One morning, not so long ago, I was wrestled awake by my then 18-month old with big, blue eyes demanding that I cuddle. "I cowld" (cold), he grinned and snuggled in closer. It was then that it hit me. The most putrid, overwhelmingly awful odor that I had ever encountered. IN MY BED. As he squeezed me tighter and tighter, all I could think about was, Please, dear LORD, do not let it touch me. . .do not let it be on my sheets. . .Please let me be dreaming that my son has produced the most erroneous stench I have ever witnessed in my life and that I am not at this very moment sharing a bed with the biggest diarrhea on planet earth! All of this is running through my brain whilst my little cutie pie is trying to love me in the most heartfelt, innocent way. I couldn't even enjoy it. I was severely distracted by the stench and paid no attention to the moment, that looking back, happens far less often these days.
Moments such as these happen to everyone. We lose sight of what matters and focus on the "poo". We become distracted by the little frustrations in life and completely miss the moments of glory. Martha, in the book of John, had this exact same problem. Her brother, Lazarus had been dead for four days, and Jesus, moved and saddened by the death of his friend, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. John 11:39 reads: "Take away the stone," Jesus said. "But Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there for four days!" Doesn't this statement make you chuckle?! "But GOD. . .(I know you are Lord and can raise the dead) but my brother doth stinketh!" How many times do we focus on the same things?! We know you are capable of raising the dead, providing for our families, performing miracles, but really LORD, I'm not sure you can do anything about this horrid SMELL! Oh, how we get distracted by the little things!
God is leading me through a time of learning to "IGNORE THE SMELLS" of life. He has such big things that He can teach us through our parenting if only we will take our focuses off of the things that do not matter and simply obey when He gives us direction. I'm fairly certain that He's pulling muscles daily, rolling his eyes at all the silly things that I spend my time worrying over and wasting my time on. There are bound to be loads of "poo" that can trip us up and "stink" up our path of becoming more godly parents for our kids. If we are consumed with the little frustrations and inconveniences, we may miss the glory of it all. God's got a plan, and though parts of it may stink, the end result will be more than we could ever imagine.
It is so true how we focus on the small stuff and tend to overlook or forget the bigger picture! Plus your analogy is pretty awesomely funny!
ReplyDeleteWell, thank ya ma'am. Gotta tie it all together somehow! :) Thanks for the compliments!
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ReplyDeleteMichelle,
ReplyDeleteThat is a good post. I did laugh out loud thinking about how much effort we put into making sure everything smells good in our lives and how much we complain is a bad smell enters our air space. Bring out the bug guns if that happens.
If only we would spend time and effort trying to get rid of the stink in our souls.
You are right, Mark. It's the internal stench that smells the most. "From the inside out". . .that's the kinda clean-up I'm trying to do in my own life. :)
DeleteOh my dear Ms Bananapants this is quite timely. Things REALLY stink over here right now! Thanks for reminding me to grab a clothespin! ;-)
ReplyDeleteGlad it resonated with you! Things had been stinky over here for a bit too. I'm really trying to learn a lesson amidst all the poo. :) Hope the air clears where you are too!
DeleteOh I absolutely love this post MBP!! So well written. So inspiring. So true. Thank you!! :)
ReplyDeleteAanika x
Thanks Aanika!!
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