Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
I Thessalonians 5:16-18
Yesterday morning I attended a men's breakfast at the church of a friend of mine. We had a nice time of food and fellowship, followed by a short devotional, and then we wrapped things up with a time of prayer. The men, myself included, spoke our prayers requests, and they were the typical things you would expect, expressing needs for health, concerns for family members, the folks in South Carolina, and rain here. But one of the men moved me in a mighty way by saying that he wanted to have a time of prayer of thanksgiving.
Prayers of thanksgiving aren't new to me, and don't normally effect me so. But it seems this gentleman, who is probably a little older than my father, has been dealing with health issues with his wife for the past few weeks. She is doing better from what I could gather, but still needs help. She evidently felt like a burden on him due to the fact that he was having to take care of her. But he didn't see it that way at all. He loves her so much that he is thrilled to be able to care for her and help her. He teared up as he said he just wanted to thank God that he could care for her and for the opportunity to show his love for her in this way.
Well, it made me tear up a little too. What an awesome spirit and example of a servant's loving heart. This man's attitude helped strengthen him with the joy of the Lord, and guarded his heart against the bitterness and self pity that weariness of duty can sometimes cause. When we serve out of duty, even the enjoyable can become a burden and something to rush through hoping it ends soon. But when we serve others out of love for God and love for them, rejoicing and giving thanks as we do so then the yoke becomes easy and the burden is light and the life we lead is worth living and blessed, even when we are going through things that would be in some's prayer requests to be removed.
No comments:
Post a Comment