Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.(Colossians 3:12)
Theme: If not You, then Who?
Today, we begin a 3-day review of the Discipline of Service. In consideration of our theme, we are going to focus on some practical examples instead of theory. I have asked three of our fellow participants to allow me to share their stories of Christian service. None of the three profess to be experts in the area but I know their stories will inspire us. The examples will come from three broad categories of service: 1) Serving our families; 2) Serving the community; 3) Serving the household of faith.
I am sure most of us will appreciate that serving our family can sometimes be a tremendous challenge. This is usually service up close where people know each other well, warts and all.
Yasmin’s Story of Service
I’ve heard people joking that one of the benefits of being a grandparent is that after the grandparents enjoy their time with the grandchildren the parents take them home and the grandparents get to relax. Yasmin, who has been participating in 40 Days of Discipline for a few years now, decided to pursue a more challenging path. She left the comfortable confines of her home in Trinidad, quit her job and moved back to the US to live in less comfortable accommodations so that she can help her daughter’s family. Her daughter and son-in-law have 2 young boys, 7 and 3 months old, and the pandemic recently precipitated a stressful move from one coast of the US to the other. So, as an act of service, Yasmin spends very long days helping the family out by being a nanny, housekeeper and driver at a time of her life when the conventional approach would be to relax. She understands the spiritual opportunity this challenge presents though. Her son-in-law is not a believer and she has the opportunity to be a witness to the entire family and expose the boys to the gospel.
Yasmin’s story is not a unique one, but when I heard her story I was really impressed with her honesty in describing how challenging serving is, the fact that she gets tired and frustrated sometimes, and her reliance on God to help her be a witness.
Our passage today reminds us of the qualities we need to serve others for God’s glory in circumstances like this. Please reflect on the passage and respond to the request and question below.
Request and Question:
- Please remember Yasmin in prayer.
- Do you have any lessons from serving your family that other participants could benefit from?
March 15, 2021 at 4:15 am
Serving our family is not only a duty or obligation. It’s an act of love, just like the way our Lord God, Jesus loves us unconditionally. But as human beings, we often fail to love and serve our family, the way God intends for us to do. Conflicts, misunderstandings, arguments and divisions may arise at some point in time, but no matter what happens, at the end of the day, family – our own flesh and blood is always the first one to accept us for who we are, and understand our flaws and shortcomings. From my experience being a daughter, then became a wife, a mother and now a grandmother, family is indeed a blessing from above. There maybe a time in my life that I had a fight with my siblings or with my own children, my parents, or with my husband, because of something, it doesn’t mean that it’s the end of the relationship when conflicts arise, even if the situation looks so helpless or broken, we should never give up on our family. It’s not the end of everything as our God never gives up on us even on our very worst circumstance. Forgiveness , acceptance, reconciliation, selflessness, and praying daily are all important factors to consider as we serve our family. This is not easy and possible if we only rely on ourselves. If God is the center of the family, we can be sure of its foundation. God gives strength and blesses the family who honors Him. Mother is the heart of every household. I was blessed to have had a mother who taught me to love Jesus , the greatest gift I’ve ever received . The values my mother instilled in me especially loving the Lord as my God and savior, is a legacy she left and will be my constant goal to pass on to the next generation. Absolutely it should begin in me by being obedient to God’s word and in serving Him with all my heart, soul and mind. Grateful that my children are believers. There are still some members of my family that are not saved yet. Some are in Japan, others in the Philippines and in the US. I pray for them daily and I believe God has perfect plans for the. I should not lose hope that in His perfect timing, they will accept Jesus as their Lord and savior. “ As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15….this is my goal as a mother, wife and grandmother. May the Lord grant me the wisdom, strength and mercy to serve Him all the days of my life.
March 15, 2021 at 6:19 am
Thank you for sharing Aurora. This was such an important reminder and encouragement.
March 15, 2021 at 9:57 pm
Well done.
March 15, 2021 at 8:28 am
I don’t have a specific story of serving my family to share. However, many, many years ago, I told Mommy that daddy and her could live with me in their older years, or whenever they wanted. I also told my husband at the time, how independent Mommy was, so I hoped God would bless us financially so if they did decide to live with us, we could have a connected, but “separate” house for them on our property.
I’ve repeated the offer over the years. She always mentions staying in her home, but that’s Mommy. 🙂 I’m probably not the only family member who has extended the offer in some way, (my eldest brothers adore Mommy) 🙂, but we (the children) are blessed with incredible parents, (Daddy is in heaven now), and taking care of them whenever they wanted, would be an honor and a great service.
March 15, 2021 at 8:28 am
I will pray for Yasmin.
March 15, 2021 at 9:59 pm
Thank you Joseth.
At almost 70 I need the physical strength too.
March 16, 2021 at 6:34 am
You’re welcome. You’ll be in my thoughts and prayers.
March 15, 2021 at 8:53 am
Thank you to Yasmin for sharing her story. Praying for you and your family.
March 15, 2021 at 11:08 am
Thank you Sis. Yasmin for sharing your story. It is a real blessing to me.
Over the thirty five years of marriage I have committed to helping with some chores in the home and some things outside the home. Especially assisting with washing the dishes which require absolutely no expertise. I have been engaging in these tasks to be a source of encouragement to Sharon. I have also noticed that our two boys have been practicing the same. The motivation is thoughtfulness. Sometimes I think I can perhaps get more done on an assignment / project but I believe it might been discouraging for Sharon not to be assisted. I suppose I had better not stop now.
March 15, 2021 at 10:02 pm
You cannot stop now.Ha ha.
March 15, 2021 at 11:03 pm
Serving my family has always been a top priority, after God (though serving them & others is an act of serving God). I truly find it a joy to serve them especially as we treat each other with great respect and dignity. Thankfully, I was brought up in a family where both my parents served us with joy and taught us not to look down on any task as being menial. They too were in ministry working very hard while working extremely hard otherwise . Consequently, I have a healthy view of work so it is very easy for me to get all kinds of tasks done though I must confess I do not like to iron. Being a pastor’s wife, I cannot let my husband wear T-shirts to church though I would like to but when I DO iron, I start before the sun rises or shortly after and I iron a few dozen shirts to last him a good while! God bless those clothes that do not require ironing!!
Thankfully, one of my greatest ways of serving my family is by doing what I truly LOVE to do: COOKING!! Amazing how we stay almost trim. I serve and entertain joyfully and I am ” in my element” as my immediate and extended family always remark. Having a family who always says “Thank you, Mommy!” (and now from our 2 yrs & 8 months grandson: “Thank you, Grandma!” plus all the fine compliments that they crown me with, makes it delightful to serve them. It’s equally wonderful when they volunteer to set the table or help to prepare the meal or wash the dishes. I can’t help but mention that my husband literally refused a gift of a brand new dishwasher from a friend of ours in Chicago who sold electronics etc many years ago as he said, he would be made redundant if he took the dishwasher! Sometimes I “race him” to wash the dishes as I don’t want him to think I am abusing his kind volunteerism.
Serving my family is an honour and a blessing and I love it! Honestly though, when our sons were very young and my husband was frequently away, or serving in various capacities, sometimes even while studying it was very challenging as I did the rounds from home to school and back to school and to many extracurricular activities and supervised homework every evening and beat the traffic and marked papers and prepared lesson plans and read copious notes and taught and listened out for a phone call from Africa or elsewhere hoping my husband was still alive and thanking God when he returned that he had really reached and returned alive and well and using wisdom not to “unload” on him like some unwise but well-intentioned people did on me when he had to be on missions or at academic conferences etc abroad. THAT’S service more than you could imagine and the half has not been told as serving my family cannot be divorced from serving others. Even though at times I had a helper or day’s worker, I found that they could not substitute for the kind of service that I gave to my family, no matter how good they were. Now I see my service as more than doing things. It’s also wisely giving advice, or teaching, sometimes without saying a word but serving impactfully anyway,