Thoughts

One of the blessings of using Tapestry of Grace as our core curriculum is the number of options involved.  It covers history and literature at its core, but one of the other options is Christian world view studies.  Lately, as we're in the 1950s, we've studied the five martyred missionaries of Ecuador in that time period.

The men were sent by a few different groups, but all wished to reach the Waorani Tribe, then called the Aucas.  Since the middle children were reading a book on Nate Saint, I checked out Through the Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, Jim Elliot’s widow, for me. It was beautiful and hard, exactly what you would expect from a young wife and mother, knowing she was sending her husband off to meet a group of people hitherto known for killing outsiders.  It was written quite soon after the men died, so it did not contain the events following the deaths, aside from the immediate actions of those who were involved in the attempt to rescue, which became the men who buried the missionaries, and their families' first steps to regroup.

We followed up by watching the movie End of the Spear.  This was written largely from the perspective of Nate Saint's son.  Here, while greatly condensed for time, we could see more if the time after the missionaries died.  We see a wife and sister make their way to join the tribe.

While personally the idea of sending a husband into so much potential danger seemed difficult, the fact that Elisabeth Elliot could take her young child amongst the people who had killed her husband is beyond my understanding.  While I know the safest place is in the place God has marked for you, that is a place I clearly was not called to.

There was fruit there, beyond all one could hope for.  The man who reports that he killed both Nate Saint and Jim Elliot became a Christian.

There is much to chew on there.  Beautiful thoughts, such as, that the men refused to use any weapons in violence (only to scare the on comers away) because they were ready for heaven, but knew those in this tribe did not yet have knowledge of Jesus.  There is bravery, joy, understanding.

As I looked a bit further though, I found some people felt there were mistakes made.  Of course, second guessing is always easier on the other side of history, but I found the article After Jim Elliot—the Good, Bad and the Ugly to be a pretty balanced view, as far as I can tell.  It discusses how the lives of the tribe members were disrupted, but allows that disruption may have occurred in a much less peaceable way, as the companies were seeking oil in their lands; as well as interpersonal issues of missionaries, who are people, after all.  It also led me to wonder if the men might have, given more time and guidance from older leaders, (Their Operation Auca was kept entirely secret, even from their superiors) found a safer way to reach out.

I suppose it is always good to look at all mankind, remembering that even the most pious are fatally flawed.  There may have been a better way to reach the Waorani, or maybe not.  Perhaps the jarring-ness of those deaths was imperative to the future of the tribe.  Our world is messy and full of gray.  Thankfully, God works all for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

My sources:
Through the Gates of Splendor
End of the Spear
After Jim Elliot—the Good, Bad and the Ugly

Happiness

I’ve spent a chunk of time contemplating happiness this week.  I see so many people striving for happiness. For themselves. For their kids.  The next big trip. The easy path. The experience. The new. The exciting. The never ending search for something to cram in that God shaped hole in their heart.

The thing is those are all fleeting things.  Dust.

I was challenged on my view.  Surely, as a parent, I want happiness for my children.  I don’t. I want holiness.

See God promises joy, not happiness.  Joy isn’t fleeting. Joy is a gift from God.  Happiness is a feeling. Dopamine. Happiness is insubstantial, where joy is enduring.

Life can be so hard.  Sometimes our lack of happiness is due to the consequences of our choices.  Sometimes, for seemingly unknown reasons, other than the fact we live in a fallen world, these circumstances seem to befall us.  The thing is, it isn’t accidental. God knew we needed this trial to be who we need to be to reach heaven.

I’m not here to make my children happy (I’m also not here to make them miserable...most of the time!).

I can’t step in and remove each discomfort that would be used to shape their character and expect them to grow.  I don’t know how God will shape and prune them to fit them into the kingdom, just the way He needs them.

And after I was challenged about my assertion that I really didn’t want my children to be happy (if that’s not what they need).  I talked to the kids about it. Guess what. They weren’t surprised. They know I’m not out to get them, that we make choices to do things they want, but, thankfully, they know happiness is not our goal.

Heaven is.  Loving Jesus.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;

    I refused my heart no pleasure.

My heart took delight in all my labor,

    and this was the reward for all my toil.

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done

    and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;

    nothing was gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

The law of the Lord is perfect,

    refreshing the soul.

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,

    making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

    giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the Lord are radiant,

    giving light to the eyes.

Psalm 19:7-8