Juxtaposed

Juxtapose \ JUK-stuh-pohz \ verb, meaning "To place side by side."
 Example: "His expansive narrative poems juxtapose themes of melancholy and loss with a sense of elation and pure joy." (D. Savage, Sunday News [Lancaster, Penn], Apr 4, 2010)

Today is son Timothy's 26th birthday. Our oldest, Jeremy, turned 30 last week. "Seems like only yesterday," the old ladies used to say about events that had happened decades ago. I used to shrug and think, "What? That is really old news. Time has come and gone. Get with the program." Ah, the wisdom of youth.

When a child comes into a family, whether by birth or marriage, they come alongside everyone in that family. A troubled person will bring their brokenness into relationships and color every interaction. A mentally unstable person came into our family, bringing secrets, deception, and twisted reality. Truth became lies and fiction seemed real, sometimes even to the most grounded among us.

We have taught our children to vet their dates and potential spouses among their siblings. "Not only might someone from your generation pull the wool over our eyes, but your brothers/sister will have to live with your choice. Please consult them before you commit, and take their observations seriously. They want you to be happy and serving Christ." Oh yes - the troop heartily approved lovely Melissa and Rebekah, who married Timo and Jer. They gained new siblings and friends, and we embraced new daughters of the heart.

Thanks be to God for his juxtaposition of people within families and his Body, the Church. Sometimes all is peace in a tribe or congregation. Sometimes schlagen wir uns die Hoerner ab ("we mutually knock off our antlers," as the Germans say). Throughout life, we must consider how often others extend love and forgiveness to us when we need grace...and we need that kindness as much as they do. Forgiving and giving is an ongoing interchange within healthy interdependence.

"I've never been part of a perfect church," said one deacon. "At least not once I've joined it." Thanks be to God for moving us around his Body for his purposes.

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*Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Psalm 107:1-3 NKJV

*Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation."

 

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you." Isaiah 12:2-6   NIV

*[Jesus:] "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."  Matthew 7:7-8 NIV