My Favorite Post: My Family

My daughter is the younger of my two children.  She is a really funny kid- she is a ball of energy.    She talks all the time- there is a running narrative of her thoughts.  She wants to tell me everything.  It gets more passionate as she becomes tired (I don’t know how she breathes between all those words).  Sometimes, it even turns into a musical. She has one volume- LOUD. She has this unexplained love for Hindi music- especially the soundtrack to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. (Okay, I might have played that once or twice with her in the car, but now she requests it!)  And she really loves her family- she loves for all of us to be together.  God has really blessed me with a family that I don’t deserve.

Since the time that she could walk, she had this habit of carrying something around with her wherever she went.  It was really entertaining when she was just beginning to toddle around: She had this little red stool that she would try to carry with her.  The thing was bigger than she was and she would take a few steps and fall down with it.  She’d get right back up and do it again.  As she got older (and wiser) her items became more manageable. For the last several months, she has taken to roaming around the house  with two stuffed animals, a cheetah (a gift from her brother) and a baby tiger. She brings them to the table, into the car, the bathroom, her bed, you name it. If she is somewhere, you can bet that they are somewhere nearby.  

I don’t usually have a problem with it until it starts to interfere with what she is trying to do.  See, she’s pretty independent and wants to do everything herself, but it’s hard to do that when your hands have one animal in each grasp.

My words to her are the same each time, “Put down what you are carrying, and do what I need you to do.”

I feel like that is a message for someone today.  I don’t know what you may be carrying around but God is trying to give you something or assign you something but your hands are already full of something that you have deemed is more important.  Put it down. It’s impossible to receive when your hands are already full.  Put down what you are carrying and receive what God has for you instead. Just so you know, I had a completely different post prepared for today. Something was really gnawing at me to share this instead.  Maybe it’s the weight of the approaching holidays and all that needs to be done in such a short period of time- put it down and just receive God this season.  Put down the hurt. Put down the stress. Put down the ‘busy-ness’.  Empty your hands so that He can fill them up.

Matthew 5- The Message translation

3:“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

⁴ “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

⁵ “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

⁶ “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

⁷ “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

⁸ “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

⁹ “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

¹⁰ “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

^11-12 “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.”

“Lay down what’s good, and find what’s best…”

~Shiney