#337.2 – “Joshua in the Road… the First Time”

I came home last week to hear two very interesting stories of Joshua being out in the middle of the road in our neighborhood. Here is the first such tale…

“Little is needed, or even one thing only: for Mary has taken that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” - Luke 10:42
Sarah said that Joshua had been playing outside in our neighborhood and got hot... so he came in to cool off. ‘Cooling off’ for Joshua includes taking off clothes. After stripping down to his underwear, he began playing inside the house. At some point, he stubbed his toe (which he had already injured earlier) and caused it to bleed. His first response to such an occurrence is always to run to momma. After running through the house and not finding her (I think she said she had stepped out and gone down the street to go call one of the other kids home), he proceeded to run out the door and down the street to her… in nothing but his underwear. When she saw him coming towards her, she said something like: ‘Joshua, you are running down the street naked!’ to which he replied: ‘I don’t care! Look at my toe!’ She said she picked him up in her arms – both to comfort him and to somewhat cover his bare body (of course, there were several neighbors out at that moment watching the whole thing) – and repeated her exclamation: ‘Joshua, you don’t have any clothes on!’ And again came the reply: ‘I DON”T CARE if I don’t have any clothes on… look at my toe!’
There are moments in life when nothing else matters… when the things that have seemed important before really don’t matter at all… when everything fades away and there is only one priority. I know for me that one such time was when I was in the hospital with my appendix... I didn’t have any concerns about appointments and meetings and schedules… all I cared about was getting well. For Joshua, this was one of those moments, where all he cared about was his bleeding toe.
Oh, that we would have such a clarity regarding what truly is important in life all of the time. If we could learn to prioritize our lives and place supreme importance on our relationship with God and each other…
Lord, help me see that life is all about loving You and loving others.

Daniel