all that we do

my husband played a song for me recently about the ways we love each other, as spouses, friends, fellow Christians, and as family. it talks about being there for each other in good times and bad... when the rest of the world seems to be laughing at you or crying with you...when you're lost or falling...when you're broken and at your worst. and then it says this: "but if all that we do is absent of Jesus, then this so-called love is completely in vain".

the first time i heard it, i had to sit and cry as i prayed a prayer of gratitude for the wonderful man i have by my side. i listened to it a few more times and started thinking about that last line. how many things do i do each day that are absent of Jesus? how many words do i say that sound more like venom than like Christ? how many times do i pass up opportunities to show His love to strangers, to friends, to my husband? how many days do i spend complaining and grumbling in an attitude of selfishness and discontent? and more difficult still...how often do i do things that the world sees as acceptable, even good? those things that fall into that dangerous "gray" area? those things that are easy to tell myself are ok, except for that still, small voice that says that they aren't...those are the ones i have a hard time with. God's word tells me that if it isn't absolutely something that's in His will, then it absolutely isn't in His will! and those things, those gray, fuzzy lines that i draw in the sand...they are absent of Jesus. those attitudes and activities and the time i spend thinking about those things...it's all a waste.

the only things that will ever last are the things that i do for the King. the only attitudes worth having and the only words worth saying are the ones that bring others closer to Him. this song has become a prayer for our family, a prayer that everything we do, from our actions and attitudes to the ways we speak, live, and hope...we pray that none of it will be in vain. we pray that our lives will be full of Jesus.