Happy Mother’s Day! Love, Sydney Kate
So I live with Jodi Grubb. She’s literally the most amazing person I can think of to live with. She thinks all the time. She thinks about cool things like butterflies, and fractals, and inclusion, and people who have different views, and weeds that grow in between bricks. She takes the simplest of things and somehow ties them all together, to make something that’s big and something that really matters. Then she’ll come up with an amazing Facebook post that will make your heart swell a lot, and your mind grow a lot, and your perspective change a lot. I want to be like her more and more every day. I think about how truly beautiful life must be through my mama’s eyes. Literally, the woman doesn’t go a day without witnessing a miracle because that is what she looks for. She can find God in every situation. I’m not saying she’s perfect – she’s late to everything, she loses her keys once a week, and I recall her putting the toaster in the refrigerator once, but she doesn’t sweat things like that. Honestly, I’ve never seen her sweat, period. : ) My mom knows what is important. She lives her life by God’s greatest commandment… which is to LOVE GOD AND LOVE PEOPLE, and it’s really inspiring.
I was reading the book of John last night, and I was at the part where Lazarus had died and Jesus had come to visit with Lazarus’ mourning sisters, Mary and Martha. A few things struck me about this passage.
- Mary and Martha were so upset and sad about the death of their brother. Jesus saw their hurt, and mourned with them, it says in verse 35 that “Jesus wept.” But, Jesus also saw their love and it says in verse 33 and 38 that he was “deeply moved” by the amount of love they shared for Lazarus and each other. (This part reminded me of my PawPaw Puzie, and what my family likes to call “Summer Camp 2017,” but that’s a different story – maybe one I can try and write about soon.) Now, Jesus had been persecuted throughout this entire book of John, the Pharisees were all over him. Like my dad always told me when he was teaching me how to play defense, “Be on her like white on rice, on a paper plate, in the middle of a snow storm.” That’s how I imagine the Pharisees were on Jesus – Never giving up, always trying to find a wrongdoing so they could pounce on it (which they never found, btw.) : ) Any other human, would probably be ready to give the Pharisees a flagrant foul, or if you’re small maybe give up and take your seat on the bench. But multiple times, he was in situations where it would have been easy to break down, and easy to get upset, but what stuck out to me was that He didn’t get emotional about anything of this nature – what He got emotional about didn’t have to do with selfish things, or hurtful comments towards him but rather, He got emotional about love. You can literally SEE HOW MUCH JESUS LOVED LAZARUS, AND HE LOVES YOU THAT MUCH TOO. SO MUCH. So, what I first wrote down in the margins of my Bible were the words – “love so deeply that it hurts.” Love like Jesus loved. Be “deeply moved” by acts of kindness and selflessness and empathy and pure love, because loving is His greatest commandment.
- The second thing that really jumped out at me was when Jesus asked for the stone to be moved (so that He could enter the tomb and see Lazarus), Martha replied by making a statement about how the odor would be super horrendous, that Lazarus had been dead for four whole days. Jesus, made no comment about the rank smell, but instead said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God.” And Jesus went on to go into the tomb and pray, and raise Lazarus from the dead! Super amazing. The thing that I thought was so cool, and what I think I’m going to make my new motto is, “Don’t worry about the odor.” For all of you comedians who think that I only shower once a month, (you know who you are) I am not making this my motto in order to justify my uncleanliness… just setting that straight. : ) Rather, I want to use it as a reminder to not get caught up in the little things. As cliché as it sounds… DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF, you don’t have to. Jesus has got it alllllll taken care of. The smell was the last thing on Jesus’s mind. His mind was on loving His people and being about what God sent Him to do on earth. And we need to make that our main goal too. So don’t let “the odor” stop you from seeing and experiencing the glory of God, because he’s got big plans. It’s so easy to get distracted… maybe “your odor” is an injury, or a bad hair day, or a test grade that stinks (pun definitelyyyyy intended), or maybe something worse, but don’t let it trip you up. You’ve got a God that loves you, and that has literally overcome the world, so nothing inside of the world can stop you – your God is bigger and stronger than it. Let yourself see God work, let him show you His glory, His grace, His forgiveness, His compassion, His kindness, goodness, and gentleness. If Martha hadn’t realized that the smell was nothing to worry about, it could have prevented the miracle that Jesus was getting ready to bestow upon her! Jesus doesn’t care about the odor – He proved that to us in John 11:40 – now all you’ve gotta do is plug your nose and open your heart.
So, I like to use my mama as an example of this. She’s pretty immune to odors considering she changes diapers at her job and she washed all my basketball socks for many, many years : ) – but really though, she doesn’t let little things keep her from seeing the big picture. She opens herself up to His glory.
Be a lover.
Seek miracles.
Close your nose, and open your heart.
Peace Out,
Sydney Kate
Out of Our Minds 