Would your friend give you $100?

E loves to strike up conversations wherever he happens to be. This happens really easily at the playground. He is five years old and freely talks with whoever will or will not listen. Both the boys were running around the playground when E overheard a mom speaking to her son. She said, "Kyle, go help your brother please." (I have changed the name to protect the innocent/guilty) Here is how the conversation continued:
E: I have a friend named Kyle too
Kyle's Mom: Oh, really?
E: Yes. He goes to my church and school.
KM: That is nice
E: He said he was going to give me One Hundred Dollars!
KM: Wow, that is a good friend.

Me (Dad): E, come here.
E: Yes?
Me: Did Kyle really say he was going to give you One Hundred Dollars?
E: Yes Dad (with emphasis) He did!
Me: Why did he say he was going to give you One Hundred Dollars (with skepticism)?
E: (With a huge smile) Kyle said that he would give me One Hundred Dollars if I would leave him and his friends alone.

At this point in the story, you are probably laughing realizing Kyle's real intentions in offering E one hundred dollars. I thought it was quite amusing too. I actually did not tell E what I thought Kyle's real intentions were. I felt it was better that he thought well of Kyle. It seems like as we get older, we immediately do the opposite of what E did. We lean towards thinking others have the worst of intentions. It seems like we would be better off thinking that people want to do us right. I am not saying bury our heads in the sand and be naive.
If we think the best of people - maybe it will help give them the confidence to be better.

1 Pet 4:8 -  "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." (NIV)

Has Time Management Ruined Our Ability to Enjoy the Moment?

I wonder if time management has ruined our ability to enjoy the moment. As I played Lego Star Wars on Big "E"'s Xbox, he never brought up to me that he had another engagement he would have to attend to in a few minutes. When I was picking up Little "e" and touching his head to the ceiling, he never said, "one more time dad and then I have to clean my room." I suppose that is part of being a kid. Part of not really being fully responsible for anything that goes on in your life. You depend on your parents for that. But, man you don't hear of children having ulcers or suffering from depression. Before you argue with me on that point, I am sure there are some out there. But, you get my point. If you are like me, it is really hard to enjoy the moment like a child does as you think about the "important" things you have to accomplish that day, that month, that year. Is our child's laugh any less precious or that deep conversation any less meaningful because we are having difficulty with the finances or have not lost that ten pounds yet. It shouldn't be.

It is right in front of us. Those moments to be valued and cherished today. They do not depend on every problem being solved or every question being answered. They depend on our ability to BE there.

So, let's stop and fully disengage from the moment that is yet to come, and fully engage in the moment in front of us. It could be the best one yet.

Matthew 6:28-34
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.


I would be interested to hear your comments on whether this is an issue you also deal with. Click the comment button below to speak up.