My cousins made the mistake of inviting me to stay with them and of course I accepted. Part of the “Family Package” is a dog named Honey.
One morning, as I was going outside, she rolled over on her back and looked up at me with her sorrowful beagle eyes as if to say, ” Now, just how much are you going to love me today?” You know, yesterday doesn’t count. This is a new day.
Have you ever asked yourself that? Even in a family situation where there are many people?
Exodus 34:6-7…The Lord, the Lord, a G__ merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love to the thousandth generation…….
Does your family know of your steadfast love for them?
Do your fellow employees know of your steadfast love for them?
How do we show love for our employers who just laid us off or fired us?
How do we show love for the rude individual who cut us off or who ignored us in a service establishment?
Lamentations 3:22-24…The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.
Is there hope in your soul?
It is so easy to express anger and utter words that can never be taken back; but, it is another thing to remember that you are loved and that in any circumstance, it is temporary and will get better. As a servant, we can make it better, as we are in the process of change which ultimately changes others. We are to give of ourselves to others in the most trying of circumstances, perhaps even in our own sadness and dismay. We must never forget that in our service to others, our plight is not as bad as we thought.
Has someone at work ever deliberately lied about you? Has someone at work tried to undermine your work and make you look less than efficient? Has anyone at work told you one thing and did the opposite? Are you tired of telling someone over and over again how to do something with no positive response? Do you wish that sometimes you were elsewhere, even away from family? Have you ever wished for another life other than the one you are living now?
Hebrews 12:11 …Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
With a smile on your face, you must love the person that just fired you, you must love the person who hit your car and cursed you out, you must love the rude clerk at the grocery store, you must love your child who keeps disobeying your instructions, you must love your spouse who wants to do seemingly everything another way, and you must love yourself in order to be the servant you were made to be.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “We will have to move through a very deep valley, I believe much deeper than we can sense now, before we will be able to ascend the other side again.”
What is your other side?
Forcing oneself to be a servant is a beginning but as you struggle, your inner most being, the being that is searching for meaning, will gain wisdom and the deepest of valleys will seem like a bump in the road.
Know yourself, admit openly your most personal demons, and know that you are loved. How much will you be loved today?
No Limits!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blessings.