The 33rd Year

I'm in Bloomfield. The home of the Cardinals... and the Smith Family. It's my birthday so we decided to hang here for another day and delay starting on the house until we close tomorrow morning at 10:00am. We had a great night with our family last night celebrating Uncle Don's birthday. Good food, dancing, lots of kids running about and even fireworks.

AND THEN...my cousin LeeAnn surprised us by presenting us with over $1000 towards our adoption. She has been secretly collecting it from family members over the past few months and completely surprised us! Our family is such a blessing!

So...
Year 33.

Seems significant to us Christians. Seems like we should do something great by this time in our lives, or at least this year. Seems like we should be doing something radical. Making sacrifices. Helping others. Living with sheer confidence and boldness.

My hope is to live more selflessly this year. I feel like Kelly and I have made some big choices in the past couple of years that trend towards unselfishness, but I am talking about the little things. The way I treat salespeople when they call me at work. The way that I react when I am stressed and someone stresses me out. The way I treat the kids and Kelly after a long and tiring day and they just need a little attention. The way I pursue friendships, new and old.

When I look at the life of Christ, Selflessness seems to be at the root of his actions. He moves with a rhythm that says to others, "let me serve you". BUT his selflessness is not motivated by a desire to manipulate or control, which it can easily be used for. It is raw, pure, love of and for others. This is the driving force behind his actions.

Whenever I observe myself living that way, even for a moment... those are the moments I feel closest to the person of Christ. Those are the moments that I feel I understand who he is and why he changed the world. Those are the moments that I recognize with my own eyes and heart that... God... IS... love.