W.W.J.D.

Do you know someone that shines like Jesus in a way that you long to obtain? Yet on most days you are keenly aware that you reflect the frustrations that you’ve allowed to overtake your mind.

Let me share my ugly:    

I took Mother the newspaper and asked that when she finished reading it, if she would leave it laying in her lap because I had plans for it. She agreed. I returned later to find no paper in sight. As I began searching her cubbyholes, and the sides of her lift chair, she explained that she put it away and admitted that she totally forgot what I had said. I looked and looked, and then, I can’t believe I said it, “How could someone sit in one place and lose a newspaper?” (Says the one that can lose the remote control and cellphone while just sitting on the couch.)

She assured me that she would find it if I would just give her a few minutes. I wish I would have immediately obeyed her suggestion, but instead I felt the strong need to continue my conversation by adding, “I only gave you the one thing to do, and you couldn’t remember?” Right when I finished babbling, the Holy Spirit pricked my heart and asked me the very same question.

I went to my office to sit down and have a good cry. I was so ashamed, especially knowing that remembering is the very thing that she wishes she could get right. She has dementia, but what was my excuse? God has given me the opportunity to do this one thing for Mother and when I allow my flesh to rise, my attitude can get the best of me; well Mom might say the worst! Care-giving can be trying at times, but I’m sure most people being cared for would have a few things to say about the caretaker.

As I began playing out the different scenarios of how this should have been handled, I turned in the swivel chair towards my desk and there lay the thought-provoking question that I had been preparing to share with others. Let me tell you that any conviction and chastisement I received, was well deserved! “If the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” But that wasn’t the only part that hit me in the gut: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

This incident totally changed everything I had planned to say on my blog, especially with the reality that there will always be inescapable times of testing. A few good days in a row with patience, doesn’t mean that you have finally mastered it. When your light is shining at its brightest, you must be on guard for the enemy that is waiting to darken your shine. Still, I knew I must humble myself and apologize. I wish I had considered how Jesus would have wanted me to handle this situation from the start.

I encourage anyone that gets emotionally overwhelmed, to take a minute (or longer) before you speak or react, and ask yourself: “What would Jesus do?” I’m sure your first thought right now might be – that is so basic! Yet, how often do we purposely use this simple solution when dealing with others. I’m finding that I need to use it daily, or I should say – every few minutes.

After my apology, the Holy Spirit brought back something to my memory. Just the day before, Mother had said, “Do you know how beautiful you are to me?” A great reminder on the importance of reflecting what Jesus would do and being persistent in what Carole should. Because the truth is – beauty was the last thing I had exhibited about two hours after her sweet and kind words.

~Question: Have you recently found yourself experiencing regret in how you handled something? As silly as this may sound, I must ask: Are you salty?

~Prayer: Father, so that you will be glorified, help me that I might remember to treat others as Jesus would, and in this way, I will look beautiful from the inside out, and my light will shine.

~The Bible says in Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”