Sunday, January 19, 2014

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

Have you ever felt like a magnet for every mess that comes down the pike?


Sometimes I think my life looks like this.

I don't ask for this.  I go to work thinking about driving home, just like every other schlep out there.  I want to do what I have to do, and go about my life.  I'm not looking for the best parking space, but I'd like to get to one before my shift starts in twenty minutes.   

I go to the grocery store.  I want to get what I have to get, and get out.  I don't have to be first, I'd just like the store to stock the item that went on sale this morning!

I am a Christian.  I want to worship; I want to serve.  I don't want to scale walls and draw blood for permission to be a part of your "Christian group."  My membership, my permission was purchased at the cross.  (Obviously there's a lot more going on here, but that's for another day.)

I am a mom, with a cell phone, and a vehicle.  This means I am a fat, juicy worm for melodrama, meltdowns, plights, and quandaries.

What I am beginning to realize, however, is that being a magnet for messes also makes my life look like this...


I become a magnet for people.

People I would never consciously choose, come in to my life for more than just a momentary glance.  Honestly, some I'd like to keep around; some I am pleased to see go.  But, I have an opportunity to make a difference, to serve, and to bless.

And, those people are watching.  Whether they are standing behind me when the store clerk rudely tosses me my change, or whether they bear witness daily to the way I live.  I can walk the walk, or they can see that I'm all talk.

So, the next time your good intentions bite you squarely and quite viciously in the bum, or the guy from Accounting slams into you and your fresh cup of coffee as you exit the elevator, or every person you know, in the midst of a divorce feels as if they "can only talk to you" (including your sister and her soon-to-be ex-husband), or the hotel has lost the reservation you so prudently made months in advance, or whatever mess comes your way...

...that mess comes with the opportunity to push it away, or to draw people closer and love them all the more.