"Here's My Chance!"

In church yesterday, our pastor challenged us with a simple, cheesy (his word, not mine) phrase- "Here's my chance."

The long and the short of it is, as a christian, I have Christ in me and therefore have the ability to actually act like Him, if I choose to. If I choose to. If...
God's greatest command to us is to love. Love is commanded of us because love is a choice, not a feeling that we have no control over. And, as we know from the 'Love Chapter' (1 Cor. 13), love is patient, kind, slow to anger, not boastful and so on. So, the next time someone cuts me off in the Kroger parking lot, stealing the space I was patiently waiting to turn into, I need to say to myself, "Here's my chance!" and love that person. (Not glare at him and think that just because I didn't show him my displeasure with a particular finger that I am a good person. Or have not-nice thoughts about him and express those to a two year old who can't rat me out. Or continue to glare at him every time I run into him in the store. Poor man!)

So, I'm challenging myself this week to be more loving. Oy! Which, as I was thinking about it yesterday, also means not being so sarcastic/snarky/snide, or rolling my eyes or glaring at people or even threatening to pray for someone with a tone of voice that sounds like I'm really putting a curse on them. And, horror of horrors, I also realized that this means that I can't be un-loving in my mind! Even all by myself, with no one watching or listening. Oy! I picture a lot of turning the other cheek this week. I also picture my two year old saying, "Here's my chance!" by the end of this week.

Here goes! With a two year old and a seven year old this could be interesting. I'll try to avoid Kroger as long as I can, too!