All Nighter

People stay up all night for a lot of reasons. Homework. Work work. Partying. Just to say they did.

Last night 20 youth hung out at our church all night. Eight of them stayed up all night. They felt so proud of themselves.

I used to work third shift, so it was not new territory for me. Can't say I've done it lately. It really wasn't even hard...I think that was the Holy Spirit. I was plenty tired in the afternoon, so it sure wasn't my energy.

It was great to see teens having some positive fun things to do, different from what a lot of their peers would stay up all night doing.

I think my favorite part was how they interacted. Some of them are good friends, but if you put all of them together, they would not hang out at school. Yet all night they were kind to each other, no one was left out, even one kid from our church who didn't know the others.

We can do this, world. We can hang out with others different from us, even when we are teenagers, and be gracious and kind, and even have fun.

That was worth staying up all night to see.

Purging

Today I purged my refrigerator. I am not much of a housekeeper, instead a mom/wife and pastor, and people claim primacy, stuff has to happen when it can. My fridge doesn't call out to help it, so it gets ignored.

I hate wasting food, but it happens, then I feel awful throwing it away. I have wasted our money, and the starving world's food.

I also hate throwing away the remnants of daughters gone since summer because that's just more evidence that they are really gone again. Keeping that hummus in there invites them back.

But today it all went in the garbage, and hopefully having it cleared out will help me keep on top of what I have and use it better. Roger being sick meant no one eating spinach and fresh veggies.

I need to purge a lot of other things. I cleaned out the bottom of my study closet this weekend in desperation with the need to find something. It seems I only purge when I'm desperate.

Daily purging would be nice. At least keeping a handle on it. And I don't mean my fridge or closet but my soul. I shouldn't just keep stuff around hoping it will turn up useful someday.

Rotted material, got to go. Outdated thinking, pitch it. Look for fresh and refreshed. Pertinent and personal. Real and reality. Look for Jesus. He moves in to the vacancy left by the garbage. What an upgrade.

Stones

When you tell people your husband has a kidney stone, you get two comments.
1. It's like having a baby
2. This too shall pass

It took a while to find a woman who had actually been all the way through labor and had a kidney stone to confirm the first assertion. Having men say so is all hypothetical. When it was all over, Roger asked me if his pain over the last week equaled the pain I experienced in birthing all four of our children.

I wasn't excited to concede that point. After all, are we counting the hours of labor, or the nine months of each pregnancy? In sheer pain, he wins. On Monday with two pain pills he was writhing on the floor.

As for the second assertion, this too did not pass. The doctor had to go in there and get that baby out of there. Less intrusive than a c-section thankfully. After a week of laboring to pass a stone that was already almost delivered, it seemed to be stuck. Not anymore.

I find the comparison idea humorous. It's as if men are tired of women holding childbirth suffering over their heads and are struggling to make up ground. I'll just concede the point, not having been through stones personally even. Whatever labor is like you still get an amazing blessing to show for it, instead of a follow up with a urologist and a change in diet.

As for the "this too shall pass," that's true of everything eventually, but not very consoling. At times people need to be reminded their struggles will end. But mostly they just need to be listened to.

We are grateful for many listeners this week, by email, Facebook, text and phone, many friends have prayed and inquired and supported. Thanks.