“Wonnn, tuuu, threee,” I would say as the countdown began to gain the attention of my two small children. After a couple of “no’s” were ignored, they knew grace had run out.
Guess some methods never change as I listened to my daughter tell me about her day as a fifth grade teacher, “So, I went to the class next door and when I returned my students were running wild.” I asked how she regained control. “Well after extensive classroom management training I learned to keep the tone of my voice under control, grab the light switch, blink it three times and say, ‘One, two, three…eyes on me!’ The students knew I meant business because the next step was a pass to the principal’s office.
When you find yourself in the aftermath of great loss—literally drowning in a sea of grief—you would think the world would have sympathy as you adjust to your new normal, but it doesn’t. I asked God where He was when I was barely able to keep my head above water. It rained, it poured, and then it flooded. There were days I felt I had been swept up by a current I could no longer swim against.
Grief can become an out of control situation. You know it’s necessary to mourn yet if you allow yourself to follow the urges too deeply you will be sucked into a current of self-pity and despair. It was then I realized the enemy had no mercy for a grieving mother. A bully preys on the weak and unprotected.
Countdowns kept my children and Kellie’s students safe. Sometimes we don’t even realize how far we moved away from the truth until someone presents us with a wake-up call.
Hebrews 12:1-2a is a wake-up call to keep us from a life of despair. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…”
What direction would you take if you’re eyes were fixed on Jesus’ eyes today?
