Lily pads

In May last year I wrote about Lily Pads, a concept that a psychologist I've seen in Australia introduced me and two of my close friends to. It often comes up in conversations with them, we ask one another: what lily pads do you have coming up? That is, what things have you got coming up that you are looking forward to and will rejuvenate you?

Last year I discovered that even tiny lily pads were helpful: the joy of deciding what I was going to bake on the weekend, watching a TV series after a long day of work, taking the time to appreciate the season, or a simple quiet breakfast with my husband. My current lily pads include editing the novel of a friend in my spare time: I look forward to doing that on Saturdays, and during other pockets of spare time.

The value in a lily pad is having something to look forward to, big or small. I've found that that illusive concept of "looking forward to" very important in getting through rough days. Of course the lily pad itself has value, it's a place where you can rest a little. What lily pads have you got coming up? What lily pads have been helpful in the last year?

On Sunday, though, we have a bigger lily pad: a camping trip. We've been looking forward to this since we last packed up our tent in October! As the weather got colder, we longed for the warmer weather that would make camping more attractive. (Yes, I know people do camp in winter, and in the snow, but we've discovered the hard way that takes a lot more effort than warmer-weather camping.) 

We haven't had many other large lily pads since Christmas, but instead a lot of hard work, compounded with some very challenging family situations. So it's time to take a break.

We're venturing into a new prefecture, one we've never camped or stayed in before: Ibaraki, only a couple of hours drive north-east of here, about 10km inland from the Pacific coast. The weather looks pretty good, temperatures especially. David and I, and our youngest son are going, with our camping friends and their two kids, plus some extra teenage friends. We're looking forward to some great fun as well as kicking back and relaxing.

This lily pad was threatened by the recently-ended state of emergency (SOE). When David first rang to book a few weeks ago, they were a bit leery because the campsite is in a different prefecture and we were coming from Tokyo where there is a higher infection rate. We were very thankful that the state of emergency was ended last weekend, because the campsite now is happy to have us for the full three nights we wanted.

With plans continuing to be difficult to make, it seems easier to not plan anything that means travel. But getting out of Tokyo into the countryside and away from our usual routines is so refreshing for us, that this is important for staying healthy and is worth the effort (our camping lists make it fairly low-stress, as does the fact that David and I have our specialities: he does the gear and I do the menu and food). Oh, and the boy who isn't going camping with us: he's looking forward to having the house all to himself for four days!

So, all you vicarious campers out there: get ready for a camping blog post late next week.

Come, follow me

I've started three blog posts in the last week or so, and they're all circling around the same theme: letting go and trusting God, not just at a head level, but at a heart level. So, I've decided the best thing is to do the work to combine them.

It's been a challenge to trust God with everything in recent weeks and months. Wow, what a confession to make! To trust him with everything we hold dear, though we don't know what he's doing and why; to trust him, though we can't make the plans we wish we could make. I guess that's always a challenge for us humans. And this pandemic hasn't helped. 

This post I wrote only ten weeks ago shows me that our plans, that I admitted were foggy, have become even foggier.

The struggles I've had this year have been mostly circling my kids, my nearly-grown boys. Who thought that parenting could be so hard? (I've been saying that for over 20 years now!) They are no longer my little boys, who were "relatively" easy to keep corralled; whose pain was easier to fix.

If you've got younger kids, you probably don't want to hear me say that the problems get bigger and harder to "fix" as they get older. I'm under no illusions that parenting my little boys was easy. No, I found that really challenging too. So this isn't a "better-worse" thing here. Just saying that parenting older kids has been throwing us some major "googlies" recently (this is a cricket metaphor, others would say "curve ball"). But the problems are such that I can't reveal them to you in the public space of my blog. So I have to settle for metaphors and generalisations, so read between the lines, if you dare!

Mark records Jesus meeting a rich man who had run up to him and asked what he must "do to inherit eternal life?" (10:17 ESV). "And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, '. . . come, follow me'" (v. 21). The story shows the man to be someone who would have been considered good: a rule-keeper. But he gave up his quest for eternal life when Jesus said he should sell everything he had (and give it to the poor) in order to follow Jesus.

One thing it seems we can plan 
is a camping trip...so bring it on 
(in 10 days time)!

In her book Come Closer, Jane Rubietta wrote: "To be really rich, we unclench our fists, open our hands, and reach for Jesus. He promised us life, abundant life, and we create room for that life when we let go. Whatever is in your grip, recognize it. Notice why you hold that person, that role, that ambition, so tightly . . . let [Christ] have you, all of you—your hopes for the future, your pain from the past, your roles and rules and relationships" (p.44).

I certainly recognise some of these things in my own life. My desire to hold onto plans for the future, to keep control over how things pan out. To hold onto how I'd like my sons to live their lives. I like to be in control of some things. Most of us do.

It's not a bad thing to control when you go to bed, or when you get up. Or to seek to control whether you are a responsible employee or student. It's not a bad thing to be passionate about your job. Neither is it a bad thing to strive for a balance of work and rest, or to make plans for when you'll next see your family. But sometimes these things can trip us up, and can hinder us from following Jesus. Sometimes you simply can't control the things you want to, what then? Jesus' statement was to one man, but is also to us. Will we "follow him" wherever he leads us? Though whatever he brings our way?

Last week I read this in Joshua 10: "And the LORD said to Joshua, 'Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands" (v. 8). Note the verb: "given". It's already happened and they hadn't even gone into battle yet!

"We trust in his future plans and purposes through Christ because we know that he has already achieved them, eternally". (A Time to Hope, Naomi Reed)

During prayer and conversations with my husband in the last month, we've pretty much given over to God a number of things that I couldn't have imagined only a few months ago. It's like God has drilled down on us, hemming us in, and been teaching us—"You can't assume anything about the future."

So I'm really fighting to stay in the here-and-now, and as one who likes to plan and dream about the future, it's tough. But I know that the God who already knew the outcome of Joshua's battle with the kings of the Amorites, is the same God who knows the outcome of the various battles we're facing today. What a comfort that it!

If I'm going to be hemmed in, then the safest place to be is with the Lord, after all "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe" (Prov. 18:10 ESV).

This is part three of my series based "15 invitations by Jesus to come" as written about in Jane Rubietta's book Come Closer.

International perspective on life in the pandemic

Quick summary of our current pandemic situation*

In early January the Japanese government called a state of emergency for Tokyo and ten other prefectures. This was to March 7, but has been extended for Tokyo and some other prefectures until the 21st.

On 3 March, the 7-day average of new cases/day: 

• Japan 1,030

• UK 7,173

• US 64,409

• Australia 8 

(It's interesting to note that both the UK and US numbers are falling but Japan and Australia—though admittedly the numbers are tiny in Australia, so it's a poor comparison—are holding steady at present, possibly related to the roll-out of vaccines?) 

New visas for Japan aren’t being processed, so this is holding up a number of short-term and new, long-term workers from joining us here in Japan.

CAJ has continued to start an hour later to enable most students to commute at a less-crowded time. This will shift back to a normal time as soon as the state of emergency is lifted.

Our Japanese church has been online since early January.

Our personal international perspective

As we talk with people in Australia, we realise that we have an interesting international perspective. It’s amazing how this global disaster is being experienced in vastly different ways around the world. In February, Wendy chatted with a missionary who is in the UK on home assignment. The restrictions they are living under there are very tight and quite depressing.

By contrast, talking with Australian friends, there is almost an unreality about it all now, with little threat being felt in much of the country. We realised with a shock recently that Queenslanders have made it through the majority of the last 12 months without needing to wear masks!

But the border restrictions are strict in Australia. As a result it would be challenging for us to go there right now. Yet we have American friends who have gone to their country and back, and had to quarantine only when they returned to Japan (with minimal restrictions in their own home).

Japan has many less infections than the US or UK, but more than Australia and the experience is different again. Though we’ve been in the midst of a state of emergency in Tokyo since the start of the year, the rules are vague and nowhere near as strict as Melbourne has experienced. That is partly due to the constitution that limits the powers of the government. However, 99.99% of people over five are wearing masks in public. Many churches are meeting online, even though regulations don’t insist that they do. But schools are still open.

Where the limits are strict in Japan are with allowing new people into the country. That has an impact on organisations like OMF and potentially CAJ, if they want to employ new, overseas staff in August. It also means that many meetings, workshops, and consultations that were previously held in person are being held online these days.

Vaccines are going to change things again, and we wait to see how that pans out. They’ve started vaccinating medical workers here, we wait to hear how the next stage will roll out.

*We sent this out in our prayer letter on the weekend and I thought it might be something useful to put on here too. Cross-cultural workers tend to be more aware of international matters than people living in their own countries, it's just a fact of life when we're brushing shoulders with people from a variety of cultures.

"Come forth"

We had a rough week last week. I can't share the details—it's not my story to tell—but it involved the death of someone we knew. I've been a bit lost for words, but I did know that, in the midst of my current busy-ness I needed to find time and space to think about this loss and that writing is one way that I do that. So I took some time on Monday to go to a park and think about the week that's past (when the weather was warm and the rest of my family were home on a long weekend). But the writing I did then is not something I can share here.

Monday was an unusually spring-like day, even
if many of the trees are still leafless.

But I also remembered that I'd decided to work my way through a book called Come Closer by writing about one verse a month (corresponding to one chapter in the book). And it turns out that the next chapter in that book is about death. About the story of Lazarus' resurrection:

Jesus said, "Lazarus, come forth" (John 11:43.)

Oh, don't we all wish that the Lord would say that for loved ones we've lost? We groan in this death and pain-marred world.

We don't want it in our lives, we try to deny that it happens. But can we allow it to turn our eyes to the truth? That we were made for Eden, a perfect world, with no sin or death. That our longings for an unmarred world are really longing for that, and for life everlasting in heaven. Read God's words:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new. (Revelations 21:3–5 ESV)

Right now we don't know the answer to the "Whys?" And that's not comfortable. But for those of us who follow the God of the Bible, we do know that there is a future in which all of this pain will be gone. And for those who have gone before us, that their pain is now all in the past. That is something to hold on to, even as we mourn their loss to us.

I'm also left with the question, like last time I wrote on this "Come" series—how can I live abundant life now, even as I get weighed down by the griefs of this life? I think one key is found in one of my favourite passages. Looking to Jesus—

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that
you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:1–3 ESV)

Music played a part in my reflections at the park on Monday. Here's one song I missed, though:

 

 

January was an unusual month for me at work

Last week I worked in a team of three people facilitating a workshop that helps prepare missionaries for home assignment (PHAW). It was my first time! And the most formal teaching I've ever done. Not to mention, the first time I've been a presenter on the "in control" end of a Zoom workshop. I spent nearly 40 hours on Zoom over the two weeks of the workshop and I'm exhausted this week! It's taking me a while to get back to a "status quo" of energy, and given that it's already Thursday, I'm thinking I won't be back to 100% before the weekend.

One of my favourite things about this course is the amount of writing you get to do. We were participants back in 2003 and 2009, at the end of our first and second terms. This course was one of those things that God used to awaken in me an understanding that I love to tell stories, and that I love to write about things that have happened in my life.

As facilitators, we had to give several presentations of stories we've written to demonstrate what was possible. So in the weeks leading up to the course, I got to indulge in writing! Of course writing for speaking is a little different, and this course is very strict on time limitations, but it was still fun. I'm a bit peeved that Blogger seems to disallow cutting and pasting from Word these days, otherwise I might have shared a five-minute talk I gave last Monday. I'm not sure I want to type all that out again...

Picking up this new role has pushed me outside my comfort zone. I'm very at home sitting at my computer, working on other people's writing (and my own), managing a couple of remote teams, and working with social media. Not that my role has been static, or without changes or challenges over the last five years. But teaching adults, using someone else's curriculum, and over Zoom was way outside what I've got experience in, and so I've felt very stretched this last month. But it's been good for me. I have a tendency to get bored, so a new challenge was welcome, but I also know that the older we get (yes, I know I'm not even 50 yet), the more set in our ways we become and the harder it is to change. So shaking that up every now and then is helpful. 

As I worked on this new job assignment through the month, I also became aware that, though I'm not trained as a teacher, I have a good amount of experience on the topic that we were talking about: home assignment. We've done a total of three and a half years of home assignment in the last 16 years (not counting the 21 months of deputation we did prior to coming to Japan the first time), so it's not a topic that I know nothing about. It's good to be able to pass something of my experience on to others. Not to mention that I've pretty comfortable with working on succinct writing and working with writers, something this course demands. However what I found more challenging was the listening skills required: for some of the time we were critiquing talks, not written work like I usually do.

I also enjoyed working more closely with people. Though I work with people all the time, I don't talk to them often. Interacting daily in a team, even virtually, was stimulating for this ambivert (extrovert with a strong introvert shadow). Before the week started, I packed my bag and moved to our mission's Japan guest home and headquarters the other side of Tokyo—in order to give my all to the course, and to minimise the disruption here at home. (This role required me to be working late and being on video calls during times when others would be using the room I call my office, but which is also in our family's living area.) As I was working in an office building, I also saw colleagues who I otherwise never see. It's the first time I've had an office outside of my home since I became a mum in 1999! I got quite giddy being able to pop my head into someone's office to ask them a question. And I took the time to go for a long walk and talk with two of them.

But, I have to say that I'm glad that that intensity is over for now. I could not, and have never entertained the thought, that I could be a teacher year-round. I'm happy to be back at my desk, doing what I usually do again, even if it doesn't generate the adrenaline-rush that I had going last week.

Best get back to my day-job...

Top 10 tips for working with editors

This week I'm preparing to teach next week at an online course that prepares missionaries to do home assignment. This online teaching is becoming a trend in my life—I've also been asked to teach at an online OMF writing workshop in March.

Big difference is that next week we've got a curriculum to follow and other "facilitators" to work closely with. The one in March I've got a lot more freedom with.

One of the things that I've been asked to prepare for March is a "top ten tips list for working with editors". I know that many of you won't have had the experience of (or interest in) working with an editor. But I thought I'd throw this out there for any who have and to get your ideas/feedback. 

The workshop is focused on non-fiction books. While I have a fair bit of short-writing non-fiction editing experience now, I don't have experience in editing books, so that's a bit of a challenge. So some of these tips might be more suited to magazine editing, than book editing.

From the perspective of an editor, here are some things I'd like to include on my Top 10 list:

1. An editor is not your enemy, this isn't personal to them, be professional in your interaction with them. Editors want to make your work shine, work with them to help that happen.
2. The editor may understand your audience better than you do (especially the case for magazine editing).
3. Don't think that your work is perfect when you give it to an editor, they will make changes.
4. An editor is your "first reader", their job is to catch the things that will puzzle or bother your readers. They will see things that you can't see because you are too close, for example, where you've not given enough explanation, or too much.
5. Welcome rewrites, an editor usually has a good reason for asking for one.
6. Take note of deadlines, word limits, and other instructions an editor gives you, again, there is a good reason. If you're having trouble meeting a deadline, let the editor know sooner rather than later.
7. An editor can help you become a better writer, welcome feedback.
8. Communicate succinctly with your editor. They are busy too, they don't need multiple emails/texts/phone calls from you.
9. Be accurate—make sure you check your facts and sources, this will save time later. Not every editor has the time/resources to check these things, the integrity of your writing depends on you checking.
10. If you make changes when an editor sends you edited content, make sure you note where you made the changes (eg. by using Track Changes in Word).

What do you think I've missed? Anything here that I shouldn't include? Any surprises here?

Came to give abundant life

Last Thursday night I went to bed feeling unsettled and with a weariness of soul that doesn't come from a busy day. When I'm feeling a bit off emotionally, I find it helpful to think through what's been going on to see if I can trace it back to a cause, usually I can. 

That night I listed off several reasons for feeling off: from the trivial—a bad ending in the book I'd just finished; to the more serious—global news with Tokyo's pending state of emergency and the horrid situation in Washington DC. And then on Friday morning I dragged myself out of bed with the outside thermometer flirting with 0˚C. When I pulled out my phone I soon discovered that my home city of Brisbane was suddenly going into a heavy lockdown for three days. Ah, my heart felt heavy.

Any thoughts we had that just changing the calendar over to a new year was going to fix all that was wrong with last year where quickly squashed, weren't they?

So, I'm going to begin my reflections on "come" this week. "Come" is something God does, but he also says it to us. In the coming months I'm planning to work my way through the book Come Closer by Jane Rubietta, especially looking at the fifteen verses she focusses on. 

The first chapter is called "Come for abundance", focusing on John 10:10: 

"I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (NASB/ESV).

Some other Bible translations say:

"have it [life] to the full" (NIV)

"have it in its fullest" (CEV)

"life that is full and good" (ERV)

The dictionary definition of abundant is "present in great quantity; more than adequate; over-sufficient".

"Abundant" is used in the Bible to describe God’s power (Ps. 147); his goodness (Ps. 31 & 145), mercy (Ps. 69),  and righteousness (Job 37). So God has more than adequate resources. The great news that the Bible tells us is that he wants to give us good things. And John 10:10 tells us he wants to give us abundant life.

This verse is in the middle of a passage where Jesus is talking to the Jews in metaphors. He's comparing himself to a shepherd and us to sheep. "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me" (vs 14 ESV). He's talking about eternal life and how he would lay down his life for his flock so that they could have eternal life.

Interestingly the only other time "abundance" and "life" appear in the Bible (in the NIV and ESV) is Romans 5:17, which is also talking about Jesus' death in order to give us life:

For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

So I've been pondering—what is abundant life? Is it what happens when we're finally in heaven and living a perfect life? Or is it life now as well?

This verse has been misinterpreted as meaning that God will give us a perfect life here on earth. But that really isn't true. No one I know has a perfect life, and even if we were perfect, we still live in a messed up world and feel the pain that brings.

Tyndale New Testament Commentary says about the passage leading up to this verse: 

[God] does not offer them an extension of physical life nor an increase of material possessions, but the possibility, nay the certainty, of a life lived at a higher level in obedience to God’s will and reflecting His glory.

So, as we move without pause into the uncertainties of this new year, what do I do with my weariness of soul? What do I do with my impatience for all the storms that I'm facing (and the ones I don't know about yet)? How is God going to give me abundant life in the midst of that?

Actually, when I stop and think carefully, it's the storms that draw me closer to God and pulls me further away from my love of this earth. They make me lean into God and long for heaven. They also make me more sensitive to the needs of others around me.

The good gifts that God wants to give us are not so much the tangible things that we long for like "a plan for the next year" or "assurance that my boys are going to grow into useful members of society" or that "I won't get sick". But more like: patience to deal with the storms, humility so that when God does give me tangible gifts I can see their true source, and wisdom to deal with the situations that face me. He gives me peace—"But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace" (Ps. 37:11). He gives me love for other people and the ability to serve him with the gifts and abilities he's given.

So, God calls us to: "to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace" (Romans 8:6).

Do you see I've shifted in my thinking? This verse isn't about how I can grasp an abundant life in my own little hands. It is about the life that God's already giving me.

Abundant life is knowing that—"neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).

And with that certainty, I'm able to live my life to the fullest. Aren't you glad that Jesus came to this earth to give us abundant life?