When you find yourself in a stinky situation

I just finished reading Max Lucado's book "God's Story, Your Story" this week. I have read many of his books and always find a lot of practical advice about living out my faith. In chapter 7 - Power Moves In - he talkes about the Holy Spirit living and active in us. We have to make a conscious decision to allow the Spirit to be in control. He writes,

"Here is something that helps me stay in step with the Spirit. We know that the "fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23 NASB). God's Spirit creates and distributes these characteristics. They are indicators of my spiritual dashboard. So whenever I sense them, I know I am walking in the Spirit. Whenever I lack them, I know I am out of step with the Spirit."

I decided to put this logic to the test this week. It is amazing how incredible it has been in 2 days to deliberately think about walking in the Spirit. It most certainly has positively impacted the decisions I make. It is so freeing! I have been making notes of instances where I have displayed or felt the Spirit working in me. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes my flesh is trying to take back control.

I had my first test of patience with Jeremiah. He is still recovering from the stomach flu so he has been in the bathroom "stinkin' it up" a lot. He started calling for me urgently. I arrived to him holding the deodorizer bottle missing the top. He pointed to the toilet and said it fell off while he was trying to spray it. I wanted to explode - he had not flushed yet. The Spirit lead me to be PATIENT with him and help him out of the situation. I was able to calmly explain that it would be best to "spray" after he was all finished using the bathroom so that the toilet lid is closed. It quickly became a funny story rather than a bad parenting moment.

I was checking my email (my retreat for a few minutes periodically throughout the day) when Jeremiah wanted to show me his statue of liberty pose. The Spirit lead me to turn away from the computer screen for a few moments to find JOY in his silliness. He had made a torch out of magnet blocks and was holding a book in the other arm. He stood tall and statuesque trying not to laugh. It was a great moment to try and make him laugh and just enjoy my child's creativity. Maiesha did something similar later in the day when she came out of her room dressed like Daphne from Scooby-Doo. They are so fun and creative.

I had a test of SELF-CONTROL this morning with Tyrone. We drive one vehicle - a minivan - intentionally to save money. Today he needed me to pick him up and drive him to a meeting off campus. I arrived on time to pick him up at 9:30 for the 9:45 meeting. He said he would be waiting, but he got caught up and arrived at the van about 6 minutes late. My flesh wanted to inform him he was late, again, and how I had been waiting. (Being late is a major pet peeve of mine.) My usual punctuality lecture was on the tip of my tongue. I could feel my flesh wrestling with the Spirit about what to say when he got into the van. Only by the power of the Spirit was I able to keep my mouth shut and swallow those destructive words. We had a nice conversation on the way to his meeting and we left him with encouraging words rather than disrespect and unnecessary ridicule.

"God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes."
2 Samuel 22:25 MSG

I love this verse, but can't take credit for finding it myself. Check out the book "God's Story, Your Story" by Max Lucado.