Remembering Who We Are

Sometimes we need help remembering who we are.

My grandmother used to tell my mother, “Don’t hurt my car;” every time she let her drive it as a teenager. My mother finally questioned her why she cared more about the car than her own daughter. Now my grandmother was known for being a feisty lady and she quickly replied that if my mother didn’t hurt the car, then she certainly wouldn’t hurt herself. Those were wise words from an older generation who didn’t believe in a lot of coddling, but still loved their children.

When I began driving, I was often responsible for driving my younger siblings. My mother would always say to me, “Be careful; you are carrying precious cargo.” I would ask her if she cared about me. She would tell me that if I didn’t hurt them, I wouldn’t hurt myself.

While we still have teen driving issues in today’s world, we also have the cyber issues. There are cameras everywhere. Almost everyone has a camera on their phone and pictures are being plastered into cyberspace at every moment. (If you are over 40 and reading this, take a quiet sigh of relief that those weren’t in existence during your teen years.) My hubby always tells my daughter before she leaves the house, “Don’t do anything to embarrass me.”

He means of course, that if she doesn’t do anything to embarrass him that will end up on Instagram or YouTube, then she won’t do anything to embarrass herself either.

I heard our pastor tell a youth Sunday school class recently, that they should take a day and think of Jesus sitting next to them all day. Think of Him in the desk beside them, next to them while walking down the hall, next to them while eating lunch, next to them on the bus ride home and next to them while texting and talking to friends. Would they behave differently?

He then challenged them to set a place for Jesus at their dinner table. Would the dinner conversation be any different than usual? The kids squirmed a bit at the question and this adult did the same.

We really like to think of Jesus by our side when we are standing up for what we believe in or when we are praying for healing, forgiveness or strength. We like to think of Jesus being with us when we are doing what we are supposed to, but what about when we are not?

What about when we are gossiping? What about when we are watching television instead of participating in that Bible study we just didn’t have time for? What about when we speak unkindly to someone for no good reason? What about when we model bad behavior for our kids? Are you squirming a little too?

I think we all have those times when we’d like to ask Jesus to stay out in the car while we handle the business at hand, but it doesn’t work that way. Jesus is with us all of the time and when we get out of bed each morning and thank God for another day on planet earth, it might be a good idea to ask Him to help us remember who we are in Him and to help us to act accordingly.

I think I’ll give that a try. What do you think?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂