God's perfect timing

It's funny how I can have something heavy on my mind....go to church and that's what Chip is preaching on! I know I'm not the only one that God is sending direct messages to, but it sure seems like it! If you've read any of my previous post, you know that I have a problem with how others are out for "number one" and could care less about anyone else. I know it exists in the workplace, but my experience with it is with parents at my kid's schools as well as their extracurricular activities. I've been guilty of it, but I can easily recognize now when I am developing that attitude.

Chip spoke on Matthew 22:37-40. It says that we should love God with all we've got and then love somebody else. He said that we all need each other in this world and we need to be "doing life together"! What really hit home to me was how he said that raising a teenager takes a village--like parents, grandparents, teacher, friends, coaches, church, etc. We'll go further if we are all together and fight Satan-the real enemy. He used Gilligan's Island, Cheers, Friends and Seinfield as examples of television shows about people "doing life together". All of us parents can connect our lives together and form relationships. This can be done if we love God with all our hearts and love others as he loves us. That means, fighting the temptation to spread rumors about someone's child. It means to be happy for another child's success--academics, sports, or any other accomplishments. It means praying for others children instead of talking about them when they've made a wrong decision. It means making the effort to get to know a parent, instead of staying in our comfort zone of friends. It means being honest with someone--not acting as if our children are perfect when they are sharing concerns about their own children. Wow, have I seen this happen a lot! One of my dear friends, said that she struggled with issues concerning her son and everyone she tried to talk to about it, said that their children never acted like that! She began to think that there was something terribly wrong with her son. I think now she knows that those people just wanted their life to look "perfect", but they are just like the rest of us.

I learned so much from today's sermon. I learned that staying in my comfort zone of 118 Peninsula isn't what I need to be doing. We do have the greatest neighbors in the world, though!! I need to initiate things to interact with others more. Maybe if I could find a way to get the mothers together, in time walls will be knocked down and relationships can be formed. How awesome it would be to have a network of friends we could count on to go through these tough parenting years! I am so thankful for the wonderful, true friends that I've met though my children. I know that they love my children and love me. What a blessing!

Tonight, our church is having "Front Porch Fellowships". There's a number of locations where people living in that geographical area will gather to get to know each other. Mark had to go up to our farm to talk to a guy about working on the cabin, so I hope he gets back in time to go. We don't sit on the porch (I don't have one :()and talk to our neighbors every afternoon like my Nannie & Papaw did their whole life. Most every time we went to visit, they were sitting on that little front porch. Usually, one of their neighbors was right there with them drinking coffee. They were always bringing by a cake and one lady brought something that didn't get eaten--fried possum!! Papaw was an alderman in the big town of Petal and this lady wanted to thank him for something by cooking something for him. A POSSUM!!! EWWW! Even though it eventually ended up in the trash, that little lady was so sweet to take the time to show love to her neighbor.

As you can tell, I thought it was a great sermon. You can listen to it by going to http://pinelake.org/mediaplayer.html.