Thursday, September 23, 2010

It's a Boy!

Our daughter Heather and her husband Josh found out today that they are having a boy. Heather and I had been secretly rooting for a girl, each for our own reasons, but we were both really happy to find out that the baby is doing well, progressing perfectly, and already knows how to sit "Indian style." In other words, the technician found it pretty easy to determine the sex!

I hate to admit the reason I wanted a girl is the clothes. When I was looking for a cute Christmas outfit for Tyler, my almost 3-year-old grandson, I found one choice. In the same store were forty Christmas outfits for little girls. And bows and purses and tights and cute little shoes. And for later on, tiaras.

Which reminds me of something. May I start at the beginning?
Jesus became my personal Savior in 1961. Though only seven years old, I truly and tremblingly gave myself to Him and asked Him to live in my heart forever. In the years since I've heard many an outstanding testimony and sometimes have regretted making my profession of faith so early, before I committed some bad sins that could have really "beefed up" my testimony. I'm just kidding (sort of). But you know what I mean. I would sit there thinking, How bad could I have been at seven years old that Jesus would need to come in and completely change my life?

In all seriousness, though, every person, no matter his or her age, is just as "bad" as the next. Every person is born with a sin nature. Genesis 8:21 says, "The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart, 'Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.'" From childhood. If you've ever been around infants or toddlers, you've seen the sin nature in its early stages. The moment a child realizes there are choices in life, he begins to assert his preferences. He fusses at not being able to do what he wants, when he wants. Or she gravitates towards the "no no's." The Toddler's Creed humorously illustrates another of the ugly truths in man's sin nature:
If I want it, it's mine.
If I give it to you and change my mind later, it's mine.
If I can take it away from you, it's mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
If it's mine, it will never belong to anybody else, no matter what.
If we are building something together, all the pieces are mine.
If it looks just like mine, it's mine.

Sounds a bit like covetousness, doesn't it? Let me edit my earlier testimony just a bit. Jesus became my personal Savior in 1961 when I was just seven years old, and oh, how I needed a Savior. Selfishness, egotism and covetousness ruled my heart. I wanted all the pretties I saw: that girl's boxy red purse with the brass buckle, that friend's shiny black shoes, that boy's really sweet mama, that candy store's malted milk balls, that acquaintance's nifty bicycle horn, that neighbor's gleaming swingset with super slippery slide, that teacher's colored chalk, that library's date stamper, that... I think you get the picture. If mere desire could've made them mine, they would have been MINE.

I never felt that desire more profoundly, however, than when I first laid eyes on a tiara. I believe the occasion was a Girl's Auxiliary coronation service at my church. In those days, many Southern Baptist girls took part in GA's (Girl's Auxiliary), an organization with the purpose of teaching about missions work around the world. In view of earning badges and other symbols of accomplishment, each girl in GA's would work on memorizing scripture, participating in mission action projects and creating artistic expressions and symbols of the Christian life. Step by step and year by year a girl worked to become a Maiden, Lady-in-Waiting, Princess, Queen, Queen with a Scepter and Queen Regent. All the hard work culminated in a coronation service at the end of each school year. Well, before I was even old enough to be a GA, my older sister Anne became a Queen and was ready to be crowned at the coronation service. She and two other girls, dressed in long white dresses, hair styled into updo's, stood on the platform, and one by one their mothers placed tiaras on their heads, signifying they had reached the rank of Queen.

Immediately a burning desire came over me that was so great I can hardly describe it. I wanted to be up there in flowing white dress, but more than that, I wanted that tiara. Its glitz outsparkled anything I had ever owned, and the shape of it was divine, so triangularly did it point toward heaven. I knew for certain that if I had that tiara my life would never be the same.

Now here's the really cool spiritual lesson. No tiara could actually ever change my life, but when Jesus came into my heart, as the song says, "He changed me completely and a new life is mine." And, when you are saved, you become a tiara of sorts - a crown. Listen to Philippians 4:1 - "I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work" (New Living Translation). Paul was saying that when someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a crown for the one who lead him to Christ. Here's a special note: That tiara my sister got for becoming Queen is long gone, but she led me to Christ so I am her living crown (tiara), and have been for 49 years. Thank you, Anne, for loving me that much.
Now, readers, let's go get some living tiaras.

1 comment:

  1. Sweet Sister, you ARE my crown (though I can take no credit). You are a shining example of God's love, pointing the way to Heaven for all who will see!

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