Submitted by: Nancy Wheatley, PWOCI Resource Coordinator
The large black SuperBall® whizzed past my head, ricocheted off the door I had just walked through, and narrowly missed knocking my glasses off as it rebounded in the general direction of a sheepish 11-year-old boy. A fine welcome home.
I was returning from a great morning at PWOC. I had been the speaker at our program that morning and had been excited about what the Lord gave me to share. I was still basking in the glow of successful service to God as I walked through my front door and the above-mentioned SuperBall® nearly went head-to-head with my designer frames.
A quick hug, a sweet “Sorry, Mom,” and a (disingenuous, I’ll wager) promise to cease all indoor bouncy-ball activities, and the incident was past. But the Holy Spirit had a few comments to make about it that have stuck with me.
One of the things I love about PWOC is the chance to discuss inspiring truths. Passages of Scripture like I Corinthians 13 (Love is patient, love is kind…) and I John 3 (For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another…) are wonderful fodder for an idealist like me. Every week I leave PWOC armed with truths which are surely going to revolutionize my existence. And then I walk back through the door into my actual life, where SuperBalls®, both literal and figurative, are pitched at my head, and suddenly I need more than theories.
The love that God requires of His children is not an ivory-tower, ethereal concept. It is a hardworking, in-the-trenches thing that wears coveralls and gets its hands dirty. Listen to this: …”be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger…” (James 1:19). This includes when my teenager is taking too long in the bathroom and I’m late for an appointment. How about this: “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other…” (Ephesians 4:32). When God inspired Paul to pen those words, He really did mean for them to shape my response to that thing my husband said that hurt my feelings. You get the picture.
I believe that God designed the family to be our learning laboratory. If I can be light and salt in my home where real life happens on a very daily basis, I can do it anywhere. I will continue to fill my soul with the lofty ideas that bend it toward the person I want to be, but I will listen to the Holy Spirit’s whisper that I am only as Christlike as I am in my own home when the SuperBalls® are flying.
