Headphones

In the last two months.... lots of things have happened, I'm sure, I just can't remember all of them. Isn't it funny that only two months have gone by and you only remember random events? I'm trying to remember highlights and here is what I came up with thus far.....

1. I bought a new car. All 7 of us can fit into the vehicle when going to church.

2. My son has traveled recently to different states with his swim team and that made me nervous. I wasn't there. I'm trying to cut the cord. Can't. All of us celebrated his success.

3. Changes in my job occurred. Yuck! My kids feel my pain. I'm cranky.

4. My grandbaby is crawling. She holds the attention of us all, young and old.

5. My daughter played in an orchestra concert. I was her proud mother. Everyone went to watch her perform.

6. Thanksgiving passed. My table was surrounded by those I love!

7. Christmas passed. We gather around the tree Christmas morning and read from the Bible about the birth of Christ.

8. My "girls night out" club had our last event of the year with a dinner and gift exchange. I love these girls. Yahoooo...... That was fun!

9. Still cleaning up dog poop piles in my back yard daily. Love the dogs, hate the poop.

10. Made verbal exchanges with my son and daughter about not studying harder. That proved fruitless....I love them anyways.

11. Decorated my house for Christmas, transformed it, now I am looking at all the stuff I have to put up. Sounds like a family affair.

12. Finally sent out Christmas cards to my family and friends even though it is after Christmas.

13. My cowboy boots broke and I have to get them fixed. Everyone gave me their broken shoes when I said I was going to the shoe repair.

14. I'm sick. Good excuse to lay around. My children have been praying for me.

15. Three cars need fixing. We coordinate our rides each day.

16. My mind is blank. Can't remember anything else. Maybe I'm not suppose to.

So, where does all this reminiscing lead me to today? Is any of it important? I know the Christmas celebration is important, a day my children will remember. Thanksgiving will be remembered as we gathered around the table and gave thanks and shared happy moments in our lives. But, I ask myself, "what is the real substance in all of these events"? I sit and look at the list and try to add to it. My memory fails me. Nothing is stored up in that head of mine.

I draw only one conclusion to the list of 16 items. It seems these 16 items are centered around my family. Imagine that. FAMILY! Fond or not so fond it is my family that grounds me, giving me joy or driving me crazy, my every waking moment is about family.

God loves families. After all, he created Adam and Eve and made them a family. Right? and if we fast forward the story a little bit, God put Mary and Joseph together to raise Jesus and be a family. God wants us to preserve the family unit so we may pass it down from generation to generation and all its' tradition, stories, memories and the like, even picking up crap. Isn't there crap in your family that maybe you choose not to pick up or share but it is still there, lingering from one generation to another? Maybe one of us will forget the crap and move on to more joyful moments.

Satan tries to destroy families. He tried to destroy Adam and Eve with the serpent. Oh yes, they sinned but there family was spared. He tried each time killing the babies in families, like when Moses was spared and eventually lead the people of Egypt, thus continuing the family line as Mary and Josephs' son was spared as King Herod tried to kill all Hebrew male babies. He tries and tries each day, some days succeeding and other times failing.

There have been times I get so frustrated that I want to just walk away from my family. Not just one time have I had those feelings but numerous times. I let Satan take over my thoughts and feelings and control my worries into fear. He lead me away from God and his family. I get angry now looking back at how easy I was for him to allow myself to succumb to this level. It only takes a weak moment and zoom, Satan is in for the kill. We have to wear our armor at all times and surround our children with family stories of God and His love for us so we will not be tempted.

Satan almost had me the other night. He tried so hard to break up our family time. We went out to dinner at a nice restaurant, but it proved to be crowded and noisy. I hate noise when I eat. We could not pray together before the meal because it was so loud. It made me mad that I could not hear my daughter talk to me across the table. I put my headphones on and started listening to music just so I could tune the noise out. My headphones were very loud and I could still hear background noise. No one talked at the table. We couldn't. It was too loud. The food was great, the waiter was gracious and when I left that evening I thought.... maybe Satan was not successful tonight. Everyone was talking louder and louder so as to hear each other. Everyone at the tables were families. We were surrounded by families of all different sizes even crying babies. These families were brought together to share a meal. What a wonderful sight.

God had won. Satan had lost!

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

I believe my children will gather with their children at dinner one day. They will give thanks to the One above. They will try to find quiet place to break the bread. They will not put on their headphones at the dinner table like their mother did that night. But more importantly, they will continue to share bible stories and family memories from this generation to the next.

God wants us to share His message. He doesn't want us to put on our headphones. Headphones do not preserve and strengthen our family and the family memories. Satan however, does wants us to put on our headphones, to tune God out and to destroy the possibility of spreading God's message.

I'm leaving my headphones at home next time.

My ears were ringing the next morning.

Stay tuned for God's Message...............