For the last 23 years, seven months and nine days I have been the primary caregiver for at least one . . . at times three . . . for a couple of years two . . . other human beings (not including the husband, guinea pig, cats, dogs, and short-term goldfish that have also been part of the mix:-) While the years of full-time mothering have been exhilarating and incredibly fulfilling, this season of life ended for me last week when we moved our youngest daughter into her college dorm room.

The last few quiet days at home since our nest emptied have caused me to ponder some really important things . . . and realize a very troubling fact: at some point along the way, I stopped washing my face regularly each night. Please don’t think I’m awful. I absolutely love a tingling, clean face, and I would wash mine the next morning—just not always at night before going to sleep as I had done before the kids were born. More often than not during recent years I would find myself working late on some seemingly urgent, imperative project, and some nights I’d do well just to get my head upstairs and onto my pillow before the alarm clock signaled the beginning of the next day! Somehow face washing took a back seat to balancing the checkbook, paying the bills, helping with homework, planning for choir boosters, late night talks with the kids, and other genuinely important things.

In much the same way, it is easy to allow the interesting and often intriguing topics of secondary issues related to faith to replace the important, soul-cleansing basics that wash away the world’s dirt and grime.  Conversations about theology and how our faith should play out in the “real world” can certainly be valuable, but our convictions are shaky at best if they aren’t built upon basic, foundational truths.

Lately, I’ve become increasingly aware of the fact that one of the most important basic building blocks of Christian faith is a fundamental belief in the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible. Without trusting God’s sovereign ability to guard and protect His Word from error, human beings elevate themselves above the Divine instead of living under God’s authority. That’s a dangerous place to think oneself to be.

Consider these verses from the Bible:

“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”  Psalm 19:7

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof,  for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”   2 Timothy 3:16-17

“. . .knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21

Just as Jesus–the Word–was both fully human and fully divine, so, too is the Bible–the Word of God–fully human and fully divine. Scripture was written down by human hands while being fully inspired and kept from error by the Divine hand of God Himself.   This, my dear friends, seems to be a basic premise of the Christian faith. Without a belief in the perfection of God’s Word, the enemy has an easy opening for perverting truth. This has been his strategy from the beginning of time when the serpent questioned Eve, “Did God really say that?” (Genesis 3:1) and then proposed his own plan.  May we not be guilty of falling prey to the devil’s scheme.

And so, will you join me in getting back to the basics? It’s time to begin washing my face again each night; maybe you need to do the same (although I’m guessing I’m in the minority here!) In the same way, as much as possible I plan to wash my hands of secondary, divisive doctrinal issues, and focus instead on the important, everlasting truth of God’s Word.

“But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.” Titus 3:9

 

Almighty God,

How can I keep my way pure?  By guarding it according to your word.

Help me seek you with my whole heart;

let me not wander from your commands.

Help me store your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes, and I will delight in them.

I will fix my eyes on you.   I will not forget your word.

Amen

Today was the first day of school for many students in our area, and for the first time in 17 years I didn’t have a child starting school. No first-day-of-school outfits. No first-day-of-school special lunches.  No first-day-of-school pictures with new teachers.  No first-day-of-school reports (or interrogations, as my children might call them:-) at the end of the day.

Like the many moms and dads bemoaning the fact that summer is over, I, too, sense the transitioning from one season into another, but on an even larger scale.  Summer was the season of having my children with me in our home.  Now that the last of our children has graduated high school, that season is over for our family.   Summer was so much fun—the season of life full of laughter and adventures together with my kiddos. But, just as it did between school years, summer must eventually make way for fall.

Fall’s not so bad, though. In fact, fall is fun, too, just in a different kind of way. Fall has always been full of new beginnings, learning new things, discovering classrooms and teachers, settling into new routines. It’s no different now, except this time, I’ll be the student instead of my children.

What does the Great Teacher have in store for me as the summer of life comes to an end and fall begins? What new subjects does He have for me to learn? What new projects will there be to complete? Will I pass the tests to come? Will I embrace this new season, or miss the joy ahead because I’m too obsessed with trying to hold onto summer?

God of every season, grant me grace to do Thy will,

          to embrace this crisp new season, to live fully even still.

          Thank you for the summer, for the time with children home,

          Help me enter Fall with boldness and find peace in you alone.