Redemption and Ramona Quimby

I had a glorious time this evening, watching Ramona and Beezus with Ashley. Some of you are more than likely familiar with the characters in this story, created by the famous children's author Beverly Cleary. Beezus (so-called by her little sister Ramona due to the fact that Ramona couldn't say her real name, Beatrice, when she was little) is a beautiful, brilliant, and obedient young teenager that plays opposite the quirky, clumsy, hyperimaginitive 9 yr old Ramona. Beezus gets all A's and Ramona thinks "terrifical" is an appropriate adjective; Beezus is envied by all the girls and Ramona is made fun of by her classmates; Beezus is put in charge and Ramona is told not to touch anything...you get the point.

Throughout the story Ramona is a constant headache to all she encounters, causing one problem after another. Nothing ever goes right for her. She attempts to wash a neighbor's car and it ends up with paint all of over it....Easter-egg style. She goes to feed her cat and it's dead. Her dad loses his job and every attempt she makes at "helping out" causes only more difficulty. She tries to sell lemonade and then embarrasses her sister. She tries to cook dinner and catches the pan on fire. One mess on top of another.

When things couldn't get worse she finds out that her family is going to have to move across state, it was the only place dad could land a job. In a fit of rage and sadness she storms through her house (which is being shown by the realtor to potential buyers), goes into the attic and subsequently falls through the roof. It was a mortifying situation. Her dad scolds her, "You need to be more responsible. It's time for you to grow up". Ramona then, convinced that she's not wanted, packs her bag and leaves.

She stumbles along the busy streets of Portland, alone, looking for somewhere, anywhere, to go. She lands at the bus stop. In her suitcase she sees a book that her dad had been reading a few weeks earlier. He (being a gifted artist) had drawn a cartoon of Ramona...she was skipping and jumping in her pretty red boots. His last drawing was of a bucket of flowers that was headed by the phrase, "Gotta love my Ramona".

She begins to cry and the reality that her family truly loved her set in. The silence is then broken by her mother's voice coming through a baby monitor (her mother hid the baby monitor in Ramona's suitcase...how clever!!), "Ramona....Ramona...". "Mom....mom..." Ramona said back in hope. The bus clears away and there the Quimby family is. They are reunited and Ramona knows, in a way she hadn't before, that she indeed has a place in this world. A safe place, a place she is wanted, a place she is loved...in the Quimby household.

Ramona, when all seemed lost, when, in her eyes, the curtain had been closed and the lights were turned out, was redeemed by the love of her parents. She was as good as dead, but behold, her mother spoke and she had life again.



"Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha...Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him...Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.' When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled...Jesus wept...Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, 'Take away the stone'....[then] he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The man who had died came out..." (Jn 11).

In the darkness of our sin we were as good as dead. But our Father spoke the redemptive Word. And that Word is "Life".
"...even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ" (Eph 2:5).

Ramona is an example of how God draws straight with crooked lines. It is true that we have a tendency to dance with two left feet, yet God still takes us to the ball.

Lift up your heads O Christians, we have been made alive.

The Way of Wisdom [I]

"The reproofs of discipline are the way of life" -Proverbs 6:23b

It is true that the only way forward in wisdom is to begin with a proper reverence and awe of God (cf. Prov 1:7). And accompanying this reverence ought to be a desire to walk in the way of "wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity" (Prov 1:3). But as a man begins to walk in the way of wisdom he will, like any two-legged creature with a poor center of gravity, stumble over his own feet and scuff up his new khakis. And it is in this stumbling that God is so gracious.

God passed his physical therapy licensing exam...he knows what an unsteady gait looks like. And as a Father he delights in his children learning to walk properly. Because of this, he is faithful to be present and straighten out our limps and pigeon-toed shuffles. It is in this way that he disciplines us.

We do not, at first, like that discipline. We would rather have scuffed up khakis. But God loves us more. He is a faithful Father and is not thwarted by our whining. He continues to discipline his children. And the wise man learns to love the discipline of the Lord....it hurts, but it feels good (like massaging out a sore muscle). Indeed, "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid" (Prov 12:1). Again, "reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge" (Prov 19:25).

The way of wisdom learns to hear and understand words of instruction and correction. And if anyone has been at this long they will be tempted to get irritated with the discipline. Don't. Receive the reproof of God and repent. Don't wallow. Christ is your righteousness. Lift up your eyes in faith to the One who gives life freely and receive life. Thank him for his sharp instruction and walk on. And as you walk feel free to sing with Solomon - "Oh Lady Wisdom, how your ways are ways of pleasantness and all your paths are peace...you are a tree of life to those who lay hold of you and those who hold fast to you are called blessed" (cf. Prov 3:17,18).