- Joined
- Feb 9, 2004
- Messages
- 17,078
Ugh, I've had a cold bug this week. Where do mom's call in sick? Where do we go to punch the clock? And why does life around the house seem to almost stop when the mom's out of commission?
By the way, it doesn't matter how many times you ask the family to let you rest undisturbed for a few hours so you can get better. It just can't happen. There are too many emergencies that require a woman's input. "Mom, where are my soccer socks?" "Honey, do you remember what check number 4723 was for?" And, my personal favorite: "Mom, what should I use to get blood out of the carpet: Pledge or Windex?"
I did get one surprise. I went in to the kitchen and looked around at the devastation (I guess sort of the way people stop to look at a train wreck). Then I saw the kids taking glasses out of the dishwasher. That doesn't sound all that unusual, except then each one took another. And another. How thirsty were these kids? Then it hit me: They're unloading the dishwasher. And I hadn't asked them to. I accidentally swallowed my throat lozenge whole.
I wonder if that's how God feels when we serve him - not because we're in the middle of some kind of peril, not even out of duty, but when we serve simply out of love for him. It must make him "lozenge-swallowing" proud. In Deuteronomy 10:12 the Israelites were getting their "stepping into the Promised Land" instructions: "And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul."
Serving "with heart" is serving out of love. It's a loving service that also calls us to obedience. Verse 13 says "and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."
Lovingly serving the Lord really does turn out for our own good. And that's just the kind of service I want to be "dishing out"!
By the way, it doesn't matter how many times you ask the family to let you rest undisturbed for a few hours so you can get better. It just can't happen. There are too many emergencies that require a woman's input. "Mom, where are my soccer socks?" "Honey, do you remember what check number 4723 was for?" And, my personal favorite: "Mom, what should I use to get blood out of the carpet: Pledge or Windex?"
I did get one surprise. I went in to the kitchen and looked around at the devastation (I guess sort of the way people stop to look at a train wreck). Then I saw the kids taking glasses out of the dishwasher. That doesn't sound all that unusual, except then each one took another. And another. How thirsty were these kids? Then it hit me: They're unloading the dishwasher. And I hadn't asked them to. I accidentally swallowed my throat lozenge whole.
I wonder if that's how God feels when we serve him - not because we're in the middle of some kind of peril, not even out of duty, but when we serve simply out of love for him. It must make him "lozenge-swallowing" proud. In Deuteronomy 10:12 the Israelites were getting their "stepping into the Promised Land" instructions: "And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul."
Serving "with heart" is serving out of love. It's a loving service that also calls us to obedience. Verse 13 says "and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."
Lovingly serving the Lord really does turn out for our own good. And that's just the kind of service I want to be "dishing out"!
