said. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen!” (Mark 16:1-6).

Our place in the Story:

In our life journey, like the ladies, we grapple with the obstacle: “Who will roll away the stone?”

In our finances, in our family, in our future?

In our habits, in our hearts, in our hopelessness?

Yet when we look up—like Mary, Mary, and Salome—we discover that God, in His glorious faithfulness, has already rolled away the stone. Just when needed, His grace for the moment is greater than the stone, regardless of its size.

But there is more:

God always longs to accomplish a greater miracle than just rolling away the stone. In our finances, in our family, in our future, in our habits, in our hearts, and in our hopelessness, He desires to display the Resurrection of His Son!

Dear One, may this be the most meaningful Easter you have ever experienced, and may you and I pray together: Father, as I write myself into this Easter Story, I ask You to roll away the stone in every crack and crevice of my life, and reveal the glorious Resurrection of Jesus, my Lord and my God.

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

1. How would you have felt if you were walking with the women on that early morning, just after sunrise?

2. What would your concerns have been? Would you have been worried and anxious?

3. Where do you need God to roll away the stone in your current circumstances?

4. What would it look like not only for the stone to be removed, but for the Resurrection to be displayed in that situation?

3 #'s for Productivity

Productivity commands a high priority in our overcrowded lives. None of us is lazy, and yet too often, productivity eludes us. And, we feel like the math is against us—execute more, accomplish more, produce more, volunteer more. More, more, more, with less, less, less time … If you find yourself struggling at the end of the day to come up for air read on.

Three of my favorite hacks offer a simple pathway forward, and promise to bolster productivity.

#Usea3x5card

This simple card looks like a dinosaur in today’s sophisticated society. However, such an uncomplicated method of making a list gives clarity and removes the cumbersome. A few simple guidelines work:

• Pray for God’s wisdom

• Itemize, starting with the must-do category

• Move to the want-to-do category

At the end of the day, thank God for the accomplishments, and celebrate. A celebration includes checking off the items completed and tossing the used card into the trash. Then, a fresh white card and a new list prepare one for the next day.

Levenger produces a lovely leather purse-pocket briefcase which holds these time-tested cards and offers professionalism to the procedure. With careful watch, you can purchase one on sale.

#Takechargeofyouriphone

My phone is a companion I treat with respect, but honestly, it holds the power to be a gargantuan distraction. When my productivity is at risk, a disciplined plan is needed.

Suggestions:

Silence beeps, buzzes, and bulletins (even ESPN sports scores, Debby)

Strategically place the device in a different room or desk drawer

Send calls to voicemail, and courteously check at appropriate intervals

Use the do not disturb setting to allow incoming calls for family needs

#Fixyourfocus

Focus on the task at hand. Modern thought entices us to believe that multitasking is the way (only way?) to operate. But it is not efficient. Not all that gets done, gets done well when too many fires simultaneous mandate our attention.

An intriguing insight describes the late Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A: “Truett has a tremendous ability to focus. He is not easily distracted. It doesn’t matter what it is … He focuses on whatever he’s thinking about.”*

S. Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant in 1946. One restaurant and one idea led to the nearly 3 billion dollar sales in today’s nationwide restaurants.

#ThankyouMrCathy. Thank you for demonstrating the powerful potential for a fixed focus.

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

Teach us to number our days and present a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).

1. How do you access your current level of productivity?

2. Which of the 3 #’s offers encouragement to you?

3. What is your most valuable # for productivity to share with other readers?

* Note: How Did You Do It, Truett? p. 14, Jimmy Collins

God Met Me on A Gurney

“To jest chłopak!” (It is a boy!) With that declaration our son, David Lawrence Thompson, Jr. entered the world, April 6, 1979, a hearty 9 pounds, 14 1/2 ounces.

Today, in preparing for his upcoming 40th birthday, I reflect. Vividly, I remember the details …

Lying on the cold, hard gurney, I took in my surroundings. The long windows revealed an early, cold spring morning outside. Around me, women struggled in various stages of the birthing process, some shielded behind curtains, some not. The entire scene felt like something out of a black and white World War II movie. But this was not a movie. I was behind the Iron Curtain in the birthing ward of a Communist hospital in Warsaw, Poland.

The language, the equipment, the smells, the sounds, even the dress of the attending medical staff, seemed foreign. Only the birth experience itself—and the nearness my husband—felt familiar.

Much too soon, Larry needed to leave. Our little girl waited across town for her Daddy to come home. As soon as possible, he would return to the hospital bringing food and toilet paper, since critical national shortages left hospitals unable to provide basic supplies for patients.

His absence accentuated my isolation. A Sister, the Polish nurse, came by my gurney and asked if I would like a cup of tea. Tea? Keenly aware of how terribly much I missed my mother, the hot beverage would be soothing.

While I waited for the tea—feeling desperately alone on the gurney and having just given birth in a land so far from my own—my thoughts floated back over the previous few weeks.

Arduously, we searched for a Polish doctor who would allow one’s husband to be present in the delivery room. Such an outlandish request in the Communist medical system mandated special permission. Crisscrossing the city, we met with doctor after doctor, hoping to find someone to agree. Each appointment left us still lacking the much-sought-after permission.

Finally, six short weeks before my due date, we unearthed a Professor Doctor who reluctantly granted the desperately needed approval. Though he was not even present (and a midwife served beside the attending physician) this Professor Doctor later took full credit for the successful delivery!

But what is the backstory here? Why would any woman want to add childbirth to her repertoire of cross-cultural experiences?

My bedrock answer: the will of God. Larry’s marriage proposal, “Will you go with me in helping to reach the world for Christ?” set the trajectory of our lives. My answer, yes, was both to God and to him. Now, a ramification of that answer found me as a missionary, living undercover at the height of the Cold War, alone on a cold gurney in a Communist hospital.

A host of factors led to our prayer-saturated decision for where to give birth. We had a young 3-year-old daughter to consider, and Warsaw was our home. Furthermore, I objected to the idea of having a baby while living transient and out of a suitcase. Desperately, I longed to bring our baby home from the hospital to our home, and to the modest nursery we worked hard to prepare for him.

And we did. Forty years ago.

Fast forward to 2007 …

“What in the world were you thinking?!”

My son had just become a father, and the story of his own birth surfaced as the topic of our conversation. And his question—what in the world were you thinking—took me back to the circumstances of 1979, to the hospital, to gurney, and to an unexpected encounter with God.

In my aloneness, and with tears streaming down my cheeks, I suddenly became overwhelmed with the Presence of God. His nearness enveloped me, and my gurney became a place of worship. No, I was NOT alone! My Savior stood right beside me. I was in the center of His will, and He was in my midst. Indeed, everything He said was true.

“If I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your Hand will guide me” (Psalm 139:9-10).

He did.

“My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest”(Exodus 33:14).

He did.

“In Thy presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11).

… even on a gurney.

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

Where has your own gurney become a place of worship?

How did the Presence and faithfulness of God transform your circumstances?