Year Two in Review

Time has been passing so quickly, I nearly forgot the second anniversary of “An Iris Awaits”! It’s been another full year of learning, wrestling, and growing, of seeking to encourage and challenge readers to think deeply, love strongly, and praise abundantly. So this week, we’re taking a pause to look back at snippets from each post over the last year. (The title at the end of each excerpt links to the full post.) After all, it’s always good to remember where we’ve been before we take more steps forward.

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Like a road that splits into two forks, [nostalgia] can lead us either to humble praise or prideful demanding, to contentment or complaining. ~ "The Mixed Blessing of Nostalgia"

Remember that Christ did not save us in a vacuum. And He did not whisk us straight to heaven when He saved us. He left us here in our specific context to live out our salvation (not to earn it, but to demonstrate it). God does not negate our earthly life when He brings us into His kingdom; He redeems it. ~ "Christians and the Vote"

Have you ever stopped to consider the immense creativity God has displayed in the way He has designed each of us, how He has instilled in different people different talents for different purposes? ~ "Creatively Designed"

What kind of followers of Jesus are we if we fail to care for those who are hurting? Do we recognize that we are accountable to God for how we treat others? May He help us to show His compassion to everyone—especially to those with whom we disagree. ~ "Empathy and Love in the Face of Fear and Hatred: The Aftermath of Election 2016"

As Christians, we are called to be thankful in all things, which involves more than just saying “thank you.” We are to be characterized by a mindset of gratitude, not just during one week of the year, but day in and day out. ~ "Keeping an Attitude of Gratitude Alive Year-Round"

Instead of getting bogged down with an overwhelming sense of failure each time we encounter the realization of yet another unholy facet of our lives, we can be deeply encouraged that God Himself is working in us according to His perfect timing to gradually, patiently, steadily grow and shape us to be less like our former master and more like Him. And in realizing this, we can endure the painful pruning and chiseling of sanctification and know through it all a deep, enduring joy. ~ "A Painful Joy: The Process of Sanctification"

In addition to the wise men’s gifts revealing truths about Jesus’s identity and life, their journey reminds us of the beauty of God’s sovereign rule, for in their story, we see how He used the practices of multiple world powers over hundreds of years to orchestrate the circumstances which would bring about the birth of His Son and the message brought by men from the east, the message that Jesus is the promised one, who is the Hope of the world. ~ "Wonder of the Wise Men"

Let’s not think God is too small or too unconcerned with healing our physical bodies or protecting us while we are on the road or in the air. Let’s also not think ourselves invincible to illness or accidents. Instead, let us cast all our cares on Him, knowing that He does care for us and that He will answer “according to the counsel of His will” (1 Peter 5:7; Ephesians 1:11, ESV). ~ "God of the Body, King of the Highway, Lord of All"

So in the spirit of celebrating our rich tradition of peaceful transitions and the dignity, elegance, and ceremony of an inaugural weekend, here are a few tidbits of trivia about Presidents and First Families past and present. ~ "Of Pranksters, Pets, and Peaceful Transitions: Presidential Tidbits of Trivia"

When we pray, we are communing with the exact same person our ancestors in the faith did. And by His grace, He has given us a Book full of context to draw upon. We will never be able to comprehend the complete fullness of the mysteries of God or plumb the depths of His character, but He has given us thousands of dots in the pages of His Word and has designed our minds to have the capacity to connect them. ~ "Connecting the Dots"

Yes, every good thing we have is from God (see James 1:17), including physical comforts, but the blessings that are far more consequential and enduring are those of a spiritual nature such as conviction, forgiveness, love, mercy, peace, satisfaction, joy, and comfort, not to mention the ability to enter into the presence of God and to do so without shame. ~ "Beautiful Blessings: A Closer Look at the Beatitudes"

Even during the height of the Victorian era, Alcott’s readers no doubt would have appreciated a more detailed accounting, but she decides to step back and give her characters some privacy instead. In other words, she recognized that not everything in life had to be published. ~ "Lessons from Literature: Sending or Savoring (An Old-Fashioned Girl)"

We should fight against [anger’s] chains with every ounce of our weakness and His abundant strength, because this is the fight we were purchased for. Make no mistake, it will be painful. It will involve relinquishing perceived rights. It will require letting go. But, oh friend, the prize to be gained is worth so much more than whatever you are holding onto. The joy and peace to be found in Jesus is indescribably good. The freedom to be found in handing over those burdens and chains to our resurrected Savior is matchless. ~ "Be Slow as Molasses . . . to Anger"

The question, “Who is Jesus/God?” is so significant because it has both immediate implications for our daily lives and eternal implications for our souls. Our answers determine who and what we live for, what we value most, how we make each decision in our lives, and what our fate will be when we die. ~ "One All-Important Question, Two Life-Changing Responses"

Let’s decide to praise Him for being infinitely more wise than we will ever be. And instead of complaining about what He hasn’t revealed to us, why don’t we choose to marvel at what He has? ~ "The Revealer"

You see, the genealogies in the Bible might seem like dull lists of unpronounceable names, but in reality they contain so many clues to God’s character. ~ "Family History and Faith"

And when we are confronted with the magnitude of His power and the unfathomableness of His wisdom, we can’t help but stand in humility and awe. When we reach that point, we are able to embody the complexity of a faith fully convinced that God is able, even when He doesn’t answer our prayers in the way we were hoping. We can be confident that just because He doesn’t, doesn’t mean He can’t, and we can trust that if and when He doesn’t, it’s for a good and perfect reason—one that might involve pain and suffering but one that fits perfectly into His sovereign will. ~ "But If Not"

Sometimes I write what my head knows because my heart needs reminding. ~ "Just Keep Writing (or Faith over Feelings)"

The very fact that the same division and viciousness among fellow humans exists today as it did in each previous decade, century, and millennium shows that no amount of education or legislation can root out the evil seed in our hearts. The only solution is for us to get new hearts, for our souls to be made alive, and this can only happen “by grace, through faith” in Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection for us (see Ephesians 2:8-9). ~ "When Hindsight Is Blind Sight . . . History to the Rescue!"

He draws near, enters into the mess of our bloody wounds, and with abundant care holds us through the excruciating pain, cleans away the blood, and bandages us. But he doesn’t only do that. He actually heals us. He takes us from open wounds, to scars, to complete restoration. There is His transcendence. [...] He is so beyond us that He decides how many stars will be in existence at any given moment. That means not only can He create them and sustain them, but He can count them too. Yet he doesn’t just manage star production and lifespans. He gives each star a name. There is His imminence. ~ "Scars and Stars"

Let’s fix our eyes on the only One who is truly and thoroughly Good and ask Him for the grace to treat others equitably and to discern what to hold onto as truth and what to discard as falsehood. Let’s be quick to repent when we either idolize or demonize mere men. And in all of this, let’s ask God to help us remember that, while people come in all different pigments, none of us are black-and-white. ~ "A Lion’s Lesson: People Are Not Black and White"

In all things, remember that God is the one who is the possessor of perfect wisdom, not us. This gives us cause both for great comfort and for humble reverence. And, thank God, He--the only Just Judge--is patient with us and will be faithful to vindicate His Name. ~ "A Lion’s Lesson: The Just Judge"

I think it is vital that we try to maintain (or regain) that ability to take an issue, recognize its messiness and complexity, lift it up and turn it around and examine it from every angle, find the nuggets of truth and goodness that should be embraced and the lumps of falsehood and evil that should be rejected, and act accordingly. ~ "Unraveling the Current Cultural Crisis, Part I"

We must avoid condemning an entire era or group of people for one vice instead of condemning the vice. We need to be precise in identifying and targeting the evil. Broad generalizations are counterproductive. ~ "Unraveling the Current Cultural Crisis, Part II"

If we are duty-bound to repay Jesus once we receive the gift of a clean slate that His life, death, and resurrection purchased for us, then we are not truly out of debt. But Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient. His forgiveness is complete (Psalm 103:12). ~ "Owing All"

It’s in times of drought and darkness, in times of silence and seeking, in times of quaking and questioning that our souls are in greatest need of help and hope. And what is available to us then is not an impotent pep talk or a cheery pick-me-up; it’s a cord, an anchor, holding us fast to the truth of the promises of God. ~ "A Heavy Hope"

Oftentimes we don’t realize when we’re walking through something that God is actually giving us gifts during that time that we will use in future circumstances. ~ "From Geometry to Genealogy: A Life Lesson"

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I hope you've been encouraged through this walk down memory lane. Thank you, readers, for sticking with me another year. I look forward to what we’ll learn together in the year to come.

From Geometry to Genealogy: A Life Lesson

“I don’t know why I have to learn this; it’s not like I’m ever going to use it.”

Sound familiar? More than likely, we’ve all thought something similar at some point in our education. For me, it was with geometry. At the time the subject was among my coursework, I was planning on majoring in history or maybe English in college before going on to library school. When would I ever need to prove the degrees in a certain angle or the congruence of two shapes?

Fast forward a decade or so, and you’ll find me sitting at a restaurant table, history and archival science degrees under my belt, not having thought of geometry since high school, telling my mother everything I had learned that day at the National Genealogical Society’s annual Family History Conference. I was learning about the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) and what was involved in formulating proof statements, proof summaries, and proof arguments in researching someone’s family history.

“So, kind of like geometry, huh?” my mother asked.

That blew through some walls in my brain. “ . . . Yeah. Exactly like geometry.”

The similarities were uncanny. Both involved stringing together statements of proof based on known facts to arrive at conclusions that were reached by amalgamating the evidence from those statements. Both could involve proofs from positive or negative evidence (i.e. something that is there or something that isn’t there). Both involved analyzing what was known to discover something unknown. Both involved spelling out the steps of the proof in writing.

And here I thought I’d never use geometry again.

On one level, this anecdote serves as a reminder to us that when it comes to school, we should learn all we can because we truly never know how or when we might be able to use what we’ve learned. We never know what foundation we are laying that we will need to fall back on years down the road—even if that foundation is simply learning how to learn.

But on another level, my mom’s light-bulb connection between geometry and genealogy provides a perfect illustration of this truth on a much deeper level. If we step outside the sphere of institutional education and into the realm of life-as-education, we’ll see that we can have the same approach to lessons that come our way in every-day life.

How many times do we experience things—often difficult things—that seem to serve no purpose? Or maybe we sense that God is teaching us a lesson through a particular circumstance but for the life of us we can’t figure out why.

Sometimes years later something else will happen, and we’ll see that perhaps God had allowed the first event in our lives to prepare us for the present one. I certainly think that is often the case. He has a way of knowing what’s coming, after all.

And just like I didn’t realize when I was struggling through geometric proofs in high school that the process would give me a mental framework to understand and achieve genealogical proofs one day, oftentimes we don’t realize when we’re walking through something that God is actually giving us gifts during that time that we will use in future circumstances.

But it doesn’t stop there. Sometimes those gifts are for ourselves, but sometimes they’re for other people. Yes, my learning how to formulate genealogical proofs helps me with researching and documenting my own family’s story, but it will also help my clients and those to whom I can teach what I have learned. Similarly, sometimes the trials we endure in life are not merely for our own benefit but instead are for the benefit of others.

One of my favorite Scripture passages speaks to this very idea. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (ESV), “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  I firmly believe that God does not teach us lessons for us to keep them to ourselves. Nor does He comfort us for us to hoard His blessing.

So the morals of my story today?

Take every opportunity to learn that is presented to you, even if it doesn’t seem like something worth learning.

Whether in school or in life-at-large, embrace the lessons thrust upon you; you never know how God will bring them to bear down the road.

And if you’re wondering why on earth God would be trying to teach you a particular lesson, take an honest look at your own life, yes, but turn your eyes outward too. It just might be that the benefit of what He’s teaching you isn’t as much for you as it is for someone else.

And, finally, be thankful for the capacity to learn, for a brain that can store information and recall it years later not having thought about it since, for the ability to make connections and to understand things, and most of all for the God who created us, who gave us these gifts, and who cares enough about us to comfort us and to graciously supply all our needs.

He is God, but He is also Good.

Praise be to Him.