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Saturdays, Cornbread, and What Really Matters...

Saturdays

I am sitting in my living room with the smell of bacon and onions filling up the space.  The whirr of the dryer and the hum of the dishwasher are keeping me company while the kids play outside (hallelujah for a Saturday without rain at last!).  My fireplace is warm and with collard greens, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, crowder peas, and corn bread cooking, I am totally feeling like a south Georgia girl with Alabama roots right about now!  

I am all about Saturdays… especially the ones when we have nowhere to be or go!  That doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does happen it’s a breeze of fresh air on a hot day to the busy lives we all live.  Sometimes life is so busy that I forget to be thankful.  I forget that there are many people who would literally give anything to have even half of those comforts that I take for granted so often.  

Last week we took the girls to walk through the Compassion International live experience.  We pulled into the parking lot to find a series of trailers strung together by tents.  Each of us received a headset, and as we walked from room to room a child’s voice narrated the story of her life.  We could see the tiny home she grew up in and a replica of the Compassion Center that she attended.  Most impactful were the letters written by her sponsor telling her how precious she was to God.  My kids touched everything and listened so intently- the four year old saying over and over with astonishment “She reawy has nofing, Mama?  Nofing?  No toys?”  We could see how this child grew up making her own mud dolls to play with.  When they offered us a t-shirt at the end, one of my kids asked if they could send it to our newly sponsored girl.  And that night at bedtime Eliana prayed that “God would compassion us more and more.” Then when I was kissing her little face all over, she asked me if I was “compashing” her!  

My four year old trying to wrap her mind around Compassion.  Me also trying to wrap mind around Compassion.  Not all that different.  What does it really mean? For me sitting here in my cozy, clean (at least for a few hours) house? Something about birthdays here lately gets me thinking about what is really important.  We had a missions banquet at church recently, and the speaker said several things I can’t get out of mind.  One is  about the scripture that says where your treasure is there your heart will be also.  He said you don’t wait on your heart to be touched and then put your treasure there… you put treasure where you want your heart to be first and then your heart will follow.  I think I have had it all backwards in my mind.  

I want my heart to be on the things that break God’s heart.  But if I am truthful, more often than not that isn’t what my heart is focused on.  Oh there are glimpses and moments of stirring, but mostly I feel so pre-occupied with things that really don’t matter.  And as I am facing what could be the second half of my life, I want that to change.  So my take away from that impactful missions night is that I need to purpose to put my treasure there- my time and money in a way that I will feel it.  And then my heart will follow.  And I want to take my kids with me on this journey.
I am throwing this out there and being transparent about what is gripping me and how I have not arrived in any way.  Taking a risk and reaching out to my fellow moms and sisters and daughters and inviting you to think deeply today- even on hump day.. even in the middle of a crazy week- to ask yourself while you drive around running errands or taxiing kids or chopping veggies or sneaking coffee, where you want your heart to be.  And how can you put your treasure there so your heart will follow?  What does it mean for us to be “compashing” not only those close to us, but those we may never meet who are close to our Father’s heart?  I am not sure… but I know it’s a question we need to ask ourselves so that we can hear the answer  the Holy Spirit is whispering to us if we will listen.


I know, I know... the fried chicken is missing, 
but I was feeling a veggie day southern style!

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