Saturday, April 28

Passing Days

3 more days...and our little classroom chicks will hatch.
30 more days...and my students will leave for the summer.
And with every single one of these days, I am overcome with the goodness of God...with our need for His healing...with our need for life beyone the here and now.

I am encouraged on every side...by friends and family and students and strangers. And still I find this struggle against known and unknown. A lot like the chick breaking out of her egg. No matter how much my students want to see them come out. No matter how hard each chick will be struggling to break their eggshell open...we cannot help. We must not open the egg. It's the struggle that strengthens that little chick. It's the process that allows its life in this world.

And I suppose I must remember this with my children. They are fragile...and often I feel that I have been so impatient by the end of the day. I see their frustration through the eyes of time management and standards. I want to push them through. And I can't. They must do it on their own. I can give them what they need... education, structure, a hug, a word of encouragement...but I cannot grow for them; I cannot open their shell.

I am continually reminded of the words of Mother Theresa..."In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love." And as I think about this, I think about the fact that all of us want to be important. We all want to do something great, something noticable. But what if that is not what's important? What if the small, unnoticable acts of kindness and love are greater? I believe they are.

I was challenged with this question earlier this week: "Who's kingdom are you building?" Of course, I would want to say.."God's kingdom". But how many times have I said or done things to make myself more important, to make myself more loved, to make myself more well known? It breaks my heart really...to think about it. Because for so long...my faith has been about what makes my own life good.

And while walking with God will always bring unmeasurable goodness to our lives, there is so much more. What about knowing Christ? What about hearing Him speak into our daily lives? What about speaking to Him, as if He is our best friend in the world? Depending on Him as we would our own husband or wife, or mother or father, or sister or brother. What about sharing Him with those we love most in this world? What about sharing His love with a complete stranger?

When will we begin to reach out? When will we step out from behind our walls and begin to walk with this great God who saved our lives? When we do...they will be healed...these people around us who are so desperately hurting. When we do...we will find joy...apart from the American dream...apart from things and circumstances and yes, even other people. When we do...we will forgive and find forgiveness.

Back to the beginning. Who knows the number of our days? Only God. Tomorrow things will change...we will change. We will find new distractions and we will find opportunities to know Christ better. We will find closed doors and new opportunities. We will find open doors and long lost friends. We will look and see our days passing before us. The question is...How will you spend your days? He has set life and death before each one of us. He has set eternity in our hearts. So how will you live? And how will you show others to live? It's what I'm asking myself tonight.

No comments: