Falling

The leaves are falling and the weather has turned colder (like 25 degrees colder than it was yesterday) and I know autumn is almost over and winter is almost here.

Today was the last leaf pick up for our neighborhood and the street was filled with them, but there will be many more all over our backyard from the tree that hasn't dropped yet.

The tree doesn't know today was the last pick-up.

I'm glad God doesn't have a schedule that limits the days and number of times He picks us up when we fall.

Gratitude Continued

It's the ninth so I'm listing nine more things I'm grateful for to cut back my tendencies for self-pity! See previous post for more explanation....

1. Our Couples LIFE Group at church which met tonight - we come in weary and leave full of joy.
2. The library, including four consecutive visits without a fine.
3. That the picture frame that just fell off the wall didn't hurt anyone or shatter into a million pieces.
4. The truth of 1 Peter 5:5.
5. Extra large take home and bake pizzas from Dominicks for under $8 (under $6 on Fridays).
6. ESPN.
7. Claritin.
8. That I can get in and out of a bank on my lunch hour with all the signed photocopies of documents I need in under ten minutes because I used to work there.
9. That my 25-year-old washer and relatively new twelve-year-old dryer are both still getting our clothes clean.

Cultivating Virtue

Last Sunday my pastor was preaching on the struggles of the Christian faith. It was actually the second part of a previous sermon titled "New Life, New Battles" which explained that along with the new life received for those who place their faith in Jesus Christ come new battles with sinful behaviors that previously may not have bothered you all that much.

Your "flesh" is at war with your spirit.

Sunday's sermon was called "Move the Ball Forward" and came complete with an NFL analogy for which the Eder household was very appreciative, since it's akin to our native tongue.

He explained how advancing towards holiness was rather like moving a football down the field - we will need a strategy, rely on previous training and have lots of opposition. He went on to say that like scoring a touchdown, it's a wonderful feeling to win a battle over a particular sin. Then he reminded us that immediately after you score, the ball is coming right back at you and you better D up! Okay, not exactly his words...he is Scottish after all.

So the rest of the sermon was about practical ways you can intentionally cultivate godly virtues that are contrary to a particular sin with which you may struggle - or to keep with the NFL analogy - what kind of defensive play to employ for the sinful attack coming back at you. To illustrate, he confessed a hidden sin of his own.

Self-pity.

Now, I have to admit this took me entirely by surprise. I've worked ten feet or so from his office for the past four years and not once in that time have I ever heard the man complain. About anything. Or anyone. Seriously.

So I guess that's why he called it a "hidden" sin. Not only is it less obvious to those who know us, we may not be aware of it ourselves.

Self pity is not a hidden sin of mine. Nope. I wear self pity very publicly. Trust me when I tell you that no one I work with will be writing about how they haven't heard me complain about anything or anyone for the past four weeks let alone four years.

So I was all ears about the virtue that works against self-pity. Any guesses?

Gratitude.

Thankfulness.

And since it's November and we have a national holiday committed to reminding us to be thankful I'm spending the rest of the month (at a minimum) counting my blessings.

Since today is the 8th I will list eight things for which I am extremely grateful in closing.

1. My father in law is out of ICU, in Rehab and improving every day after brain surgery!
2. The fruit fly traps we set up worked and the infestation in my home is over!
3. Both Maggie & Ryan chose their dad as the Veteran to honor for a social studies project.
4. All the veterans who sacrified so much (and still do) for my liberties.
5. My back hasn't bothered me in almost a year.
6. We are both employed.
7. 69 cent Hamburgers at BK on Tuesdays.
8. No snow yet.

I Don't Have the Words

For the past month my father-in-law has been in the hospital. Less than a year ago he had brain surgery for a non-cancerous tumor that they were able to remove 90% of successfully. Inexplicably, it grew back with a vengeance.

About ten days ago he had another brain surgery to remove 90% of the new tumor. Since then he has undergone a series of surgical procedures because one thing keeps leading to another - a drain for fluid - a screen for a blood clot - a traecheotomy to prevent pneumonia, etc.

So far, by God's grace, he has rebounded exceptionally well after each one. And he's almost 81.

So it's hard to explain why the father of three boys, two of which have been on Ryan's baseball teams, passed away tonight after a long battle with Crohn's Disease which isn't normally fatal. He was about my age.

When Dan and I spoke with his wife about an hour after she said goodbye to her husband, I asked God for the right words to say. Words of comfort and hope. Words that would somehow strengthen or console her.

"I'm sorry" sounds so pitifully inadequate. But I am deeply sorry she has to experience such a tremendous loss and I said so.

"God loves you" doesn't sound much better to a grieving widow with three young sons, but I said that too. Then I added it probably didn't feel like that right now and that I do not know why God let this happen.

Because I don't. I don't know.

Sometimes you just don't have the words to say.

When I find myself in that place I am so grateful for God's Word. Especially verses like Romans 8:26...

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."

Summer's Sun in Fall's Playground

I've been experiencing something I've never experienced before in the month of October in my 40 plus years living in Chicago...a week of sunny and 75-82 degree weather. I guess I've never experienced it because it hasn't happened since the 1930's. So the name of the game has been play outside.

As much as humanly possible.

That objective was made easier by a 4 1/2 day weekend for my twins (thanks to parent-teacher conferences) and a three day weekend for my high schooler (thanks to Columbus Day) though she is quick to protest and call it Lief Ericson day. Not that he discovered America either, since there were people ALREADY HERE.

Anyway, on Friday I took the twins to a stellar Pumpkin Patch in South Barrington - Goebbert's on Higgins is THE PLACE to be. Because it was a weekday and not a holiday everything was cheaper. They bring in animals you wouldn't even see in the best city zoos and place them under three large tents - exotic birds, bears, tigers, alpacas, kangaroos, and on and on. $5 a head gets you into all three tents, the corn maze (it was harder than it looked) and access to a two tiered deck high enough to feed the giraffes face-to-face (they like carrots). We went with friends, ate apple cider donuts and basked in the harvest sunshine.

Saturday we sat outside for Ryan's homecoming football game. I'm not sure what business a bunch of 12 year olds have celebrating an alma mater tradition, but it's a great excuse to tailgate, legitimately TP your friend's houses and write your team name and jersey # all over your car.

We lost. Big. But it was still a GREAT afternoon.

Today I took my oldest (who was suffering in school while we played at the pumkin patch) to the Morton Arboretum. She's been begging for that excursion for the better part of the past three weeks. It's about 15 miles from where we live. We got to the exit next to the gardens in 20 minutes. And then it took an hour to get the extra 1/2 mile into the park. Apparently everyone and their brother shared our great idea.

Turns out it was totally worth it. My daughter's joy was only rivaled by the amazing color show God put on display. I will try to remember this two months from now when I'm shoveling my driveway and scraping my windows. We heard a couple of guys behind us talking about the new heavens and the new earth and we smiled at them and shared their wonder that the spectacular landscape around us was a mere glimpse of things to come.

Tomorrow we are headed up to Lake Geneva for the day to cap it all off. In the midst of a particularly busy season for us, I am truly grateful for this Indian Summer respite.

Rain Check

The weather has been very pleasant the last couple of weeks and by that I mean mostly in the 60's.

I love fall.

The past couple of days it's also been rainy though, and that has made these nights just about perfect.

Not because I love the rain, but because football practice was canceled two nights in a row.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE football. Love it. But I also love my family and there haven't been many relaxing weekday meals together since August 1st.

So tonight I'm grateful for the rainy, fall weather.

Now if I could just keep the sun from setting so early....

Curriculum Night

A lot has changed in the 20-ahem years since I've graduated high school.

Tonight I got to go to my first curriculum night for my freshman daughter, walk her schedule and meet all her teachers in ten minute increments.

Why I thought heels were a good idea is beyond me. It's a big school. And her 5th period class is on the opposite end of the school and on another floor than her 4th period class. But she manages to get there on time every day so I was determined to do it too.

My knee only gave a little on the last flight of stairs.

After parking in the adjacent county and walking in said heels a few blocks to get back to the school I was on my way.

Her first period is PE. Poor thing. Sweaty all day. Thank God she's not one for primping and getting her hair just right. The woman was laid back, extremely reasonable, very informative and a mother of three girls herself. Love her teacher.

On to AP English - writing, reading, grammar, the works. They don't call it L.A. in here. Her teacher has a son on Ryan's football team who was born on the exact same day in the exact same place as my twins. They act out some scenes from the classic books they read. She messes with the freshman boys and asks them their tights size for the Romeo and Juliet unit. Love her teacher.

In Algebra 2 everything is on warp speed - her teacher also teaches applied computer science. The beauty is he cares more about how they finish the story than the points they accumulate along the way and has figured out how to mathematically program the scoring system so they get the most credit possible for their efforts and end results. Love her teacher.

In biology the man at the helm was an alumni himself...class of 1975, and good humored enough to share his high school photo, complete with plaid sportcoat and four-inch-wide tie. There was a sign in his room - Caution: Deadlines are closer than they appear. He had paper and pens so we could write them love notes and leave them behind. Love her teacher.

By some miracle I made it to her Spanish class tucked away behind the auditorium in a hallway labeled with room numbers that stopped shy of hers and met a straightforward woman who doubles as the assistant athletic director and couldn't say enough about what a gem my daughter was. Love her teacher.

Had time to kill for lunch/study hall so I visited the booster sales table, got a free oatmeal raisin cookie in the science atrium and stopped to chat for a few minutes with a friend in the hallway. We reminded each other that it's good our daughters aren't so mainstream socially because their faith will always be counter-cultural and we don't need to be concerned about them missing out on all the popular activities, like homecoming. Took a quick peek in the book fair, was thankful I forgot my checkbook and moved on to band.

Sat in the front row and realized the mom next to me had been in at least three other classes with me, introduced myself and found her to be delightful. The band director made us clap out a vertical rythym. Don't ask me. I don't know what it is, I don't play any instruments and I can't read music, but we did it in unison somehow. Love her teacher.

Most of my high school memories are gone, but the few that remain offer a wide spectrum of emotions. The best memories have to do with the relationships I had with just a few close friends, and the two or three teachers who made all the awful experiences more bearable.

I think my daughter is way ahead of the game on all fronts. And for that I am very encouraged. And grateful.