SCRIPTURE: Luke 12:35 (TM)
Be dressed for service and
keep your lamps lit.
STORY:
Kenneth A. Brown writes: Nat Wyeth, engineer and inventor,
on his brother, artist Andrew Wyeth: Andy did a picture of Lafayette's quarters
near Chadds Ford, Pa., with a sycamore tree behind the building. When I first
saw the painting, he wasn't finished with it. He showed me a lot of drawings of
the trunk and the sycamore's gnarled roots, and I said, "Where's all that
in the picture?" "It's not in the picture, Nat," he said. "For
me to get what I want in the part of the tree that's showing, I've got to know
thoroughly how it is anchored in back of the house." I find that
remarkable. He could draw the tree above the house with such authenticity
because he knew exactly how the thing was in the ground.
OBSERVATION:
It dawned on me this morning
that our level of preparedness is in direct proportion to how well we are
grounded. If we are not anchored emotionally, spiritually and physically in our
relationship with God then when the storms of life come our way, and they will,
our life will be easily uprooted.
The people who see us, who
come to meet us, know us for a short period of our earthly journey see only a
small portion of who we are. Is what they see authentic? Is it real? Is it true
to what we profess? Well, it really depends on how well we are anchored, how
deep our roots go, how solid are we grounded.
To be ready to serve when the
Master comes is in direct relationship to our preparedness to serve… to how
well we are grounded. Norman Vincent Peale asks the question, “How big is your
God?” A small God gets small results and is buried in defeat. A big God can
take on anything and become victorious. The bigness of God goes to the heart of
the root system of our faith. A strong root system results in a big God.
PRAYER:
May we be ready to serve. May
our lamps be lit, our bags packed, and our spiritual feet planted deep into the
soil of a relationship with you.
Pastor Jim-
ReplyDeleteI used to read your blog as part of my daily devotions...then I started nursing school and just got too busy. 2wks ago, I dislocated my left kneecap in class. It was horrid....and 2 days before my birthday...my first birthday without my mom who I lost in March. Because of my injury and a misunderstanding, I am now failing one of my nursing classes rather than being withdrawn, and although I'm finishing the term in it and another class, I will go on a waiting a list to get back into the class so that I can retake it. I already was on the waiting list for nursing school for 3yrs and delayed it a few months when my mom was in hospice.
Feeling devastated, lost and confused about what God was doing with my life, I checked back into your blog for a morning devotion. SPOT ON! Your last 4 posts so vividly spoke to me and situations in my life right now that it was almost scary. Thank you so much for taking time to post on your blog. I want you to know that it is touching lives and making a difference. You touch my life......then indirectly every life that I go on to touch.....multiplied exponentially by the lives they go on to touch too.
Thank you for your ministry, Pastor Jim.
Thank you for being a blessing.
-Jenn