Our church's largest outreach of the year begins at 1pm tomorrow, when the entire backyard transforms into Sand and Sauce--host to volleyball and cornhole tournaments, terrific live music, inflatables for kids, food contests to discover the best potato salad, baked beans, BBQ sauce and chocolate chip cookies, chopped pork from the all-night pig roast, and Nathan's famous hot dogs grilled just right. It is a mammoth production, weeks in the making.
It is easy to get embroiled in the prep and allow the voice of dread to take over. Wouldn't the enemy voice of God have something to say about an event that invites the town to check out a churchyard for fun and food? Wouldn't that voice keep harping that this is too much and surely I should be someplace else with less to do?
So a radical thought occurs to me:
Can I ask God to help me view serving as rest?God must have wired us to serve since He often implores us to love and serve each other, without stinginess, without condition. Simply serve in joy.
So today, I am praying the enemy voice is stunted and I can only see serving as rest for my soul. My body will be tired, yes, but the joy of the soul--serving others with love--can be my focus. My energy can be replenished knowing I am doing that which I am wired to do.
Then serving becomes...a privilege.
Wow. I bet that's what God had in mind all along. For our hearts to realize it is our privilege to serve others.
Comments are welcome at feedyourstrength@gmail.com.
