Analyze And Adjust

Analyze and Adjust

I will keep on hoping for your help; I will praise you more and more. Psalm 71:14

In this imperfect world we often have to analyze a situation and adjust our attitudes and actions. That was yet another truth I had to learn as my daughter, Holly, approached her wedding.

One evening she lamented her dad couldn’t be there to walk her down the aisle, but she planned to ask her brother, Jay, to escort her. I started praying right then his public shyness wouldn’t keep him from accepting.

The next evening, the three of us gathered in the living room, and Holly made her request. In anticipation of this, Jay had prepared a little speech, but he got only as far as “Holly, that’s Dad’s role—” before she stopped him.

“But Dad’s dead!” she wailed.

“Believe me, Holly, I know,” he sighed. “What I was going to say is that’s Dad’s role, but Mom has been the one who’s held this family together. She should walk you down the aisle.”

Now it was my turn to wail. “But Jay, I want to be the mother of the bride and watch her come down the aisle,” I protested, ignoring the enormous compliment he had just given me.

Poor Jay. He’d grown up with a mother, a sister, and a neutered cat, and now he had two crying women to calm. Finally, Holly and I blew our noses and settled down to discuss possible solutions. After my usual prayer of “Lord, please help,” we decided we would “tag team” the event: Jay would walk Holly down the aisle to my pew; then I would step out and give the declaration in answer to the pastor’s question “Who escorts this woman to this man?” (Notice we don’t give away women in this family.)

No, the solution wasn’t our first choice, but it was a good one. In fact, as it turned out, the three of us standing together before the altar provided a visible symbol of the faith and hope that had carried us through tough times. —SANDRA

Lord, it seems as if I’m always having to “analyze and adjust.” Help me to do that under your direction and with your help.

If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace. If he has made it bitter, drink it in communion with him.

—OSWALD CHAMBERS (1874–1917), SCOTTISH BIBLE TEACHER, YMCA CHAPLAIN IN EGYPT