EMPTY CUPS, FULL HEARTS

I'd like to share the following as a word of praise for my husband . . .

It's Sunday evening and I am so joyful that Eric is coming home from work that I try to prepare an extra special dinner for him. We have not eaten dinner together since Wednesday because he has been working almost nonstop and I've missed him tremendously. By this time, I'm wiped out and forego the nice presentation I had hoped for, disdaining the thought of clean up so I succumb to paper plates, paper napkins, and plastic utensils.

When Eric arrives, everyone greets him with great excitement and news of the day. After he gets comfortable we sit down to a hot meal and he prays but before eating he turns his chair toward mine. Oh, here it comes, I am going to cry. He takes my feet upon on his lap, takes lotion and massages my feet. He does this every evening he is home from work (usually on the couch) so why would would I cry this time? My husband has not slept more than two hours in a row since Thursday night, he is literally almost passed out from exhaustion, he is unwell, and he probably hasn't eaten a meal all day because he rarely stops to take a lunch break at work. Yet he chooses to give all he has to show me his love.

It's Monday now and it still brings tears of gratitude to think of the sacrifices my husband is making for our family right now. It's difficult but he never complains. I am ashamed that I can't say that about myself. He could easily come home, eat and collapse in bed, yet he foregoes his own need of sleep and serves me instead. I am humbled and moved with gratitude to God for blessing me by Eric's model of servanthood and continual tenderhearted affection toward me.

His behavior reminds me of Jesus' words about what our response should be to God in Matthew 16:24b,

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Through my reading, I have also been reminded that as Christians, we must be like empty cups. We must be emptied of the junk the world throws our way. For instance, people around us say that we must get our needs met before we can love others or we must draw boundaries so that other people will not walk all over us. This is wrong! We should not hold back from others who don't treat us the way we would like, or wait to be shown love before we can demonstrate love and service to them.

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it" v25a

Isn't it enough that we have a Father in heaven who showed us love by sending Jesus to take away our sin? He already knows our needs and will hear us when we humble ourselves and pour our hearts out to him. If we empty ourselves before him, God will not leave us empty! Peace comes when we choose to surrender our burdens to the one Person who can perfectly handle each one.

". . . but whoever loses his life for me will find it." v25b

Isn't it amazing that God has given us eternal life! How much more should we live for him, with an unshakable hope in our sovereign God, in spite of our circumstances. The way my husband demonstrated such love and service to me in spite of how he was feeling, motivates me to love God and others more even in times of great difficulty.

"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done." v26-27

Alert Little Ears

Two and a half weeks ago our daughter turned five. Before heading down to SeaWorld to see Shamu, we took her to the mall to get her little ears pierced. Since then I have been reflecting on how teachable children are and how engaged their little ears really are. Who would have thought that our daughter would teach us and delight our hearts so much.

Let me share a few ways . . .

• Any time Sofia-Maree sees one of us or hears of someone else sad or ill, she drops everything and disappears for some time only to emerge later with a colorful card adorned by pastel butterflies, flowers, rainbows, little people etc and filled with words of love to cheer that person up.

• Recently when we were out, I had a brief opportunity to speak with someone about the Lord. On the way home, Sofia-Maree asked me about it then commented, "Mommy, it makes me so happy that you gave him that because he needed to hear the gospel!"

• There's nothing this girl loves like giving back to God. She regularly puts the majority of her $1 weekly allowance in her "Giving" jar (and sometimes she does this with gifted money).

• And her joyful giving to others . . . The first time she was ever taken out to spend her allowance savings, it was by her Grandma and she picked out a gift from the $1 section for everyone in the family except herself. Then she was worried that she might have missed someone and started through her list of friends until Grandma brought up that she should pick out something for herself.

• How often she takes a load off me by helping me with her younger brothers. Frequently I will come downstairs to find that she has dressed Braydon, made his bed, and sometimes she has even fed him breakfast! She gladly does housework like vacuuming, sets the table, helping me unload the dishwasher, cleaning mirrors and tiles etc.

• Last week a dear friend of ours came to babysit, who had never changed a diaper before. No worries, our daughter was right there to give her step by step instructions. (Conversely, I also discovered afterward that she is very good at making up new rules. That night she informed Christina that she and Braydon only had to eat two carrots at dinner time, could eat dinner while watching their Veggie Tales dvd, and that she was allowed to eat two and a half cookies for dessert. Huh??? Of course I had to keep from laughing when Christina shared this with me later.)

• And last week in the car, I was chiding Braydon for fussing over being woken up from his nap to go somewhere. The problem was that he had played about in his nap time rather than lying still to sleep. With the sweetest little voice Sofia-Maree chimed in, "Mommy, can I please tell Braydon something?" Then from a sweet to a sweet-authoritative tone, she continued, "Braydon, when I was a little girl, your age, I used to do the same thing. But I didn't have brothers. You have to stay in bed because then you're obeying Jesus." Too cute!

• I'll never forget another incident in the car when Sofia-Maree was our only child. She was not even two years old with a growing but small vocabulary. I had explained to Sofia-Maree that her hands and feet were made to use for Jesus; to show his love to other people. I really had no idea what she understood from what I was telling her. Then over a week later we were in the car when I experienced a moment of sadness and found myself sniffling as I was driving. From the backseat, I heard her little voice say, "Mommy sad?" to which I answered, "Yes, a little sad." Then I thought I heard the words, "Jesus' hand!" Of course I had to clarify because I had never heard her say the name Jesus before. "Sofia-Maree what did you say?" As I turned to glance at her, I could see her reaching out toward me as far as she could to offer me her tiny hand. A second time she spoke the words, "Jesus' hand!" Oh! Who would have thought that God would send the love and comfort of Jesus to me through the hands and heart of my little girl!

I marvel at this goodness from the hand of our Father. Children are one of his most beautiful gifts in this life. May we train them up in righteousness for his wonderful name's sake and be in awe of him for all eternity!

Praise the LORD, O my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy
name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your
life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies
your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Psalm 103:1-5