Important and Imperative

I love Shel Silverstein!! He speaks volumes to me with his nonsensical poetry. Shel and Calvin and Hobbes both start my mind racing. (Yes, folks! She IS one of the worlds great intellectuals)
At any rate, I was browsing through 'A Light in the Attic' and stumbled across this:

Bob bought a hundred-dollar suit
But couldn't afford any underwear.
Says he, "If your outside looks real good
No one will know what's under there."

Jack bought some hundred-dollar shorts
But wore a suit with rips and tears.
Says he, "It won't matter what people see
As long as I know what's under there."

Tom bought a flute and a box of crayons
Some bread and cheese and a golden pear.
And as for his suit and his underwear
He doesn't seem to very much care.

So... what's important in life, and what's not? There is a moral in here somewhere. But, the question is...can I find it?

Lin wrote a post and asked for her cyberpals to let her know what was important to them.
The number one answer was FAMILY... Each respondant said that was what they would be willing to put their life on the line for. Family. I said the same thing, in part. I would die for my family. But, I most likely won't be called on to die for them. I have, however, been called on to live for them. I said I would. I think I have. But, so often we let these people who are so dear to us tumble into second or third place.

That was brought home to me this morning. I needed to teach a Sunday School class this morning to a group of scriptural scholars. I was a tad nervous about it. Did I say "tad nervous"? I was a wreck. It was important that I do a good job.

I'm what you could call a fastidious housekeeper. As I walked through the kitchen this morning, I noticed dishes in the sink. I noticed the milk, cereal box and a bottle of peaches on the counter. Immediately, my sarcastic, snotty persona took hold of the situation and I began making snide comments to my husband. A pretty accurate quote would be, "Wouldn't it have been nice if SOMEONE could have cleaned up after his breakfast this morning? Oh yes! That's right...that's "woman's work". Wouldn't want my man to go out in public with pruny fingers from putting his big, strong, masculine hands in dishwater... "

Now was it important that my kitchen be clean before we left for church this morning? mmmm, probably not very. Although for some reason, it always seems to be important to me.

Was it important that I be able to concentrate on my lesson and prepare my frame of mind and my spirit as well as my words? Yes! It was. It was important to me, and to those who were going to be sitting in class waiting to be taught something of value, and to those who had entrusted me with the responsibility of uplifting and inspiring the class members a little this morning. It was important.

But... it is imperative that I have a caring relationship with this wonderful man who I'm sharing my life with. It's imperative that I let him know how important he is to me, and how much I appreciate his willingness to make himself something to eat while I walked the floors practicing and timing my lesson material.

He is one of those people that I said I would be willing to die for... But, for some reason that escapes all logic, this morning I wasn't prepared to live in such a way as to let him know that he matters more than a tidy kitchen sink, more than teaching a class.

I placed a bronze medal around his neck this morning. I let him slip into third position.

It's odd how often we do that type of thing. We're reading a book, writing a letter, working on a project of some kind when our kids or grandkids want to talk to us, have us tell them a story, or watch how far they can jump... and these sweet little packets of joy are suddenly relegated to second place as we tell them, "In a minute... I just have to finish (fill in the blank) or, "Not now. Mommie's/Grandma's busy."

What's important? What we look like we are? The suit we wear? How we see ourselves...the way we wish we were? Our new underwear?

Or a box of crayons, a slice of cheese, and a golden pear? Food to fill our creativity, our body, and our love of the luscious, sweet moments that only our family can give us?