SCRIPTURE: 1 Peter 4:1
(TM)
Since Jesus went
through everything you're going through and more, learn to think like him.
Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always
expecting to get your own way.
STORY:
I gave a little tea party this afternoon, at 3. "Twas
very small, 3 guests in all - I, myself, and me. Myself ate all the sandwiches
while I drank all the tea. "Twas also I who ate the pie and passed the
cake to me.
OBSERVATION:
When I came into the world my parents where a little more
than surprised. While they wanted a child from this union (I have 3 brothers
from my parent’s first marriages), they just weren’t expecting me so soon after
getting married. But, there I was. Reality came alive for them.
The two brothers that I grew up with always said that I was
spoiled and my spouse shares consistently that I grew up and had a relapse.
Most of us, at some level, are self-centered in our thinking
… it is a part of our survival technique. If we don’t look after ourselves who
would? And, it is okay to get our way occasionally, but we can suffer a
spiritual meltdown if self-centeredness becomes our claim to fame, a way of
life.
This is probably the hardest task any parent or grandparent
has to teach the young girls and boys who are placed in their care. Spoiling
those young lives would be permitting them to always get their way. Never
saying yes. Never listening to them. Never trying to understand where they are
in their journey.
Lent provides us a huge opportunity of getting outside of
ourselves through the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting which should
help us to refocus our attention on God instead of ourselves. If we don’t then
that little tea party will only get smaller each time we hold it.
PRAYER:
Move us beyond ourselves and our self-centered wishes and
desires.
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