It's just Me Abby

I have exactly one week left of winter break before I start my baccalaureate studies back up for a new semester, and I have exactly one week of squishing in as many many friends to visit, movies to watch, books to read, sweets to bake, and homemade dinners to cook before this part of me is out of commission for the entire spring.

So far, I’ve watched Wicked three times, read two Christmas novels, baked an abundance of Christmas treats, and made an impressive amount of homemade dinners. Last night, I made my son’s favorite: Shepherd’s Pie.

 I peeled and cubed my potatoes and started boiling them. I chopped my onions and sautéed them in a lake of oil with thyme, rosemary, and parsley. My ground beef was searing and the alluring flavors coming from my gas stovetop were permeating the entire house. I felt so accomplished, so sophisticated, so gourmet cheffy. 

Until I felt sheer panic the moment I realized my long hair had caught on fire.   

In the span of two long and smoky seconds, I had a hundred awful thoughts. By the third second, I remembered to whack the flame out of my hair while I yelled for my husband. I had another awful thought that this could be goodbye, but then I managed to extinguish the flame just before my husband came rushing in. 

Bless that man. He flew into immediate action, determining what happened, soothing my shock, and telling me how beautiful I still looked with my singed eyelashes and smoldering hair. I was torn between laughing with amusement at this ridiculous incident and crying over the loss of a prized and vain possession. Greg took my recipe from me and began to finish the Shepherd’s pie so I could attempt damage control on my crispy mane. 

That man let me lean completely on him without batting an eye. I’ve never loved him more. 

His stability last night was another confirmation of a familiar refrain God has been teaching me this winter break. 

It began four weeks ago when I posed a question to my children one morning during our family devotions before school. What should we do when our faith is weak? My children were thoughtful before one of my sons responded, “Use someone else’s faith.”

I considered his response and initially wasn’t in favor of it. The reason why? One of my deepest fears is that my children will walk away from their faith once grown and on their own becasue they leaned too heavily on mine all their young lives. 

But what should you do when your life falls sideways and your faith fails? Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and lay claim to more faith? Maybe. Ask God for greater faith? Absolutely. But does not God use the testimony of others to strengthen our faith? We see it in Jesus’ prayer over Simon Peter in Luke 22, 

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” 

We also see it in Hebrews 12:1-2 after a long discourse on the men and women who turned the world upside down because of their faith,

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

This motif is an undercurrent of the entire bible.

My son rocked me with his simple answer and I am still rocked as I continue to see evidence of God reassuring me through the faith of others in spite of my intrusive doubts.

So we lean hard on each other’s faith and take courage as we journey life together toward Zion.

And just one note to self:  Always, ALWAYS, tie long hair back when making dinner, or cooking, or baking, or roasting marshmallows, or merely standing next to an open flame.