[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Wednesday, July 17, 2013

[Paul]

Hello and greetings to all of you on this hot summer day, at least it's hot here in the mid-Atlantic region of our country, and I suspect it's the same in many other parts of our country.  Hope that you all are trying to stay cool.  I even hear that in the UK temperatures in certain parts of that country are achieving unprecedented high numbers as well.

While I was gone for my ten-day excursion to PA Lions Beacon Lodge Camp, among many pieces of mail, was a magazine that contained an article written by Diane Stark, a writer from Indiana, entitled "The Plank In My Eye," rendered as follows:

"Ugh, why did you have to make meat loaf for dinner?" one daughter complained with a wrinkled nose.

"Yeah, why couldn't we just order pizza?" another griped.

I sighed.  "The car is broken, remember? It's going to cost a lot of money to fix it, so we're not going to be eating out for a while."

"We could just have the pizza delivered," the second child reasoned.  "Then we wouldn't be going out to eat."

"The pizza cost the same, even if they deliver it, honey," I said.

"Yeah, and it tastes a lot better than meatloaf," Daughter One said.

"Girls, we're not going to be eating out, but we could make pizza at home tomorrow night.  Wouldn't that be fun?"

They shrugged.  "It's not the same, Mom."

My patience was wearing thin.  "You need to adjust your attitudes and just be grateful that you have good food to eat."

"Meatloaf is not what I would call good food," Daughter One muttered.

I sighed again and bit my tongue.  I was tempted to bring up the starving children in Africa, but I knew it would do no good.  The children and I were all in a foul mood.  Because my car was in the shop, we'd been cooped up in the house for days.  The kids were grumpy and bored, and I was stressed out about the huge repair bill I knew was coming.

We sat down at the table and determined that it was three-year-old Nathan's turn to pray.  He folded his hands and made sure all of his siblings did the same.  He bowed his head and squeezed his eyes shut tight.  "Dear Lord," he began.  "Thank You for food.  Thank You for loving us.  Please help Julia be good.  Please help Lea be good.  Please help Austin be good.  Please help ..." He glanced up, trying to decide trying to decide which sibling still needed to be prayed over.  "Oh, yeah, and please help Jordan be good.  Amen."

The kids and I opened our eyes and exchanged amused looks.  "Nathan, how come you didn't ask God to help _you be good?" I asked.

He shrugged and said, "I'm already good."

I couldn't help laughing, despite the stress of the day.  The older kids and I agreed that, if anyone in our family needed some divine help to be good, it was definitely Nathan.

After dinner, we read a chapter in the Bible, which was customary for our family.  Ironically, that night's chapter was Matthew 7, a chapter about not judging others.  My oldest son, Austin, read v3-5, which says, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

When Austin finished reading, my youngest daughter, Julia, said, "Mom, I think Nathan has a plank in his eye."

I smiled, glad that she had understood the verses.  "You're right, Jules.  Nathan needs to focus on his own behavior before worrying about what other people are doing."

In that moment, I realized that I too had a plank in my eye.  I'd been lecturing my kids about being grateful, but I hadn't been focusing on God's blessings in my life.  I'd been so worried about our car repair bill that I hadn't even thanked God for the provision He'd already sent.  That very morning, I'd been asked to complete an unexpected but well-paying writing project.  The money I earned would probably just cover the repairs, but I hadn't murmured even one word of thanks.

I sat down and bowed my head once again.  "Lord, thank You for taking care of our family, even when I'm too busy worrying to notice Your care," I prayed.  "Help _me to be good and help _me to be grateful.  Thank You for showing me the plank in my eye.  Amen."

I opened my eyes and overheard my children arguing over who would get to put the pepperoni on tomorrow night's homemade pizza.  I sighed and closed my eyes again.

"Lord, just one more thing," I added silently.  "Help me to remove my children's specks with love and patience."

Well now, if there isn't food for thought and action on our parts whether individually or collectively here, I don't know what is.  May Diane's words engender at least some introspective reflections on our part.

And now until tomorrow when, Lord willing another Daily Thought message will be presented, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul