On being face to face

"A house is built by wisdom, and it is established by understanding; by knowledge the rooms are filled with every precious and beautiful treasure." Proverbs 24:3

"Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands." Proverbs 14:1

I have been studying a lot in Proverbs, and have been really digging in on verse about building a home. God has been showing me so many ways that I have the ability & influence in my home to either build it up or tear it down. It's remarkable, isn't it?!

I've got to tell you that this morning I'm missing my family. I'm sitting here at Panera, trying to enjoy two child-free hours, and I find myself thinking that although I have lived near Trace and the littles this last week, I haven't really seen them. And what I'm learning is that sharing life together does not mean just being in close physical proximity to each other. It means spending time, spending yourself. It means looking into each others eyes and really seeing each other.

Jesus knew this. There are so many stories in the Gospels where He touched sick people. He looked into their eyes, He healed their eyes so that they could see. I think of the woman who had suffered for 12 years with bleeding in Matthew 9:20-22. She touched His robe to be cured. And while that touched would have been enough, 'Jesus turned and saw her'. (verse 22, emphasis mine). Often Jesus withdrew from the crowds to be with and teach His disciples. He wanted to connect with this small group on a deeper level.

Life is busy, no? We had some amazing guests come to our church this weekend. And them being here meant that we spent time and shared meals at the church and had evening meetings filling our time. The time spent was wonderful, in a sense, because we were able to connect with them. But then this morning, as my family went out from our home to school and work, I realized that we hadn't really been at our table, just the four of us, since last week.

So if it was important to Him, it has to be important to me. I'm so excited for dinner tonight. The food doesn't matter (okay, well maybe it does a little...), but what I'm most ready for is the coming face-to-face with these sweet people who deserve my complete attention. It's so hard to balance some days because busyness just has a way to creeping in, and the hardest part is that all of the busyness consists of 'good things', of ministry even! But His calling to me as wife and mom is that these three people are who I'm called to do life with first. This is my ministry!