My daughters’ birthday is this week. She is growing up so fast. I love having young children. She has had a great year. She played basketball, continued her piano lessons, started playing the clarinet, joined the school band, mentored 1st grade children and finished the school year with all 4’s. She is a good musician and basketball player. What I admire about her is that you would never know any of this if you talked with her. She is not boastful and does not like being the center of attention. She shows patience and understanding beyond her age. I tell her I love her and she’s beautiful often. Happy Birthday sweetheart.
It’s amazing to me that a person can be so blind to their own actions while being so critical of the same action when performed by another. You see it everyday, in politics, at work, with family and more. I’m not referring to a double standard where what’s ok for me to do is not ok for you. I mean situations where the actor has no idea he/she is doing what they so disgustingly see another doing.
I say this because I often wonder if I am guilty of this same thing. Self love is so persuasive that we can be deceived in this way. How grateful I am that God has given us his spirit and how greatly we need him to help us in our walk. The boy's and I just returned from Target field where we watched the boy's high school state championship. Had another great time. Here are some pictures of the boy's posing by the statues of 3 famous twins players from the past. My brother came with his 2 youngest children and enjoyed it as well.
My oldest son asked me to play catch with him. We went outside, along with my youngest son, and threw a football around. We had a great time. During this time I could not help but notice how often the boys were calling out to me. This was deeply moving to me. Over and over again I heard "Dad", or "Daddy" being shouted with such affection and joy in the tone. I was really quite humbled by the impression it made on me. When I think about it I realize that a true Fathers day is one where sounds like this are heard over and over again. It is not a time for Dads to do there own thing in order to get away from the "distraction" of the family. It's not a break day. It's a time to enjoy fatherhood and by doing so gain valuable insight into our relationship with our Father in heaven.
The greatly feared check engine light turned on as I was driving to work. At the same time the speedometer began do dance around indicating speeds from zero to 100 mph during my trip. I have learned over the years not to panic when this happens but you want to find out why it happened and take corrective action. In my case it turns out that the wire harness had warn through creating an electrical short that was blowing several fuses effecting the smooth operation of the automobile. The point here is that the light didn’t cause the trouble/problem but the problem created the display to light up.
After thinking about this for a moment, I began to realize that is how life is as well. Our actions reflect what is inside us. It seems that the check engine light shines brightest when we suffer. This is when we are most apt to take our need to the Father. These are the times when the engine of our life is running at it's best. When God is most glorified and exalted. "He must increase, but I must decrease.” John3:20 esv Have you ever found yourself angry at the car next to you as you travel on the roads? On the way home from work I was driving during rush hour traffic and behind me was a truck who wanted to be much closer to where he was going than he was. Since there was no way around me (i.e. his current obstacle) his next best position was about 5 feet from the back end of my car. I would love to let him pass but there was no way that could happen in the current conditions. So here I am driving 50+ mph in my Honda civic with a big pickup on my tail following a very short distance behind. My assessment of the situation was that this man was driving in such a manner as to put me at a high risk of injury. I began to run through my mind everything I would like to do to get this man back. If I quickly step on my brakes that would show him…or me! What if I don’t let him pass when the opportunity comes when he can Yes, when he switches lanes to pass me I will at the same time switch lanes to block him. On and on I played the different scenarios’ through my mind. Finally, when he did pass he found himself behind another car doing the same thing and possibly creating the same response from that driver. What an arrogant selfish fool that man was!
What happened here? Was my anger and indignation justified? After all, he put me at an unnecessary great risk of injury. The concern I have is with regard to my response to these conditions beyond my control. My response of rage, anger, revenge, hate, etc. were self centered not God centered. This man was unjustly violating me! How often does this happen in the work place, at home, on the roads, at family gatherings, in the church. Rather than defend myself as I did I wish I would have went to God with my concerns. After all isn’t God the God of our circumstances? Jesus endured many forms of hostility. Maybe even with a fellow donkey rider! Definitely, from the religious Pharisees of his day. What did he do? He went to the Father. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. Heb 12:3 |