Lost in Translation
"The leaves are all falling, and they're falling like they're falling in love with the ground!"
~ Andrea Gibson
Oh! How we have found this to be true since the move to our new home. We have been blessed with a large yard and big beautiful trees. As wonderful as it is, it's also a lot of work. I have handed the task of raking to my strapping young sons while I supervise from inside with a hot cup of coffee.
Don't' judge, I showed them how it's done and I did my time as a kid.
Anyway, somewhere along the line we noticed extra leaves showing up in our yard. I only know they were extra because they were in a straight line along the property line. Sure enough, we looked out our window on Thanksgiving day and saw our neighbor blowing some of his leaves into our yard. It really shouldn't have mattered. When the wind blows so much who can really tell what yard they came from? But I let it bother me. The boys had spent several hours on the yard the day before and we had company coming. I wanted everything to be just perfect. So, I paced and fussed until Matt went outside to speak to the neighbor.
The gentleman kindly nodded and shook Matt's hand. Problem solved. Or so we thought. Suddenly I heard the blower in our yard again. To my dismay & embarrassment he began to blow our entire front yard clean. See our neighbor doesn't speak much English, he thought Matt was asking him to blow our yard too. Matt's intentions were lost in translation. Oh my gosh! I felt horrible, it's Thanksgiving and the man should be inside with his family celebrating. Even worse, I stood in my window staring at him, not knowing how to fix it.
I have this irritating habit of wanting things to be perfect. I suppose some would call me a control freak. I am working on my response to less than ideal situations, but I failed that day. I was concerned with how things looked on the surface while my heart-ittude stunk.
Humbled by the events of the day, I was reminded that as we go into this busy holiday season I need to set my eyes Jesus - the One that this is all about.
Instead of trying to make everything perfect, I need to look to the One that is perfect.
Believe me, I'm going to have to work on it. I could worry about making everyone happy while visiting family, or stress about giving good enough gifts. I could even focus on how my house is barely decorated compared to others. But then I would miss it...the wonder of my Messiah. His love would be lost in translation as I work my way through the season. So I choose to be still & to let go, So That His perfect love would be known.
