Love Actually: Day 8

I loved my mother-in-law, I really did. She was a bright, gifted, Godly woman and I was blessed to have her in my life for over 20 years. But for some reason, she and I could “get in to it” over the most inane things, and most of the time it was her fault. 🤓 Really, it was. She would ask me a question. I would give a pretty simple answer. And whatever I said, she would take the other side and before you could say, Mary Cantrell, we would be fighting about something that I didn’t even care about.

Case in point, “What do you’d think about the new Sunday School material?” She’d ask. I’m a little wary so I would say, “Oh, I haven’t really looked at it much. I don’t have much of an opinion.” Mary would say, “Oh, me either. I was just wondering if you thought it was any good.” I’d fall for it every time. “It seems alright to me.” “ How can you say that, “ she’d exclaim. “That’s the problem with you young people, you accept just anything.” BOOM! She had me. Doris would walk in 15 minutes later and say, “What are  you fighting about?” And I would answer, “I DON’T KNOW.”

It’s hard enough to be attacked when you’ve done something wrong. It’s doubly hard to take it when you feel like you are doing the right thing. Imagine how Stephen felt in Acts 6 when he is attacked, arrested, and accused, all for doing the good thing of telling about Jesus. You’ve probably experienced that. A disagreement in church, a false report at work, a viral attack on FaceBook.

What do we do? How do we handle it? Well, I’m not sure. But I can tell you this, I would love for someone to say about me, in the middle of this injustice, “He has a face as bright as an angel’s.” I’m not giving in to vicious rebuttals or self-righteous vitriol. I am going to be sweet, stay kind, and look like an angel. By the way, the angel I’d like to look like? Mary Cantrell. 🤓

Remember what we are doing.

1. time in the Word. Every day this week we read Psalm 25. Read Proverbs 25 today. Ask God to reveal some word of wisdom just for you today. And, read Acts 6: 8-15 today.
2. time in His Presence. Spend 12 minutes today in prayer. Use the Lord’s Prayer as an outline. 6 parts, 2 minutes each, 12 minutes. We will expand on that in next week.
3. time FOR His people. Do something small, and perhaps anonymous, for one person today. Send an encouraging text, pay for a cup of coffee, hold open a door. I’m going to mention that in a minute.
4. Start thinking about a small project you could do for your church over the next 6 weeks. God loves His Church. And a small project for the environment, like pick up trash at the local park. God loves His creation. We have time to think about that.

see you tomorrow.