HAVE YOU LEFT YOUR MARK?

Our home has two bathrooms on the main floor.  One bathroom is in the master bedroom, and the second bathroom is right across the hallway from David's bedroom.  In general, Rich and I use only the bathroom in our bedroom, and David is supposed to use the bathroom across from his bedroom.  However, David loves to use our bathroom.  I don't know if it's because he likes looking at the reading material we have in there, or if it's just the thrill of doing what he knows he's not supposed to do. 

Like most children, David does not hide his "sin" well.  He never flushes the toilet when he uses our bathroom.  When he uses his bathroom he always flushes...  go figure.  Anyway, we've become accustomed to having surprises waiting for us when we walk into our bathroom, and the phrase we use is "David's left his mark!"  We know he was there by what he left behind.

As Christians, do we leave our mark anywhere?  Are there signs of happier people, lightened loads, cheered spirits in our paths?  Or maybe people didn't even realize we came through - we were so self-absorbed that we failed to acknowledge anyone else we saw.  Or worse yet, maybe we left a trail of people who were hurt, neglected or abused.

Everywhere I go I want to leave people feeling better than when I got there.  I want to leave my mark of friendliness, kindness, generosity, hope and love.  I want people to know God was with me and that I left God with them, too. 

What kind of mark do you leave?

IS HE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE MISSED?

Last week, my dog Zeus had a stroke.  We woke up on Wednesday morning and Zeus had no control of his rear legs.  He was dragging himself through the house - it was so sad.  That morning I took him to the animal hospital and he was admitted for treatment to see if he would be able to regain the use of his rear legs or if we would have to put him down.  Zeus was in the animal hospital for two and a half days.  While Zeus was gone, I was a wreck.  I love my pets as if they were my children, and my dog is truly my buddy.  When I'm home, Zeus is always right by me and goes everywhere I go. 

David on the other hand, couldn't care less about our pets.  Most of the time he just steps over them if they are in the way (he has, at times, just stepped on them if they are in the way).  If you tell David to "pet the cat" or "pet the dog" he basically slams his hand down on their head once or twice and walks away.  There are times a cat will be brave enough to jump on David's bed and he throws a huge fit - you would think the house is on fire!

So, while Zeus was gone, I was crying and missing him.  Everywhere I looked I saw reminders of my beloved dog.  While Zeus was gone, David didn't miss a beat.  His life didn't change one bit - if anything it became easier because he didn't have to step over the dog while walking through the room.

My Zeus came home on Friday afternoon.  He's walking like he's drunk, but he is walking.  And I am so excited to see him in the house and to have him by my side again.  I was thinking about my emotions and wondering if I was going overboard when I then applied the same thinking to God.  Am I close enough to God to be a miserable mess when He and I don't get to spend time together, or am I like David and able to keep living my life without missing a beat without time spent with God?  Do I look everywhere in my life and see reminders of my relationship with my Saviour or am I surrounded by things of the world that push God out? 

I love my dog very much.  I love my God more.  I hope my life shows Him how much I need Him in my every action, thought and deed.  What does your life show?

IS THE FRIDGE LOCKED?

One of the challenges of caring for David is keeping him from eating himself into a coma!  David has a problem where he never feels satisfied and full.  He will eat until he throws up and still want to continue eating.  So, at our home, we have two fridges.  One we keep things in of which David is not very fond - fruit, milk, cheese, eggs, etc.  The second fridge has all of David's favorites - lunch meat, granola bars, etc.  Each night when we are getting ready to go to bed we ask whoever is letting the dog out "is the fridge locked?"  We know that David doesn't need the temptation of eating what he doesn't need so we keep him from being tempted.  It just makes common sense.  There have been times we have forgotten to lock the fridge and David will put the padlock on himself.  There are other times that we have forgotten and David will put the padlock on AFTER he has eaten himself silly.   Since David is not strong enough to always fight temptation, we try to keep him from the temptation by making sure the fridge is locked.

Let's relate this to our lives.  As Christians, there are times we are strong enough to fend off the temptation and we can say no to the sin presented to us.  There are other times when we aren't strong enough to say no.  The smart thing to do is to padlock ourselves into protection - put good blocking software on your computer so you don't view anything you shouldn't, even inadvertently.  Make yourself accountable to someone who will check up on you in your Bible reading and prayer.  Have friends that encourage and motivate you to be a better Christian.  A great preacher used to say "You are what you hang around."  Today, I'm going to check and make sure that I keep my fridge locked - my Saviour deserves nothing less of me.