Time is hungry. It literally eats up years. That slaps us in the face as we start a new year. I have discovered that over the years (which seem like a blur), I have become my mom! Omigoodness!!! Can it be true? She was always what one might call “frugal”. That would be putting it nicely. She was also technologically deficient so that she and her TV remote didn’t always get along. There were aspects of society that she just didn’t comprehend, having grown up in the Great Depression.
Suddenly, I look in the mirror and catch myself thinking or feeling a certain way about something and, as I have told my sons, “I have become Granny”.
There are some things in this day and age that I find personally offensive. Naturally, swearing is a tough pill to swallow, and I have noticed that certain words that used to be unacceptable in our world have now become ok. I’m old. I still don’t deem them to be so. As we have moved into the age of cell phones and texting (in the place of face to face communication or the handy telephone where two people actually speak to one another), we have entered the era of abbreviations for everything because, heaven knows, we are always in a rush.
One of these abbreviations that disturbs me is “OMG”. I find it to be as offensive as the common swear words that flow like water out of mouths all around. But, I also discovered that it could easily have another meaning. Suppose we looked at it as:
Others
Myself
God
OMG.
That takes us back to the original thought: whom shall I please? Some of us may be so focused on pleasing OTHERS, thinking that is the way to happiness. In other words, if I bend over backwards to make everyone else happy, everything will run smoothly and all will be well. The problem is – as my dad once said – it’s never enough. And, not everyone will agree on what is best. So, the bottom line is: trying to please everyone is an impossible task.
How about trying to please MYSELF? The big question often is: what do I want? At times we can’t even answer that question. We want things to be “better”, but we aren’t quite sure what that means. It’s time for a change, but we hate change. We want something, we get it, but then we want something else. It’s like an itch we can’t scratch.
The final choice is to please GOD. But, how can we know what that looks like? The Ten Commandments He gave spoke of a key element when He said, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). It’s easy to say that we keep that commandment when we aren’t worshipping Buddha, or literally bowing down to any image or figure in an altar we’ve set up in our house. But, what takes up most of our time? That often tells us what is of significance in our lives. That and where we spend our money. And, what we talk about. Are we worshipping a family member (simply by having them in our constant thoughts over and above anything else)? Are we focused on our job or our paycheck or any prestige we might have achieved?
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength…” (Mark 12:30). How are doing with loving God? That means putting Him first. That’s not easy when we’re so visual. We can’t see God, per se, but we can certainly see His handiwork all around us. Plants in all their variety. Mountains and streams and lakes. A full moon. He’s there. Have we forgotten? Gotten distracted?
“My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me” (John 10:26). How can we know how to follow Him whom we cannot see? By reading the gospels and studying His movements and the role model He left us. By praying. And, listening…
Others. Myself. God. OMG.
Whom shall I please? We each have the opportunity to choose.
“Therefore, also we have as our ambition…to be pleasing to Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:9)
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable (pleasing) in Your sight.” (Psalm 19:14)
Thx Teri. A good reminder to start my day!