Do you have ugly feet?
 Nancy Rupli Open Bible East Women's Network Director |
It was a Christmas I'll never forget. It held one of those moments that the Holy Spirit drops something so profound in your heart that it actually becomes a defining moment in your life. I have what I call my spiritual treasure box. Some of the jewels in my treasure box are gems from the Father that came wrapped in a beautiful encounter with Him or a circumstance that displayed His love for me. Others are painfully hewn out of situations where trials and failures produce a pearl of great price, a life lesson.
Christmas dinner at my sister and brother in law's house is one of my favorite events of the holiday season. Not only is our family together, but the table includes an array of interesting people. Doctors and dentists and physicists and nurses- all of varying descent: Greek, Swiss, Irish, French......to say the conversation is lively is an understatement!
This was a year of discontent if you happened to be a conservative in America. Our president was disgracing the Oval Office. Liberal agendas were thriving and we were all "worked up" to say the least! The discussion around the dinner table was heated and I was right in the thick of it. I had some great political insights so articulately stated that I even impressed myself! With our stomachs full, our emotions peaking and our brains swimming the guests dispersed to various comfy sofas and chairs throughout the house. I was nestling into my favorite overstuffed chair when "Bill" (the nuclear physicist) sat down, looked straight into my eyes and said, "If I was ever going to put a gun to my head and pull the trigger it would be at Christmas. I HATE Christmas!" These are the moments I live for. It was one of those incredible situations when a lonely broken heart opens slightly, and the opportunity to sow seeds of the Love of God and the Gospel message presents itself. You see "Bill" lost both of his parents at a young age in a tragic accident. His only brother had drowned. He was divorced from his wife and estranged from his children leaving him literally without a family and totally alone. There I sat with a brilliant man who has everything and nothing all at the same time and is baring the deep anguish of his soul. To my astonishment I found myself speechless. This woman, the one who lives andbreathes to share Christ with the lost and hurting bleakly stammered, "Yeah, the holidays can be really hard." Period. End of conversation. As we drove home with our car packed with presents, tears streamed down my face. "Lord, what just happened in there?!" The Holy Spirit did what I call a "rewind and replay". I saw myself at the dinner table ranting and raving about politics and current issues. I saw so clearly that when you're barreling down that highway full throttle it's simply too big of a downshift to change gears and share His love with someone. I had chosen the wrong message to champion. Then the verse came to my mind "How lovely are the feet of them who bring GOOD NEWS, announcing PEACE, proclaiming NEWS OF HAPPINESS." In other words, I had ugly feet.
I take this jewel out of my treasure box and admire it from time to time. It cost me a lot. What is our life message? God has entrusted to US the ministry of reconciliation. We are surrounded by people who need some Good News.......THE Good News! In this crucial hour in history we are in danger of being distracted and raising the wrong banner. We have the incredible capability to "diffuse the fragrance of Christ in every place." To bring HOPE and LOVE and PEACE!
I'm making an appointment for a Holy Spirit holiday pedicure!
See you there?
No comments:
Post a Comment