Life's Little Moments!

I stated many times previously that I enjoy going with my wife to her church. I’m not good at maintaining the clapping rhythm. I try to stay in sync to clap when she claps, but I more than once lose my place and lose step. Similar to the way I dance, I move too fast outside of the beat. Yet, I feel a sense of uniqueness each time I attend. It’s a sense of the Holy Spirit peace. I’ve said before that the Spirit of the Lord lifts the congregation to a level of praise and worship that I don’t see in the Catholic Church. Catholics are reserved; they don’t do much shouting and praising. This isn’t the main topic of my discourse. As always, it’s about my thoughts on certain things I see. 

 

A young mother, accompanied by her four children, was seated in front of us. All of her children were male; I estimated that the eldest was approximately eight or nine years old, while the youngest, who appeared to have recently learned to run independently, could not be older than two. This inference was based on his incessant running up and down the side aisle, at a speed matching his toddler legs' capabilities. When he grew fatigued, he would recline in the seat alongside his older brother. The remaining children stayed close to their mother and remained silent. 

 

I became intrigued because I noticed that the older brother would get his baby brother when he got into trouble. The baby obeyed him without any resistance, such as crying or pulling away. I thought to myself, the older brother is taking the father’s place. Where is the father? When I should be thinking about participating in worship, I’m thinking about someone’s business. This was the enemy distracting me from worshiping. It doesn’t matter where the father was; the family was in the House of the Lord. I thought of negative scenarios, but the positives outnumbered them. Forget about the absentee father. Think about a working father, a father who must work his shift and provide for his family. What about the father who is ill or deceased? We don’t know anything about them, so why did I waste time on them?

 

I behaved in a manner consistent with that of most societies, exhibiting traits such as nosiness, scheming, discrimination, speculation, judgmental attitudes, and reliance on stereotypes. Society seemingly requires no factual evidence, proof, or substantiation to draw conclusions; rather, it tends to fabricate and project its assumptions based on appearances. This behavior is reminiscent of our current government. Judgment comes from a need for control, but curiosity and compassion come from trust. When you trust that people are on personal journeys—and that you are too—you don’t need to police or compare. God is the Final Judge. We need to seek His Kingdom and be kinder and caring towards each.