--You did it (and are doing it) to me....

-


Matthew 25:34-40The Message (MSG) 34-36"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why: 
   I was hungry and you fed me,    I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,    I was homeless and you gave me a room,    I was shivering and you gave me clothes,    I was sick and you stopped to visit,    I was in prison and you came to me.' 37-40"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'
So it has finally hit our family.  We have been counting our blessings for the past few months as one by one our friends were succumbing to the array of colds and flus that are so common during this season.  Last week my son started getting sick.


Nausea, tummy-aches...and yes, vomiting.  And as a freebie...whinny and teary kids all day long.


When I first realized Samuel was very sick I confess my first thoughts were not that nobel.  I was thinking about how this was going to change my plans and appointments for the week.  I was bracing myself to dealing with whinny kids.  In short, I was not looking forward to it.


And now I find myself kneeling down and wiping my son's vomit.  Gross!  But as I am wiping, disinfecting and cleaning I realize perhaps the Lord has a lesson for me here too. 


You want to serve me Sandy?  Start by doing this.....


But how does that really work, Lord?  I asked Him as I throw the wipes to the garbage...If God desires me to include Him in my everyday life, I need to find out how this would work while I do laundry, clean washrooms, pick and drop off kids to school...and yes, when I have to clean vomit, console a crying toddler or hold a sick kid.


As I continue to wipe the floor I realize I have no answers - but the answers lay in Jesus.  So I just tell God I don't know - and ask Him to teach me.  Then Matthew 25 comes to mind.  And I am reminded yet again of a lesson I have learned before....Caring for a sick toddler takes on a spiritual dimension when we pause and realize we are indeed serving God when we are taking care of our family. 


No one sees me cleaning - but God does...and my kids do.  What are they learning from my attitude and my actions?  Are they seeing Jesus?


Samuel is still sick.  But each time he whines, cries or vomits I try to remind myself there is a lesson here for me as well: serve the least of these as to the Lord.  Don't do it out of obligation, Sandy, but do it as if you were doing it to God.


.......


Who is hungry and thirsty amongst us?
Do we know anyone who needs to find a place to stay (e.g. a college kid?  new immigrant?)?
Is there anyone needing an extra coat during these winter months?
Anyone sick who might be encouraged by a visit, just to let them know we are thinking about them?
Do we know anyone who might be in trouble with the law and might be in prison?  What is our reaction?


Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.' - Matthew 25:40

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The little boy and his sister

-
Image
Once upon a time there was a little boy and his sister.  They loved to watch TV and play games.  One day the little boy decided to ask mommy if she could help them do a lemonade stand.  But his mommy at first said no...and then said yes but never really got to it.  So the boy kept asking and asking until one day, his mommy said "yes". Then his mommy asked the boy and his sister what they would do with the money they earned.  The boy had not thought about that so he had no answer.  So his mom suggested they consider raising money to help the kids in Niger they had been hearing about at church. They had heard that there was a country called Niger, in Africa...it was supposed to be far far away.   People had shown them pictures of people who lived there and they had even met a missionary whose family was living there now, helping the people there gain skills so that they can have the means to take care of themselves.  The boy remembered also hearing that many people in N
Read more

Just do it ... and bring along your kids

-
Image
"Mission is risky.  It involves putting ourselves out of our comfort zones and dealing with people we ordinarily might not engage with" - Right Here Right Now Lately I've been learning more about missions.  I have been challenged to rethink my beliefs on what God considers as His mission, where I fit into that picture, how motherhood fits into this calling, and what missional living really means. It has been a great year of stretching my mind, of paradigm shifts, of challenging me to make changes in my life and my family's life. But one thing kept on bugging me.... Jesus was a rebel in his times.  He never set up a church building or assigned people to start different programs or ministries.  He simply lived with the everyday people of his time.  He simply went to where 'they' were.  He met prostitutes, tax collectors, sinners.... How about me?  For as much as I talk about missions and how we ought to be 'missional' here (as opposed to just s
Read more

Message from a shoebox

-
Image
I was so happy to hear our church reached our goal to send out 500 plus shoeboxes this last November through Operation Christmas Child  (OCC).  Even though I had participated in OCC for more than 15 years this was the first year OCC really made an impact in MY life.  Here are three lessons I learned, and am still learning: Lesson #1:  Yes, He can...and Yes, we can. I still remember when we first determined we'd set the 500 box goal - part of me did NOT think we'd ever reach that goal.  After all, we had a congregation of about 280 people.  But while I doubted, another part of me knew God was calling me to witness the way HE moves and does HIS work.   It was so exciting when we realized, one week before our deadline, that we had ran out of boxes (we had ordered 500 boxes initially) and had to rush more boxes in! As I involved my kids in the packing of shoeboxes I also became much more conscious of the abundance of resources we have here.  Even though we were making ma
Read more