Changing My Mind

(Sorry this is a long one! If you don't want to read it, but want to see a great picture, scroll down to the bottom and click on the last link about the squirrel!)

I’d like to think that I’m always open to the Lord changing my way of thinking about things. If I’m honest, though, I know that a statement like that probably isn’t true – I’m not sure I’m truly 100% open to anything all the time. I do have a bit of a stubborn streak. It runs in the family (but don’t ask us about it, we’ll just vehemently deny it). I can at least admit, however, that I should be open to learning new things about “old” stuff from Him.

It seems like lately He’s been in a mode (of sorts – I’m not entirely sure that God has “modes”) of revamping how I look at things, and I’m starting to like it. Take quiet times, for instance. I’ve always thought that a quiet time consisted of sitting down in a quiet place (hence the name), alone with the Lord reading His word and praying to Him. Sure, sometimes for me it also involves reading a devotional or doing some kind of study, but for the most part a “quiet time” has generally had a very distinct flavor about it. Until the other night, of course.

I love going to MSNBC.com and looking at The Week In Pictures slideshow. I don’t know, maybe it’s just a lazy way of catching up on the news, but I’ve always had an appreciation for un-staged photography. There’s something just so fascinating and real about pausing a completely unpredictable moment and getting to analyze every little detail about that split second moment. I could look at pictures like the ones they post in that slideshow for hours – and I have spent many days in the past doing just that.

Well I hadn’t been on MSNBC in a while, so I thought I’d check it out the other night. Shane was studying for a lesson and the boys were already in bed, so why not, right? I mean, I had lesson plans to make too, but why do that when you can mindlessly browse photography from around the world? So I dived in, never once expecting that the next 45 minutes or so would be a profound conversation with Jesus.

It started out slowly, as almost knee-jerk reactions to landscape and nature shots.

Boy, Papa, that sure is pretty. Wow – thank you for sunrises and snow. That’s the funniest picture of a squirrel I’ve ever seen in my life!!

But it soon changed to something much deeper.

A shot of a dozen or more babies sleeping on the same mat in an orphanage in the Congo, their parents torn from them and lost in a ridiculous civil war. Oh Father, please comfort them.

An aerial few of hundreds of baby chicks left to starve as part of a planned solution to prevent the avian flu. This is Your creation and I’m not sure we’re doing a great job of taking care of it.

The face of a beautiful young woman lying dead on the shore of a land that someone decided she didn’t belong in. Oh Papa, I’m so sorry. Your daughter was beautiful, and I know you love her.

Images of Jewish settlers in Israel being forcefully evicted from their homes by police in full riot gear. Lord! Your people! Your treasured possession – how your heart must break for them and long for them to once again gather under your wing.

I was having a deep, intimate time of communion with our Lord over pictures and the news. It seemed surreal. Someone else was in the room just feet away, I didn’t have a Bible anywhere near me, the pictures weren’t anything you’d see in a stained glass wall at church, there weren’t any worship songs playing or formal prayers being said – it was just a time of sharing in smiles and heartaches with the Lord.

And then it got personal.

First I saw this picture. A woman in New York completely unable to cram herself in her car on Black Friday because of all the toys she and the person I assumed was driving the car (you couldn’t see that far into the car for all the bags and boxes) had bought at Toys R Us.

Then I saw this one. The wide, innocent eyes of a young boy in the Congo staring at the camera, one hand holding a pile of flour and the other desperately scraping more out of the gravel and dirt. His beautiful, dark face splashed with the white dust of his treasured meal. A treasured meal. Flour scraped out of the dirt. I was stunned.

Immediately I thought of the three bags of flour I had in my own pantry, two of which I’m going to have to throw out because they are past date. He would be overwhelmed to have those stale remains. Then I thought of the contrast of the picture of the lady in New York. He’s eating dirty, raw flour, and we are drowning in a wealth of toys and presents we don’t even need this Christmas.

I spent some time that evening just standing in front of our pantry looking at all the excess we have stored up in there. I wished I could find that little boy and just give him the whole thing. I wished I could bring him and his family to live with us in a place where people throw out stuff every day that they are literally dying to have. I decided that we would at least honor him by living out of our pantry for the next few weeks when it’s just our family in the house. Why do we need more than what we already have?

Believe it or not, I’m not through with this post. I’ve learned more than I have room for here or you have patience to read, I’m sure. And God’s still working on me – those images still marinating in my brain. Just this morning He taught me something new along these line in His Word, bringing new light to a verse that has been a personal favorite for about 14 years. But it will have to wait until next time.

I hope you have a great Christmas if I don’t get to write again before that time. Remember why we’re celebrating, and Who it is all about.

And if you really do want to see the funniest picture of a squirrel I’ve ever seen in my life, click here.