Follow-through

"Keep it simple," David told me when I came to him with sorrows and regrets about my children and asked him what I could do about it at this stage of life. "Little touches, little hugs, little 'I love yous' when you see them." Somehow it was the best counsel I could have received. I felt life come back into me, from the root to the stem to the topmost leaf.

Later, referring to our conversation, David asked how it was going. I said, "It's a very freeing thought." David replied that he hoped I was doing it. (He knows me so well.) He went on to say that sometimes when we hear good counsel, it makes us so happy that we feel a sense of relief right away just from the counsel-and then we forget we need to actually do it.

You would think I would know by now. A few years ago when I was depressed someone gave me Isaiah 61:3 for what ailed me: "the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit." Again, I was delighted with his counsel. Again, there was a follow-up session. I replied, "It's a beautiful verse." He didn't let me get away with that. He said, "Are you doing it?" Was I actually putting on a garment of praise to get rid of a spirit of heaviness? Well, as a matter of fact I hadn't really tried it on yet.

How many retreats have I gone to and been ecstatic in the moment, my notepad full of wonderful insights? That's all well and good, but the last step is needed, or it's like building a house and not putting doors to get into it. "Be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22)

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