A couple of months ago a friend told me she and her husband had a rule in their house: the little people couldn't outnumber the big people. Ah, very good -- until they had their 3rd baby that is. I thought it was particularly good advice only in our case it would have to be that the 4-legged "people" can't outnumber the 2-legged people. So, as crazy as Monday night was, it was okay because there were enough 2-legged people around.
Last night, however, the little people outnumbered the big people in our house. A couple weeks ago I mentioned our new Tuesday night friend. Well, last night we had some more little friends which together totaled 3 so we were clearly outnumbered! And it was crazy. See, when you're used to 2 adults the house is generally quiet and without a lot of drama (remember, I said generally) so even just adding 1 little person into the mix upsets the cart.
Don't get me wrong -- these are not naughty children; rather they are just, well, children in an environment where adults are company far more often...and dogs. It's just a matter of what you're used to. The reverse is also true -- one night my friend Tonya, the mother of 5, came over to get some books and she was so overwhelmed at the quiet of our house that she had to leave before she fell asleep. Obviously her house is rarely quiet. Neither are bad, just a matter of what you live with every day.
But in the midst of all this mayhem was the bigger realization that we were truly serving these parents. One set gets to attend small group because we watch their little one and the other set got to go on a real, bonafide, no-kids-allowed-for-parents-only date. And often that is missing from so many marriages. The parents sacrifice their own relationship and not only is that bad for them but it's bad for their kids too. The sad thing in all this is that anybody can serve someone like this but many rarely do. We're filling our pews with people who don't look outside of themselves to serve others and they are raising children who have no idea what it means to serve others. And so those of us who do know have the responsibility of showing them how to do it by example.
And when we serve others, all of a sudden our inward focus is outward and our lives aren't as bad as we think because we aren't focusing solely on "me". Someone wrote a book where the first sentence was "It's not about you."; well, I'd go further and say "It's not about you at all, ever." And by the way, this reminder is more for me than anyone else.
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