Monday, April 18, 2011

The Kind of Person I Am

Are you ever horrified by the comments that come out of your mouth in hindsight?  I had a strange compulsion to end statements with "that's the kind of person I am" this weekend.

I went on a ladies retreat with my church this weekend.  It was dormitory style sleeping arrangements.  The beds actually weren't bad, but I slept on the top bunk so it took me a while to relax enough not to worry about falling off.

I noticed one of my friends had a nylon sleeping bag.  It was the kind that zips up around your head.  I asked if she already had it, or if she was a camper.  She said it was great for camping.  I commented that my girls have nylon sleeping bags, but mine is that heavy cotton.  I hate how nylon bags make you gradually sllliiiide to one side of your tent, no matter how level you think your sleep surface is.  "So you are okay with your girls sliding?"  To that I replied, "Oh, sure!  They're little.  They can handle sleeping wadded up in a ball.  Besides, that's just the kind of mom I am."

I have been busy.  And I hate the word busy, because who the heck ISN'T busy?

We are having a garage sale Friday & Saturday because my husband overheard me say that it's time to move, our house is getting cluttered.  He promptly signed us up for the town wide garage sale. 

He somehow forgot that I like GOING to garage sales, but LOATHE having them!  Unfortunately, garage sales are against my religion.  I believe in gathering up all of our unwanted/unused crap...Or excuse me, TREASURE and taking it to the crisis center.  That way, I don't have to sit in the heat/snow/rain/ice or whatever on my day off. 

But being the loving, supportive wife that I am, I never said, "Well, I don't know WHAT you are going to sell in the garage sale as I cleaned out the attic last fall and gave everything away, so have fun with that."  Fortunately, I also did not make this statement within 30 minutes of getting home from a  ladies retreat where I left feeling refreshed and convicted about what a better Christian I was going to be, leading to me being a better wife/mom/friend and all of that stuff.

Whew!

I will share a few major convictions I had this weekend.

1.  Garbage in, garbage out.  We live in a world where everything is okay, and innocence is lost all too young.  We are back to only Christian music in this house and in my car.  The girls can listen to the cd's we bought them, as they were purchased with parental approval.  I also plan to crack down on television.  No, I can't shelter from the world forever, but they will lose their innocence either way, so I prefer to have them grounded in the Word and what is pleasing to God before I send them out into it.

2.  The speaker on Saturday morning spoke about how to know the Bible can be trusted.  Strangely, his closing statement, which seemed unrelated to his lesson, struck me right between the eyes.  He relayed the story of Eli and Samuel from Genesis chapter 3, and how Eli did a great job teaching Samuel to seek God and hear his voice, but his own children were wicked and Eli had failed to correct them, so God took them both from him in one day.  The speaker said, "Be sure that you aren't doing a better job at work than you are at home."  Ouch.

As you can see by reading this post I really have nothing to say.  I am busy.  God spoke to me at the Ladies Retreat.  My husband is having a garage sale because I'm just not feeling that supportive right now.   God is working on me about my obligations at home versus work at the same time that I'm being given opportunity to share about Jesus at work. 

I am praying that I will be bold and loving as I try to live out this journey as a Christian.

What is new with you this week?

4 comments:

Taylor said...

We all need reminders to do better in our walks. :) Thanks for sharing!

Marilyn said...

I am afraid that all of us are somewhat guilty of being better at work or in public than we are at home. A good awakening. Glad you got to go.

Unknown said...

It's more beneficial (we think) to be 'better' in the workplace than at home because at home, they have to love us anyway!

Allegro ma non troppo said...

That's a strange coincidence - I've only been on one ladies' camp, and we've only ever had one garage sale, but they happened on the same weekend! Just like you!

Eli's story is horribly fascinating. And then, to die by falling backwards off a stool... goodness me.