Philippians 3:4b-14

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Several years ago I found myself unexpectedly raising my niece and nephew, then a newborn and 2 year old. I was determined that they would have a normal and “perfect” life in spite of the non-traditional family we were.

After a full day of teaching kindergarten I picked them up from school and spent every second with them until they went to sleep, always feeling guilty that I had to put them in childcare. Then it was time to clean house and do laundry so that when they woke up, everything looked perfect.

A friend from church convinced me to join a Lenten Prayer Group, to do something for myself; I felt guilty leaving the children, but I went. A few weeks into the group we were in a discussion, I no longer remember the topic, and as it came to my turn I announced, “I think I am only giving God my leftovers.” There was some laughter before I explained that I was so busy making life perfect I only made time for God after the laundry, after the dishes, after bedtime stories…I needed to let God give us a normal and perfect life.

Dr. Susan Ward Diamond said, “What do all of our accomplishments really matter, if we’ve missed the whole point of life in the first place?”

Prayer: God, give me the strength and wisdom to put you first and to do your will.

Lisa McCleish

Director of Early Childhood Program