I want a standing ovation.

Our youngest son Samuel has a few life passions of his own. One of those passions is ‘Star Wars’. It is very common to find Samuel pretending to be Luke Skywalker with his sister and friends in tow. Samuel and his friends love to have their light sabers attached to their belt loops as they run all around the yard. Thanks to my six year old son, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader have never been in such daunting situations.

Yesterday while the children were playing in our bonus room Samuel decided to try to copy a move he once saw Luke do, a forward flip in the air with light saber in hand. What he ended up doing was a forward flop in the air, landing on his light saber with his head. He performed this stunt in front of his audience of six year olds and eight year olds. He bled quite a bit but thankfully he did not need stitches. He did learn a valuable lesson…he is no Luke Skywalker.

It reminded me of a Bible study I did with my teenage daughter Meghan and her girlfriend this summer. If you were living your life on a stage, who would be in your audience? I can tell you who is often in my audience...from time to time it is my husband Paul who is in my audience. Often times it is friends, family, neighbors, and people at church I am playing for. If we are Christians we should only be concerned with playing in front of an audience of one. Jesus is sitting in the front row waiting to give each one of us a standing ovation. He is front and center waiting to cheer us on. He loves us so. As adults we can fall into the same traps that our children fall into…trying to impress people. It took a light saber and my adorable son to remind me that there are no repeat performances in my life…I am going to make sure today that I am living my life for an audience of one. I want that standing ovation.