Lesson from a Cashier

I generally don't enjoy keeping company with a "Negative Nelly".  I like to hear positive and encouraging words from my family, friends and even strangers.  In fact, you'll often hear me scolding one of my kids and their negative outlook on life.

If you've read my previous post, One Thousand Gifts, you'll remember that I'm making a concerted effort to list what I love -- God's gifts to me.  But I'm finding that I'm far from achieving perfection in this area of my life.

Last night I was at my favorite store and it was late.  I put all my goods on the conveyor belt when the cashier asked me a simple question, "How are you?"  My response was just as simple, I said "Tired".  She made a comment about many people responding that way on this particular night.  I didn't think anymore about the short conversation until the cashier started to scan the purchases of the person behind me.  Just as she did with me, the cashier asked the lady "How are you?".  She gave the usual response of "Good, how are you?".  It was the cashier's response that sent daggers into my heart.  I can imagine she'd already worked nearly a full shift and since it was late evening I can imagine that she too was tired and ready to go home, but instead of going in the direction of negativity she responded "I can't complain".

I can't complain... why didn't I say that?

I am so blessed.  I was blessed to have the money to pay for the items I was buying.  I was blessed to be getting 10% off my entire purchase.  I was blessed to have a car to get me to the store.  I was blessed to have a family in which I could provide for.

Why did I chose the negative over the positive?

Obviously, I still have much to learn because my words wouldn't have gone there if they hadn't already been in my heart.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.  (Proverbs 4:23)

I do the same thing when talking to someone about the weather too.  Granted it's been a brutal winter and spring in my neck of the woods, but there is still so much to give thanks for.  At the risk of being a "Pollyanna", I want people to know that despite my physical or mental state, despite what the weather holds there is still so much to be thankful for.

I didn't expect to learn a lesson on this particular shopping trip, but that's just like God... teaching me in the everyday, mundane tasks of life.  With God's help, the next cashier that asks me how I'm doing, I pray that I'll be able to respond with something positive because God HAS blessed me and I truly want everyone to know that even in my tired state, God is always good!

Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.  (Psalm 105:1)

Bacterial Infections and Infections in the Soul

Tuesday night, I was relaxing with my family getting ready to watch TV, when I got a phone call from our clinic.  I wasn't expecting to hear from them, so my first reaction when I saw the clinic's name on Caller ID was to think that they were calling to remind me of an upcoming appointment.  My next thought was that we don't have any scheduled appointments and then I realized someone live was on the line waiting to talk to me.  When I finally gained my senses, I listened as a nurse told me my daughter's blood work came back  positive for a bacterial infection.

To back up in the story, I need to tell you that for the past year and more my oldest daughter has struggled with periodic stomach pains.  We've been to the ER on a couple different occasions only to leave without answers.  We recently visited our family doctor and were given a diagnosis which we thought was the answer we've been searching for; however, she continued to have pain, which escalated to severe two weeks ago.  She continued to experience such pain off and on for the next week and a half.  As a mom, I felt helpless and overwhelmed... there was nothing I could do to take away my daughter's pain; all I could do was sit and watch her moan, cry and throw up repeatedly.

Last Sunday, out of nowhere the pain came back and she began to experience the nausea again.  This time my husband took her to Urgent Care.  Within a couple hours, the pain was gone and we were told they couldn't find anything wrong.  Back to square one.

Then came Tuesday, and the call.  I was told that my daughter had an infection that I had never heard of and that I would need to start her on antibiotics sooner rather than later.

Now that I had a name for this ailment, I immediately opened my laptop and Googled the name of this strange infection.  I wanted to know everything there was to know -- symptoms, causes, treatments, etc.

The next day as I was thinking about my daughter, it occurred to me that I don't often approach "infections" in my spiritual life with the same zeal I did with my daughter's physical infection.  When God shows me an area of my life that is diseased and preventing me from having a healthy relationship with Him, I'm often content to just go on... life as normal.  I don't readily jump to action studying, researching or scouring God's Word for the cure to my diseased spiritual life.

I think we've all been there... we sit in church on any given Sunday or perhaps in the early morning hours of the weekday with open bible on our lap, and God clearly speaks to us about an issue.  9 times out of 10, I leave the church or close my bible and simply go on with life, never really changing, never digging deep to learn all I can about my sin issue and how to eradicate it from my life.

What if we treated our infectious sin issues the same way we jumped to action when we are dealing with a physical ailment?  I've been reminded this week to treat my diseased and infected soul with the same passion and zeal I would for a physical ailment.

Let’s not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump.  

(Matthew 5:29-30, The Message)

One Thousand Gifts

I'm sure for the vast majority of you summer has arrived in your household.  In ours, we still have two more days... blech! I'm kinda wishin' we hadn't had those two snow days earlier in the year.  Oh well... the end is in sight.

Today I want to share with you an issue that weighs heavy on my heart... I don't necessarily think it's something new in the culture, but it's definitely not readily taught in many schools and unfortunately not in many homes either.

I'm talking about thankfulness.

I see it lacking in my kids... I see it lacking in my heart.  I don't like it in either and I desperately want it to be different.

As you may or may not know, during the school year I work as a preschool teacher's aide, a job I love and feel incredibly blessed to have and do.  One of the perks of teaching is the little gifts you sometimes get at the close of the school year.  This year I received an amazing book from one little girl and her family called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  I don't know what it was, maybe it was the picture of a bird's nest gently cradling two Tiffany blue colored eggs, but I instantly knew that this book was going to be incredible... I'm only a portion of the way through the book, but my gut instinct has not failed me.

If you've not already read the book, I don't want to give away the details so suffice it to say the author, Ann Voskamp, had experienced several life changing events that I would never ask for or wish upon my enemy... it was some tough stuff! Through it she began to question if God really was who He says He is... is He good?

At one point in Ann's life a friend challenged her to write out 1000 things she loved; in essence 1000 gifts from God.  She took the challenge and as she filled up her journal with her list of 1000 love gifts, her heart was changed.

Ann's writing is beautiful and poetic.  As she recounts some of her love gifts she focus on the many things we daily overlook.  Things like...

~the sight of a robin in early spring

~the taste of warm chocolate chip cookies

~the smell of lilacs floating in the air

~the gentle hugs from my child

~the noise of laughter in the yard

As I read Ann's story, I was deeply stirred in my soul that God wanted me too, to recount over the summer months His love gifts in my life.  My next thought was to invite my two older kids to join me.  My hope and prayer for myself and my kids is that through this journey we will see how God provides so much on a daily basis.  His love for us can even be found in the little mundane things of life.

Will you join us?

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.  (James 1:7, ESV)

If you are interested in owning a copy of One Thousand Gifts, it can be purchased through online retailers like CBD or Amazon.