Enter Their World ... I Entered Yours!

I learned a precious lesson in a past Christmas that has served me well every year ... all through a precious grandson, my then 10 year old Kaden. I've written of other spiritual times with him, but this one contained lessons for my own life right then and there.

We had been with Kaden and his family for Christmas. During the days of preparation shortly before, Kaden had been spending some time alone in his room. I decided to slip upstairs and see if he would like some company. As Kaden invited me in, he began to talk about the game he was playing on his x-box. My usual inward response is to begin to "glaze over." I am definitely not a video game player! The story-lines make no sense to me, and I find it hard to even care to understand the basic idea of it all.

I began struggling, feeling conflicted because, you see, I love my Kaden ... I'm crazy about him, in fact. But I hate all the tech-y video game stuff.

Then in the midst of the struggle, the still small voice of the Lover of Souls spoke,

I entered your world. You can enter his!

Wow! That stopped me dead in my tracks. The struggle was over, and I began to listen with an open mind and heart. I can't say I understood the game, but I was able to intelligently converse with Kaden about it, because I had "entered in."

As the days passed, I remembered how many years before, when my mom (now with Jesus) was in her 70's and a widow at least 10 years, she would annoy me with her pettiness (or so I thought), her insistence that something be done yesterday, her complaining about how things were falling apart in her house etc. To my shame I have to admit I was not patient, but struggled with "glazing over" when she started into it again or arguing with her about it to show her how illogical she was being. 

Then one day the Lord said to me,

Instead of trying to correct her thinking and her ways, why not just put yourself into her life and begin to see what she is going through.

Oh my!

What a world of difference in our relationship! I began serving her and trying to understand her and her life!

And at Christmas again ... that message:

 Enter others' lives for their sake, not for my own comfort and correctness ... but for theirs, that they may know and feel that they are love and accepted.

Why?

Because Jesus entered my world ... not for His comfort or correctness ... but for me, that I may know of His unconditional love and acceptance for me.

After reflecting on all of this for awhile, the Lord added,

When you enter another's world, you bring ME with you.

Oh my darling Lord Jesus, may it ever be so.
Let's go together to whomever You chose.
Let me not shrink back and seek my own ease and "right-ness."
Remind me I have the privilege of being Your vehicle to bring You, the God of love, grace, and truth, into the life of another. 
Amen and amen. 

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Now that Christmas is over for another year, perhaps you would like to visit this series (soon to be posted again):

Post Christmas Comfort: Fear Not
Part One -- Emmanuel Still
Part Two -- Emmanuel, One of Us
Part Three -- Emmanuel Always and Forever