February 27, 2011- Getting Along...

     In Sunday school this morning, we talked about the story of Esau and Jacob, twin brothers and children of Isaac and Rebekah. It was the story of the trick Jacob played on his brother and father by pretending to be his brother to receive the blessing of the first born from his aging father.  When Esau finds out what his brother did, it causes a rift between them for over two decades.  For my preschool, kindergarten, and first graders, the lesson to be learned from these brothers is about the importance of trying to get along. As usual, we started the lesson by linking concepts from the story to the children’s lives.  To the question, “do you ever NOT get along with your siblings or friends,” there was a unanimous head nod for “yes” around the half moon table where everyone sits during the lesson. To the next question, “what can you do to get along with others when you’ve had a problem with them,” the answers were simple, “We can say we’re sorry; we can go talk to them and try to work it out.”  To the final question, “why it is important to get along,” one of my first graders answered with unquestioning faith in what she was saying, “Because God wants us to.” 
     There are, of course, many reasons why getting along with the people we work, live, and spend our time with every day is important and can make our lives so much more pleasant than not getting along, but the bottom line for believers is that we do what we do because we love God, and we want to please Him.  He gave us life, saved us from our sins, blesses us, loves us unconditionally, and guides us to what’s best if we allow Him into our lives and ask Him to help us.  If He’s the only one I have to worry about pleasing every day, then maybe living a moral, upright, righteous life is as easy as doing things simply because God wants us to.  How can you go wrong in this? God has blessed me a thousand times more than what I could ever live up to or deserve, so the least I can do is follow and trust Him to continue to do what’s best for me and my family.  Life is what you make of it, and you can make it very, very complicated for yourself, or you can make it simple like a child’s answers to the big and important questions in life.