Dayeinu

Dayeinu is Hebrew for "it's enough". I tend to sometimes (or always!) make things harder than they need to be by looking past the obvious. What's that phrase about the forest and the trees....Why you ask? Most times I don't want to do the actual work needed to change but would rather focus on the bigger picture, thinking the solution can't always be just to try harder, there has got to be a bigger, better solution. A solution that possibly has a counseling and/or spiritual spin on it to make me appear smarter than I actually am. The reality is that it usually is a smoke screen that lets me try to talk my way out of the situation and avoid doing the work.

I experienced Dayeinu this past weekend in a great way. TBO (The Beautiful One) and I had a really great weekend together after an extremely hard week both on the work and home front. It was truly a relaxing, stressfree weekend where we connected emotionally in a way that we haven't in quite a while. I asked TBO why she thought that we were having such a great weekend and were connecting so well and she said something that was so simple but so powerful: "You really made an effort". My first response was "that's it!". It can't be that simple, there has got to be a "bigger" explanation for this....then I ran across this word as I was finishing a book on Grace yesterday (Sin Boldly by Cathleen Falsani- worth the read)

I chuckled to myself of the irony of how God spoke to me right there, through that little word and reinforced what I realize so often lately, that TBO is right on.....Now, I need to focus on putting my time and energy in the "effort" and not looking for excuses, solutions or in my case, work arounds....

Bitterness

One thing that keeps coming up in my life is the word bitterness and how I seem to be constantly struggling with this. It rears it's ugly head in all areas of my life; marriage, parenting, work, relationships. In my head, I know that what comes out of my mouth and what I think is directly tied to what is in my heart. However, apparently the message is not getting down to the rest of my body!

I came across the following four questions that a Pastor had written to reflect on whether a person is struggling with bitterness:

1. Do you continually replay in your mind with great detail a negative past event and dislike for the person(s) involved?
2. Do you find yourself continually referring to someone in a pejorative fashion because of some past hurt?
3. Do you intentionally avoid certain person(s) because you find yourself becoming continually annoyed and angry in their presence?
4. Do you find that your dislike of someone is growing over time?

As I thought about these questions, it become quite apparent that I do have bitterness in my heart toward some people and need to get rid of it. Why do I tend to hold on to past hurts and when others have sinned against me for so long, when I expect others to forgive me right away, when I hurt them?

I ran across a great analogy of Luke 6:45 by a missionary to India for 55 years, who articulates this point extremely well:

"For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted." The jolt does not change the water. The jolt only brings out of the container what is already there.

Kiros

I was speaking with one of the dad's in our Parenting group that Buttercup and I are attending and since he happens to also be in sales, asked me if I had heard of Kiros. It is a group of Christian business leaders (mostly "C" level executives) from companies Seattle and the Eastside that get together on a monthly basis for breakfast and to hear from a speaker. It is a great networking opportunity, since you have decision makers there from a wide range of companies in the area.

I went to my first Kiros meeting on Friday morning and although I ended up going by myself, I enjoyed it and got much out of the message. The gentleman who spoke has been in the Accounting Field for the past 40 years and has recently retired to half time as one of the partners in his firm. The message was entitled: "Duty station: Marketplace" and the subject was: Can and should business people impact the moral and ethical fiber of our communities and America? He made a great statement that we cannot expect our Politicians to be the ones who will impact the moral fiber of our country and our companies, because they are not doing it.

I do believe that the mission field in is our place of business and the key question remains: Am I making an impact to my coworkers or my customers? Do they see anything different in me?

A blessing came out of this meeting as a gentleman who is also in our Parenting Group told us on Wed. that he had just lost his job that day, was able to attend this meeting. They happen to have a transition group that meets after the monthly meeting that helps those who are looking for work. He was able to attend this meeting and I hope that he was able to get some doors opened as he has a wife and kids to support.