For those of you who grew up in the 90s, you may recall the country decor that all of our mothers had in our homes – the wooden ducks with bows around their necks, those wooden heart cut outs nearly everywhere, the apple- or pineapple-themed kitchens and stencil borders. And the rag dolls – whether they were actual dolls or at least at our house, bunnies. For some reason, we had rag doll bunnies with patterned dresses. And it wasn’t just us, as I noticed when I visited my friends’ houses that my friends’ moms had them too.
I am at that age where every little thing makes me feel nostalgic, so when I saw a rag doll deer at an online boutique in the fall, complete with her own mint green dress with tiny pink flowers, I just had to order one for my mom. And one for me too, of course. And Delilah (for that was her given name) did not disappoint. She was every bit as cute as I had hoped, only she didn’t stand up on her own (naturally, with her skinny rag legs).
This problem was easy to solve with a quick trip to Homegoods to find a boho basket for Delilah. (As anyone who lived through the 90s also remembers, a good basket is the answer to many of life’s conundrums.) The moment I spotted the woven basket with its purple, orange, blue, and green geometric design, I knew it needed to come home with me.
When I got home, however, I found that it was a bit too shallow to work where I had planned to use it. Although Delilah’s legs were too spindly to hold her up, neither would they bend so she could sit in the basket. It just wasn’t going to work.
I ended up being able to repurpose a rope basket I already had that worked to house Delilah the deer (along with a few other friends we picked up over the course of the next few months to keep her company). And the lovely woven basket from Homegoods sat on a small side table, mostly unused and mostly alone. Had I made a mistake in buying it? I was so sure I was meant to take it home with me. Was I wrong?
I am reminded of the story of John the Baptist in Matthew 11:2-6: When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
We may be familiar with the more confident John the Baptist we find chapters earlier in Matthew 3. This John the Baptist seems to know who Jesus is. He knows that Jesus is the One. In fact, he is so certain of this that it informs his entire, fairly unusual life.
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River (Matthew 3:1-6).
This is the John the Baptist we learned about in Sunday School, right? The strange, loud one who was not afraid to live off of the land and tell everyone to repent because the kingdom of heaven was near. However, the John the Baptist who is in prison seems a bit less sure. And it’s not hard to understand why. He is, after all, in prison.
We learn that John the Baptist is in prison because he called out King Herod for taking his brother Philip’s wife for himself. Herod doesn’t appreciate being told that anything he does is wrong. For that matter, neither does Philip’s wife, Herodias, for she conspires to have John the Baptist beheaded over this. And sadly, she succeeds.
But to backtrack to John the Baptist’s frame of mind as he sends his followers to ask Jesus if He really is the One, we can feel John the Baptist’s confusion, can’t we? He may have imagined his life going a different way. After all, if his purpose in life was to make a way for the Messiah, then perhaps he thought his own life would end more triumphantly than it did. Or at least he didn’t expect to be imprisoned and to just be left there until his untimely death.
This is totally just me thinking out loud here, musing over this idea of what John may have been wondering. Of course, he was imprisoned and his life would end shortly, so that’s obviously way more serious than anything I’m going through.
However, I can identify with that confused feeling, where our minds just knew things were going to go a certain way, and we chugged on and forward with all of our might and then – surprise! Things didn’t go the way we planned. We knew what the puzzle pieces were and where they were going to go, and we knew that the picture was going to turn out a particular way, until it didn’t.
And there we are. Stunned. Dazed. Confused. And more than a little disappointed. Like my woven basket, there we sit. Mostly unused. And feeling very alone. Displaced.
Do you remember Jesus’ response to John the Baptist’s disciples when they ask Him if He is the One? He tells them to go back to John and to report on what they have heard and seen. He reminds them of what they indeed are seeing and hearing: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
And He adds one more thing: Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. In other words, He is saying a resounding yes to John the Baptist. Yes, He is the One John the Baptist was preparing the way for. Yes, He is doing miracles all over the place. But also – yes, John is in prison. And also – no, John wouldn’t be receiving a miraculous intervention. And we don’t know why Jesus didn’t save John from Herod or Herodias.
But what we do know is this: God’s plan was moving forward. God was working in history to bring about the power of the Gospel. God’s plan of redemption was rolling forward, and John the Baptist had been a big part of it. God had a purpose for John, just as He has a purpose for each of us.
Sometimes we feel like that basket. Why have some things in our lives not worked out according to plan? Where do we fit? What are we supposed to be doing? Why does it matter? And then, we’re reminded that we don’t have to have all the answers. We just need to know the God who does. When we know the One who does, we can rest in Him, secure in the knowledge that He will place us right where He wants us. He doesn’t leave us as empty, displaced baskets for long.
Take my basket, for example. Last week, my family returned from spring break with a handful of beautiful new stones from the beach shops. And do you know where they fit most perfectly? In that lovely woven basket. The colors work together. The textures complement one another. The size is just right. It’s no longer unused or alone. And when we believe in God’s redemptive plan for our own lives, neither are we.
We can stumble or take offense when we don’t understand how or why God does or doesn’t do what we think He should. Or we can take Jesus’ advice from the end of chapter 11: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
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