God Thoughts No. Fifty One

The other day I shared a (John Crowder) video whose basic message is that we have all 

(every single person) 

already been made perfect in Christ, and because of this, it is best to allow ourselves to see others through His eyes rather than through our own perceptions or emotions.

With Holy Spirit having already spoken that to us quite a while back, a couple of weeks ago, as my husband and I set out on an overnight adventure in celebration of our twenty-second wedding anniversary (yay us!),

we decided that we were going to make it a point to purpose to see everyone we encountered through the eyes of Jesus.

There are two particular situations that stand out the most.

To start with, we had an early dinner of sushi (yum!). 

The restaurant we chose was crowded.

Now, anyone who knows about all-you-can-eat sushi knows that it’s always best to sit at the bar; 

that way you have the personal attention of the sushi chef and get what you want, when you want it.

Well, that day we were both super hungry and super excited for sushi 

(it had been a year since we’d been out for it!) 

so we chose to sit at a table rather than wait twenty minutes for a space at the bar (eek!).

Suffice it to say; about five minutes into it, we realized we’d made a mistake.

Our waitress (bless her heart) was not attentive,

 she made many mistakes with our order 

(and with every other table she was serving as well) 

and she was lacking severely in enthusiasm.

Just as I was tempted to allow annoyance to take over my attitude, my husband looked at me and said, “She’s in over her head.”

Smacking annoyance aside, I replied, 

“Yes, she certainly is.”

 Upon which we chose to close our mouths and to continue to observe her with the eyes of Holy Spirit.

While listening to Holy Spirit, I realized that this was a young lady whose personality was not at all suited to her job. She was fearful, overwhelmed and doing the best that she could.

With this I mind and the presence of Holy Spirit working in our hearts,

 when it came time to pay our bill and leave her tip, the temptation to leave less than the standard percentage fled and as my husband and I looked at one another, 

Holy Spirit said to leave her an amount that was above the standard percentage. 

We paid our check, smiled graciously at our waitress, blessed her and went about our adventure.

Then next morning found us at a Café for breakfast.

 When we arrived it was moderately busy and the hostess seated us in the back of the restaurant. 

There were two waiters attending the dining area we were in. 

Our waiter had a vibrant, cheerful personality.

Though his personality was pleasant, he, also, was lacking in attentiveness. 

(In fact, both of the waiters were, but the other one was also lacking in enthusiasm.)

Anyway, as we sat observing these men (which we had plenty of time to do!), 

my husband discerned that these men were both “out of their element”. 

Through further observation, we were able to ascertain that the food service industry was not their normal business. In fact, it is likely that they both had come from some sort of “office jobs”.

Once again, at the end of our (long) meal, Holy Spirit spoke and we left a generous amount for the tip.

As we left the restaurant, we were overwhelmed by the generosity of God.

You see, God loves extravagantly; 

not because our actions deserve it, but because that is who He is and what he does.

Jesus’ life gave us the standard for living and loving.

We have chosen and purposed to live, 

not by the world’s standards 

but by Jesus’ standards and by the leading of Holy Spirit.

It by His grace and power alone that we are able to do so.

And what a blessing it is!

“Not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit”, says the Lord. (Zechariah 4:6)

It’s our motto.

 What’s yours?