Finishing Well, Starting Strong....Monday

My neighbor just took her son to his first day of kindergarten. When I asked her how it went, she responded that she had cried at the same time she had experienced pride in her little boy. I thought that's exactly how I felt every time I have faced ' a new step.' I had just gotten the hang of the previous way of doing things - I wasn't ready to change! Sometimes I could see the necessity of change - but I didn't like it.

As I look a little deeper at my issue with change, I can see that I am worried that I haven't done everything I was supposed to do. Sigh, the spirit of perfectionism just slides into the teeniest cracks of doubt. Of course I didn't do everything right! That is not possible!

So what is possible? How can I know I have finished well? Or that I am starting right? I have asked God that a hundred times (no kidding). Here are some of the answers from His Word:

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (see Matthew 6:33). At first I wondered what does this look like? How can I change diapers, answer the phone, do laundry, and make dinner while seeking God's kingdom? It turned out to be my mindset, how I viewed what I was doing. By looking at the mundane things in my life as a service unto God, it changed my attitude. I became more patient and loving.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (see Romans 12:21). I love this verse. It sounds so pure and holy. Until I am in the midst of being falsely accused or judged because the person declines to try to understand me and where I am coming from. One time I was sitting with a group of about 15 women as we watched one of our friends trying to climb a rock wall. We had been cheering each person on, encouraging them to stretch to just one more step, to reach just one more finger hold. All of a sudden I could hear one woman in our midst telling a new person in the group how myself and her sister were such bossy people. My jaw dropped open as I met the eyes of the 'other bossy woman' and before I knew what I was doing I was calling out the first woman by name. I had to yell her name a few times because of all the cheering, but it was like a scene in a movie when she finally looked at me, the crowd hushed, all eyes on me, waiting for the next line. My cheeks were flushed bright red with mortification, anger, and embarrassment. I opened my mouth and the words "I love you" are all that came out. That was the Spirit of God. I know that woman wasn't evil, but she allowed her words to be thoughtless. 


Above all, love each other deeply, for love covers a multitude of sins (see 1 Peter 4:8). Everyone wants to be loved. I love my children and want to see them be successful. The hardest thing for me is when I can see what would be 'best' or 'better' for one of my loved ones, but they will not believe in their abilities, or they refuse my advice. Unconditional love is all about accepting that each of us is an individual with our own freedom of choice. It takes work to balance accepting others where they are, and having healthy boundaries for yourself. God wants me to do for them what He does for me, to love them for who they are, not what they do.

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 MSG

Are you facing a new beginning in your life? Do you need to let go of something in the past so that you can function well in your present? God understands us better than we even know ourselves. He doesn't look at us the way other people look at us, He looks at our hearts (see 1 Samuel 16:7). Please pray with me that He may give each of us 'eyes to see', and 'ears to hear', and 'hearts that understand' that although change may be hard, we can trust Him to lead us in the way we should go (see Psalm 23:3).

Written by Mary M. Wilkins

Click below to watch the Youth Puppet Team from Fairview Baptist Church in Columbus, MS perform to Casting Crown's song "Who Am I"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAszVJe4uoY