Wrong Side of the Bed

I know it's corny, sounds cheesy, etc., but I had a wrong side of the bed morning. I woke up mad, moody and mean. Fortunately, no one else in my house was awake yet. I'm not really sure why I woke up in such a bad mood. Mornings are typically my favorite part of the day. I love being the first one up and having the living room to myself. I like looking outside and just thinking about the day from a relaxed perspective. I like having time to read my Bible and pray in the quiet and stillness.

Speaking of which, for those of you wondering where I'm going with this, I have to be honest and say my Bible reading didn't help. I finished Acts this morning and the last few chapters of Acts are about Paul arguing his case before this governor and that judge and this king. When he finishes doing that he shipwrecks for three months and then lives under house arrest in Rome with visits from ornery religious folks until he dies. Now I'm exaggerating the bitterness, there's lots of good stuff in those chapters. But, in the mood I was in, that was what I picked up.

The confession continues...I didn't pray when I finished reading because I told myself I wasn't in the mindset (for the record, this is never a reason not to pray). So, I went and got my bowl of Total with a banana and turned on the news. Now, I haven't turned on the news in a while b/c I cut out most television for Lent. I wasn't missing anything and this morning confirmed that. The news put me in a really terrible mood - idiot congressman, Toyota malfunction and Jihad Jane - you can see how this didn't help.

And then, Jacob woke up. I've never known Jacob to wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Instead he wakes up and immediately starts talking to the stuffed animals around his room. Sometimes he even starts laughing. But here's the cool part, I open the door and peek in and immediately he jumps to his feet, a huge smile spreads across his feet, he throws his arms out at me and exclaims "Mama!" He changed everything about my day in that moment. It didn't matter that he was completely soaked and I had to harass a sleeping Clark out of bed to help me give him a bath. It didn't matter that doing so put me behind schedule. Nothing else mattered, least of which Lindsay Lohan and e-Trade. My mentality changed and my heart melted.

When's the last time you made someone in your life feel so special, so loved, so valued and so appreciated that it changed everything for them? That's what Jesus does for you and me everyday.

This is what we talk about in Christianese when we say we need to be people filled with hope that we share with others. Filling someone with hope doesn't entail a theological dissertation or some by-the-book encouragement jargon. It's about taking the time to value them, love them and care about them in a ways that translates as "I can handle anything the world throws at me today because Jesus loves me now and loved me enough to die and secure my future forever."

It's time to get up on the other side of the bed.