Are You Catchin'?

For I have given you an example,

that ye should do as I have done to you.

John 13:15

It's been years and years...way back to childhood since I was asked, “Are you catchin'?”

I was in first grade when someone came from city hall to nail a brightly colored sign to the wall beside our front door. I remember that I saw a big word on it that I couldn't read or even sound out. When the man came, I was on the front porch. Before coming on the porch he asked me to come into the yard and stand by my swing set. From there, I saw him nail the sign for all to read: QUARANTEENED. He didn't speak to my Mother or anyone...he just did it and then left. (I'd like to see anyone get by with that now.) After he left I went up on the porch, about to go into the house to tell my Mother what had happened. She was coming out of the house just as I was going to go in. She stood looking at the sign but made no comment about it. 

I asked my Mother what that sign meant. She said that if anytime I saw a sign like that on the front of someones house, I wasn't to go up to that house because it meant that someone in that house was “catchin'.” I asked her if someone in our house was catchin' and she said that it was me...chicken pox. I knew I had been out of school that day because of some itchy bumps on my skin and now knew I would be out of school for a few more days. The doctor said I could play in the yard if I felt okay but couldn't have any friends near to play with. I can remember seeing friends coming home from school while I was in the yard. Before I could say anything to them, someone would say “Glendarae's catchin' and we can't play with her.” I remember crying a lot that week.

When I went back to school, Miss Irene my first grade teacher took one look at me and asked, “Are you still catchin'?” I had a note from my mom that said the doctor gave permission for me to go back to school. For a few days, various people asked me if I was still catchin' and hated every time I heard it. When anyone would get a bad cold, one always spoke of “catching a cold.” I used to wonder how in the world one caught a cold.

In that day, when you caught something, it was an indication that whatever you had caught was contagious and no one else wanted to catch what you had caught. Still to this day, I tend to speak of catching a cold or catching a bug of some kind.

All that to say... how contagious are you and I spiritually speaking. Are we so strong in our faith that someone could nail a quarantined sign on the front of our houses, cautioning others that if they got around us, they might catch more of Jesus than they ever have in their lives? I would hope for us that our desire would be to spread as many spiritual germs around as possible.

I have been so blessed to have some of the most wonderful, godly women in my life. With all the times we have moved, I have known dear ladies all over the place. They each one have been contagious in such a way as to encourage me more for the Lord than I've ever been. You know the type of ladies I'm talking about. They are ladies of genuine humility who will never know until Heaven the spiritual impact they have had on my life. They are ladies you can sit for long periods of time talking about what the Lord is doing in her/your life. You walk away refreshed and ready to charge a sinful world with more of the things of God.

So what are some ways we can be more spiritually contagious? Perhaps we'll have cause to remember how others have affected us without knowing it. There's nothing wrong with some spiritual peer pressure. For instance...

In our day, one thing that shocks me are the Christians who go to church without a Bible. I'll never understand a couple bringing one Bible to share. Bible's ought to be very personal things. If we attend a church where bringing a Bible isn't a regular thing, we too will get to where it doesn't bother us if we forget ours every now and then. When the large majority of church members bring Bibles to church and Sunday school, we feel more like doing the same.

Church attendance...even there some spiritual contagion can be good. There have been times to be honest when I just didn't feel like going to church or Sunday school. My mind at those times quickly went to those faithful ladies I was privileged to see or sit by whenever we were together at church. There was an accountability thing there for me.

I think of participation in church services. With usually singing in a church choir, I've been in a position to view the congregation. One gets to know where people sit most of the time. There are those who participate in the singing and are engaged in the sermon that is preached. I will sing more when sitting around singers. I will pay better attention to a sermon if I'm sitting by note takers or those who don't whisper or write notes during that time. Then there are those who look like they were forced at gun point to come to church that day. I've noticed when I'm seated in the congregation, I generally participate as much as those I am sitting with. It's a “catchin'” thing.

Some folks don't bow their heads for prayer, taking advantage of that time to look around. How do I know?.....I've been one of them. It's not just a closing eyes thing, its a sensing of the spirit in the moment.

If a lady friend is physically contagious, I probably won't want to be around her for a time other than dropping off a casserole at her house. However, if she is spiritually contagious, I will want to be around her when we can get together. I want those lady friends in my life who are strong in the Lord, encouragers and yes, contagious. Beyond that, it should be my desire to be one of those ladies. This desire cannot be for prideful reasons. There are already too many spiritual super stars in most churches that intimidates more than encourages. Our spiritual contagion must be a natural thing that comes from us because of a living and vital relationship with the Lord Jesus. We will become that sweet aroma, that spiritually refreshing woman that draws others into their own close relationship with Jesus. We are called to be contagious for Christ.

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Dear Jesus...Help me to be a very active germ, a spiritual contagion that can start an epidemic in folks around me who want to live more for You than ever before. May this epidemic spread into my community and go from there. Help me to be the kind of example You set for me. I love you...Amen.