Biweekly Bits #21: Let your grain die

After writing 26 bits, I realized that there is so much I could elaborate on with each of my bits. So I decided to turn them into a biweekly (i.e. fortnightly) series, for the next year.

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24). Your greatest impact is found in dying to self. If you're just caught up in you, you can't bear any fruit. I'm pretty sure this verse will teach me many more lessons in life.

I never noticed this verse in John until a few years ago, but it has stuck with me ever since. These words of Jesus speak one of the greatest truths of Christ's life on earth and our responsibility as we walk with Him. This truth is that service costs us.

And serving does come with a cost. It requires us to put ourselves, our desires and wishes aside for the good of others. If each of us is a grain of wheat, it is only in allowing ourselves to be used by God, to be emptied of ourselves, that we can multiply and have impact.

Too often we have this individualistic view of service and ministry, which can make us lose sight of our goal, which is Christ, and spreading the Gospel throughout the earth. Too often we are afraid to take risks in our walk with God, not knowing that it is only by the death of that single grain that new life can come to many. Something must be sown for the harvest to be reaped.

So today I challenge you to focus on where in your life you've been afraid to let your grain of wheat die. I challenge you to allow the fruit resulting from your grain to be nourished and grown. Let us live a life of service to others, for it bears much fruit.

Be blessed and shine, bearing much fruit!

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Biweekly Bits #20: Sometimes, you have to say no

After writing 26 bits, I realized that there is so much I could elaborate on with each of my bits. So I decided to turn them into a biweekly (i.e. fortnightly) series, for the next year.

Sometimes, you have to say no. My mother always used to tell me when I was younger that I didn't know how to say no. As a consequence, I was always too busy, and my time was over-committed, so much so that I'd catch a cold and be sick for weeks because I didn't have time to get better. But gradually, I've learned to say no (or at least, "not right now"), because I don't have time to do all these things and do them well. (See also #10).

The Christian walk, in addition to being a relationship with Christ and a religious practice is a call to serve others. Thus, as Christians, Christian women in particular, we often feel like we can never say no to others who need our help, and we end up over-extending ourselves. (Anybody else feel that way?)

However, we forget that while Christ calls us to take up our cross, and to go into all the world, and to love others as He has loved us, he has also called us to find rest in Him. Yes, my friend, there is a place in Christ for his followers to take rest. And in order to rest, sometimes, you need to say no to all of the various things that pull us in seventeen different directions simultaneously.

Saying no doesn't mean that you aren't committed to your ministry, and it doesn't mean that you are not committed to Jesus. To take time to rest does not mean that you are failing in your walk with God. Instead saying no means that you recognize your limits as a person, and the necessity of taking rest in Jesus, and taking time to spend in solitude with Him, and/or to take proper care of the body that God has given to you. Just like we rest a part of our physical bodies that have been working constantly, as part of the body of Christ, we also need to feel free to take time to rest and recharge.

Sometimes you have no. Because you don't have the time, or you don't have the energy, or you don't have the expertise. Maybe the timing is just all wrong. And that's okay. Don't let having to say no to someone make you feel like you've done something wrong, even if they try to make you feel guilty about it. Pray for the grace and the discernment to know when (and how) to say no, because sometimes, you have to. Remember that even Jesus withdrew from the crowds at times to rest and recharge.

Do you have instances where you've had to say no? Share them in the comments below, if you would like to!

Be blessed and say no sometimes!

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Hymn-ful Sundays! "Here I am, Lord"

This week's hymn is another fairly contemporary one, written by Dan Schutte in 1981. Schutte was asked to write a song based on Isaiah 6, three days before the event at which it was to be sung. In combining his thoughts on Isaiah 6 with the story of God's call to Samuel, he came up with this song, Here I am Lord, also known as "I the Lord of Sea and Sky". He says that the song "tells of the God who overshadows us, giving power to our stumbling words and the simple works of our hands, and making them into something that can be a grace for people."

Biweekly Bits #10: Everyone expects 100%

After writing 26 bits, I realized that there is so much I could elaborate on with each of my bits. So I decided to turn them into a biweekly (i.e. fortnightly) series, for the next year.

Everyone expects 100%. When I was a junior in college, one of my professors said this to me. She explained to me that in every single thing I do, everyone expects me to do it to 100% of my ability and make it a priority. Clearly, if you do five different things, chances are you'd give each about 20%, but that's not what people expect. Each person expects 100%, no matter how many other things you have on your plate.

This week's bit could be seen as part 2 of the last one. I think this one is more applicable to ministry. We have become a society of busyness, where we do hundreds of things, so many, if fact, that we can't do them all well. When it comes to our churches it is no different. We've somehow persuaded ourselves that as a "good Christian" we must participate in every single church activity or committee or event.

Apparently, busyness correlates to holiness these days, and it seems like a sin to tell someone that asks you to participate in yet another church endeavor that you simply don't have the time.

But when we do this, we miss the point of it all. If we are serving God by serving others, would it not be better to serve with excellence in a few things, than to serve in many mediocre ways? Won't others be better able to see Christ working in us by our dedication to the things we do, and not by our striving to do too many things at once?

So, let us ponder this. How can we give God 100%? How can we give others that we serve 100%? It is not by doing as many good things as we can, but in doing as much good as we can. And what good is it to serve with our attention divided among many activities? To be so busy doing things, that our souls are too exhausted to spend some time with the only One who has the power to renew them?

Let us never be so busy doing things for God, in our various forms of service and ministry, that we forget to do things with God as our focus. Let us aim to do the things to which we can give our 100%. This is not a call to perfection, but a call to dedication.

Be blessed and shine at 100%!

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Biweekly Bits #7: Life Lessons from Salmonburgers

After writing 26 bits, I realized that there is so much I could elaborate on with each of my bits. So I decided to turn them into a biweekly (i.e. fortnightly) series, for the next year.

Sometimes, your family will eat all the salmonburgers. Several years ago, I made salmonburgers for my family. Salmonburgers are pretty much what they sound like, burgers made from salmon. They are hand-made, homemade deliciousness in-between bread. Anyway, I made a bunch of them and left them in the kitchen. My family members ate them all. I didn't get a single one. None. But it's okay, because the salmon burgers were still delicious, and they enjoyed them. There's a lesson in there somewhere, I think.

I don't know why this story sticks in my head so much, but it does. I remember that evening, I wasn't angry at everyone for eating all the salmonburgers, I mostly just...surprised. I didn't expect them all to disappear that quickly. My family really enjoyed them, they told me as much (rather sheepishly) when they discovered that I hadn't gotten any. And from this story, here are  three life lessons that can be learned from this salmonburgers story.

1. Sometimes your best efforts will be in service of someone else. (This one actually came from my sister, who commented on the original 26 bits post.) Sometimes you put in all this work solely for the benefit of someone else. In fact, that's really what serving should be. Me, doing my best, for someone else.

2. Sometimes your job is to do the work, not to eat the fruit. Okay, so this was not the case here, I was supposed to be making dinner for the entire family, including myself. But, sometimes this does happen: you work towards a goal, you work on a project, you contribute to task, and you don't get to reap any of the rewards. In those times, perhaps things happen that way to remind us that there is merit in being the one to lay the foundation, even if you never get the benefit of seeing the completed house.

3. Sometimes the joy comes from planting the harvest, and not from reaping it. Making those salmonburgers was an enjoyable experience. It's a very simple recipe, and I used my hands to mix all the ingrediants and to put the patty together. I got to watch them browning in the pan, and I smelled the first scents of the deliciousness that was coming.

All three of these points remind me of the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 3. The church at Corinth had been facing divisions, fighting each other based on which of the preachers/teachers had brought taught them of the Gospel. Rather than focus on who brought the message, he pointed out to the Corinthians that no matter who planted the seed, and who watered it, it was God that caused the growth. We are all God's servants in ministering to others, who are God's field, His building. The point that Paul was making here was that looking at who had done the work to bring the Gospel and lead the people was irrelevant. What mattered was God's glory being seen in the harvest.

So next time you do all the work, but do not get to eat, ahem, I mean, reap the benefits, take joy in being able to serve others.

Be blessed and shine serving others!

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