It's been a while

Wow I can't believe it's been 10 days since I blogged last!! Life as been sooo crazy lately, it honestly feels like I get down with one thing and then there are 10 more things to do. On top of struggling to simply balance life, last week I got midterm exam scores back. I felt so prepared for all of them, but only got mediocre grades back. That's such a discouragement for me. I'm really putting so much into my studies, I know this is where God has me right now so I want to give Him my best, but feeling like my best isn't good enough, I just hate that! Then I run into the question of what's the motivation driving my want for good grades, whether I want to glorify myself or Him with A's. If I'm trying as hard as I can and know that I'm giving Him everything should I be satisfied with these grades even though they leave me with a feeling of inadequacy? Something to ponder I guess.

Anyway. last week at Blackhawk the Sunday school lesson we were teaching the kids was "Wisdom means choosing wise friends." This "bottom line" was illustrated with the story of Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12, a classic I know ;) No for those of you who have no idea what that story is, The people came to Rehoboam (Solomon's son) as he was taking the throne and told him that his father's yoke on the people was too heavy and said that if he would lighten the yoke that they would serve him. The people gave Rehoboam 3 days to make a decision. In that time, Rehoboam asked some elders and some friends for advice. The elders told Rehoboam to lighten the load and gain the people's favor, while his friends told him to show the people who's boss and make their yolk heavier. Rehoboam chose to listen to his friends and consequentially the people rebelled.

So to teach the kids this story, the woman in charge of large group this week, Shannon, had the kids act it out. She picked one of the boys, Dylan, to be King Rehoboam. She set up the story, then she picked a girl to represent the people. She told the kids that one of the ways the people were under a heavy burden was that they were being taxed heavily. She took out some plastic coins and gave four to the girl and as taxes Dylan took three of those coins. Now Shannon began to explain the advice that Rehoboam got from both sets of people. Immediately, Dylan said he thought he should be nice to the people. It seems like common sense right? Then Shannon explained that if he picked to make life easier on the people that would mean less money for him, she took 2 of the coins in his hand and gave them back to the people. Suddenly, Dylan was torn. The decision that was a piece of cake seconds ago now left uncertainty written all over his face! I thought that was so interesting!

I don't know, it was just so apparent. Dylan, along with most of the kids in the room, knew when they saw the advice Rehoboam got, that if he would work with the people and lighten their load, that they would love him and serve him. But then you introduce this idea that making the right decision might mean sacrificing something yourself, and o man, that decision gets hard really fast!

I know being born with a sinful nature, into a sinful world, means that people are innately selfish. I'm selfish. Rehoboam was selfish. Dylan is 8, he's selfish. How do we reverse that? Can we? Even when we walk in the Spirit, are our motives ever 100% selfless? Dylan was acting out a story, he was making decisions over fake money and he still couldn't resist the temptation to want more! I mean it's funny but at the same time it's so not at all funny. I have no amazing revelations tonight, just observations I guess.