Cool Quote of the Day

There is a big difference between mishearing and hearing only what we want to hear, right? We, the people of God, seem to have chronic 'itching ears,' and we can usually find somebody to scratch till we say 'Aaahh' (2 Tim. 4:3). Given the option, we will usually choose bigger barns to serve ourselves over bigger hearts to serve others (Luke 12:13-21).     -- Scotty Smith

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I think I had a half-formed thought for a blog post in my head. Then I saw this quote in my inbox (I get them from Quotemeal here) and Mr. Smith just kinda slapped me upside the head there. Whatever half-formed thought I head went flying out the other ear.

So let's not put lipstick on this pig before we shove it out in the spotlight. Let's get to the heart of it: I'm selfish, self-centered, and self-seeking. I have been choosing bigger barns to serve myself for years. That doesn't mean I have never served others. But I have never sought a bigger heart over a bigger barn - not really. And I have rarely, if ever, sacrificed for somebody else's need. I might have delayed my gratification momentarily, but that is not the same thing as sacrifice.

Since we started sponsoring Kimenyi (see story here) a few months ago, I have thought from time to time, "how will I explain this to him? How will I explain all of my want and my waste to this little boy and his family?" Have I even started seeking a bigger barn in order to share with him? I doubt it.

If you ever feel the need to pray for me (and I know one or two of my five loyal readers do actually pray for me regularly), pray for my heart in this. Pray for my willingness in this. My barn is more than big enough. I need a bigger heart.

The Girlfriend Promise

Several years ago there was an email circulating around (still might be somewhere) all about our feet. It was aimed at our women friends (though I vaguely remember a footnote saying this might be good info for guys too) and it was prompted each year by the onset of Sandal Season (yes, that is an actual season). I received this from several people several years in a row, which led me to believe that either 1) my friends used to really love forwarding emails or 2) my friends did not want me to be caught in a terrible faux pas or 3) my feet had already somehow offended somebody and I needed this info badly. Nobody ever said and I was afraid to ask.

This email basically told the reader that it was every woman's responsibility to get a pedicure if she was planning on wearing sandals. It listed all the things about feet that nobody wanted to see that could be cured by a pedicure. Evidently, not only do good fences make good neighbors, but so do heels that have seen a pumice stone. Who knew? The email asked the reader to promise to follow all the listed feet rules and to pass on the list so our girlfriends could make the promise too. There was some good advice on the list, but you could tell that whoever the writer was, she had some serious issues with exposed feet. Very few people ever saw me in sandals and I had not been raised by a woman who ever paid for pedicures (or manicures), so I just filed this information away for future reference. However, I did end up with a healthy paranoia about offending people with my feet. As far as I knew, it wasn't Biblical. The only foot-care story I remember from Bible class was Jesus washing the Apostles feet. Nevertheless, I felt duly warned and tried to keep my unpolished toes from the light of day whenever possible.

Fast forward a few years. Either due to the natural cycle of things or Global Warming (I don't feel very opinionated on this one), summers in Texas have gotten substantially longer and hotter. Let me repeat that: LONGER AND HOTTER. My feet seem to be ending up in rather warm situations on a regular basis, so I have invested in some sandals (never pay retail - sales are a must). I don't have much practice at self-pedicures so my skills are greatly lacking. I decided to start investing in pedicures. Not the high class spa type, but just the corner-nail-salon pedicure. Hubby thought it was a good idea for me to pamper myself too.

A Little Humble Pie

Let me tell you a little bit more about how we came to sponsor Kimenyi and how that relates to my journey in showing mercy.

The day it happened – the day God spoke to my heart – started with Charles and I having to consider committing to spend $45 a month on our grown children. We are already spending money regularly on several family members, so we are already stretched. But this would also really help them.

For those of you who don’t know me, you need to know that my earthly nature is to be extremely selfish and self-centered. Anything good that comes through me is purely Divine intervention. And that day, my selfish nature was just screaming. “Why don’t you just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and do it yourself? Why do you keep getting yourself into these situations? When are you going to be able to take care of yourselves?” On and on. This is coming from the mind of a woman who has been constantly helped in many ways by family. So it was somewhat like the Bible story of the servant who was forgiven much but then turned around and did not forgive his fellow (Matt 18:23-35). And if this parable had been in my conscious thought at that point, I would have seen that the word “mercy” is mentioned again in that passage. But I wasn’t thinking of much more than myself at that point.

That same day I read a blog post by a Christian woman who pointed out how petty some of our disagreements are when we should be spending our time worrying about those who have far less than we do. She had a link to Compassion on her blog and I know that she has advocated for them as a sponsoring agency. And I felt heavily that hand of God on me right at that moment. I knew I was supposed to look at these children right then. I went to the Compassion home page to see what was involved in sponsoring a child. $38 a month. Less than what we were talking about giving our children. And I thought, “see there? God is saying that we should spend that money more wisely by sponsoring this child”. Now, that is not exactly what God was saying, but that was all I could hear at that moment.

Kimenyi!!!

So, in the last post, I asked you to watch a video before we moved on to new developments. If you didn’t, don’t worry. It was great stuff, but you can appreciate what comes next without it. I will tell you that I received the link to that video in an email from the Compassion International blog. That is important because…

WE ARE SPONSORING A CHILD!!!

I did not know how excited I would be for us to sponsor a child, but when I hit “send” on that online form, I got tingles all over! I felt like we had just expanded our family, not just by one, but by 5, because we will love his whole family!!!

How we came to be sponsors is all wrapped up in this continuing journey of learning to show and LOVE mercy. I will share the details of that in another post, but right now I just want to tell you about this child.