Control Freak Mother Struck Again...
Jodie posted the following prayer as a comment to my simple prayer post. It is so utterly perfect related to the last couple of days that I had to use it as a springboard for my confessions and thought. Control freak mother struck again...
Lord, please give us YOUR eyes and YOUR heart for the people you send into our lives, that our words and our actions and our expressions would be the very things You would do and say; and that when they look into our eyes, they may see YOU.
The last two days were full. And long. They included time in worship and great discussion at church (we are reading John Foster's book on Spiritual Disciplines, which is churning up an idea for my next book...a Bible Study on Service) and a couple of gatherings to discuss outreach initiatives. I also did some chart review, had lunch with a friend, a great counseling session (more tidbits to share) an apologetic phone call to Matt (more on that in a minute) and a recruiting dinner out with Howie.
Now I am in my jammies working on eliminating words from my MS. If anyone wants to take a story or two, you are welcome to join me in this project. Each story needs to lose 90 words. I am on a schedule, there are 66 of them. Ugh. Have you ever wanted to see your name in print? Now's your chance...not to mention lovely very pink, no doubt, thank you gifts that will come your way. Oh, and chocolate, lots if you like.
Anyway, there is also a great YouTube video that talks about seeing Jesus in others. Jason Upton see and tell.
Imagine people seeing Jesus when they look in your eyes. What a great prayer. But this is so much harder to do when our ugly human emotions get in the way and blur or worse yet, distort our vision.
A couple of examples come to mind.
Matt has been home since Thursday, and his schedule isn't exactly in sync with ours. It makes me crazy, and I usually come up with my own conclusions as to what that means (sometimes accurate, sometimes not). We haven't really spoken too much, he missed a PT appointment, had some beers at his brother's and didn't make a counseling appointment yet, and stayed in Ithaca a few days longer than I thought he would. I had immediately jumped to several unfavorable and erroneous conclusions. Jesus would have seen the positive. But no, not me control freak mother. And then I shared my impressions with a couple of other people. Boy did I blow it. No Jesus there.
But I did apologize and convey my erroneous assumptions with the people I had told otherwise. He stayed in Ithaca to work a couple of days so he could pay Carolyn back some of the money he owed her. He sold something I was glad to see go to raise more money to give her. He finished his report for school, meaning fulfillment of graduation requirements are right around the corner. When am I going to learn?
And then I saw Jesus in someone else. At the nursing home I visited yesterday I took the time to talk, well, really listen, to an elderly gentleman who was there visiting his wife. She has advanced Alzheimer's and didn't seem to know who he was or even that he was there. Yet he held and stroked her hand, spoke to her, and unburdened his soul a bit to me. The love he showed her was remarkable. I want to hold on to that image.
How can others see Jesus in us? Humility, service, choosing our words carefully, challenging when necessary, but always operating from a position of love.
Go and love someone today.
Lord, please give us YOUR eyes and YOUR heart for the people you send into our lives, that our words and our actions and our expressions would be the very things You would do and say; and that when they look into our eyes, they may see YOU.
The last two days were full. And long. They included time in worship and great discussion at church (we are reading John Foster's book on Spiritual Disciplines, which is churning up an idea for my next book...a Bible Study on Service) and a couple of gatherings to discuss outreach initiatives. I also did some chart review, had lunch with a friend, a great counseling session (more tidbits to share) an apologetic phone call to Matt (more on that in a minute) and a recruiting dinner out with Howie.
Now I am in my jammies working on eliminating words from my MS. If anyone wants to take a story or two, you are welcome to join me in this project. Each story needs to lose 90 words. I am on a schedule, there are 66 of them. Ugh. Have you ever wanted to see your name in print? Now's your chance...not to mention lovely very pink, no doubt, thank you gifts that will come your way. Oh, and chocolate, lots if you like.
Anyway, there is also a great YouTube video that talks about seeing Jesus in others. Jason Upton see and tell.
Imagine people seeing Jesus when they look in your eyes. What a great prayer. But this is so much harder to do when our ugly human emotions get in the way and blur or worse yet, distort our vision.
A couple of examples come to mind.
Matt has been home since Thursday, and his schedule isn't exactly in sync with ours. It makes me crazy, and I usually come up with my own conclusions as to what that means (sometimes accurate, sometimes not). We haven't really spoken too much, he missed a PT appointment, had some beers at his brother's and didn't make a counseling appointment yet, and stayed in Ithaca a few days longer than I thought he would. I had immediately jumped to several unfavorable and erroneous conclusions. Jesus would have seen the positive. But no, not me control freak mother. And then I shared my impressions with a couple of other people. Boy did I blow it. No Jesus there.
But I did apologize and convey my erroneous assumptions with the people I had told otherwise. He stayed in Ithaca to work a couple of days so he could pay Carolyn back some of the money he owed her. He sold something I was glad to see go to raise more money to give her. He finished his report for school, meaning fulfillment of graduation requirements are right around the corner. When am I going to learn?
And then I saw Jesus in someone else. At the nursing home I visited yesterday I took the time to talk, well, really listen, to an elderly gentleman who was there visiting his wife. She has advanced Alzheimer's and didn't seem to know who he was or even that he was there. Yet he held and stroked her hand, spoke to her, and unburdened his soul a bit to me. The love he showed her was remarkable. I want to hold on to that image.
How can others see Jesus in us? Humility, service, choosing our words carefully, challenging when necessary, but always operating from a position of love.
Go and love someone today.
Labels: Apologies, being Jesus to others, humility, Jason Upton, love someone today, seeing Jesus in others
posted by www.kathypride.com at
9:41 AM
6 Comments:
I'd be glad to take a story. Can you e-mail it to me?
Remember to breathe. It sounds like you need that reminder today.
Love ya lots!
Katy
I like Katy's advice: BREATHE!
When I'm stressed I forget how to breathe correctly. A few cleansing breaths (in through the nose; out through the mouth)--that's what you need! Oh, what am I talking about? You're a birth instructor! Anyway, it helped me through the weekend (breathing, that is), which is another story for another time.
I would love to help "slash" words for you, but I'm afraid I'd add them right back. I have a hard time parting with them (as you can see?). I read once that a truly great writer, takes their best sentence from each page and deletes it. What?!?!? I'd rather slice off my ear! That writer is just plain CRAZY (but aren't we all?!).
HUGS!
P.S. I love it...my word verification is "mentog"! Who makes up those words? I'd like to do some slashing there!
Yes, Yes, Breathe...In through your nose and out through your mouth. Of course I know how to do that, I was thinking the words Childbirth Instructor before you spilled or would that be spelled them out on the page. Just remember, Connie, three of your stories are in this ms too, so they get chopped also. DO you want to do yours, or should I? Tee Hee.
Mentog. I love it. Is that some kind of cross between a mentor and a blogger?
That's funny?!?! Mentor and blogger...I like that.
You have to slash words from my stories?!?!? OUCH!!!! Can you leave my words alone and just slash yours?!?!? (smile!).
P.S. Now my word verificaiton is "baserd"...I'm not touching that one (uh-ah)!
I would take a story too. How do you figure how many words there are? Is 5 characters still a word??
Thanks for your support and willingness to take a story. Shelley emailed a couple of really good points (I had emailed her the MS) I have two categories at the end that overlap quite a bit, so chop chop and consolidate. That may even buy me a few hundred words! Also, and I had been thinking about this, some of the stories are quite a bit longer than others, so I will work on them. Connie may chop her own words, less painful that way, I hope, and then I will email out a couple of stories. There is a word count function in word that counts the words for you. It is the best!
My verification word was unflecz. Like unflex, like muscles going soft, which is going to happen to me if I don't excercise...
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