Sunday mornings are not the most relaxing time of the week in our family. There are lots of 'hurry ups' and 'do you haves' and rushing. It's not the ideal but it is how we make it mostly on time to church each week. I need to go to church some Sundays just to seek the forgiveness I require for all the things I did and said in the process of trying to get my kids to church.
A few weeks ago we were in rare form. My husband was sick and needed to stay home, I was running a program for all the children and teenagers between services, and we were running LATE. I rushed to the only open pew I could find before the procession began. Before the Gospel was read I had to remove my son from the sanctuary because he just couldn't get himself together or stop crying.
Turns out the shoes we had put on him were too small.
Two whole sizes too small.
Because we are obviously stellar parents.
As we sat on the pew outside the sanctuary doors, both of us on the brink of falling totally apart, a friend walked back from one of, what I am sure, would be multiple bathroom trips for her crew. She gave me the look of solidarity as I bargained with my three year old ways we could both make it through the rest of the service.
We re-entered the sanctuary, him shoe-less and both of us still pretty upset and frustrated. Moments later that sweet friend came over with a handful of trucks. We had a bag of church toys of our own but she knew the gift of novelty and left us with some new-to-us toys to entertain my distraught boy.
It was magic. He happily played and participated in the remainder of the service, shoe-less and joyful. I got through an entire prayer without shooting the stink eye at one of my kids.
Mother Teresa is famously quoted as saying, "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love."
I am finding that those small things, the noticing a need and lovingly filling it, are what makes daily life not only manageable but joyful. Daily I feel broken down by something; parenting, ministry, global issues, laundry, health but when someone takes the time to love me in a concrete way I feel like the burdens of daily life are lifted momentarily and I get a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.
Noticing, filling a void, saying the encouraging words, making the meal, visiting, taking the time... these small things we can do with love make all the difference. If God's Kingdom is to come it's through us. Each time we lift the burdens and allow the Kingdom to shine through we are revealing the life God wants for us. A life of connection and joy. A life where we not only see each other's struggles but actively work to ease them.
May God's Kingdom be opened up to you today through small acts of great love. May you reveal the Kingdom of God to another through the gift of your love.
May God's Kingdom be opened up to you today through small acts of great love. May you reveal the Kingdom of God to another through the gift of your love.
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