Gentleness

GENTLENESS

May 12, 2016
Megann Graf

Have you been turning your eyes this week?  I came across this quote and
thought it went so perfectly with what I said on Sunday. 

“Whatever we look at, is what we become.”

Are we becoming more like Jesus?  Am I becoming more like Jesus?  Well, last night, no.  I wasn’t really turning my eyes too well.  By the hour before the kids bedtime, I had just whipped the dinner plates OFF the table, because my kids were goofing off, and an hour seems like plenty of time to eat a piece of chicken and some veggies.  So, mom had had it.  “I’m still hungry,” I heard.  To which they heard, “too bad. . . .you’ve had an hour, you wasted it.  Tough luck.”  (The model mother of gentleness, I know!)   I said for the thousandth time to “go brush your teeth.”  (Which, really, shouldn’t this just be a given now?  Does it really need to be said?)  I was tired, my husband was tired, but informed me he still had to get more work done, so he went up in his office to finish something for work.  (Nice excuse, crazy wife = work to be done! J)   I was definitely focused on my surroundings, which were a mess. . . .figuratively AND literally!  My eyes were only seeing a mess, and so, I too was becoming, what I like to call, a hot mess.  Not pretty. 

So, day 1 after my message on gentleness, I was feeling like a failure and hypocrite.  But, then I went downstairs.  Took a breath.  Drank some tea. Looked at the mess around me with new eyes.  A house that is lived in.  A house where activities happen.  Dance bags are out, tennis rackets left on the floor, and food that wasn’t eaten.  We are blessed to do and have all those things.  And, I knew that I had to turn my eyes on Jesus.  I had to see him, so that I could see my kids from His eyes.   I had to see Him so I could see my husband through His eyes.  I had to turn my eyes so I could stop feeling overwhelmed in my own home, and change that mindset to living in freedom. 

So, what are you looking at this week?  A co-worker who has the job you want?  A neighbor who has the perfect home?  A friend whose kids are much more behaved than yours?  I bet you if you looked hard enough at all of them, you’d see their mess too.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t really afford to be any more of a mess than I already am, so it seems beneficial for me, to turn my eyes somewhere else.  I want to look to Jesus.  I want HIS peace in my life.  I want to become a little more like Him each day, so that I can become someone better each day.   This fruit of the Spirit stuff is hard.  They say most things worth fighting for usually are.  So, maybe that saying “just keep swimming” should be changed to “just turn your eyes, just turn your eyes.”  Seems like less work than swimming anyways.  And, if I get tired and worn, and look to the One who loves me greater than I can imagine, He’ll be holding on to me.  All I have to do is look and I’ll see He’s been there all along. 

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