The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

 I'm not often speechless after finishing a book.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a fable by John Boyne, published by David Fickling Books (an imprint of Random House Children's Books) is not a book for children. It's a book, however, that every adult should read so that books like this don't need to be written.

I highly recommend it. 

Bruno, a young boy, lives in Nazi Germany during World War II. His family is relocated due to his father's promotion to "Out-With"--a countryside (occupied Poland). Bruno misses his friends and the huge house he used to live in until he meets the boy in the striped pajamas who lives behind a fence line that he can see from his bedroom window. 

And they lived happily ever after is not part of the ending. Who is to blame for such a sad story? Bruno's mother had a gut feeling before their move to "Out-With"-- her decision to return to Berlin with her children came too late. Could she have been stronger? More courageous? Was the father too full of himself not to see the evil seeds of destruction that were being planted (on both big and small scales)? Can we simply blame "The Fury"? --or is this the easy way out for not taking personal responsibility for acting like a human being?

It's get complicated like much of life. There's innocence and ignorance--from everyone in the story. Everyone....

What do we learn?

When do we learn it?

There are ten commandments in the Bible. Most don't know what they are. Actually, if you remember two, you've pretty much covered everything: 

Love God. Love your fellow man.

If only we would....

The Podcast Experience, Butterflies, and no do-overs....

Earlier she had emailed me, writing, "Don't be nervous." 

The day came, a few butterflies landed inside me as I drove to the local library where I had reserved a room for a quiet environment. I taped a sign on the door, "Do not disturb. Taping ...," locked it, and waited for a call from Suzanne Harris, web talk radio host. The cell phone rang right at 10, and we were laughing within seconds. The butterflies found other landing spots. I felt like we were chatting--new friends-- over a cup of coffee. 

I had my papers in front of me: thoughts concerning the story-behind-the story, the notes on the book Thou Shalt Not, and, of course, the book, in case I wanted to read something from it. My cup of English Toffee coffee from Kwik Trip was within reach along with a cough drop.

We both cleared our throats, she punched the recording button, and started the podcast. Oh my goodness, light-hearted music, and then Susanne with Welcome to books on air, the podcast you won't want to miss. I'm Suzanne Harris and today you're going to get a sneak peak about what it's like to be an author...." Hmmm...would I be able to come through and make it all interesting to someone? Anyone?

It all seemed to go nicely until the last question when the butterflies returned with all their cousins. Suzanne's last question, When the reader finishes, do you just want them to feel entertained or is there something else you want them to take away from the book? I hesitated, and then said something like, "That's big. That's really big. That's maybe even vast." Vast? I never used the word... Where do I go from here, I thought, while my mind was asking me the question, "Is there such a thing as a do-over for a particular question..." 

I started with There's a lot to figure out about life..... what happened way back then still plays out in our lives today and I used the words fascinating...a purpose.... a part of something bigger than anything you have imagined.

After the interview, Suzanne told me she would let me know when the podcast would air, and we said our goodbyes. I lamented over the fact that my last answer was so random that no one would "get it"... And, maybe, if I would listen to it, I wouldn't even get it.

She gave me a chance to witness my faith. And, I never mentioned God. Hopefully, the something bigger and better than we can even imagine hints at God-- so that the listener may think about the possibilities of hope and a future with a loving God no matter the life journey taken. 

https://webtalkradio.net/internet-talk-radio/2021/08/27/thou-shalt-not-by-kathleen-stauffer/

From now on, when I see the book, Thou Shalt Not, I will remember to Thou shalt not miss an opportunity to witness my faith. God has assured me that he works through us--no matter our failings. Amen and thank you Suzanne for the opportunity.

Click on the above webtalkradio site to listen in.

 

My Ideal Home

 I grew up in an older farmhouse--the same house my dad spent time in with his parents and some of his siblings. The basement was damp with spiders and the occasional mouse. The upstairs bedroom windows leaked frost in winter. The linoleum floors were cracked in places. The various steps throughout the house informed any other occupant of another's whereabouts. However, I never desired a newer, more modern house. It was home. 

Several years ago, it was burned to the ground and buried. Where it once stood, grass was seeded--in the dirt and dust where a family had thrived. I can't help but imagine that tiny particles of a past no longer seen are there. In the new living things, in the air, lingering in the grove surrounding.

My husband and I have moved a number of times. Each time, I nested, made it a warm, secure place for our family--from a rental on the other side of the tracks to a Victorian with a wrap-around porch to a one story ranch painted orange to a Spanish style house on an acreage with horses surrounded by fields of corn and beans. Scrapbooks filled with photos help me recall and relive hard times, good times, precious memories. A passage of time seemingly in a capsule of some sort. 

Today, our home is a walk-out ranch in a quiet neighborhood. Last night, I watched a deer walk within 25 feet of me as the tree tips whispered of things above. Bunny rabbit watched and then hopped another direction. Chickens nibbled seeds from grass tips in the side yard.

Home? Yes....

However, there's another home I'd d like to build. It would be an exact replica of that old farmhouse placed on the homestead where I grew up. Although it no longer exists, it's where my roots are. My beginning perspectives, moral fiber, way of thinking all originated here. I'd like to go back to this place where it all began and reflect, gather serenity...

Ultimately, when it's all over and done, there is yet another incomprehensible ideal home. It's called heaven and it's already promised by the God who created you and me in His image. However, I imagine this to be, I have a promise that it will exceed my expectations.

In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:2

As my good friend from Chili often signs off her emails.

Believe and Dream

Amen.

My Purpose or X Marks the Spot

 I left the house one summer night to escape the summer heat build-up that impacted an aging farmhouse--leaving behind five brothers and two work-weary parents, each mesmerized by whatever appeared on the black and white tv in our living room. Once outside, I heard the hogs banging their snouts on their feeders; the windmill moaned high above them. A few cows turned to look at me as they swished their tails--ubiquitous flies in pursuit.

A breeze sifting through grove trees surrounding the farmstead beckoned, and I headed down the lane that connected our home to the main gravel road that led to our neighbors' and the little town beyond. It grew darker as I took one step after another enjoying the cool night air, the quiet, the peace until I reached the end. Instead of heading back, I plopped myself into a soft grassy spot in the ditch, placed my hands behind my head and took in the stars and planets. Awesome was an understatement. Why had I never noticed this before?!

A flurry picked up the tips of my hair; I breathed in and out; I felt my heart beat. Silence. And, then a voice, surrounding me:  I HAVE SOMETHING PLANNED FOR YOU. AND, IT'S BIG.

God?

I stood, looked around, wanted more. I started home; Mom would be worried. I danced a little, skipped, kept glancing at the sky. What did it mean? Would I be a missionary? Would I fly to foreign nations to do.... what?

I slept with my head next to the window sill that night--keeping it all to myself. After all, who would believe that God spoke to me?

Time passed; it doesn't fail us in that respect. High school graduation, college in another state; a teaching job; marriage; children; retirement--not to mention all the ups and downs, roller coaster rides, near-cliff experiences, joys, mysteries, miseries that happen in everyone's life. Often, I wondered What is this big plan, dear God? Please, just write it across the sky, dear God, and then send a thunder bang so I'll look up and notice it. What am I not getting? What am I missing that you want me to see?

Well, in March of 2020, COVID-19 arrived along with physical distancing and a different way of living and thinking. An opportunity to join a zoom Bible study group came along, and I said "yes." Without sharing all the wonderful enlightening thoughts I studied during this Genesis study, the ah-ha moment came in one particular lesson when asked: What is the purpose of your life?  

And, I thought, finally, the answer! According to the lesson: My purpose is to know God, love Him, enjoy Him, and glorify Him. We are to glorify God in whatever He calls us to do. Looking back, I realize that my life has been big, and that, yes, it was intimately planned for me by my Creator King. In other words, X marks the spot for each of us. I'm living in this world at this time in history, in my particular community, a part of a family God planned for me with all its ups and downs, joys, concerns, struggles. 

Robert Louis Stevenson first used "X Marks the Spot" in Treasure Island where X marked the location on a map where buried treasure lay. Wherever you are in your life, there is treasure--because God put you there to do His work. Can't do it? Our life goals will always be too small until we understand God made us for Himself. And, that means you can do it; I can do it. And, that is big.

Give praise and glory!

Holy Week Thoughts

 A poem prompted by Maundy Thursday commemorating the Last Supper (Luke 22)

Ordinary Men On Their Way to Supper

Long before Passover Feast, something lingers in the air

Something mysterious, foreboding, and yet prophetic

Philip, hears, Follow Me

Andrew, James, Thomas, and Bartholomew desert their nets

Matthew, tax collector, finishes, with no misgivings

Jude leaves the fields with a sense of urgency--get to Jerusalem

James experiences grief and, yet, joy without understanding

Simon, his arguments now inconsequential, quiets, seeks out his brothers

Peter and John go into the city to seek a man carrying a water jar

A man who knows of a large upper room, already furnished

Judas, prompted by Satan, grows restless

Ordinary men, already deeply spiritual

Not knowing their feet would be washed by the promised Messiah

Not yet grasping the sacredness of shared bread and wine

Not knowing they would argue over who was the greatest

Not knowing one of them would deny his Master

Not knowing Judas would betray their Savior with a kiss

Not comprehending the magnitude of their commission

Ordinary men coming face-to-face with the Glory of God

 

 

Ready, Set, Go...

 Track is a little like life. In this sport, we know where the race starts and where the race ends. Life differs in that we know where we started, but the finish line remains a mystery.

With track, everything is laid out: the lanes, put one foot in front of the other, keep going, the finish line. No surprises here....

With life, there are no lanes painted on an all-weather track. We don't know what's around the curve or where the finish line lies. It seems to be more of a roller coaster ride--scary, adventurous, messy--to places we've never even imaged or wanted to.... Hurdles, stumbles, quicksand--and it goes on and on.

There is no end to the "ready, set, go".  A new job, another baby, a relationship challenge, a financial or health issue. There are periods of time when each morning seems a "ready, set, go."

The use of the word "go" is used many times in the Bible, from when the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you." To the verse in Matthew, "Go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Some things don't change a lot. The sport of track being one of them.
Some things in life don't change a lot. From generation to generation to generation, it's been a "ready, set, go" kind of routine.

Someday, that will all change. There will be a finish line. A permanent finish line, a glorious finish line. Knowing that, let us remember Timothy's words, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

                                         Ready, set, go...

Valentine's Day, 2021

Negative 17 my phone ap reads. The furnace runs repeatedly, its fan moans occasionally, and I wonder when it will admit it's had enough and say, forget it, I'm done. After almost a year of physically distancing, masking, etc., Valentine's Day looks like it will playout like most other days in February. 

I turn on Dr. Charles Stanley's ministry, 6:30 service, with a breakfast of raisin bran and toast on a tray on my lap, my heaviest robe enveloping me. The sermon title: "Love Lessons." Within a minute, I push pause, set my breakfast aside and locate pen and notebook. The word love always gets my attention. 💖 While a bowl of cereal grows soggy, I listen and take notes:

Love is more than an emotion; it is a commitment to another person. Love can discern true love in others (like radar). If you go through life unloved, you will have missed what life is all about. When a person truly feels love, it enables him to have three other important emotions: feelings of completeness, competent-ness, worthiness. Love is always thinking about the other person. If you're talking to someone, and they often use me, myself, I--be weary. Love gives, love is forgiving, love desires to express itself, love is patient. When you learn to love, God will change the direction of your life and you will discover life at its best. 

Want this? According to Dr. Stanley, read the Bible, talk to God. Dying on the cross was the greatest act of love. EVER. And, we who already have this, have a divine obligation to touch every generation of the love of God. DIVINE, isn't it?

Later, we bundle up and pick up carry-out lunch from a local restaurant. Steak, skewered shrimp, chicken parmesan, mashed potatoes and eat from an environmentally unfriendly Styrofoam box while we consider its impact on the planet's ecological system.

My husband's brother calls during our meal (the "gas man") from Missouri where temps are equally miserable and road ice an issue. He'd been working since 6 a.m. --delivering propane to keep houses and families warm.

After lunch, it's a good book, Mrs. Einstein; and on television, Monk, with husband David. It doesn't take chocolates, roses, candle-light--although they're all very special. Where's the love? It's in the appreciation of a cup of hot cocoa during church on u-tube, having a place to pick up excellent food just down the street, calls from family, a warm house with a complaintive furnace, worthy discussions, laughter... Someone to share it all with, ... whether this person is in the house or a phone call away or "on the radar" ....and in your heart. And, remembering, that spending time with God is at the top of the list. 

Happy Valentine's Day. 💖

Choose love. Choose divine love. 

On My Way

 2021 .... 

I am more careful than I used to be. 

Winter meant sliding on ice as a child. Now, if I see it, I toddle like a Penguin. 

Life is kind of that way, too, especially as the years pass--progressing through life with careful steps.

People speak of a new normal. We have little idea of what this will look like. With a definition of usual, typical, expected, the word may become obsolete. In other words, there may be no "normal." 

And so, we tread carefully. 

Yesterday, I came upon the "Ten Top Questions God asked in the Bible."  It's interesting how what applied in ancient days still applies today.

1) Where are you?

2) What is this you have done?

3) Where have you come from and where are you going?

4) What is your name? 

5) What is that in your hand?

6) What are you doing here?

7) Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?

8) Whom shall I send?

9) Do you have reason to be angry?

10) Son of Man, can these bones live?

These are questions God asked of  Adam and Eve through Ezekiel with points to be made, lessons to be learned. I could ask these questions of myself, each day of my life, to help keep me on course. They are especially relevant, now, with a new beginning, 2021. 

The tick tock of the clock does not stop. We're at a crossroads. We're on our way--sometimes pushed, sometimes pulled--whether we want to or not. 

Tread carefully. 

Stay close to your Redeemer King.

Pray. Praise.