I
love God's surprises! The phone rang and Mrs. Tappin promptly
answered. “Mrs. Tappin, this is Tamara. I'm not in any trouble or
anything, but we don't have school today. I'd love to visit with you
a few minutes at your kitchen table. My mom made some cookies and I
could bring a few over. Would that be OK? Oh. Another thing -- my
girlfriend Candy. Could I bring her along too? She won't be any
trouble...” Hope put away the cereal box and deposited the
breakfast dishes in the sink with a quick rinse. That special feeling
just swept through her whole body and shouted, “God's Up to
Something!”
Hope
glanced in the mirror to make sure her silver hair didn't look like
some weird rocket scientist. Her Bible was laid open on the kitchen
table, ready for a battle or building a joy bridge. As fresh cups,
spoons, and saucers were placed on the table Hope's heart prayer was
that God would use her mightily today, in her kitchen.
Mrs.
Tappin's thoughts flashed past several stressful events in her own
teen years. She imagined it was doubly difficult for Tamara and her
friend Candy, in these days packed with tests, temptations, and, yes,
texting. But silver hair or not, Hope just put the coming events in
God's hands, trusting in His many promises.
A
knock at the back door had Hope hurrying to invite the two teens
inside. With her best smile, Tamara said, “Mrs. Tappin, this is
Candy, my best friend. Everyone at school calls her Candy Cane. She
lives down a couple blocks from where I live. Oh. We parked our bikes
away from the driveway.” Candy leaned her cane against the kitchen
table. With words that didn't flow easily, Candy said, “Mrs.
Tappin, thanks for letting me come. I wanted to, since Tam told me
how you say things which make inside hurts better.”
“Well,
Candy... my name's Hope, but I much prefer being called Grandma or
even better – Gram. You girls call me Gram and I'll fix us some tea
to go with the cookies Tamara brought.”
Just
as the three sat down, Gram said, “Girls. I love to have fun. And
there's no better way than to ask Jesus to help us do that. Before we
test the tea, I'll ask Jesus to teach us about His 'nothing-better'
love.” The three held hands in sort of a circle with a gap. That
vacant space was meant for Jesus to join the circle.
Hope
listened intently as Candy Cane told a little bit about herself and
the long unpleasant therapy sessions to treat her back problems,
these last two years. Candy noticed as she spoke that Gram lightly
rested her fingers on the open Bible. The teens wouldn't learn till
days later it was Hope's heart-call on God to tell her what to say to
the teens, and what not.
Gram
slid the open Bible over in front of the three of them and moved to a
page in 1st Thessalonians 4. “Girls, I've been
told many times over the years to 'shhhhhhhhhhhhh’. I'm sure you
have too. Most of the time it was to be quiet so I could study my
best or someone nearby could study too. I guess it's a sort-of be
quiet to study. But know what? I found a strange verse in my Bible,
that I love so much. Yes, not only that verse, but actually the whole
Bible. It's just crammed with good stuff that teaches me about joy,
love, and beauty.”
“Tamara,
could you read verse 11?” Tamara did a really good job of reading
it: “And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business,
and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;”
Both
girls displayed expressions that said, “Huh?”
Hope
began with, “Girls, I only want us to look at four words, 'study to
be quiet'. I want you to notice it doesn't say 'be quiet to study'.”
Gram paused a few seconds to let the words begin to sink in. “The
Bible always means what it says and doesn't contain any mistakes.”
The
lesson continued. “Candy, Tamara, being quiet on the outside is
really important. Sometimes we're all stirred up and stressed simply
because we aren't doing a good job of shutting our lips, or switching
them off, or shooing them away, or even standing still. Yes I know
this 'shutting', 'switching', 'shooing', and 'standing' are not easy.
But God wants desperately to help you. Let me show you how.”
“Candy.
Spread the fingers of your right hand on the table.” The teen did
as asked. “Now we need to begin our part of getting this joy;
that's the 'shutting', 'switching', 'shooing', and 'standing'; that
outside work, right? But we also need to SEEK 'quiet on the inside';
first outside, now inside. Ya with me?” Both girls nodded with a
soft 'uh-huh'.”
Gram
touched one of Candy's fingers and said, “Now to seek
quiet on the inside, we need to put our phones away and see God doing
powerful and beautiful things around us. That's number one. We are to
recognize the things God is already doing; things most often right
near us.” The silver haired teacher touched another of the
handicapped girl's fingers and said, “Second, we need to store;
we need to save all the important things we hear our church leaders
teach us. We need to chew on them and see how God wants to use them
in our lives; yours and mine. I'll tell you the truth, I don't see
how teenagers today can ever hope to have any peace and joy, when the
only things they want to 'feed on' are the words of other teens, who
often don't know or care about God and his intense love for us and
them.”
Before
going on to the third finger, Gram reviewed the first two by quizzing
the girls.
The
third finger was touched as Gram said, “the third finger stands for
search; searching those precious scriptures. This is
terribly important if we ever expect to have lasting peace and joy.
Did you girls ever look at the ‘tweets’ in the Bible?” Tamara
rubbed her forehead and said, “Gram. You wanna say that again, 'cuz
I thought I heard you say there were ‘tweets’ in the Bible...
tell me that again, but slower.”
With
a smile and the beginning of a chuckle, “Yes. You heard me right.
Not using any trick words, there definitely are ‘tweets’ in God's
precious word, our Bible. Long, long before Twitter and Facebook God
was writing out ‘tweets’ we call 'Proverbs'. Now God's tweets,
His 'Proverbs', are each very, very important to everyone. So much
so, that we need to include them in our own lives each day, and also
share them with others.” Another smile from Gram, with the silver
hair, “Now that's REAL networking; tweets from God that teach us
about having/keeping peace and joy; down deep.”
“Candy.
You and I have just met for the first time today and I want very much
for you and Tamara to come back whenever you can, and I want you to
know about so many things God has given us. The fourth finger is to
savor God's provisions for every area in each of our
lives; at home, at school, at church, and even at my kitchen table.
We must think about His goodness and we must thank Him for it all.”
Gram
had Candy put both her hands on the table spread out. She then
reviewed with both the girls. “Girls to have real deep down lasting
joy, it takes the fingers on both our hands,” she began with a warm
smile. “Tamara's left hand could be the 'outside hand'. Each of the
four fingers remind us about our outside responsibilities of
'shutting', 'switching', 'shooing', and 'standing' against
distractions. Then on Tamara's right hand; her 'inside hand' we
remember we are to 'seek', 'store', 'search', and then 'savor'. See?
For lasting joy it takes our commitment outside and also inside,
too.”
“Candy,
you and Tamara, and I all love to receive gifts, don't we? Well, sure
we do.” As Gram's fingers lightly moved across the open pages of
the Bible in front of the girls, she continued with, “Girls. The
greatest gift you can ever receive, Jesus Christ paid for. It was
sacrificing His own life and blood, just like an old testament animal
sacrifice, to pay for all our sins. The Bible communicates this to us
over and over. It's a true love story; a gift of love; from heaven
to each of us.”
The
three girls again made their prayer circle as Gram closed in prayer.
She prayed the Gospel to the two girls and asked God to help these
two girls and their friends to learn how to study to be quiet. Before
the girls headed for their bikes, Hope invited the girls back just as
often as they wished to come. “Bring some others with you! Then
we'll look at some of those juicy Bible tweets! OK?”
