Do it with Gusto!

Do what’s right in front of you.

This keeps coming back to me in different seasons of my life.

God keeps pressing this phrase into my heart, playing it over and over through my mind.

I hear it on the days when I am being pulled in a thousand different directions.

I hear it on the days that are too quiet and I am letting myself worry about the future…and the past…and the present.

I hear it when I am overwhelmed by the unknowns and intimidated by the knowns.

I repeat it like a mantra at 6 o’clock when I’m exhausted and there’s still a thousand things to do.

Do what’s right in front of you…and do it with GUSTO!

Because…you see…if you never get a chance at tomorrow, or that next breath…it will only be the present that really matters.

Slow down.

Hold the baby longer than you need to, just to be sure he’s really sleeping peacefully before you rush off to the next chore.

Stop.

Get down on your knees to see that Lego house he built, the artwork being shoved into your hands or the ladybug on the ground.

Push yourself to get through the laundry folding now, while you have time, so it’s not one more thing driving you crazy in an hour.

Take a walk first thing, while the sun is still shining and the table is still covered in cheerios.

Be willing to exert yourself beyond what you think you can muster.

For others,

for yourself,

and most of all for the Kingdom.

This is sometimes the way that I survive foster care.

Tomorrow may be terrifying and painful.

Tomorrow may change everything.

But right now,

there is a diaper that needs changing,

little hands to hold,

noodles to scoop

and smiles to return.

 

Do what’s right in front of you.

Don’t waste this moment because the next one looks so hard you can hardly breathe.

This moment is just as important as the next one.

These little moments add up to be something valuable.

So many people say to me, “I could never do that.  I could never let them go.”

Well…maybe you could.

Maybe you could if you realized that these little moments are just as important as the big ones.

This child may leave; your heart may break.

You will definitely cry.

You might feel like you are of no significance.

But somebody still needs to care enough to bake him cookies.

Somebody needs to be willing to put a band aid on her knee.

Somebody needs to love them while they’re in between homes.

Someone needs to be there at 2 o’clock in the morning, to do the crisis care.

Someone needs to stay up all night.

Someone needs to be there today.  Right now.

Maybe tomorrow, he will go back home.

Maybe next month, she will move on to an adoptive home, and you will be left behind.

Maybe you will get no credit, no gain, no accolades…but somebody still needs to do the now.

I used to always say I wanted to adopt, but that I could never foster because it would hurt too much.

Then God reminded me that the kids don’t get to choose.

They don’t get to choose the least painful route.

They don’t get to decide that it’s too hard for them.

They don’t get to evaluate whether they will get any personal gain.

It just happens.

So I stopped feeling proud when I proclaimed boldly that I just couldn’t let them go…and instead began to feel incredible shame.

I was so busy protecting my own heart that I forgot the kids did not have that option.

If they were forced into letting go, losing everything they loved, being thrown into unfamiliar homes with unfamiliar people time after time after time…surely I could choose to love despite the pain.

Especially when I open my Bible and realize how much pain Jesus suffered when He chose to love me.

 

 

Do what’s right in front of you.

-AF

“Promise me you will not spend so much time treading water and trying to keep your head above the waves that you forget, truly forget, how much you have always loved to swim.”

-Tyler Knott Gregson-