Stop and T.H.I.N.K

February 27, 2012

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, ad it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

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If you have kids, chances are, you've heard it all before. A commotion begins. Jabs. Yelping. Screaming. And then the ugliness is spewed out full force~ just like the girl on The Exorcist.  Time to referee. Put on the judge's cloak. Often I cannot determine the real truth. But, the facts usually boil down to one annoyed the other, one lost his patience, one deemed revenge necessary. The gloves were thrown off and the kid decided to stake his claim! They each acted from a view point of selfishness. No one thought about if he was hurting the other or not. No one took a minute to realize that the person he was about to hurt was his bestest friend in the world! Surely nobody stopped to realize that God was watching! The only thing the kids are thinking is that they were wronged and they must make it right.

Sound familiar?

This goes on in my house. I am ashamed to admit how often. I struggle to undo what the years of impatience and intolerance have taught. But, they learned it from somewhere. Maybe it's more like they did NOT learn to be patient and selfLESS. They saw examples of unbridled frustration. They saw me in my sin. And now it's a struggle to unlearn what our human nature has given us permission to do for so long, especially when the devil is constantly telling us that our sin is justified.

How often, as adults, do we act this way? We may not be as barbaric as unleashing a physical attack on our peers. But, if someone cuts you off in traffic is it still G rated in your car? If someone says something ugly to you, how do you react? When everything inside of you is screaming to let someone have it, what do you do?

I am certainly not spitting up in the air, because we all know what happens when you do that. But, I am reminded today of what I am supposed to do. I am the light of the world. I am the city on a hill. And I gotta I gotta I gotta let my light shine. {Sorry. I got a little carried away there.}

{This is also a good rule of thumb for posting on Facebook. I'm just saying.}