Service With a Smile

She serves. From the moment she arises, her day is filled with serving others. Maybe it's the kiss I always give her when I'm leaving and she's still sleeping. I doubt it, though. I think it's the other way around. I kiss her because of her never ending service to all. She is my wife. Almost 29 years have passed since the wedding day and quite honestly, I've never met anyone who does so much for so many and asks nothing in return. (I can say that because I never met Mother Teresa!) I don't know how she does it. I wish I had her drive mechanism. Oh don't get me wrong, I go on and on and on, but I seem to get tired before she does. She makes sure things are done around the house. Putting the dogs outside and making sure they have drinking water. In the evening she makes sure they get fed. She follows behind me and the boys trying to "encourage" us to clean up after ourselves. It's easy to "forget to" when you know she'll be by. She works hard all day as a teacher's aide for special needs children. She's as dependable as anything I've known. She helps me in my ministry, our pastor's wife in hers, the church in whatever way she's asked, and countless other endeavors. She prays when she doesn't have time, works out at the ladies' gym, and comes home willing to take on whatever else needs to be done. She serves. I don't know what else to say. Except, I'm glad she's my wife. Oh yeah, and she's my best friend. I've never had a closer one. And yes, she never gets much recognition for her service - and she's fine with it. (In fact, if she ever reads this she'll probably say that I'm exaggerating.) There's a little irony to this story however. In the book "The Five Love Languages," written by Dr. Gary Chapman, it is "acts of service" that she needs the most. Not that she needs to do acts of service, but that I need to do them for her. I try, but I must admit I quite often fall short of the mark. If you ever want to know how much you are loved and cared for consider how much someone does for you. Maybe it's time to let them know how much you appreciate their service to you. You see, I know that lately she's been a little fatigued. Slightly worn out. In fact, down right tired. I try to help her. I encourage her to quit some things, take some time off and rest. She won't stop though. There is work to be done. Needs to be met. People to be served, which is OK by her. Because she serves.

Thanks for the Opportunity

It's a unique word - opportunity. Without checking etymology I can give you a definition. It means that you have been awarded choice with a potential reward. Opportunity is like ether. It surrounds us. We live, walk, eat, sleep, love, work, in the realm of opportunity. I've heard people speak of the opportunities that are given to us by being American. But being American is not a prerequisite. It is an inalienable right given to each of us by God. People living under the most subversive, oppressive governments are still given opportunity. Not all opportunity has to do with money. Each day we have the opportunity to embrace a loved one, embrace a challenge, embrace our ideals. Each day I have the opportunity to choose. I can choose to get out of bed, or stay under the covers. I can choose to go to work or stay home. I can choose to say "I love you" to my wife or let her wonder. You see, every choice has rewards or consequences. And that frames our opportunities. I choose to be thankful for the opportunities presented to me each and every day. I like the potential rewards. So, wake up and be thankful for the opportunity God has given you today.

Snow Park

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. (PS, It's January!) Snow everywhere. Plows and crews working tirelessly to clear streets for buses, ambulances, cars and trucks. A big snow storm swept through the area between December 28 and January 11. It dumped over 6' of snow in the Reno area. Two weeks later and there are still cars buried in snow on our street. Amazing, hauntingly beautiful icicles hang three and four deep along the edges of our roof. We've had some extend downward about six feet. Bushes bent under the weight of the snow expose portions of the landscape that we haven't seen since we've moved in. Get the picture? Lots of snow in lots of places, including the street in front of our house. So, my oldest son goes out and shovels snow and ice away from the front of the curb to make a parking place for his car. He parks there when he gets home from work. A couple of days go by and all seems well. Then last Thursday he comes home and the next door neighbor has parked his car in the cleared area - which happens to abut the uncleared area in front of his house. I don't think he's moved the car since, let alone shovel the snow in front of his house. A little disconcerting, but hey, we'll survive. As a remedy I go out last Thursday evening and begin to clear another area for my sons car. It took between 2-3 hours of nonstop work to break the 4" of crusted ice enough to get a car in the space. A little bit of rock salt completed the job and my son had a nice spot in which to park his car. Until Saturday that is, when another neighbor parked in that spot! Oh well, I won't complain anymore because first of all it's cathartic venting in this blog and secondly because I'm not about to clear all of the remaining spots in the neighborhood! In the end it comes down to the simple matter of doing what needs to be done and doing what's right for all. I remember the days when the younger me would have gladly shoveled snow in front of my neighbor's house, just to help them out. Besides, someday I might park my car in the spot wherein someone else labored.

Deeper Treasure

You've seen it before. You or someone else has prepared a gift bag with tissue and a card. The recipient opens the card and reads it. Then they reach into the tissue and pull out the gift. If all goes well, they smile gleefully and appreciatively thank you for the gift. But you know that's not all. There's more. It's a little deeper in the bag, further down among the tissue, near the bottom. For the moment the one who has received the gift is unaware of the additional treat in the bag and if not for you tipping them off they might not realize there's more. They might even put the bag aside without further checking. But you want them to have it all so you say, "there's more." For most of this past year my wife and I have had the wonderful experience of visiting a retirement center on Wednesday nights and studying the Bible with a group of great people. The name of the center is Sky Peaks, it's here in Reno, and it is very nice place. My wife semi-jokingly quips that she wants to move in. (We're still a long way from retirement, though.) Our little class consists of very nice people in their eighties and nineties. All of them have lived Christian lives since before my parents were even thought of. When first we started, I felt somewhat awkward "teaching" those who have been around the block a time or two. Dr. Keeler, one of the attendees, retired from the ministry around the time my wife and I were having our first children. Those kids now have kids, so you get an idea of his rich experience. But we have been able to share vignettes of Bible characters, expound prophetic visions from both Testaments, delve into the background of stories they've heard dozens of time. It has been exhilarating to hear them comment on the new found deeper treasure. To see smiles spread across their faces as they come closer to the God who loves us all. To be reminded, once again, that God chooses whom He will to do His work. Ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Husbands and wives, prophets and children, Jews and Gentiles, the esteemed and the simple. Do you hear God calling you? Do you think that those are old stories for long-ago generations? I know there's more in the package. Dig deeper. It's there. God has more for those who will reach further into the gifts that he has prepared for them. What has God placed deeper for you? Don't put the bag aside. Look again, and be blessed.

Hurry up and wait

It took me forever, (at least it seemed like it) to get my son to school and myself to work today. Road conditions, I'm sure. Really bad freezing fog and slippery roads. The recent snowstorms have made considerable impacts on people's lives and schedules. Schools and government offices closed, mail and trash pickup delayed. The usual, when it comes to the unusual. I remember several years ago, racing to work, speeding through the long parking lot just to get to work about 20 minutes early. Shortly afterwards I heard a co-worker - who I probably passed in a blur, make the observation that some people speed to get to work! It gave me pause. I thought about it for a minute. Rushing home to my family I could understand. But rushing to the millstone to make the requisite revolutions? It was an enlightening moment, which I recalled many, many times over the following years. Today, I am reminded of what Solomon wrote about in his book Ecclesiastes. After asking the question, "what profit does a man have of all his labor under the sun." He gave us a glimpse with this phrase: Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:11) I thought about that today. Like lemmings we march to the Sea of Routine. Ours today, someone elses tomorrow. What lasts? Things that we do today become our children's chores tomorrow. And yet while we are here we must occupy our time. So the greater fulfillment is found in the greater cause. I know this cause to be helping people to become better acquainted with the God they should serve. To fully comprehend what I am stating, I encourage you to read the Book of Ecclesiastes. For in it we find Solomon's observation: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13) Well, back to the millstone.