love, light and poop
My plan for let us belove(d) for the month of December was simply to offer some encouragement to all of you, to remind you all of how loved you are. I'd written a post and just needed to tweak it a little. But two days of literal poop and a band concert later, I was running on empty. By the time the day was over, I crashed before I ever even got to work on that post.
Busy days can give you a lot to think about and I've had quite a few.
It started yesterday, the first day in a while that I didn't have any appointments or plans. Finally, a chance to get some things done around the house. I decided to start by putting my boys in the big bathtub in my room while I cleaned in there. I got the mirror cleaned, gathered the laundry and was just starting to find the counter, when my older one spoke it. "Um, Mom, he pooped in the tub..." Seriously? I pulled the two boys out, rinsed them, dried and dressed them, turned on a movie and returned to the scene of the crime. And you guys, {TMI WARNING} it wasn't scoopable. I mean as gross as that is, you know what I'm talking about, right? I decided to let the tub drain while I finished the counter. It was going ok until it wasn't. The drain was stopped up because it also wasn't full on liquid. Have mercy. A whole lot of "ugh," breath holding, paper towels and bleach later, it was cleaned up.
This morning I was heading to my Moms In Prayer group (if you don't know what this is, find a group near you here). I just had to get the kids to school first. Snacks, lunches, backpacks, shoes and we were ready to go. As I tried to herd them all toward the door, I could hear a squabble starting up. Pretty normal, but it was the subject that made me want to hide. The dog (the giant Muppet dog with the huge bladder) peed and they were arguing about whether it needed to be dealt with right then or if they should just get to the car so they wouldn't be late. We went with the latter.
Ok, honest moment. I came home pretty ticked that I was going to have to clean up dog pee. When we walked back into the house, the smell was overwhelming. I took a quick look around but couldn't find the culprit. I went on a hunt for the broken steam cleaner to clean up the mess in my office, but couldn't find it. I called WonderHubs. I think he could tell I was bothered (gross understatement). He didn't know where it was. I took a few minutes to breathe (having become accustomed to the smell) and decided to go to Target and replace the missing, broken steam cleaner.
Isn't it great that there is a Starbucks in Target? I grabbed a cup of tea, and we started our trek, because you don't just go to Target for one thing, even when you do. We found a steam cleaner, a new broom, some hot wheels and the Christmas card section. Standing there with my 8 year old while he giggled uncontrollably as he pulled out one ridiculous card after another, did my heart good. I needed to laugh this morning and apparently it took a nutcracker mooning a cat on a Christmas card to make that happen.
After we checked out we headed to the car and saw a sweet friend, who doesn't live by "my" Target (because I now live in an area that does seem to have a slight over abundance of Targets, but I'm not complaining). A few minutes of minutes of catching up and a hug from a friend lifted my spirits even more.
Icing? When I got home and unpackaged the steam cleaner, it has a self clean feature. You put it on top of the spot, push a button and walk away as your children watch in amazement!
God is good, friends. I'm so thankful that His love is so evident and so lavish, even when I deserve just the opposite. I’m so thankful that he speaks truth into me with the live of a cup of tea, laughter, a hug from a friend and a magical poop cleaning machine even when I deserve a good smack up side the head.
Here is what I know, Jesus came into this dark world to be a light and He said that we should be light too.
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ”
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. ”
Sometimes we think we are meant to be a light so that we can shed expose the missteps and shortcomings of others (like when I called WonderHubs to let him know that he had not walked the dog). And sure, sometimes God uses others to convict us, but I think more often than not, when we think that this is how we are meant to be light, we are more concerned with our own light and not the light that Jesus calls us to be. We never change God's love or His light, but perhaps, sisters, we are all filtering God's light all the time. Sometimes we filter it with ourselves and our agenda. Sometimes we filter it with fear or pride or even anger. And sometimes we filter it with love. God's light is clearest when we filter it with love.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Let's shine our light like this, filtered in love, because that is how God shared His light with us.
