Anit-wise Motion

By Robin Steinweg –

Dead ant, dead ant, dead antdeadantdeadant (sung to the Pink Panther theme). This is what goes through my mind when I enter my bathroom these days. That and some questions: why? Why are these ants in the bathroom when there’s no food? They don’t even seem to be looking for food. They appeared a couple of months ago from under the molding; aimlessly wandering in odd-shaped loops, then out of sight again—a perpetual, purposeless motion. In the past, they came into the kitchen in orderly troops, heading for crumbs on the floor. Not this time. I tried natural extermination methods first, without success. We’ve battled ants every summer for years, but I never think to have poison in the house.

I finally bought some. They lined up for it like piggies at the trough, gorging themselves. Some drowned, some staggered a few steps and expired, others faithfully carried the stuff back to the nest (I assume). I felt satisfied after they’d been gone awhile. The poison worked as it had every other summer. But the other day I noticed one tugging on something. And another. I looked closely. They were hauling the corpses of their fallen comrades to the middle of the bathroom floor, where they dumped them and returned to the molding. This went on all day. Hauling dead ants almost to my feet and dumping them off, as if they knew what they were doing—like a scene from a horror flick.

By now you are wondering what the spiritual application is. So am I! And if you are wise enough to find one from these erratic ants, would you please post it in the comments below for the rest of us?

All I know is that the Bible says to observe ants in order to be wise. Without overseer or ruler, they prepare their food in summer and gather it at harvest time. They plan ahead. I’ve been caught in last-minute panics and in an unprepared condition times without number for lack of planning. Unexpected visitors, sickness, people calling and needing to talk—or ants in the house—have brought stress or embarrassment to me and my family because I wasn’t prepared. I hope to be wiser in this way starting now. I’ll observe the ants. Just maybe not the ones in my bathroom!

PRAYER: Lord, You are the great Planner of creation and eternity. You planned our salvation in advance. You planned good works for us to do. You have plans to prosper us and to give us a future and a hope. You are even now preparing a place for us in heaven. I ask You for wisdom to be a better planner, able to learn Your wisdom even from ants.

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage” (Proverbs 21:5 NASB).

Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

Do It Now-Ow-Ow-Ow!

By Robin Steinweg –

“Hey Mom, they called from work—I have to go.” I heard a slam. Uh-oh! I took the stairs two at a time and launched myself through the door, only to see my ride (my firstborn’s car) go poof. My younger son had left for work in my car fifteen minutes earlier. The door slam triggered my memory from early that morning, when my husband asked me to run Important Errands for him. Important Financial Errands that couldn’t wait. Sure, you can count on me.

Now I stood in an empty garage, viewing an empty neighborhood. No begging a ride. I could walk the mile and a half, but not in fifteen minutes. My bike? I looked around. There, up in the rafters. The ladder would reach, but I’d never have the strength to lift it down. My son’s bike beckoned. Two feet tall, with fat tires and pegs for doing tricks, it might at least get me downtown before closing.

I swung my leg over the boy-bar, sat on the vinyl-covered, two-inch slice of rock they call a seat, and wobbled down the driveway. I hadn’t ridden a bike in eight years. An oncoming car made me back-pedal to brake, but nothing happened. Legs circling frantically in reverse, I found the hand brakes just in time. After half a block I knew I was in trouble.

Had you stood on Broadway that afternoon, you’d have witnessed a middle-aged lady bumping along, “Ow! Ow-ow-ow-ow-Ow,” knees almost hitting her chin, narrowly avoiding potholes, 12×18 canvas tote banging her left leg in syncopated rhythm to the hurried pumping, her breath coming in asthmatic gulps.

I accomplished the Important Financial Errands. I saw only one person I knew, and returned home determined to find some redemptive lesson in this. The Lord was probably telling me to exercise more.

Prone on the couch, I thought about how I’d put off my errands till late in the day. That morning I had delivered another in my series of mother-lectures on the dangers of the sin of procrastination. “Do it now!” I’d told my sons. Oops. There the lesson lay.

AUTHOR QUOTE: God’s Word says if I know the good I should do and don’t do it, that’s sin. Do it now!

“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8 NIV).

Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

College Coping

By Robin Steinweg –

Remember what Mark Twain said about raising teens? He suggested they be put in a barrel and fed through the bung hole. At sixteen you close up the hole.

We never went through that. In fact, we can’t get enough of our sons. Nope, the trouble we had was Texas. The three-year Bible college that was a perfect fit for our oldest boy was in Dallas, Texas, a thousand miles away. I don’t hold Texans personally responsible for this.

I think there ought to be support groups for families with youngsters going off into the world. It should begin with Lamaze—special breathing exercises to get you through a prolonged transition. Maybe ice chips. Or visualizing your young adult in your Happy Place or right at the dinner table.

Parenting classes should include at least one week of preparing to say goodbye. Pain management clinics might at least offer brochures on how to cope.

I turned to others who had (apparently) lived through it. This was not helpful. Some teared up, put a comforting (?) hand on my arm and could say nothing. Others were obviously in denial or maybe had had shock therapy. They said they could hardly wait for the Blessed Event.

His senior year included the last Christmas concert, last fundraiser, last choir tour and last prom. Summer brought his last week working at the local grocer’s, last family fun day at the Dells, last worship service together. I remembered all the firsts we’d had with him: the first goodbye as he left the womb, first smile, first tooth, first time he sat up, first word, first steps, first haircut.

We squeezed his belongings into the car. It felt like helping to build my own gallows. I can’t believe we took him down there—and left him! But we did it. We drew closer to the Lord, He helped us survive, and now it’s three years later. I am compelled to write encouragement to parents who are facing this. There is hope. They graduate, and then…

They come back!

Our younger son is a senior. Here we go again.

AUTHOR QUOTE: Find reasons to rejoice in all the firsts, lasts and in-betweens. Trust in the First and Last, who gives more grace than sufficient to meet every need.

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, KJV).

Today’s devotion is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

Techno-Challenged

By Robin Steinweg –

“What is it?” I asked my husband and sons. I’d opened my birthday gift—a slender, metallic-pink case.

“An external hard-drive.”

I smiled. “But what is it?”

Have you ever heard of a techno-geek? I am not one. If I’d lived long ago, there’d be claw marks on my papyrus scroll as I resisted switching to parchment. I’d have struck the point of my quill pen deep into my desk and lashed myself to it. Mr. Gutenberg’s printing press would have appeared like a monster.

Even after years of daily use, I mistake computer-ese for ordinary language: a keyboard is for teaching piano; a byte is what you get from mosquitoes; ram and mouse are mammals; floppy is how I don’t like my fries; and USB (for some reason) reminds me of the United Parcel Service van bringing me my Timberdoodle book order.

When someone explains a new online technique to me, my eyes glaze over and I hear what sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher: “Bwah, bwah, bwah, bwah…” Is there any help for me?

The Lord is infinitely patient with me through these challenges. Recently (okay, this morning) He showed me the root cause of my tendency to replace technological terms with the word “thingie.”

I have fear! God’s Word has something to say about that. Fear and faith cannot co-exist. It is only possible to please God with faith. Patient He is, but persistent too. He wants to conquer fear in me. If it’s true that God is all-wise, all-powerful and absolutely good (and He is), then I can confidently yield to His work in me. I will no longer run away from what He wants me to do (like Jonah did). I will stand firm and face my giant (like David did). And with the Spirit of power, love, and a sound mind that He’s promised, Techno-Fear will give way to Techno-Faith.

PRAYER: I place my hand in Yours, Lord. I know I can trust You to give me victory as I fight fear in this and all other areas of my life. I really do want to please You.

“And the apostles said unto the Lord, ‘Increase our faith’” (Luke 17:5 KJV).

Today’s devotion is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

Like a Sitting…Turkey

By Robin Steinweg –

On a rare, unhurried drive, I approached a corn field lying fallow just outside of town. I saw birds sitting in the middle of the field. Bigger than crows. Got to be turkeys. The car drew closer. Wrong shape for turkeys. What in the world…

No, it can’t be.

Eagles??

I grew up admiring eagles. They nested in the bluffs east of my house and flew daily right overhead, anticipating the sun’s path west to the Wisconsin River bordering our property. Sometimes their vast wings pumped the wind. Other times they soared, motionless, carried on invisible currents to the fishy depths over which they reigned. They scanned the open waters below the dam from the trees on Lookout Island, just off our beach. I saw them as majestic but fearsome creatures. We never let our dog’s puppies wander, in fear one might become a side dish for a walleye entree.

But this debacle threatened a collapse of all I’d thought of them. I was so disturbed I stopped the car and rolled down the window.

“You are eagles. Eagles don’t sit on the ground. You’re making a spectacle of yourselves, and it’s not a pretty sight. You’re giving eagles a bad name. Get up and soar! Get off the ground, you look like turkeys!”

We won’t say what I looked like, on a deserted road talking to grounded eagles. But it got me thinking about my life. Am I sitting like a turkey in an abandoned field watching for grubs when I should be soaring on the currents of my Master’s love, publishing His glory?

QUOTE: Reuben Morgan, Hillsong Publishing, “Come live in me; all my life take over. Come breathe in me and I will rise on eagle’s wings.”

“…I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God” (Deuteronomy 32:3 KJV).

Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

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