1-2-3, eyes on me

I've blogged about this saying before... but it was in a different context. This morning it didn't occur to me as God saying it to me, but instead as me saying it to myself... Here's what I mean:

1-2-3, eyes on ME!

For whatever reason, the concept I have been processing lately is that I can only CONTROL my own self... my own actions... my own words... my own heart. And because of that my eyes should only focus on my sin... my shortcomings... my screw ups... the changes I need to make.

I guess this blog post could come off as a bit self-centered, but I guess I'm starting to believe that it is okay to be self-centered when "judging". It is okay to be self-centered when playing detective in search of sin.

Last year my children were having an all out war about some VERY important issue such as who's fault the argument was or what that person did with the Power Rangers toy to cause them to ___________.  I launched off on one of my "lectures" that ended up as some of the wisest words that have EVER come out of my mouth. I frequently reuse the words... I hear my kids reusing them... I even hear Auntie Marge saying them to herself.  Here's kinda how it went down:

I told them all to keep your eyes inside your own fence. I went on to say they are looking over their fences into their brother or sister's yard and pointing out the weeds growing there when their own yards are overgrown, in need of some weed killer and desperately needing a little water. I took a LONG time to explain this concept. Telling them I didn't want to hear them saying, "But he said ---" or "He did it first!"  I want them to STOP and keep your eyes inside your own fence and see what THEY did... see what THEY need to change... see what THEY said....

Too often I think we get caught up in looking down our nose at the sin of another person, completely forgetting we are not so perfect either. Or when we are hurt we focus on what the other person "did first" forgetting we can only control how we respond to what they did.  I guess I'm just really trying HARD to remember that in ALL situations of blame, sin, fault... I am WAY better off if I focus on what I did, what I can do, what I should change instead of worrying about the other person.

So this morning I'm saying to myself, "1-2-3 eyes on ME" to remind myself, keep your eyes inside your own fence, Jami!  You've got a lot of weeds to pull, spots to water, and trimming that could be done!

Hope this blessed you just a little bit.