I don’t know why, but every day I fall over a stool. You see our house has been under construction for alittle over two years so our furniture in has been “temporarily” used for uncommon uses or placed in rooms they don’t belong. Although this creates some challenges, this is not the reason I fall over a stool every day. The real reason is I have an independent, energetic, and determined toddler. I love all those things about her, but it creates a problem when it comes to stools.

The bathroom stool:  This stool is deadly. It’s sometimes hard to see when you are walking along and it will trip you up quickly. It gets used for the ever important task of turning on and off every light and fan in the house. To control the mood, affect, temperature and use of every room. She really feels she has to control everything and this creates some clashes. Beyond electric bill craziness that little stool is moved so quickly I never know when it will cause my demise. The worst is when you are carrying a bucket of gross from a sick one and you trip and fall into it. Seriously… I want to hide that thing. But if I did every trip to the sink to brush teeth or wash hands would cause back strain… And we won’t even discuss the ramifications of the other use.

The kitchen stool: My daughter loves to help mommy or daddy cook. Our kitchen counter is high and she often pulls over a kitchen counter stool to jump in and help. I have no issue with her willingness to help out; I encourage the interest and giving her a roles in the house. But those stools are as tall as she is. To see her fling her little body up on top the stool and then reach and lean all over scares me a little. She inherited my lack of coordination and falling off a stool onto hard floor is not something we want to do much. But she feels she has to be right there and jump in even with tasks that are beyond her capability. This often results in an unbalanced catastrophe and a frustrated parent.

The art stool: For Christmas she got a plastic art desk set that she loves, She will sit at it every day and color pictures of Pooh and George and dinosaurs. The issue with this plastic stool is that it is light weight and is pretty much only sturdy when sat on. She can sit and create for hours and that’s fine, but that’s not all she does with it. This same stool becomes a mountain to jump off of, a stage to dance on, a ladder to climb her dresser, the couch, or the half wall in the kitchen. Whenever I see her with this stool out of her room I know that there will be tears, bruises, and possible bleeding soon. This stool is awesome but not for uses it was never intended.

These issues with stools and a crazy toddler have given me a perfect image for something I have wrestled. There is a constant balance between what you stand on and what you love that is outside of Christ and making Him your first and biggest love.

Living differently means that I stand on the Rock and sit carefully on everything else. Living differently means that His face in my reflection is the most important thing to balance on.

As people we are passionate about a lot of things. It won’t take you long in the world of social whatevers, the lunch with the co-workers, the texts with friends to realize there are a lot of things people love and a lot of things they hate. Everyone has an opinion; whether they are well-formed or well misinformed, they exist. And our freedom to speak is often unbridled and unleashed. Just ask a super whatever about some hot button issue and watch what happens. Don’t misunderstand what I am saying here; its important to know what you think and feel about many things. It’s great to have passions. I encourage these things. The issue is not with having them, it’s the use/misuse.

The bathroom stool: There are issues that have become major hot buttons. I don’t have to tell you what they are already in your mind. The thing about these issues, is they are icky and can be dangerous. You can be walking along and out of no where you have tripped into someones verbal vomit. Ewww. These issues create fire storms between people who land in different camps. These are things in this life you need to consider, you need to know what you are doing there, but discussion of these things have their place. I am not going to go out and public and disclose everything about my bathroom habits or let it be the reason I have a major issue with someone. The same applies to these issues. Form an opinion on these things, but carefully share. If this becomes your personal crusade you need to be more cautious. If discussion of these issues make you behave in ways reflecting yuck then stop. These are the stools that when turned over can really turn someone off even if they do not care about the issue.

The kitchen stool: They say the kitchen is the intimate area in your house, these are the things close to your heart. The people you love. How often do we recklessly climb up that stool over-sharing how we feel about our roommates, our friends, our spouse, our children?  How often do we scroll through posts of people dropping bombs about their boo or complaining about their kids? When this happens we leave ourselves open for recourse, for hurt shins, for bruised hearts, for blood to splatter in some relationship. What about the over sharing that isn’t negative? Sometimes these things aren’t even unpleasant or dangerous… but if all you do is post pictures of your dog’s funny tricks people are going to stop looking. If all you talk about is the new word your toddler accidentally repeated people will stop listening. I wonder what happened to keeping a shield over your relationships and a safety net under your kids. Sometimes we do this not thinking, but then we are suddenly sounding braggy or in over your head. What happens is we stretch too far and allow others to join in that stretch… Eventually you or the stool are going to plummet.

The art stool: I love creativity and passions that you poor your time into. I totally believe these things can be used in huge ways to help you cope, grow, and better the world around you. If you love making finger cozies, planting rare tomatoes, or painting Pokémon characters everywhere; that’s awesome. But when all people hear about from you is how you love watching real housewives of new mexico or making paper boats your relationships stay shallow. They can be great tools to build relationships, but being one dimensional makes you flat. If you focus on the loves and forget about people your stool is going to topple. These passions and loves no matter how strong, cannot take over your life to the point where people are out. If you push people away by your love for foot cream and don’t use it to help someone else, what is it really for? If you are the worlds greatest shower singer, but you only annoy your family with it, is it your calling really? How can you use this creative thing or this passion as a benefit not something that will remodel your face?

I am not saying these three stools don’t or shouldn’t exist in your life. I am not saying that this is how you should run your social posts and conversations, although some people probably should think about it. I am not saying that these things aren’t part of how you have been shaped as a human being or that they don’t make you more of who you are. What I am saying is we fill our lives with being focused on so many things other than what should be the focus…Putting energy into battles that don’t really need won… Putting effort and attention into things that profit little… Exposing things that need dealt with correctly and leaving them open to fester and breed… We need to stand for what is right, we need to be passionate and creative, we need to love and deal with others… But all these things should not be what we stand hard and fast on..

Here’s what it comes down to. We do have very different views than others on so many things. I do have strange hobbies and crazy passions that get my heart pumping… I could jump into hot button issues with the best of them, I do my research…. I have issues with my friends, my family, my self-image… But all these things pale to what matters most. Christ. I would rather be loved or hated based on how I reflect Him than any stance, any love, being right or any random factoid. I would rather spend energy showing people the love of Christ, than to fight them on issues. I would rather encourage spiritual growth than spend all my time talking about my interest feed. I would rather have a conversation about how I can build another or what I can do to produce restoration than to whine about someone and bring them shame. None of these things am I perfect in. But this I know: All of the stool things could change quickly. The stool could fall out from underneath me and it has before. If I am sitting I can catch myself better if my feet are planted on some other surface. In the end all I can stand on is Christ, His character, His love, His direction…

So in this think. Think about who you reflect. Think about what you stand for and how. Think about what you are known for and does it matter. Think about how you love and reach out to others. Think about how you could potentially rip people/relationships apart without thinking. Think about the people watching you and what they might see. Think about how you are handling the relevent but balanced in truth scenario. Don’t become legalistic or flat to others, but be rightly balanced. In the end we have to ask ourselves is it true, is it noble, is it of good report, will it help someone grow, will it encourage.

Standing on anything is a balancing act for me and I am uncoordinated…. But in the end I am only confident in standing in Christ, who He is, and His work in me.

Living differently means that I stand on the Rock and sit carefully on everything else. Living differently means that His face in my reflection is the most important thing to balance on.