Who Do You Follow?

My husband Bruce travels a lot with his Ministry and often gets upgraded to a better seat. Because of these upgrades using points, he usually is given a pair of pyjamas to wear on the long flights. They are normally of a plain colour with the emblem of the aircraft carrier on them. They are made of bamboo and so warm and comfortable that they are usually my winter PJ’s.

One year he received so many I gave a lot away to family members. My daughter, Melissa, wore hers a few weeks ago and when she had changed into them her youngest daughter Willow, who is 7, stated. “Why are you wearing Grammies PJ’s?”

That brought a smile to my face.

So observant are children. We forget that they see, watch and learn from us.

They copy our mannerisms, our speech, our words and often even our attitudes.

As a child I often saw my Uncle Phil walk with a particular gait. He had a slight limp. Asking my mother one day why her brother walked like that, she laughed, “He used to follow his dad around all over the dairy farm as a little boy. He more than any of his 3 brothers was his Father’s shadow. Grandpa, his dad, years earlier had an accident with an axe chopping wood and had lost toes, hence the limp when he walked. Uncle Phil copied Dad’s limp and to this day walks as if he has one.”

Oh, what a beautiful story of a little boy admiring his dad so much he even copied his walk.

It made me think, have I ever copied anyone that I admired? Have my children or grandchildren looked at me as a good example to copy? Not just in looks or stance but also in speech, attitude and values?

Do I admire Jesus Christ so much that I copied His walk? His lifestyle? And no, it’s not going back to live like in the olden days of the Roman Empire. Have I copied how He loved, how He served, how He treated all people, not just His followers. Have I copied how He had compassion, how He was, how He prayed, how He had trust in the Father. I could go on…

Jesus and our Father God are who we should be copying. What the Holy Spirit tells us, teaches us and guides us in is what we should be copying.

In scripture there are many guidelines for us to follow the Way of the Lord.

Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:31-32 NRSV

And also in Luke:

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Luke 6:31 NRSV

Makes you stop and think. Reflect upon your life. Are my children and grandchildren and actually all who meet me seeing me as a good example to follow? And not just wearing my pyjamas!

May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’

Love

Rosemary

Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Who do you admire in life? Would you say that you try to copy them in some way? How do you do that?

How often do you think about trying to follow Christ’s example in your life?

Is there an area of your life that you think you could improve in following Christ?