Tuesday, January 13, 2015

How Focus Changes Everything

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." 
 Romans 12: 15

Yesterday was a rainy day and a Monday.  (I could hear the Carpenter's lyrics rattling through my brain for half the day.)  It was cold, the perfect day to stay in and attend to my out of control, cluttered house!  But we had business to attend to elsewhere, family business.

On the last day of last week, a sweet friend in our church family had to release her dear mom to eternity.  Yesterday was the day that her family celebrated that life and said their temporary goodbyes to their mom, wife, grandmother, aunt, sister...

I quit my house rescue mission just after lunch and went to shower and dress.  Shower, check.  Makeup, check.  Hose, check.  Little black skirt, check.  Shoes, uh oh!  I never got the shoes I wanted to wear out of the vehicle my husband drove to work today.  Time? Nope, not going to work!   Shoes, ugly and old which don't coordinate with anything but maybe blue jeans on a slouchy day, check.

Dressed and ready, old, ugly shoes and all, I walk to the living room.  Ahhh, boys are ready.   One of the advantages to home education is that their education can include times like this of showing up for people we love.  One says, "I don't like funerals."   I reply, " Well son, no one likes funerals; but God tells us to love our family, His children, by being there, sharing their sorrow.  

As we began our journey across town, one of the boys says he cannot believe we haven't picked up his new shoes.  "Look at these shoes I'm having to wear; they are gross, paint-splattered, nasty-looking!"   I reply, "Yeah, well son, my shoes aren't so great either.  But you know what?   Today is not about us; no one will be concerned about our shoes."   But our friends will know we love them.

And that was the moment that helped me take my mind off my shoes and realize how blessed I am to be a child of God and part of the family He created.   Life in Christ is never about ME, it's about HIM and others.  It makes all the difference in my ability to serve when I remember that.  

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