Changing Hearts
I’m in a memory lane mood. Walk with me. I’ve got a takeaway at the end that can help all of us be the game-changing grandmas we want to be! My sisters and I grew up doing our fair share of chores around the house, both inside and out. To be honest, we three tomboys preferred working with Papa under the big blue sky. Chopping cotton, hoeing beans, spraying beans with the homemade system Papa rigged up on the front of the tractor, it was all preferable to cleaning house with Mama. The woman was a cleaning machine. As a teenager, I was convinced Mama’s ridiculously high standards were a bigger problem that the dust bunnies, but I learned to keep that to myself. Learned. There’s a story there, but it’s for another day.
Right now, I want to tell you something interesting that I remember from those years living with Mrs. Clean. If I made up my mind to tidy my room or straighten my closet, the chore didn’t feel like a burden. I just dug in and got to it. However, if Mama made me do it, the same task suddenly felt like doing hard time on death row. I wanted it to be my idea, not hers. I suspect you’ve had some sort of similar experience. That says something about us that leads me to that takeaway.
We all like to be our own boss. We’re born with a will that makes us want our way. This will can be dangerous, but it can also be invaluable if we learn to bend it to the Father’s.
As my friends and readers can most likely attest, I talk a lot about the will. It’s because I’m convinced the church spends far too much time addressing external behaviors and far too little time teaching about the power of the yielded will to actually change those behaviors.
By way of reminder, we’re called to go into all the world and make disciples, not to “go into all the world and change peoples’ behavior.” Trying to change people is frustrating to the one trying to change and the one trying to enforce the change. There’s a better, biblical way. Let’s heed what the Word says about yielding to God and He will change us, from the inside out. And let’s model such living before our kids and grandkids so they can watch this powerful lesson play out in real time. Abiding in Jesus. This is how we change the world.
Hugs, Shellie
