My four year old grandson and I went on an adventure the other morning. When we came back into the house, he was hungry. It was mid-morning so he started searching the kitchen for a snack. First he went into the pantry. Then, he proceeded to the snack drawer and then looked into the refrigerator. When nothing was to his liking, I saw him swing open the door to the freezer. I thought he was going for the ice cream but to my surprise, he announced, "Grandma, I want lasagna!" So I looked into the freezer and saw enough lasagna to feed at least 15 people. And it was frozen like a rock.
I made several other suggestions to him including ice cream, but he was set on the lasagna. Although this did not seem reasonable to me as I looked into his precious face, I could not deny him this request. So I proceeded to thaw the entire lasagna! He stood below the microwave asking every few seconds if it was ready yet. It took several minutes before I could cut and pry a frozen piece out and then defrost and heat it. As I watched him wiggle and sigh with anticipation, I could not help chuckling. Eventually, he sat down and began to eat his lasagna.
From the first bite to the last, he enthusiastically declared over and over, "Delizioso!" He did it with passion and an amazing Italian accent. He even emphasized the word by lifting his fork free hand in the air. It was hilarious! (Where he learned this, I have no clue.) I was laughing out loud and he was laughing with me. He was so grateful for the lasagna! I thanked the Lord I did not miss this joyful and memorable moment by being sensible. And also I thank the Lord that my grandson asked for the lasagna! I would have thawed 100 lasagnas to reach this priceless moment. And for the two days following, this little guy has asked for lasagna for breakfast! And with each bite he declares, "Delizioso!" Heaven on earth!
This got me to thinking about all the extravagant ways my Father in Heaven blesses me! When I turn to the right, He is pouring out blessings! When I turn to the left, there He is blessing me! And these blessings are not reasonable or sensible! They are given from my Father who has the endless resources of His universe! The generosity of God is incomprehensible! He blesses me beyond anything I could ask for! He blesses me to the point of awe on a daily basis!
Since the day of my grandson's "snack" of lasagna, I have been focusing on my response to these blessings! I have tried to be descriptive in my words of praise! Some words are coming to my mind even as I write! "Molto Belle, Lord, for the 5 fawns in my yard yesterday morning!" "Fantastico, God, for the great teacher my oldest grandson has this year in 4th grade!" "You amaze me, Lord, for bringing my Great- Grandmother's pizza recipe to a shop two miles from my house!" I want to respond to my Father in Heaven with the same enthusiasm and passion as my grandson responded to his blessing of lasagna! I want to shout to the Lord about His extravagant generosity in my life! I want to make my grateful moments memorable to my Father! Just as I will never forget...."Delizioso!"
Psalm 86:12- "I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever."
Friday, August 24, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Other Good Qualities!
Yesterday, I took my grandsons to the park. They rode their bikes as I walked. My younger 4 year old grandson still has training wheels on his bike. My nine year old grandson was totally independent on his ride. He rode up ahead and back to me just like I have taught him. He was riding steadily as he kept his bike on the side of the road to stay out of the little traffic that passed by. During this trip, he was absolutely perfect! I was very impressed.
The same thing could not be said for my younger grandson. He has not made as many bike trips to the park with me. He was unaware of the rules of biking to the park. He was testing the limits and I was being patient as I instructed him over and over. At one point, he began to go really fast. I told him to put on his brakes and he did so with his usual vigor. He pressed so hard, he caused a skid mark on the sidewalk behind him. The problem is I love skid marks and I found out he does too!
When I saw the skid mark, something happened inside and I was so proud. So I proceeded to have him turn around and look. When he saw it he was just as impressed as I was. And for the rest of the mile to the park and the two miles back, he made skid marks. He would ride so fast I had to run next to him and then he would stop abruptly making "really sick" skid marks. Needless to say, this racing and stopping got old!
At some point in our trip which was designed to bless my grandsons, I was annoyed. So I had to remind myself, "He has other good qualities!" I even thought to myself how much he was like me. My grandmother had to endure all of my skid marks when I was growing up! So I began to think of all of the good qualities about my grandson whom I adore. I even thought maybe this excitement over skid marks could be used by the Lord for great things some day. Maybe this was not a bad quality although it was annoying to me at the time. This helped to ease my annoyance and I enjoyed the rest of our adventure.
I developed the saying, "I have other good qualities!" years ago when I had someone in my life who was very critical. This person criticized me all the time. The truth is some of the criticism about me was wrong but others were right on. I can tend to lean toward perfectionism so the criticism bothered me a lot at first. But as I prayed about it with the Lord, He reminded me of my good qualities. He also reminded me of the verse in Romans 3:23 which says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Jesus is the only perfect person who ever lived.
This little phrase the Lord revealed to me has changed my life. And I love that I can use it both ways. If someone is upset with me for being imperfect, I remind them, "I have other good qualities." And if I find myself annoyed by what I deem as imperfect in someone else, I remind myself, "He/she has other good qualities." Life is much more peaceful for me and for those around me if I am not expecting perfection from them or myself.
I am not suggesting we accept our bad qualities without taking responsibility. Each day, we need to present ourselves before the Lord to deal with our sinful nature. We need to read our Bible, pray, and ask for grace and mercy. When things are not right in our lives, we need to cooperate with Jesus to change them. But even with this practice, we are not going to be perfect in the eyes of those around us and they are not going to be perfect in our eyes. One thing is for sure though, we are loved. Jesus was willing to die for us! We are loved deeply by our Father in heaven even with all of our imperfections!
So I don't know who is making skid marks right now in your life, but I know they are created in the image of God. I know you can love them if you are willing to pray for them. And I know you can recognize their good qualities as you forgive their not so good qualities. Take the pressure off of yourself! Realize no one is perfect other than Jesus! And if you are ready when you see imperfection in anyone else or when they see it in you, you will respond by remembering, "Other Good Qualities!"
Genesis 1:27- So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.
The same thing could not be said for my younger grandson. He has not made as many bike trips to the park with me. He was unaware of the rules of biking to the park. He was testing the limits and I was being patient as I instructed him over and over. At one point, he began to go really fast. I told him to put on his brakes and he did so with his usual vigor. He pressed so hard, he caused a skid mark on the sidewalk behind him. The problem is I love skid marks and I found out he does too!
When I saw the skid mark, something happened inside and I was so proud. So I proceeded to have him turn around and look. When he saw it he was just as impressed as I was. And for the rest of the mile to the park and the two miles back, he made skid marks. He would ride so fast I had to run next to him and then he would stop abruptly making "really sick" skid marks. Needless to say, this racing and stopping got old!
At some point in our trip which was designed to bless my grandsons, I was annoyed. So I had to remind myself, "He has other good qualities!" I even thought to myself how much he was like me. My grandmother had to endure all of my skid marks when I was growing up! So I began to think of all of the good qualities about my grandson whom I adore. I even thought maybe this excitement over skid marks could be used by the Lord for great things some day. Maybe this was not a bad quality although it was annoying to me at the time. This helped to ease my annoyance and I enjoyed the rest of our adventure.
I developed the saying, "I have other good qualities!" years ago when I had someone in my life who was very critical. This person criticized me all the time. The truth is some of the criticism about me was wrong but others were right on. I can tend to lean toward perfectionism so the criticism bothered me a lot at first. But as I prayed about it with the Lord, He reminded me of my good qualities. He also reminded me of the verse in Romans 3:23 which says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Jesus is the only perfect person who ever lived.
This little phrase the Lord revealed to me has changed my life. And I love that I can use it both ways. If someone is upset with me for being imperfect, I remind them, "I have other good qualities." And if I find myself annoyed by what I deem as imperfect in someone else, I remind myself, "He/she has other good qualities." Life is much more peaceful for me and for those around me if I am not expecting perfection from them or myself.
I am not suggesting we accept our bad qualities without taking responsibility. Each day, we need to present ourselves before the Lord to deal with our sinful nature. We need to read our Bible, pray, and ask for grace and mercy. When things are not right in our lives, we need to cooperate with Jesus to change them. But even with this practice, we are not going to be perfect in the eyes of those around us and they are not going to be perfect in our eyes. One thing is for sure though, we are loved. Jesus was willing to die for us! We are loved deeply by our Father in heaven even with all of our imperfections!
So I don't know who is making skid marks right now in your life, but I know they are created in the image of God. I know you can love them if you are willing to pray for them. And I know you can recognize their good qualities as you forgive their not so good qualities. Take the pressure off of yourself! Realize no one is perfect other than Jesus! And if you are ready when you see imperfection in anyone else or when they see it in you, you will respond by remembering, "Other Good Qualities!"
Genesis 1:27- So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.
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