My daughter’s weekly grocery routine includes allowing four year old Thomas to scan items in the self checkout line. He has been practicing since he was two so he is now fairly efficient. They have adopted or rather have been adopted by one employee in true grandmother fashion at their local Aldi and are well known after four years as regulars by most of the others.
Thomas rarely meets a stranger. He speaks to shoppers in the aisles as easily as he would to me. His smile is genuine and engaging and most people respond in a neighborly way. After passing one older couple in each successive aisle, they ended up in adjacent check out lanes. Witnessing Thomas helping his mom with the scanning, the gentleman complemented him, praising Thomas to his wife and my daughter for being such a responsible young man. With moms permission, he offered a ten dollar bill to Thomas, prompting him to treat his mom and younger brother to ice cream on their way home.
In a hurried world where self service is the order of the day, I haven’t witnessed this sort of thing often in the last decade or two. People are largely suspicious of one another, barely bothering with eye contact, much less conversation with a complete stranger but I remember when our family was new to our area and how the kindness of strangers began making it feel like home.
My husband had spent a month each in several potential training programs during his final year of medical school. I was expecting our first child so I took a job near my parents and moved back home to save on rent, knowing we would need a down payment soon for a house. After graduation, we rented a truck and moved from the coast to the foothills of our state.
The community we have called home for thirty-two years was meant to be temporary. We had just formed some solid friendships at one end of the state and we were suddenly two to three hours from everyone we knew, so we started visiting churches. If you are a true Christ follower, you have spiritual gifts given to you by your Heavenly Father for the building up of the church just waiting to be stewarded.
“He makes the whole body fit together perfectly.
As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”
Ephesians 4:16 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/eph.4.16.NLT
I have been in seasons where I know I have taken on too much and God put on the brakes. Other times I have felt swamped and overcommitted but God got all the glory because in looking back, I know with certainty that I could not have manufactured the outcomes on my own. My mind goes back to many places and times but I will reflect on the time of the pandemic in 2020.
My younger son was barely two years out from brain surgery for epilepsy when the shutdowns began. We had been flying every few months to a major medical center several states away for follow up visits with his neurologist. I was teaching youth Sunday school weekly and leading in an after school Bible club. All that stopped abruptly as schools and churches closed their doors. Later that same year I was diagnosed with cancer, our son was married, and our daughter announced they were expecting their first child, our Thomas.
Barely anything in my life looks the way I might have imagined it back then. I find that in the kitchen, I am prone to getting into a rut. I prepare the same few meals out of necessity and habit. I make my grocery order, adding items I intend to use to branch out but then life happens. Routines are good but they can also be restricting. I’m learning to make one small change at a time, to add in one new recipe this month and another the next. I’m still learning not to lean on my own understanding but to acknowledge God in the details. Trusting in His sovereignty means I will be here for exactly as long as He means for me to be and in Christ, I am fully equipped for every good work.
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.
It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2ti.3.16-17.NLT
And as Paul said to Timothy, his son in the faith, “But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught.
You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you.
You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.”
2 Timothy 3:14-15 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2ti.3.14-15.NLT
As we approach another new year, instead of making resolutions intended to reshape your life by adding more to your plate, and rather than relying on sheer will power to make it happen, try spending some time alone with the Lord in His Word and in prayer. Like any good journalist, ask Him to evaluate your situation and to reorder things according to His perfect plan.
Ask:
Who am I serving, Lord? You or myself?
What am I holding too tightly to, desperate not to lose? What could You place in my hands to use for Your glory if I simply loosened my grip?
When am I committed to time with You, Lord? I want our relationship to grow. I want to be made more and more into Your likeness. Help my priorities to reflect my heart’s desire.
Where am I cheating You, Lord? Where am I squandering what You’ve entrusted to me on myself or for my own selfish gain rather than pouring it out as a sweet smelling sacrifice at Your feet?
Why have I not seen You in everything that has happened in this year?
How can I be more aware of Your presence in the year ahead?
You cannot give your best to everything. When you spread yourself too thin, something or someone suffers. Only when you decide to surrender all to Jesus, giving Him your first and your best, can He multiple the fish and loaves to feed a multitude, cause the net cast as a last resort not to break even when it’s overflowing with fish, and let you walk with Him on the water. What God is able to do by His Spirit in your life defies logic. A watching world will know there is a God and He is good when they see your faith. So serve well, but not in your own strength.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/pro.3.5-6.NLT
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/2co.9.7.ESV
“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
2 Corinthians 9:6, 8 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/2co.9.6-8.ESV
There is no place in God’s kingdom for self serving. Only selflessness. When I am full of myself, I am of little use for service but when I empty myself, He can fill me with His Spirit.
“For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.
This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.”
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.4.6-7.NLT
“When he comes on that day, he will receive glory from his holy people—praise from all who believe.
And this includes you, for you believed what we told you about him.
So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call.
May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.
Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him.
This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
2 Thessalonians 1:10-12 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2th.1.10-11.NLT
Four year old Thomas loved scanning in groceries for his momma and getting to treat her and baby brother to ice cream. The gentleman and his wife encouraged my daughter and received a joy found in giving. My daughter shared her joy with me as we chatted on their drive home. Ask yourself, in the checkout line at Aldi that morning, who was serving whom?
“As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God.
For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ.
And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you.
Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!”
2 Corinthians 9:13-15 NLT
A Fitting Reply 