Here I sit in my beautiful new home, wondering why I wasted any time last year worrying about how my family would cope with a move to Sydney.
Our house is wonderful (now that it is clean and the ants and cockroaches seem to have been dealt with), the neighbours are everything we could desire in neighbours, the children seem to love their new school and Ezra is begging to start pre-school. Next week we will learn more about the actual point of our move as Simon begins study with 'O' week, which includes an overnight retreat at a beachside camp. Tough life, huh?
Lately I have been feeling challenged about how I live my life. I have spent the last six weeks attempting to read through Ephesians, but I have really struggled with chapters 4:17-5:21. it contains so many challenges to how we live our lives and then the Pastor of our new church here in Sydney has followed up this challenge with his preaching over the last few weeks. It's good but... challenging!
In a nutshell, what I'm learning and processing at the moment are these points:
-Love the person in front of you. If that is a whining child, love them. If it is two fighting children, love them. If it is a child who is interrupting 'my time', love them. If it is a crabby checkout chick, love them. If it is an unwanted visitor or phone call, love them. Don't "deal with them". Don't "ignore them". Don't "shoo them away". Love them. Consider not "how can I benefit?" or "how can I get out of this situation?", but rather "what can I do for them?", "how can I help and encourage them?"
-Do the job in front of you wholeheartedly and to the best of your ability, as though doing it for the Lord. If that job is washing dishes, cooking tea, making beds, scrubbing dirty jocks, doing grocery shopping, sorting out a complicated argument between children, greeting a neighbour, being polite to an 'unattractive/undesirable person'... don't complain, do it wholeheartedly and do it well.
-Be self-controlled. Control your tongue, temper and responses. Continue to practice self control, so that you can be controlled with your diet, excercise routine, and the rest of life in general.
-Remember: It's not about me, it's about Him (God that is)! When I get my focus right in life, everything else follows. If I remember it's not about me, it's easier to love the person in front of me as God would love them. If I keep my eyes on God, it's easier to do a job 'for Him' and not complain about the interruption to my life. If I keep my focus on Him, it's easier to control myself, because I do it to please Him, not me.
Anyway, that's enough sermonizing for one night. I'm off to do some relaxing.
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