italian detour- welcome to the pity party

i'm going to take my words on an italian detour and discuss something in the present. if you were hoping for my italy adventure stories... stop reading and tune in sometime in the next couple days.

for those who have made it through two sentences, i'm glad you're still with me!

the last two days, known as the weekend, have taught me an important lesson- i'm not THAT important. now this may not come as a surprise to you, you who already knew i wasn't that important, but it did catch me by surprise.

i'm probably a late learner on this but i'm glad i learned it just the same. here's what transpired during the weekend...

my wife, kate, is very beautiful and passionate. that is unrelated to the story, simply an important detail in my life. anyway, kate has been slammed with projects this weekend. lots to do, lots of it Kingdom worthy. she was drained. i was not. i wanted to do this or that and i wanted her to join me. when she couldn't i was disappointed. it is unclear whether or not i threw a pity party (don't ask kate!).

as i was at my own party, pitying wildly, i realized this is not what i was designed to be. i realized i was not loving kate as Christ loves the church. i realized i was not serving my wife and cherishing my wife. i thought i was too important for that kind of stuff.

and that's when God crashed my party. i was convicted. i confessed. i repented (just a fancy word for "turning around"). and then came the hard part... i changed.

i did the dishes. i made kate a cappuccino (if you don't have a cappuccino maker... get one!). i shoveled. i did laundry. i asked her what she needed, then did it. i loved her. i served her. i cherished her. as a result, we were both more like Jesus.

now i don't say all this to "toot my own horn" but to call myself out. i don't want to go back to being THAT important. and i recommend you take that step too. it might not be easy, but it'll be worth it. let God crash your pity party...