Faith Filled Family Magazine December 2016 | Page 60

THE

Golden Rule
BY KRISSY NELSON
“Be completely humble and
gentle; be patient, bearing with
one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the
Spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one
hope when you were called; one
Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all, who
is over all and through all and in
all.” —Ephesians 4:2–6, NIV
This summer I was traveling with
my four and six year old crosscountry to visit family. It was an
adventure to say the least. My
son, 4yrs, can be a bit of a stinker, sometimes, and his sister,
6yrs, can be quite… well… passionate. We were on the plane
and had just begun ascending
into the crystal blue sky. It was
absolutely beautiful: big white
fluffy clouds began engulfing the
plane, and I said, “Jenessa—
look! How beautiful!” She was
amazed as she stared out her
window.
She had the perfect seat to view
the beauty just outside her window. I sat in the middle seat
between my two, which I highly
recommend by the way, when
she leaned across me to get her
brother’s attention. Reaching her
arm across my body she tapped
her brother’s arm, “Buddy!

Look! Look out the window at
the clouds!” She assumed he
would want to see this breathtaking sight. But he wouldn’t
look. So she said it again,
“Buddy, look! It’s beautiful! We
are in the clouds!!” Still nothing. He was playing one of his
little electronic learning games
and, being that we had such an
early morning, he was sort of in
a zone. He could have cared
less about what was going on
around him at that moment.
My daughter, on the other
hand, was so passionate that
she ended up spending the
remainder of our time flying
through the clouds trying to
convince her brother to look
out the window at how beautiful
the scenery was. She became
frustrated. She lost her joy. She
began crying. She just couldn’t
understand why he didn’t want
to see it. After all, it was beautiful! She was so focused on
getting him to shift his focus
that she ended up missing it
herself! Her passion clouded
(pun intended) her judgment.
Instead of just letting his apathy go, she allowed her zeal
to distract her and as a result
her own eyes left the very thing
she was trying so hard to get
him to see!

thing? We get so passionate
“Do Unto
Others As
about following Christ and all the
things we think
others should be
You Would
Have
doing, that we end up getting our
eyes Unto
off of the very
One we hope
Others Do
You”

others will see! We are so busy
trying to get others to see Him,
we unintentionally miss what He
has for us. Sure our intentions
may be pure, but we have to be
careful not to take our own eyes
off the One we are trying so hard
to point others to! Paul had the
right idea when he said, “Follow
me as I follow Christ,” (1 Cor.
11:1). In other words, my eyes
are fixed on Him… He’s the author… He’s the Perfecter… I’m
This caused me to wonder, not going to shift my gaze so
how often do we do the same you’re just going to have to follow me as I follow Him.