What Would Love Do Here?

This past week was a rough one.

Church drama
Teen drama
World drama

I am scared by my immediate responses
I am scared by my measured responses

I am just shy of feeling lost...
As a husband
father
pastor
friend

I know what Jon would do...

And therein lies the dilemma 
Everyone else seems to know as well
And it seems more and more to be the case that I am judged even before I respond

My reputation has preceded me...
and evidently has been speaking on my behalf

That isn't what I set out to have happen

There was the moment when I was overwhelmed by God's grace

...how He could even remotely love
                                                          or forgive
                                                                       or restore me

But He did (does)
And nothing was impossible because of it

But now I'm overwhelmed by...
Noise
Stress
Drama

All focused on...
Your frailty
Your brokenness
Your lacking
Your pride
Your agendas
Your sin

But in reality, all of it is centered and springing from...
My frailty
My brokenness
My lacking
My pride
My agendas
My sin

See, I've been right all along...
It is all about me

Michael Hyatt posted on Twitter this weekend, 
"People lose their way when they lose their why.  What's your why?"

What's my why?

...because He loved me first (1 John 4:19)

I'm ready to be overwhelmed by that again
So I need to start asking before acting...

What would love do here?

Because Everyday's A Medal Ceremony

Every four years the Olympics transfix me.
And by transfixed, I mean I watch sports that I soon will forget are played - for another 4 years.

Seriously...

Badminton?

Did I miss the strenuous tetherball pool play?
Is Duck, Duck, Goose a summer or winter sport?

I miraculously now have an opinion on whether that landing was 'stuck' or if that person was just short of 'pike position', like I'd know the difference.

But I think what draws me in the most is the elements of pure human drama

Sacrifice
Commitment
Pain
Triumph
Tears - of both disappointment and joy

Parents in the stands cheering on their children
Contorting their own bodies in a symbiotic tango of a shared moment...from a distance
Because in the end this is the athletes competition
Their fight
Their decision
Their disappointment
Their victory
Their effort
                                                         
Their moment

Mom and Dad can drive to practice
Buy the gear
Cheer
Coach - sometimes were even qualified
Celebrate and Commiserate

But when all is said and done...

They will enter the stadium alone...

While we sit in the stands

Because we are participants in another event: parenting
We prepare our children to enter the arena of the game of life
We teach them how to win, lose, laugh, learn, and love

We can instill in them that the sky is the limit on their potential

or

That they'll never amount to much of anything

Our window of competing in this game of parenting is relatively short.
There are no off days.
No phoning it in

We are to be the ones to tell them there is a God who loves them ferociously
And that same God has amazing plans for them
We are the ones to tell them they are beautiful, smart, creative, and full of awesomeness
And we are the ones who are to correct their form when they're a little off their game

So we always need to be willing to check our form as well

I have been blessed with 3 amazingly awesome daughters
Who deserve nothing less than a gold medal caliber daddy

This is the most important thing that I'll ever do

Because everyday's a medal ceremony

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Dt 6:5-9