Tuesday, April 26, 2016
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"You have heard the law that says, 'love your
neighbor and hate your enemy'. But I say, love your enemies! Pray
for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true
children of your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:43-45(NLT)
25 Years Ago
Our church youth
choir was a girl's quintet. They sang
during every Sunday evening service. Two
of the girls, Jaimie and Kathy, tend to enjoy being in the center of things.
They stood at the pulpit while the other girls used microphones on stands nearby.
On this particular Sunday
night the girls were in hyper-drive. It
had been a wild and wooly afternoon of youth activities; they were tired, but
still going wide-open! When it came time in the service for them to sing,
Kathy and Jaimie came to the center microphone as usual.
While our Youth
Minister was attempting to get the girls ready to sing, Kathy reached up and
adjusted the pulpit microphone downward, towards her and Jaimie. When she let go, Jaimie reached up and pulled
it in her direction. With an exasperated, fiery glance in Jaimie's
direction Kathy reached up and straightened it back towards the center.
Meanwhile the congregation
watched intently as the Youth Minister waved her hands to get the girl's
attention, and Jaimie reached to pull the microphone back toward her. In
a stage whisper that measured about 9.6 on the Richter scale, Kathy ordered,
quit it! Jaimie quickly pulled her hand back, while Carrie (another youth
quite related to me) rolled her eyes and lamented, oh Lord!
When the Youth
Minister finally got their attention, the music started and the girls sang a
wonderful arrangement of: There's
a Sweet, Sweet Spirit in This Place.
There is a vast difference
between acting as children and acting as children of the Father in heaven!
Watching what
transpired between our youth that night 25 years ago is a pretty hilarious
memory of sad irony. Those girls are grown with families of their own
now. I'm still in touch with several of them and I'm very happy to report
that they act much better now!
But thinking about
this reminds me (sadly) that some folks never seem to grow out of it.
For some, the
command of Jesus to love our enemies falls on deaf ears; indeed they have a
hard enough time loving those who are their friends. And that makes for a
lifetime of microphone-grabbing drama; it is anything but sweet-spirited!
For You Today
How
"sweet" is your spirit?
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