Parents, Sometimes I model it, sometimes I muddle it. One blistering Summer Day when my kids were young, we were desperate to go to a pool or a water park. However, at the time we had not yet joined the YMCA and for the six of us to go to a water park would cost a small fortune. So, we prayed and looked for a solution to a hot boring Summer day… and with the spare funds God provided from under the seat cushions, recliner, car seat, and honorarium from a recent funeral, I went to the home improvement store and bought 100 feet of plastic sheeting and put it in the parsonage back yard. We just added water and a bit of dish soap occasionally to slick the slide. It was perfectly sloped at the top and provided a fun ride, if you avoided the big rock in the middle. I thought I was a genius, (albeit a cheapskate genius). We could just slide down ⅓ of a football field of water and plastic fun and run back up and do it again endlessly… there was no waiting in long lines. When the kids got hungry, we had a picnic on the porch with fruit, Whales crackers (the discount version of Goldfish) and an Aldi take and bake pizza… no overpriced food and drinks to go to waste. When someone got tired, they went inside the house, dried off and took a nap… no tired whining waiting for the rest of the family to finish at the water park. They had friends over, we all sat on the extra long picnic table that fit all of us, made from a kit at the home improvement warehouse. We had a discount store umbrella… and some discarded tiki torches from the street… how could life get better. My kids' spouses and significant others sometimes listen in bewilderment as my young adult kids now tell these stories and ask, “why didn’t you just go to the water park?” On another occasion, really muddled it when a generous family member had given us a trip to stay in a rental at a mountain retreat a few hours away. I had not realized how much the stresses of being a pastor had taken its toll and I had not really dealt with them in a healthy way. I found myself yelling at my young son, who was simply doing something that curious, resourceful young boys do when driving on a long car ride with three sisters and nothing to keep them occupied. He had made a tiny swimming pool out of his cup holder by pouring his drink into it. As I was cleaning out the minivan, to go t back home so I could prepare a message to encourage people to be patient, I discovered what to me was a mess that would take my time and resources that were already running short. To him it was an experiment using the resources he had to see how liquid responded when the van was in motion...and maybe it was a swimming pool for an action figure… either way we didn’t view it the same way. I didn’t have a towel or paper towels and the soft drink in the cup holder was full enough that if I didn’t remove the liquid it would slosh onto the seat and carpet. Needless to say, I didn’t respond well, I wasn’t very patient. I have since apologized to my son, who says he doesn’t remember the incident. Sometimes I model living with the joy of God and sometimes I muddle it.
Sometimes we creatively act and look like the One we follow, sometimes we lose it. The apostle Paul was jogging the memory of the people he loved in Galatia, to model it, not muddle it by remembering who they were… he said those who belong to God, don’t do the things they used to do when they belonged to the Enemy, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” Galatians 5:22-25 (NLT2) When we belong to God, He gives us His Spirit to guide our thoughts and actions and remind us who we belong to and how it is like us to act. As this pandemic wears on, let God’s Spirit, His Word and His people keep reminding us who we are and how we act.
Hang in there people! God is with us! I’m praying for you all!
