The First Drop of Rain
Page 12
For me, renewal was the discovery of an unusual towering tree—the Monkey Puzzle Tree. When an Englishman first discovered this most unusual evergreen, a native of the Chilean Andes, he observed its reptilian-like armor—the spiked leathery leaves and the unusual twisting branches—and declared that it would certainly create a puzzle for any monkey who wanted to climb it. Quite accidentally, when he pocketed some nuts that he was unable to identify and planted them after they happened to sprout on his voyage home, the tree was transplanted from South America to Europe and became popular as an ornament in English gardens. Monkeys are not, of course, found in the Chilean Andes, but the name stuck.
And it struck me. I thought about the power of recording spontaneous thoughts, about how often what seems to be a private observation, meaningful only to oneself, may actually serve as a catalyst for shared insight and collective truth and emotional connections. I pictured an English explorer scribbling in his travel journal his impressions of this unique tree—and here I was, observing the same delightful evergreen on yet another continent. Seeing that tree invited me to visit, at least in my mind and heart, the original miraculous encounter.
In a way, that is what I find so amazing about the Gospels. When John says, “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish” (John 1:14), it has the unmistakable ring of authenticity to it.
These vivid words complete my own experience. They deepen my understanding of my own encounters with the living God who is light and life. They validate and even expand on my ability to know this amazing God through the life of Christ. Across the pages of time, I meet John, and we worship the same ever-living miracle.
The Monkey Puzzle Tree is a living fossil, the closest known relative of a species of vegetation that was alive millions of years ago. In the stories of the Old and New Testaments, we relive the very personal observations and encounters with God that men and women much like us recorded thousands of years ago. Scripture is our living link to the moments when God revealed himself personally and uniquely in the history of the world he created, loves, and will someday fully redeem.
This is renewal, our minds and hearts transformed. May our spiritual seeds sprout and bear fruit far from home, even in the most unlikely and impossible places. May future generations consider the stories of our doubts and of our discoveries and draw renewal.
For now, I’m going to tuck this leaf skeleton into my ribbon board as a reminder. Of growth. Of death. And of the possibility of new life.
to ponder
Describe your most recent experience of rest and renewal. What made it so refreshing and how did it impact you?
After sharing a private insight, have you ever discovered it was something other people could relate to and found helpful? What was it and what kind of a reaction did you receive?
postlude
It’s been a quarter of a century since Eliot’s The Waste Land first captured my imagination. I never would have imagined that the images of his poem would become in so many ways synonymous with the terrain in my own life—and the aching losses of those I love. The young girl from Kansas would marvel at the woman who has grown so connected with the geography and climate of Seattle, the woman who has discovered an unmistakable sense of the sacred gift of God’s presence in something as simple as a drop of rain. Rain is a symbol of God’s presence no matter what obvious contradictions exist in our present lives.
Today is September 23, 2008, the one-year anniversary of my father-in-law’s death. I opened my daily Scripture reading journal this morning to the notes scrawled a year ago today: “Dr. Leslie Parrott Sr. died at 10:39 p.m. at home with Graham. We sat up late, weeping and talking.” The strength of attachment we feel to him is just as strong one year later. Our lives are so much fuller for having known him, so much emptier for letting him go.
I think about my aunt Jill, engaged as a chaplain at Bailey Boushay House, a hospice for people living and dying with AIDS and other medical needs. Her ministry demands from her an awareness of God’s presence in situations that seem to almost entirely obscure that reality. The pile of rocks beside her home is still growing.
I think about Joncee, whose leukemia is in remission and who is enjoying his life. The weather report is sunny, but neither he nor his parents know what is beyond the horizon.
I think of dear Kathy, who is experiencing the latest round of chemo with the most tender combination of reverent strength and honest doubt that I have ever known.
Like a chapter out of Hebrews, the great cloud of witnesses in my life whose stories shaped my own life parade before me.
The apostle Peter, whose life, like my own, contained the paradoxes of devotion and abandonment, truth and deception, strength and weakness, reminds me that “life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God” (1 Peter 1:18). My prayer for us in our desert places, however wide and however dry, is that we would hold onto faith until the certain appearing of the first drop of rain.
acknowledgments
Sincere thanks to …
Angela Scheff. I can’t imagine doing this project without you. You embody the perfect editorial paradox of challenge and support—bringing life to words and wisdom to light.
The Zondervan team. The grace you extended as the timeline expanded was unconditional.
Sealy Yates, for the friendship powered with wisdom that guides our work.
My husband, Les. If it weren’t for your unwavering belief in me, I wouldn’t have written one word. Knowing you, and loving our boys together, is my greatest adventure.
To the friends and family whose stories have defined my life and the pages of this book. You are my window to truth and beauty when life works hard to obscure them both.
To William P. Young for deepening my understanding about the power of living in expectancy in The Shack.
To my city, Seattle. You are not just a backdrop for my life journey, but a main character. I love the way you deepen my faith.
For All Your Marriage Mentoring
Needs Log on to
www.RealRelationships.com!
Log on to www.RealRelationships.com to join the Parrotts’ Marriage Mentor Club. For a limited time you can become a charter member for FREE!
Here’s just some of what you will find there:
Downloadable tips, forms, and helps
Online training modules
Mentor and mentee evaluation tools
Forums, chat events, and other means of interacting with mentoring experts and other mentors like you
Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott are internationally known, best-selling authors. They have been featured on Oprah, CBS This Morning, CNN, and The View, and in USA Today and the New York Times. They are also frequent guest speakers and have written for a variety of magazines. The Parrotts serve as marriage ambassadors for the Oklahoma governor’s ten-year Marriage Initiative.
www.RealRelationships.com
Love Talk
Speak Each Other’s Language
Like You Never Have Before
Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott
A breakthrough discovery in communication for transforming love relationships.
Over and over, couples consistently name “improved communication” as the greatest need in their relationships. Love Talk, by acclaimed relationship experts Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott, is a deep yet simple plan full of new insights that will revolutionize communication in love relationships.
In this no-nonsense book, “psychobabble” is translated into easy-to-understand language that clearly teaches you what you need to do—and not do—in order to speak each other’s language like you never have before.
Love Talk includes:
The Love Talk Indicator, a free personalized online assessment (a $30.00 value) to help you determine your unique talk style
The Secret to Emotional Connection
> Charts and sample conversations
The most important conversation you’ll ever have
A short course on Communication 101
Appendix on Practical Help for the “Silent Partner”
Two softcover his and hers workbooks are full of lively exercises and enlightening self-tests that help couples apply what they are learning about communication directly to their relationships.
Hardcover, Jacketed 978-0-310-24596-4
The Parent
You Want to Be
Who You Are Matters More
Than What You Do
Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott
Being a parent is the most important calling you will ever have—with the emphasis on being. This parenting book is unlike any other: it’s a step-by-step guide to selecting and modeling the very traits that you want your child to have. Because, as the authors explain, parenting is more about who you are than what you do.
Children long to be like their parents. That’s the secret behind this method of choosing your top traits—your “intentional traits”—and projecting them consistently.
What is the single most important question you can ask yourself as a parent? Find out in this book. You’ll also learn the three-step method to avoid becoming the parent you don’t want to be … how to hear what your child isn’t saying … the single best way to teach a child patience … and much more.
Written in short, designed-for-busy-parent chapters, with self-tests and discussion questions, this book helps you select your top traits and make them stick. Filled with encouragement, inspiring examples, and warm personal stories from their own experiences with their children, this book offers the Parrotts’ revolutionary road map to parenting success.
Hardcover, Jacketed 978-0-310-27245-8
Audio CD, Unabridged 978-0-310-27977-8
Audio Download, Unabridged 978-0-310-27978-5
Pick up a copy today at your favorite bookstore!
You Matter More
Than You Think
What a Woman Needs
to Know about the
Difference She Makes
Dr. Leslie Parrott
Am I making a difference?
Does my life matter?
“How can I make a difference when some days I can’t even find my keys?” asks award-winning author Leslie Parrott. “I’ve never been accused of being methodical, orderly, or linear. So when it came to considering my years on this planet, I did so without a sharpened pencil and a pad of paper. Instead, I walked along Discovery Beach, just a few minutes from our home in Seattle.
“Strange, though. All I seemed to ever bring home from my walks on the beach were little pieces of sea glass. Finding these random pieces eventually became a fixation. And, strangely, with each piece I collected, I felt a sense of calm. What could this mean? What was I to discover from this unintentional collection?”
In this poignant and vulnerable book, Leslie shows you how each hodgepodge piece of your life, no matter how haphazard, represents a part of what you do and who you are. While on the surface, none of these pieces may seem to make a terribly dramatic impact, Leslie will show you how they are your life and how when they are collected into a jar—a loving human heart—they become a treasure.
Hardcover, Jacketed 978-0-310-24598-8
Pick up a copy today at your favorite bookstore!
Trading Places
The Best Move You’ll Ever Make
in Your Marriage
Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott
To understand your spouse you’ve got to walk in his or her shoes.
Ever feel like you’re stepping on each other’s toes? Then maybe it’s time you put yourselves in each other’s shoes. Of course that may sound uncomfortable. But it’s easier than you think—and it will revolutionize your relationship. In fact, bestselling authors Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott reveal the little-known secrets of putting the time-tested strategy of trading places to work in your own marriage.
In this book, chock-full of practical helps and tips you’ve never thought of, you’ll learn the three-step-strategy to trading places and, as a result, you’re sure to:
Increase your levels of passion
Bolster your commitment
Eliminate nagging
Short-circuit conflict
Double your laughter
Forgive more quickly
Talk more intimately
This book also features a powerful, free online assessment, powered by eHarmony Marriage that instantly improves your inclination to trade places. How? By zeroing in on exactly what you’d most like your spouse to accurately understand about you. In addition, two workbooks with no-nonsense exercises—one for you and one for your spouse—will help you apply each chapter to your own marriage.
Hardcover, Jacketed: 978-0-310-27246-5
Pick up a copy today at your favorite bookstore!
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