I wake up to a beautiful Monday morning at 5:30 am. With my cup of coffee in hand I have my quiet time. Next, it’s exercising, then showering, then getting the kids off to school, then going to work. After a full day of work, I come home to a dirty house, hungry kids, 2 dogs and a pile of laundry the size of Mount Everest. The day ends with completing homework and giving baths not only to the kids but the dogs too because they ran through a mud puddle. Here comes Tuesday and the rest of the week with the same busy, hectic schedule. Ahhh, the weekend is finally here, I get to sleep in.

Saturday morning at 7 am, the alarm goes off and my spouse says, “Time to wake up honey, we are going with the kids to serve at the retirement center.”  Ugh, I’m thinking I don’t want to, I worked hard this week, I’m tired. I drag myself out of bed and get moving because if I don’t, I will definitely hear about it. After a cup of coffee, enjoying some praise music in the car and laughter with the family, we arrive. For the next few hours, we loved and served the elderly at the center. The many smiles, amazing conversations and time spent with the residents melted our hearts. In just a few hours God was honored, the residents were blessed and my family was blessed too. It’s then I realized the multiplication factor of how God works. We didn’t give that much time and effort, but God accomplished so much through it.

We work hard for our family, to keep them on schedule and to have our house presentable. These things are important and worthy of our time. The challenge for us as believers is that while God honors our efforts to serve our families, He also calls on us to love and serve others. James 1:27 says,

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

As in the example above, committing time to love and serve others is not always what we want to do. But, if we do, God will use it to bless others and to His Glory.

Is your life too busy? Do you feel like God is calling you, but you don’t know what to do next? First, talk with God about it and let Him speak to your heart. Second, visit the Quest Beyond page and check out the many opportunities to serve. Finally, come and talk to me. We can explore together what God is calling you to.

Peace,
Steve