Puddleglum's My Name

by Audrey Wauson

“Puddleglum’s my name. (He’s a Narnia Marshwiggle.) But it doesn’t matter if you forget it. I can always tell you again.” …

“Now,” said Puddleglum. “Those eels will take a mortal long time to cook, and either of you might faint with hunger before they’re done. I knew a little girl – but I’d better not tell you that story. It might lower your spirits, and that’s a thing I never do. So, to keep your minds off your hunger, we may as well talk about our plans.”

“Yes, do let’s,” said Jill. “Can you help us find Prince Rilian?”

The Marshwiggle sucked in his cheeks till they were hollower than you would have thought possible. “Well, I don’t know that you’d call it help,” he said. “I don’t know that anyone could exactly help. It stands to reason we’re not likely to get very far on a journey to the north, not at this time of the year, with the winter coming on soon and all. And an early winter too, by the look of things. But you mustn’t let that make you down-hearted. Very likely, what with enemies, and mountains, and rivers to cross, and losing our way, and next to nothing to eat, and sore feet, we’ll hardly notice the weather. And if we don’t get far enough to do any good, we may get far enough not to get back in a hurry.”
-The Silver Chair (The Chronicles of Narnia)

Sounds like me yesterday. Our pianist is out of town for a month and I’m replacing her. Not a good replacement, but nevertheless with the guy on the drums and another guy on the guitar, we got by. And I’m not used to playing for hours on end. I got up early and ran through the songs at the house, then played them again at the church around 7:30am then with the guitar guy around 8am. Then we actually did the service at 8:30am. Then I played for the run-through at 9am then for the actual service at 9:30, then for the communion at 10:30, then for the 11:15 service and then finally for the last communion at 12:00. Good grief, and next Sunday will be worse because it’s just singing and testimonies the whole time all 3 services, which normally I love, because it’s just straight singing which I can do for hours. But piano playing is another thing.

So in between services while the praise team and band were hanging out waiting for our turn on stage, people were complimenting me and telling me how much they appreciated what I was doing. And what was I saying in response? “Wow, I’m so tired. I can’t believe how tired and sore my arms and shoulders are. I don’t know if I can keep on. I’m sure to make all kinds of mistakes. I’m going to need a nap after all of this. Etcetera a nauseaum…. Ugghhhhh!!!!

Here’s the deal, I had been praying and asking God for the opportunity to do some piano playing and He graciously arranged for me to have that opportunity, along with a coach, in the form of the regular pianist playing through all of the songs on a CD so that everyone in the band could practice at the right tempo. Then when I was scared to death of failing, He not only gave me the strength to do the task, He also provided the mental ability to stay focused. And how did I respond? verbally, to those who asked me about it? Did I go on and on about how good God is? About how He’s so awesome to give me the strength to do this task? About how glorious it is to have Him working through me? Noooooooo, I instead focused on all of the negative aspects, I dwelt on all of my struggles and trials. Oh woe is me, a Marsh-wiggle in need of a new mouth and mind!!

Lord Jesus, please give me a new mouth and mind; a mouth and mind that is thankful for everything that you have given me; a mouth and mind that thinks of everything that is true and noble and right; a mouth and mind that trusts and believes that You are the One who will come and save me!!! Please let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to You!!!!! You are so awesome and I’m so grateful that You chose me to play this month. Help me to be worthy of this great honor!!!

WAIT

by Barbara Chadwick

Psalm 46:10a
"Be still and know that I am God"

February is a cold month in northern Colorado. On this particular Sunday there were patches of snow on the ground. The trees seemed to be hovering, their branches fluttering in the wind, nude. All the wildlife we see in summer were in their holes or dens. It seemed as if all creation was waiting for the breath of spring. We were on our way to church, fifty-three miles away, down the mountain. We began on the dirt road out of our community, progressed to a two lane paved road which dead-ended on the highway leading to town.

We saw a hawk sitting on a top branch of a tree, very still, watching, waiting and listening. God seemed to say, "Look. You need to be like that hawk listening for My voice, waiting for My leading and watching to see what I am going to do in your lives."

At this time the church, where my husband has been serving as interim pastor, is about to call a full-time pastor. We are ready. We have been blessed to be here but now it's time for the next step.

Some days I feel anxious because we don't know yet where God wants us to serve next in our retirement. God brings the hawk to my mind - still - waiting, watching and listening. He seems to say, "You are not at a dead-end but I am about to bless your lives in a wonderful way. Just be still and know that I am God."

Fixing Wrinkles

by Audrey Wauson

Some things don’t need ‘fixing’ as much as they need accepting.

So you know, there’s some things that you shouldn’t worry about ‘fixing.’ Sunday morning I got out this skort, that goes with the Hawaiian shirt that follows the theme of the service (a surfing VBS thing) and the front of the skort is a bit wrinkled. Not a problem, I get out the ironing board and proceed to look for my iron. I can’t find it anywhere. Larry can’t find it anywhere. Okay… I’ll just dampen it and toss it in the drier. Problem is, it’s the only thing in the dryer and it clumps up and comes out wrinkled worse than before. Ugh…. So I dampen it again, (no I do not have several Hawaiian themed outfits in my closet) and use the hairdryer on it. Now it looks somewhat like it looked before I started the whole process of ‘fixing’ the wrinkle.

There’s this verse that says these things happen so that you can encourage others… “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” 2 Corinthian 1:4NIV

So Sunday night we had our small group over and we were waiting around for the last couple to show up. (this is the wrinkle) So I think to myself, “I’ll just give them a call to see if they’re coming or not.” Which is cool, but I make the phone call in front of everyone, and since we’re all hungry, everyone’s watching me. When they answer, she says, “Oh, you know we got busy, and there’s other things we’d rather do, so no, we won’t be there tonight.” (at least that’s the way I received what I heard) So now I’m having to do some self-monitoring (a word I’m learning in college;) I’m trying really hard not to be offended and struggling to think of what to say. So my husband calls out from the other room, “Well?” and I say, “Oh they’ve got other things they’d rather do, so let’s go ahead and eat.” But I know that my body language is really struggling to keep everything neutral. The problem is, this isn’t the first time that they’ve had other things to do when our small group met, and not the first time that they couldn’t come to our house for similar reasons. (additional wrinkles) The problem is in trying to ‘fix’ the problem I created many more wrinkles, because the couple is our pastor and his wife. So now, because of my hurt feelings, I’ve created some negative impressions that maybe completely unjustified, and may never get completely ironed out. Ugh!!! Thoughts are NOT neutral. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says we should “….take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.” Here’s the original wrinkle, when I was offended the first time I allowed myself to justify my negative reactions and didn’t really take it to God. Then as other experiences came along they stuck to the original offense. Then when I got caught off guard those ‘wrinkles’ that I had been collecting really showed up, and they showed up in a way that wasn’t flattering to my brother and sister in Christ. Ugh!!!

I believe God would have me to encourage you to not allow little wrinkles to bother you, don’t sweat the small stuff. Life is full of wrinkles and life goes on. You and I can have a wonderful time with our brothers and sisters in Christ if we focus on each other and NOT on the external ‘wrinkles’ that need ironing.