Blessings and Challenges—Carolyn R. Wilker

This past week our youngest daughter gave birth to a baby boy, the first boy in four grandchildren for my husband and me. The baby appears healthy, and his parents are doing well, if only a little tired from being up at night for feedings and learning the care of a new baby, their first child. To be sure, there is much to learn, from breast feeding, and keeping him comfortable to his overall care. My daughter was glad for a spare arm the third night home so that she could attend to another important matter. During the time I was there, her husband announced his need for a nap, for he has been as attentive to the baby’s care as our daughter. It was good to see that. They’d celebrate a little along the way, first with grandparents and then with individual family members, those closest to them. Other visits, they determined, would wait awhile until they’d settled in to life with their firstborn. They were grateful, as well, for a dinner they didn't have to prepare for the next evening.

Holding my new grandson

The night before our grandchild's birth, was the scheduled Toastmasters Area 62 speech contest night. After winning my club contest in the International Speech contest, the first place competitor goes on to compete against other Toastmaster club members in our area. I didn’t know as I prepared for that evening whether I’d go in with anticipation of the baby’s birth or the news of the birth. Either way my daughter and son-in-law said I should go ahead and compete that evening. It turned out baby wasn’t quite ready to make his appearance that night and so I went with anticipation. At the end of the night, coming in second, fellow club members congratulated me on my speech. To one of them I said, “Three times a charm?” Maybe not quite a charm, but I had done my best yet in stiff competition. Fellow Energetics club member, Scott, won his contest in the Evaluation Speech that same night, and he goes on to the division level and my worthy competitor goes on too. Much preparation and practice goes into such a contest to know the speech well and to deliver it well. As well, no small amount of healthy anticipation and sweat.

Second place is still good

Also this past week, our book group celebrated the printing of Good Grief People that we'd been working on since last spring. We held the book in our hands, and revelled in its completion over coffee/tea and a bit of lunch at a coffee shop at a point midway from our homes. We addressed the launch that we’d booked for a date in early May, and other ways we’d promote the book to our potential readers. As challenging as it was to write our stories and dig deeper to the emotional level, we hope it will be a blessing to those who grieve and feel alone. We’d poured ourselves into the writing, critiquing and editing as well as proofreading, and the publisher/writer sweat a few buckets in the formatting of the manuscript until finally all was well and the book went to print. And so that meeting was a celebration of  all the the work as well as preparing for the next step.

celebrating the book's completion, minus one author for whom we're raising our cup, or a thumbs-up

our book

Three significant times this week, I said, “Thank you” to God, for the safe delivery of our grandson, for the culmination of the contest and performing well, and for the completed book. For all three, there was thankfulness and blessings, and for all three were challenges. We know that God is with us in the challenges as well as the celebrations, and it’s important to acknowledge that God goes with us, if not before us, each of those times. Again, “Thank you,  God.”

 

Carolyn R. Wilker, author and editor

http://www.carolynwilker.ca/book.shtml

Another Year ... and I’m Older by Marcia Lee Laycock

One of the negative things about getting older is that you begin to realize there just may not be enough time for you to accomplish all the things you had planned.

That “bucket list” begins to look like a long list of impossibilities. There are so many places in the world you want to see and just not enough time, let alone resources, to allow you to get to them. That house you’ve always dreamed of right on the ocean, that sizeable nest egg tucked away, that perfect health and perfectly situated family, and oh, that breakthrough novel, well ...

Sometimes the dreams come crashing into the brick wall of reality and all we can do is sigh.

But when the future looks all too short it can also be wonderfully focused. Suddenly you don’t want to travel the world, you’d just like to make it to that one special place. The house by the sea might not be possible but a satisfying reno to the one you live in overlooking that little pond will do just nicely. The nest egg tucked away might seem small but then you realize your wants aren’t really needs after all. Your health is allowing you to live well for your age, your family will never be perfect but they are all connected and involved in your life and that novel ... well ...

There is that new tool you’ve just learned to use that will help a lot and there’s that email you just received from someone who read your latest effort. And suddenly there’s that peace that God is not just in His heaven, but right here beside you, involved in your life, teaching, guiding, drawing you close.

And suddenly the sigh turns to a smile because it is enough. No, not just enough, it is all gift, all joy, all reasons to be thankful for the time, the place, the people and purpose He has given you.

Yes, another New Year is under way. And I am older. So I’m humming a simple old chorus - “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). 

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Marcia Lee Laycock is the author of three novels and three devotional books. Find her on the web:
Website, Amazon , twitter, Pinterest and Smashwords

Language Learning By Marcia Lee Laycock

My face was beet red. I slouched into my chair with a dismal sigh. Bruno, my language teacher, having not the slightest inclination to save my damaged pride, was laughing. I managed a weak smile. It was a bit funny. I had just asked him if he wanted his sister in his coffee. When he stopped laughing, he told me the correct phrase and made me practice it several times. The difference between the word sister and the word sugar was in a single vowel. It was not my first nor last mistake of the day.

Later that afternoon, I despaired again of ever being able to speak Melanesian Pigeon, as another teacher outlined the grammatical structure of the language. I could barely remember English grammar, let alone bend my brain around a language made up of three European lexicons with a few national languages thrown in for flavour. By the end of that day, my enthusiasm for learning the trade language of Papua New Guinea had vanished. It was then I realized I didn’t want to learn it, I just wanted to know how to speak it.

I wanted to be able to communicate with the people we were to live with, so I had to dispel the illusion that I was going to wake up one morning and be fluent in their language. I had to face the fact that I had to work at it. I had to face the fact that I was going to make a lot of mistakes. I was going to be laughed at. I was going to feel dumb and have to continually ask questions. I was going to have to get used to having to listen so intently my head hurt. I was going to have to get used to being like a little child, again and again.

When I came to terms with that reality, a surprising thing happened. The process became a delight. I looked forward to going to the market to learn new names for old vegetables. I relished going to work, so I could learn new expressions and phrases. I loved standing in the middle of a crowd of black faces and just soaking in the sound. And best of all, I loved being able to communicate easily with the people around me. As my language skills grew so did my delight in living among them.

Such is the journey of a Christ follower – it’s the journey of a child, a journey of continually learning, listening, asking questions, making mistakes, yet continuing on because there is such delight in growing closer to and growing more and more like our master. When we come to terms with that reality we realize it’s worth the effort because the joy of being in His presence and soaking Him in can be compared to no other.

In Matthew 18, the disciples asked Jesus who would be the greatest in God’s kingdom. Perhaps they thought they’d learned enough, and done enough, to merit that position. Jesus says: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4).

Like a little child – willing to learn, willing to listen, willing to work at it. Again and again. 

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Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. Her second novel, A Tumbled Stone was short listed in the contemporary fiction category of The Word Awards, 2013. Marcia also has two devotional books in print. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan. 

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded here. Visit Marcia’s Website