Today is day three of my challenge to write daily for the year and I, um well, didn't. Not officially. So, in the sprit of the challenge I am posting today, but this wasn't written today. This was written this year for our women's quarterly newsletter at church. Call it a re-run of sorts...
Disco and grenades
Imagine this scene, I am a mother of three young ones, finally getting to take a much anticipated shower for the day. I finish up, wrap up in a towel... Wait! Scratch that. Imagine nothing. I will save both of us that embarrassment by just telling you the rest of the story. Let's try this again.
Back before there were five kiddos running this place, there were just three. A six year old and his two sisters, ages four and two. They were good kids, but kids nonetheless and subject to fits of, "kid stupidity"; hence I never left lighters laying around, nor live grenades, etc. Sometimes even just escaping to take a quick shower could lead to trouble, so I would leave my bedroom door wide open and take the fastest shower known to all humanity, all with one ear finely tuned to the three cherubs innocently watching PBS, downstairs in my family room.
Once clean and happy (a shower for me is like the strongest cup of java you can imagine, it is my boost for the day), I would proceed to get dressed in my room, door still standing wide open. This took finesse. I had to listen for said cherubs and maneuver the towel strategically while getting dressed, in case one of the kids should suddenly pop up unannounced in the doorframe. I have always valued my privacy, even with my young ones involved, so if you will, picture the most awkward disco dancing on the planet while a towel is held to your chest with only your chin. This is what I must have looked like getting dressed with my door wide open, trying to maintain a shred of dignity and decorum.
After about a half gazillion times of doing this, it finally dawned on me... close the door. Yep. Walk the whopping ten feet from the dresser to the door and close it. It would take me nanoseconds to get dressed sans the disco dancing towel, and the children would be just fine while I did so. After all I am a mother, and mothers can get dressed faster than the speed of sound if need be. Just close the door.
Following this grand epiphany, I took pause. It is just like our lives as believers and followers of Christ. We live in a world of chaos, where sin is just waiting to pop up in the doorframe and enter our world, as we dance and maneuver behind towels to try and avoid it. What if we just shut the door? What if we simply did not allow all that sin and chaos into our lives and the lives of our families? We deal with it enough on a daily basis, so why invite it in?
I don't know what may pop into your doorframe. It may be a certain type of musical influence, or media. It could be a relationship that could spin out of control and become inappropriate, or an influence taking you away from worshipping your Savior. It could be weekend sports that give you no time for Sunday morning fellowship, or just one more goal to obtain that steals your time and focus from your family and friends. My list and your list will be different, but they are both very real. Pray about what may be influencing you in a way that is not Christ honoring. We need to learn to shut the door on the world and simply stop hoping it will not saunter in, because it will. No more awkward disco dancing to circumvent possible grenades. Make the decision to just shut that door.
No comments:
Post a Comment