Arrested

Earlier this week I heard a story of a friend who, because of a huge mistake, was arrested.  She had, years ago, received a traffic ticket, taken the appropriate steps to resolve the issue and went on with life.  Through a quirky incident recently, she found out that she had a warrant issued for her arrest for this ticket that she had taken care of years ago.  And was told if she didn't turn herself in, she'd be arrested.  After much consideration, she turned herself in prepared to pay fines for a second time.

Upon turning herself in, she was actually arrested and went through the entire process of being booked and processed into jail.  She was then immediately released to pay the fine and began the process of trying to clear up the mess and get her money back.

It's a situation that you or I would never want to find ourselves in.  Yet in a lot of ways, we live that way.  We make a mistake, pay the consequence, work to make it right, seek God's forgiveness and move on.  Then out of nowhere, some hiccup, some glitch, some reminder comes along and we're arrested by a past mistake.  We're taken prisoner by a long ago forgiven transgression.  We walk through a process of guilt and self-defeat, when the fine, the penalty was paid long ago.

Guilt, self-doubt, the struggle to forgive ourselves...they are all things that the enemy uses (and uses well) to derail us.  To put us in our own personal jail cell.  My friend couldn't help but go through that painful process of arrest for a fine that she already paid.  But the price Christ paid on the cross frees us from the arrest, the confinement of past mistakes.  Once we've sought forgiveness and faced what consequences may come from a mistake, we have the freedom to live without arrest.  We have the freedom to simply say this fine has been paid and never be arrested for a past mistake again.

She'll Leave You With a Smile

We have a house keeper that comes every couple of weeks to do the "big" cleaning around the house.  Besides the fact that our schedules make it near impossible for me to keep up with much more than laundry and meals, I just plain don't like to clean.  And that's why I look forward to every other Wednesday when I know our housekeeper is coming.

We're usually not home when she comes.  It's planned that way so that we're not in her way while she's doing her thing.  But last week when she came, I was home.  And I noticed something.  The whole time she was cleaning, scrubbing, dusting, sweeping, mopping...whatever it was, she was smiling.  When I'm cleaning, I'm never smiling.  Seriously, never.  And that got me to thinking.

Does our housekeeper love cleaning that much? Or has she just maybe found a way to see the positive in the tasks I dislike so much.  Do I smile when I'm doing the daily tasks that aren't my favorites? Or is it written all over my face that I'm not enjoying what I'm doing? If I'm being completely honest, am I even smiling when I'm doing things that I do like?

I don't think my housekeeper really loves cleaning my house (or maybe she does), but I think she has discovered a simple truth that I too often forget.  Outlook and attitude make all the difference.  If I would just put on a smile as I begin my daily tasks, how much more would I enjoy my day? How much more would the people around me enjoy me being part of their day? How much more could God shine through me?

Let's face it, I'll probably never enjoy cleaning...or some of the daily tasks that I have each day.  But if my outlook changed...if I just smiled through it all...I'm sure I'd enjoy my days more!

Fender Bender

Have you ever had one of those really minor fender benders? So minor that "fender bender" exaggerates the description? No measurable damage, no injuries, no police report or insurance to file.  Just enough of a bump to grab your attention...and make you pay a little more attention while you're on the road? We had one of those last week in the car line dropping my son off for school.  The mom behind us was looking for something, let her foot slip off the brake and rolled into the back of us.  She was embarrassed more than anything else, and I felt really bad for her because, let's be honest, that's totally something I would do.

After we got out of the car line and could stop to look at our cars, there was no damage at all.  But for the rest of the day I was much more aware of everything around me on the road.  That little bump didn't do any damage, just gave us a bit of a jolt, and made me more aware.  As the day wore on and I thought about that little fender bender, I thought about the times in life where I've had life "fender benders".

You know the ones I mean.  The health scare that turns out to be nothing but makes you take care of yourself better.  The friends who walks through something unthinkable with a child that makes you appreciate yours a little more.  The coworker who loses a spouse and makes you value yours a little more.  The neighbor who loses their home and makes you more thankful for the shelter you have.  There are lots of them.  I'm sure you've thought of a few yourself.  They aren't things that rock your world or alter your life, but they get your attention.

It's so easy in life to take our focus off of what's right in front of us, what's really important.  Then our foot just slips off the brake and hopefully all that happens is a fender bender.  Or maybe we just stay focused on the important, stay aware of all the blessing around us and don't need the fender bender to get our attention.