I’m There! Count Me In!

I was blessed to be able to be a Homeschooling mom! I loved being able to have long worships with my boys. I loved teaching them the Bible. It was my privilege to be the one to teach them to read and write. Yet, there was one thing that I didn’t love. Our daily schedule was packed! I worked sometimes from 8 am to 7 pm trying to make sure all 3 boys in three different grades finished their lessons. It was always a vigorous day! We were never at our leisure. We always worked hard to finish. And we always were exhausted at the end of the day. We were serious about our schedule!

Still, in spite of all that we had to do, there was one thing that would make me throw our entire schedule out the window: when a business had a give-something-away-for- free day! Oh, a free day! It brings me joy just thinking about it. A free day was all it took to get me to totally ignore my well-planned schedule! My boys knew it too! They would often remind me of free events coming up because they knew that their normally structured mother would leave all the work unfinished to get something for free. I would even leave all of my work undone to get something for almost free!

And as I look back I am so glad that we took advantage of those free days. When we look back at our memories of being a Homeschooling family, we very seldom reminisce about the success of keeping our schedule. Instead, our minds go right back to how we would drop everything when these opportunities came up. We remember standing in the long lines at Baskin Robbins each free scoop day. We remember dressing like pirates at Krispy Creme to earn each member of our family a dozen free donuts every year. We didn’t miss these! There were free Homeschool days at the County Fair. We even went to dollar pancake days at IHOP. If there was one thing that was guaranteed, whenever anything was being given away for free, or even almost free, the Fordhams would be there! And the joyful memories of those events far exceed my satisfaction of staying on my Homeschooling schedule.

I read a familiar story in the Bible the other day, but this time something novel stood out to me. You remember the story.…

“Now there was a woman in the city who was [known as] a sinner; and when she found out that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume” Luke 7:37, AMP.

I love this story of the woman with the alabaster box. I love that she boldly entered the house of the Pharisee and washed Jesus’s feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. She loved Jesus so much that she didn’t care who saw her display of affection. And we love her for it. But this time that’s not what struck me.

What hit me this time was this small phrase:

“and when she found out that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house.”

Found out? It doesn’t sound like this event was written in her planner. It doesn’t sound like she had a heads up that Jesus would be reclining at the Pharisee’s house. From the looks of things she wasn’t an invited guest, so this could not have been on her schedule. I’m sure that she had something else that she thought she was doing that day.

But reading that verse this time bothered me because I wondered if I found out that Jesus was reclining somewhere today would I drop everything and go. I’m just not sure I could do it today. I have too much on my schedule today. I mean I start my day at 5:00 am. I have to work from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm. If Jesus is reclining during those hours then I can’t do it. I have to tutor a few children after school. Then I have scheduled myself to put on my sneakers and walk for an hour. I’ll pick up some groceries for dinner after that. I sure hope someone else can cook the dinner because I don’t have time. I have an old furniture pick-up appointment tomorrow morning and I need to put the furniture on the porch so they can see it. I have an overdue thank you project to do as well. Oh, and I have a meeting scheduled this evening! It just won’t work today.  

“Can You come back and recline tomorrow Jesus? 

Seriously. I can’t fit you in today. Oh man, tomorrow doesn’t look like it’s going to work either. First of all, I have to work again. I also have two of my own classes to finish. I’ve got to get them done. I also have to catch up on a project that I’m doing for You. What about next week? Can you recline then? Oh, never mind, next week doesn’t look good for me either. My school is going through accreditation and I’ll be very busy until Friday. I’m sorry God. I just can’t recline with You. You know my schedule. You know that I am busy. You know that I waste no time. You know that every minute of my day is allocated. I just have no downtime. I need You to make an appointment next time. I think I’m going to have to miss you. Besides, I already met with You this morning. That was on my schedule. And anyway, You are just reclining, right? You’re not preaching. You’re not giving a webinar. It’s not an anointing service. It’s not a healing service. You’re just eating, right? I mean You don’t want me to just come over and watch you eat, do You? That sounds like a waste of my time. Don’t You think? Don’t get me wrong. Reclining with You could be fun, but I need to do what I need to do before I can do what I want to do. Right?

The thought of this imaginary conversation with God alarms me. The idea that I wouldn’t show up when I found out that Jesus was reclining frightens me. Truth is that I would drop everything if I found out that Jesus was giving something away for free. If Jesus was giving away new furniture, hardwood floors, tuition money, or a new car, I would find it in my schedule to be there. But this woman dropped everything in her schedule, not because Jesus was giving her something away for free, she dropped everything in her schedule because she wanted to give Jesus something for free.

She wanted to give Him her unscheduled worship.

She wanted to give Him her unscheduled praise.

She wanted to give Him her unscheduled tears of thanks.

She wanted to give Him her unscheduled reverence.

She wanted to give Him her unscheduled adoration.

And she figured if Jesus was reclining that day, then it was a good day to do it. Her schedule was inconsequential when she thought about who Jesus was! Her schedule didn’t matter when she thought about who God had been in her life. Her schedule was insignificant when she thought about how much He loved her in spite of all that she had done. No, her schedule wouldn’t get in the way! Jesus was reclining––she was available.

And today, with my whole heart I’m determined to say, “God, if you’re reclining today, I’ll be there. Count me in!”