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Always Busy

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“When we go to Nana and Pop’s – Pop will take us to the barn, Pop will give us a ride in the cart, we will play with Pop in the tree house… and Nana – well Nana is always busy.”

Our daughter was describing her son’s excitement about the planned visit to our home. She was telling me about all the things her boys planned to do with Pop. Her words were not intended to hurt me…

but they did.

“Nana is always busy.”

Our grandson is right. When our grandchildren come, I am always so excited to see them. I hug them, give a few words of greeting, and then I often head for the kitchen to either start or put the finishing touches on the next meal.

Someone has to do it….right?

Yet in thinking about our grandson’s assessment of Nana’s involvement in his life, I realized that I am always busy. I am an active person. When we don’t have company I am generally working on an art project (or several) or sewing something by hand. I love to make things by hand! When I watch a movie or TV I am usually making something as I watch. I do handwork in the car when traveling.

I also enjoy working in our yard pulling weeds, trimming plants, deadheading blooms, or just generally maintaining our flower beds.

It occured to me that my “busyness” was more of a habit than a necessity.

Yes, meals must be made and bathrooms cleaned, but I don’t need to do other things when our children and grandchildren come to visit. I need to focus more on THEM.

Our grandchildren LOVE playing with Pop because he gives them his undivided attention – well mostly.
(he has been known to fix something or other at the barn when he takes them down there or pull a weed or two from the garden) Pop does most of what they ask so they enjoy being with him and it is certainly mutual.

It is not an issue of competiton for the attention of our grandchildren. We currently have 11 grandchildren so there are plenty of opportunities to spread the love around. I enjoy the fact that these grandchildren love being with their “Pop”. The issue is that I was hurt by the honest assessment of our grandson because it pointed out to me what I was missing.

Our grandchildren will remember playing with Pop….and they will remember Nana being busy.

Jesus addressed this issue of “busyness” with two sisters, Mary and Martha. In Luke 10:38-41 it says –

38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what He taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to You that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”

41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

The Amplified Bible says – “40 But Martha [overly occupied and too busy] was distracted with much serving”. Does that sound like me? YES!

Jesus says to Martha – there is only one thing worth being concerned about – Mary has discovered it. Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus – spending time with Him.

Jesus indicates here that He is not all that impressed with our “busyness” – the stuff we are supposedly doing for Him. He wants us to fellowship with Him – to sit at His feet.

As God’s children we MUST choose that ONE THING – being with Jesus.

I am making a committment to be more intentional about the time I spend with our grandchildren. I want to focus on THEM – and not just be busy.

God wants relationship with me – He is not impressed with what I “do” for Him. He wants me to sit at His feet.

Our grandchildren want our time – more than a clean house, weeded flower beds or homemade cookies.

Well – maybe not the cookies……

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Serve Him 2014 – #3

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“You are pregnant!”

Do those words strike fear in your heart?
Are they a long desired and anxiously awaited announcement?
Is your first thought…”No way…not me”?

Let’s look at a record of the most famous pregnancy in all of history – Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Mary found out about her pregnancy from an angel. That was quite an annoucement!

Luke 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Her first, and natural response was – this cannot be!
Mary was a virgin. Yet here was this angel telling her she was pregnant, and that the child she bore was to be the Son of God!

Now think about this for a moment. As Christians we want to serve God. We want to have our lives make a difference and count for eternity. Yet, what if Mary had answered God the way we often do when called to serve Him. Our responses often sound like this:

* I’m not good enough.
* I’m not smart enough.
* I’m too busy.
* I’m too afraid.
* I’m tired.

Well, you might say – if an angel came and told me how to serve God – that would be different.

Would it?

Just because an angel announced this birth – this news brought with it some big concerns. Mary had to face
• Telling Joseph
• Telling her mother and friends
• Mothering the Son of God – now that is BIG!

Yet… Luke 1:38 records her response. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”

That is how I must respond when I recognize the service God has called me to – I am your servant, may I fullfill your will.

Remember – Service to God is not based on my
• Talents or Abilities
• Preferences
• Education
• Moods

God may use our talents, preferences, education, and even our moods –
BUT the choice is HIS!

Joy in service comes when we can say as Mary did in verses 46 – 49

46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
Holy is his name.

May we respond as Mary did when He calls us to serve.
May ALL we do be service for God’s honor and glory.

Amen.

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Serve Him 2014 – #2

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Session 3 – Serve with all My Mind

God uses relationships to communicate His Truth – He is a God of relationships. We often think that to serve God we must go to a foreign county, or at least a place that is “poor and needy”. Certainly God calls some of us to serve Him in those situations. God tells us to go into “all the world and preach the gospel.”

My friend Carol and I grew up in Wheaton, Illinois which is 30 miles west of Chicago. Our youth group would have mission trips and we would go to Appalachia to serve God during our spring break. Now we live in Appalachia and youth groups from here go up north to Chicago or New York to serve God.

Why do we think that to truly serve God we must go somewhere else than where we are?

Are there needs close to home? Yes, of course there are.

But it is often harder to meet the needs of those close by, maybe even our neighbors, because they really know us. They know we aren’t perfect, that we have needs of our own.

A woman in the Bible had lost her husband and both her sons when they died while they lived in a foreign land. She was understandingly devastated. Ruth 1 tells this story.

Naomi is a widow, a harsh reality in those times.
Ruth chooses to stay with her mother-in-law, even though her mother-in-law tells her to return to her own people.
Ruth chooses to serve God by serving Naomi – Ruth 1: 16

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

Look at the way Ruth serves her mother-in-law.
Ruth –
* forsakes all she is familiar with
* vows to be faithful
* she must have seen something in Naomi that drew her to God
* she does what needs to be done – was it her “gift?”
* she gleans from harvested fields to get enough to eat
* she saves enough for her mother-in-law
* she honors her mother-in-law, Naomi

God is calling us to serve Him by serving others. Those others may be:
• In-laws
• elderly parents
• children
• husbands
• others 

Why are we so often willing to serve OTHERS before serving those closest to us?
Or maybe our challenge is serving those OUTSIDE our family.

The key is – Obedience – Philippians 2:5-11

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

AMEN! – have the same mindset as Christ Jesus!

We are to have mind of Christ – that is a mind that:
• made Himself nothing
• took on the form of a servant
• humbled Himself
• became obedient to death

To serve God I must have the mind of Christ – that of a humble servant.

I must be willing to serve God wherever He desires me to serve – starting right where I am.