"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble." – Helen Keller
Some parents seem to know exactly how they’re going to school their children from a very early age—whether homeschool, private school, or public school—never second-guessing themselves at any point from kindergarten through twelfth grade.
That’s awesome. Terrific! I applaud those parents and commend them for their commitment to whichever school choice they’ve made for their kids. But this article isn’t for those parents.
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When diversity is already all around you in your church, do you take note of it, embrace it, and learn from it?
The phrase “diversity in the church” usually refers to racial or ethnic diversity, with many churches striving, often unsuccessfully, to attract a more fully integrated, racially balanced congregation. Some churches fret about not being able to achieve this, believing that they can’t possibly reflect the whole kingdom of God without demonstrating racial diversity, while others consider it a worthy pursuit but acknowledge that they’re not likely to have complete success in this area for various reasons.
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One week ago, a beautiful, highly anticipated event occurred, one that had consumed a great deal of my time and energy for nearly four months. Our daughter got married, moved out of our house, and left us with an almost-empty nest. And we gained a wonderful son.
This was a very different event from 2018, when we celebrated the marriage of our oldest son after his time in the Marine Corps. He became a married man that summer, but he had been overseas for most of the previous four years anyway, so the change was felt much less in the Matt household. We did, however, gain a delightful daughter and eventually two granddaughters, as well.
I have a few thoughts after these two weddings, and I submit them here with the admission that a) due to my not-so-typical upbringing, I do not know what I’m doing with milestone events, such as special birthdays, graduations, and funerals—I was pretty much winging the whole wedding thing from beginning to end; and b) I have friends who have gone before me (even multiple times) and have helped me along the way, thank goodness. What I have observed from my wedding experience is that:
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The other day, my daughter referred to her immense Brandon Sanderson paperback (does the man write anything under 1000 pages?) as her emotional support brick. I had just finished rereading a “brick” of my own—Kristin Lavransdatter. Which made me realize that some of my favorite books of all time weigh in at more than 500 pages, and several are over 1000.
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When I was present at the first death, I was 17.
At the second, I was 32.
At the third, I was 44.
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My 16-year-old son had just gotten a job working at the local supermarket, and was attending orientation, his first day at work. He called me to come pick him up when they were done, and my 23-year-old daughter, having nothing better to do at the time, drove with me to keep me company. We sat in the parking lot together, waiting for him to emerge from the store.
Time passed. No son.
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A long time ago, I made a choice.
I chose to follow Jesus. I chose to ask God into my heart. I chose Christianity over all of the other religions out there.
Or did I?
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One conversation changed my relationship with my mom forever.
“…forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
These are hard words that Jesus gives us in the Lord’s Prayer. As Christians, we know we ought to forgive—in fact, we’re commanded to do it. But often it’s easier said than done.
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Why adding one word changes everything—and not in a good way.
I first heard it in a Disney movie a few years ago, in a song from Frozen 2: “Do the next right thing.” More recently I’ve seen this phrase on posters, t-shirts, and used by addiction recovery groups.
In Frozen 2, “Do the next right thing” is sung by a character in despair over her bleak future: she is trapped in a cave and has just lost a good friend. I was empathetic to her plight … but when she sang that line, my mind instantly rebelled.
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What will you do when your 17-year-old tells you that his girlfriend, the one you counseled him not to date because she is not a Christian, is pregnant? How will you react when you find out from another parent that for the past six months, your daughter has been going by a different name and using the boys’ restroom at her middle school? What will be going through your head when your teen proudly displays her new tattoo or eyebrow piercing at church? What will be your facial expression when your young adult son tells you that he’s pretty sure he no longer believes in God?
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Great and Noble Tasks 