God is the template

            Comforting, encouraging words and phrases surrounded and permeated me as I looked up Bible verses about God’s goodness and how he expresses it and how we experience it.

mercy, compassion, refuge, unfailing love

upright, forgiving, caring, providing

teacher, guide

            Good has become a weak word in English vocabulary, almost as scrawny as nice or fine. How’s your hamburger? Good…but I wish it were a T-bone steak. How are you feeling? Good…except for my intermittently throbbing ankle. How was the writers’ conference? Good…but I didn’t connect with a publisher who wants to give me a $100,000 advance.

            The way I hear good being used, it generally means not horrible.

            When the biblical authors wrote about God using good and goodness, they meant, “God loves you so overwhelmingly much that he wants to provide everything you need and tenderly care for you forever.”

            If there had been punctuation in biblical times, they would have added a kazillion exclamation points.

            God told Moses, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD [YHWH], in your presence.” (Exodus 33:19, NIV) Then when God caused his goodness to pass in front of Moses, God spoke these words, “The Lord, the Lord [YHWH, YHWH], the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” (Exodus 34:6 – 7, NIV)

            This is one of many places where God says, “This is what my goodness is all about.”

            So I’m reading along, basking in the goodness, when I run smack into Mark 10:18, with Jesus responding to someone who respectfully called him good. “Why do you call me good?…No one is good—except God alone.”

            Here’s what hit me alongside the head this morning:

            God is the template for goodness. If I want to be good—and I do, and scripture commands it—God’s character and behavior created the model. I (and I suspect many other Christians) tend to define goodness in terms of keeping the rules, not sinning any of the big ones. But God expands the definition of goodness, and his word catalogs its features in hundreds of passages.

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children. Ephesians 5:1, NIV

What’s in your locker?

            Our school secretary sent an email to our school families, listing all the lost possessions she discovered in the locker rooms. I can’t make this stuff up or improve on it. However, I am highlighting my favorite entries. And adding remarks in brackets where I can.

FROM THE GIRLS' LOCKER ROOM:
1 (YES, ONE!) black sandal - for the left foot, size 6.5; has zipper at the heel
1 soft winter hat-white, light blue, shades of pink striped
1 very ugly towel - it may have been pink at one time
1 water bottle - with lime green lid- still has water in it - I'm not cleaning it [Maybe the lid was white before the mold multiplied.]
1 pair of short shorts fuchsia with neon orange trim and black undershorts attached [Just burn it! It violates dress code.]
2 belts; 1 white, thin; 1 wide, felt brown with aqua stones on buckle
1 silver-ish hair clip
1 navy blue Dodgers baseball cap
1 gander mountain baseball cap - camo & pink
1 pair pink sweat "Imagine" pants [I’m trying to imagine whose they are.]
1 black t-shirt with midnight blue sparkle stars
1 bright green Walk for Life t-shirt
1 extremely sheer floral top [Just burn it! It violates dress code.]
1 pair Hollister jeans size 0 - waist 24
1 pair Jordache jeans size 14
1 purple/white/silver check shirt with grey flannel inserts at both sides
1 nylon "Josh Biddle" drawstring tote bag with "stuff" inside [Who is Josh Biddle?]
1 nylon Susquehanna Health drawstring tote bag with "stuff" inside [What kind of stuff?]
1 pair of size 8 Basics sneakers - pink blue and black
1 jewelry shop Christmas village-type figurine
1 pair women's small mesh red gym shorts
1 pair of Tweety Bird pajama pants [Did the owner come to school in pajamas and get dressed in the locker room?]
Mr. W.'s "bird" CD - don't worry - I'll see that he gets it! [See that you do!]


FROM THE GUYS' LOCKER ROOM
several pieces of sports uniforms that were never returned - I'll take care of these - no worries
1 extra ugly and dirty towel - I think it was the "community" towel [Ewww]
1 Honduras wrist band
1 2XL black mesh gym shorts
1 track & field nylon drawstring tote bag
1 pair cargo-type shorts - men's 32 waist - Faded Glory
1 blue/black/green/white plain short sleeved collared shirt - size 14-16
1 pair beige Land's End cargo pants with elastic waist
1 black, white, yellow, turquoise plaid short sleeved collared shirt - men's small?
1 plaid short sleeved collared shirt-same colors as above - size 14-16
1 pair dark blue Land's End elastic waist pants - "Lucas" written inside [Hmm. I think I might know who these belong to.]
2 men's ties - 1 silver-grey     1 blue white black kind of checked
1 dirty inside out stiff white sock [I hope you washed your hands after this inventory.]

[Students:  Next year, will you please abandon clothing and other possessions that I can actually wear? What was the size of the Tweety Bird pajama pants?]

In the good ole summertime

            You know that feeling when you step off the roller coaster? When you stumble about, disoriented, because all that whipping around sharp corners and plunging down steep hills has suddenly stopped?

            Yeah, me neither, because the last coaster I rode was the Runaway Mine Train at Six Flags Over Texas, sometime between 1975 and 1978. Why choose to be terrified? Life is scary enough.

            However, I have experienced a disoriented feeling after I dismount my carousel horse at Knoebel’s. I’ve been going round and round and up and down while my ears are assaulted with loud calliope music. I can hardly walk a straight line.

            (When was the last time you read anything with the word calliope in it? You’re welcome.)

            So that’s my metaphor of choice for this teacher (and I wager many others) after the end of the school year. Now that the terrain has ceased twirling and the clamor has quieted, what’s next? Do I get on another ride? Sit on a bench? Buy a funnel cake?

            Past summers since my teaching ministry—I’d call it a career, but they’d have to pay me more—began in 1999, have had themes of rest, recovery, gadding about with other exuberant educators, and eating lunch out, which, technically, can be including in gadding about.

            (That past sentence/paragraph is why they call me the Comma Queen.)

            And I have to do something, anything, to my neglected house every summer.

            But this summer presents a challenge I’ve not experienced before. It falls into the be-careful-what-you-pray-for category. This summer I must begin writing to fulfill a contract for two sequels to Surviving Meemaw. And I must begin writing to fulfill another contract for eight biblical short stories.

            The opportunity I’ve prayed for and dreamed about waits expectantly for me to engage, as TNG’s Captain Picard would say.

            Lord, teach me to number the minutes, hours, days, and weeks in my summer, that I may gain a heart of wisdom. (adapted from Psalm 90:12)