1 Corinthians 12: 1-11
“Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.”
The sermon this week was all about turning off our electronics and focusing on people face-to-face…
Going into the hospital scared me. I was just minding my business… shopping for Christmas gifts (we were almost done… just a couple more things for the kids)… then BAM! I’m having emergency surgery to remove a baby I didn’t even know I had been carrying. I’m being transferred to a hospital while unconscious, waking up to find out I had no idea what was going on and no way of talking to the people around me… I was scared.
I came home almost a week later and I was different. Things looked different. The closer I got to my house and my children, the more I cried. I had been a weepy mess since it started, so I knew that wasn’t changing much, but that wasn’t the only thing different. I laid in bed that night (pretending to try to sleep), and just listening to my kids laughing. I let their little laughs put me to sleep that night. And I realized I had been taking them for granted.
That’s not something I ever thought would happen. I mean, I worked HARD for those babies. I suffered through awful things to get pregnant with them and give birth to them. I was one of the lucky ones… fertility treatments worked for me… and I had been giving my kids the left-overs. I was always just a little too late when one would say “Momma look at this!” Because whatever I was doing was too important to look away from a second sooner. “You missed it… that’s okay!” They are so forgiving… even when I fail them time and again.
Not anymore… I still do the things I did before (crocheting… listening to podcasts and audio books… reading actual paper books or books on my kindle), but I try to look the FIRST time… “Momma look!” And I do…
The distractions around us might not be the same ones that Paul was talking about when he wrote this letter to the church at Corinth, but they had distractions also that kept them from the same things that ours keep us from… we don’t use our gifts because we are too busy being distracted.
No one is saying to stop using technology… we couldn’t function, right!?! BUT we can definitely use it less… “Take Time by Turning Off”… that’s my new motto…
If I am engaged in something that I don’t want to be interrupted while doing (that really is only my bible reading in the mornings), then I tell them ahead of time that I’m putting headphones in to listen to music while I read and reflect… please don’t interrupt. They are old enough to take care of themselves, so they leave me alone for that time. Any other time, I try to be available to them. I just do… no excuses… none…
They’re only going to be in my house for a very short period of time… I want to actively enjoy the crap out of them while they are here… and I am!!
Welcome to my world… it’s pretty great around here!!
Amanda