Just a Minute

“Ok you two, stop punching each other for a minute so we can read this bible verse.” Words I never anticipated saying as a parent!

I didn’t realize until I had boys that their language of love involves things like wrestling, pinching, headlocks, spontaneous tackling, and on this particular morning….boxing. They found an old pair of boxing gloves and each put one on, smiling ear to ear as they playfully pummeled each other.

In that moment, between the typical morning hustle and the absurd yet endearing brotherly bonding, I almost skipped our morning prayer. Engaging the kids with a quick devotion to start the day is a routine that I love, but I am admittedly inconsistent with prioritizing it.

I was thankful to have lured them from their “fight,” because in 60 sacred seconds we received a message that was needed the very next day- and certainly many more to come.

The devotions that I use (shown above) have a daily bible verse, a relatable character-building message, and a one or two sentence prayer. For the month of February, the focus was love and the verse for this day was: “Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

I prayed that the author’s words would seep into the hearts of those two sweet boys standing in front of me, each still wearing one boxing glove: “When you have God’s kind of love, you are happy for others, humble about what you have, and gracious.” Jayce O’Neal

Happy for others. Humble about what we have.

The next day, my older son, Jack, was heading off to school to find out the results of an audition he and a group of his friends had been a part of. They tried out for the annual “oldies dance,” a much anticipated 5th grade tradition in our school district. Did you know that the 80’s are now considered oldies? What? I guess those of us who are shocked by this news are now considered oldies as well:)

Back to the story….so the kids were all competing against each other for this event; I could just imagine the tension as all the different dance groups huddled around a sign hanging in the hallway to find out who made it through to the next round. Before Jack left for school on the morning of the big reveal, I chatted with him about the possible outcomes and the opportunity to show happiness for others or humility. I’m pretty sure when kids roll their eyes that means they are deeply processing our words of wisdom!

With or without his enthusiasm, the seed was planted and he was prepped to get the news that his group was not on the list. Our morning devotion had come alive in the “real world.” An enduring teachable moment. No matter where we are on our journey (youngster, oldie, and everything in between) there are always circumstances that can cause us to bubble over with envy or fly our own flag of awesomeness. While neither of these responses add value to our lives, letting them go can lead to abundant peace and renewed commitment to pleasing God first.

The words of Ernest Hemingway shine a light on how we can go about doing this: “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”

When we focus on simply being our best self, just as God intended us to be, our natural inclination to compare ourselves to others and worry about how we are perceived will fade.

This is refreshing, don’t you think? I feel lighter already. It reminds me of a friend’s swim coach who encourages his swimmers to just strive toward beating their own best time. It doesn’t matter what is happening in the next lane.

By looking inward rather than outward for our motivation, we are much more likely to tap into “God’s kind of love,” the starting point to feeling happy for others and humble about what we have.

“…Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.”

1 Thessalonians 2:4