What's Your Corner Look Like?

Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Hebrews 13:2 (NLT)

Recently, someone that worked with my husband passed away. It was sudden. No one was expecting it. Her story is unusual.

She started coming to the restaurant with her mom when she was little. Her mom worked there as a waitress and Margaret would come and do her homework at one of the tables. After she graduated from high school, she started working at the restaurant. I am not sure in what role she started but eventually, she became a waitress. After many years in that role, she became a manager.

She worked at the restaurant for over 35 years. This was the only job she had ever had. Every day, greeting strangers and serving them.

After she passed, the restaurant decided to put on an event to celebrate her life. I expected a handful of people; family and friends. I got there early to help and to my surprise, the place was filling up before the event even began.

As the evening wore on, the restaurant became packed. There were between 150 and 200 people that came out to pay their respects and so many more who couldn’t make it because of other commitments. As I walked around talking to people, one theme stood out. It was her kindness and giving. Every person I talked to shared how she helped them in some way. Every person talked about how loving she was.

According to the world’s standards, her life would not be rated as a success. She worked one job, as a waitress, for her entire working career. She didn’t have a lot of money. She had no accolades to show for it. But what she didn’t have in those things, she made up for in love.

She loved well. She cared about people and made the effort to show it. Her life impacted so many people and made their world better and brighter. The love that poured from her in that restaurant changed that particular corner of the world.

Truly, what Jesus meant when he said “Love one another.”

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Every day I feel like I make a bazillion decisions.  Some of them are good, productive and fun. Some of them not so much. Yesterday, someone asked a question that had me re-evaluating one of my decisions.  I don't know about you but I find this particularly annoying for a variety of reasons that have to do with workload, etc.

This morning, I woke up read an email about this and became annoyed again. (I probably shouldn't read work emails before my worship.) Anyway, I prayed because I knew the spirit in me wasn't God's spirit. I prayed for wisdom. And then, I sat down for my worship. 

In true God fashion, he revealed texts in his Bible that helped me understand what wisdom looks like. He helped me see that the place my heart and head were were not his space. I love how God uses his Word to convict us.

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. James 3:17-18 (NLT)

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 1 Peter 1:13-15 (NLT)

And my life verse:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
    do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take.  Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

Today, as you and I go about our days and make a bazillion decisions, let's remember what making God-like decisions should look like. And let's have our first decision be to reflect Jesus in all we do.

Spiritual Conversations

“Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.” Hebrews 4:7 (NLT)

I walked into the grocery store and headed straight to the bakery. I knew what I wanted and I had limited time. I stood there and looked around for someone to help me. Nada. I looked for a bell to ring...perhaps by the big sign that said "We are always here to help you. We'll be happy to write anything you want on your cake." I looked from the sign back to empty bakery area.

I finally opted to go down to the deli counter and ask them if they could call someone. As I walked back to the bakery counter I heard the loud speaker announcement that a customer needed help in the bakery.

The lady appeared from the back and asked what I needed. I explained that I wanted to buy one of the cakes and have something written on it. She responded "I'd be happy to do that for you but it's not going to look good, I have terrible hand-writing." I said "Excuse me?" She repeated herself. And as she was taking the lid off of the cake she followed up with "And I'm sick." 

Now, I am a pretty expressive person so a lot of thoughts were going through my head about how to handle this and what to say. I started with "Stop (I didn't want her germs all over my cake.)" I told her it was OK, I would write on the cake myself meanwhile thinking that my writing was certainly worse than hers and why was she 1) working in a bakery offering to write on my cake if her handwriting was terrible and 2) why was she even at work if she was sick!

So she starts to hand me the cake, without the cover, across the counter. "What are you doing?" I asked. "I'm giving it to you so you can write on it." Now, my mind is racing with more not nice thoughts wondering how I was supposed to stand there, hold it with one hand and write on it with the other? I bit my tongue.  I explained to her that is would do it at home.  All this time, I resolved to go complain to the manager.

Needless to say, there was more unproductive conversation but just as I was about to open my mouth to tell her my opinion I heard "Ask her why she's sick." The thought was so overwhelming, I did it. She told me. Then, I heard "Tell her it's OK and that you'll take it home and take care of it." So I did. As she handed me the cake over the counter (this time with the lid on it), I heard "Tell her you hope she feels better." I obeyed.

As I walked away resolving to just go home and not tell the manager, I knew God had intervened. If I had told her what I thought, I would have felt terrible and so would she. I am so very thankful that God spoke up and turned off the "This is not how I am supposed to be treated" speakerphone that was going off in my head and replaced it with "Do you see the woman behind the counter?" voice.

I got home and my son (who has much better cake decorating skills than I do) wrote on the cake for me.  All was right with the world and more importantly, all was right with my soul. Thank you, God!

Embracing All The Children

But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left. Matthew 19:14-15 (NLT)

If you are a parent you are doing to identify with what I am about to say. Have you ever had anyone love on your child and it moved you almost to tears? I am a Mom and I adore my children. When anyone shows them any kindness or reaches out to love on them, my heart swells with gratefulness.

It doesn't have to be anything big. As a matter of fact, it is usually the little things like when one of them walks into the room and my friends make it a point to engage them in conversation and include them. When someone calls to encourage them or invites them to lunch just to listen. 

Did I mention that my kids are now adults? And still, still my heart is moved when I see someone reach out to them to show them that they are valuable. No matter the age of your child, no matter what stage they are in their life, if someone loves on them, it fills your heart.

Do you think God feels the same way? Do you think that no matter what age, what stage, what path his kids are on when one of us reaches out to include and engage and share and love on them his heart is full? Do you think he sees his children struggling and wants desperately for someone to reach out to them to heal the hurt? I think he does.

And when we do it, not only is his heart full because he sees his child being taken care of but, his heart overflows because it was done by one of his kids.  Your task today is to go out and make God proud!

She Gets On My Last Nerve

The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. Mark 12:31 (NLT)

I don't like her.  Really. There aren't many people I can say that about. Most of the time, I like folks. And of course, if I don't, I steer clear. But in this case, I don't like her and I have no choice but to be around her. Do you know how stressful that is if you are a Christian? In order to maintain my Christian composure I need to be anywhere else but in the same vicinity. If we could be in the same vicinity but no one spoke, that would be fine but she talks incessantly. Here is this person getting on your last nerve and you can't distance yourself.

I wish I could say that every response out of my mouth was sweet as honey. Not. I wish I could say the thoughts of my heart were uplifting and full of love. But they weren't. What I was praying about was her leaving. Seriously. So, after staring at my unhappy, unkind self for a few days I went to my knees. Not jut to pray that she would leave but to ask God if there was growth in this for me.

Of course there was. God always wants our growth. I began to think about what it means to live your life reflecting God's love. And then, I began to wonder if Jesus ever disliked anyone. He disliked the Pharisees. He was always at odds with them. But why? Because their method was leading people away from God not towards him. They were causing the people harm for their own gain. But as he was confronting them, I believe his heart was for them. You see, even if Jesus didn't like what they were doing he always, always wanted them to turn and give their heart to God.

As I pondered this, I realized that I am not going to like everyone all the time. But, how I respond to them is something I can control. As I say that, let's get one thing clear. I can't control how I respond to them on my own. If left to my own humanness, I would still be a grumpy, sarcastic, unkind person. I have to keep looking at Jesus. I have to keep looking at the heart he has for everyone. I have to long for that kind of heart and pray that God will change mine to look like that.

One of the definitions of the Greek word love is to have a loyalty towards. I may not actually like this woman, but I can be loyal to her as a child of God. I can treat her with the same respect and kindness that God has shown me. I can pray to see her as God sees her so that eventually, my heart for her will reflect his.

Pray for me. I'm going to need it.