A couple of events in my life in the last 24 hours has me thinking.
Last night I got home from a meeting. Sarah and the kids were not home yet, having gone over to a friends to dig potatoes. While waiting for them to get home I; made dinner, set the table, got the laundry off the line and folded it, and picked up the kitchen and living room. After supper while Sarah went to a meeting at church I bathed the kids and put them to bed. Today I took part of the day to drive up to Sebec to help my uncle and cousin close up their camp which is right next to ours. We pulled the water, put on the shutters and took out the boat among other things.
I had a good time in both activities. There was also a second result. Doing the serving for my family last night made me feel closer and more connected to them. Same with my uncle and cousin today. Choosing freely to give my time to work for others made me feel emotionally closer and more connected to them. Now perhaps you will meet this observation with a "well obviously" but I think there is a profound point that we often miss here. Our culture thinks that emotional closeness depends on getting our needs met more than meeting needs. Many friendships and marriages have grown cold because each person is holding back because they are not getting what they want. People leave churches feeling they have not "been fed" or been ministered to and they feel disconnected. That is a very consumer driven thought.
The Bible says, "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (Galatians 5:13) Serving each other through love. And we could add, through serving, you will love. When you willingly sacrifice for others, you make a value statement about them to yourself. You will be more invested in them and therefore more connected. I didn't get my work done today, I helped someone else get their work done. It felt great and I feel more connected. I need to remember to make sure that my focus is less on asking how relationships meet my needs and focus more on how I can meet other's needs.
"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3-4)
This entry was posted by ozymandius and is filed under Church Life, Living Life, Personal Reflections, My Life, Theology Lived.
