Who hasn’t stood in a grocery aisle and heard a child demand that her mother buy something? Not even asks with a polite please, but demands and follows up by a scream that echoes through the store when the mother says in an apologetic and almost fearful tone, “Not today, honey”. Us old-timers have things we would love to say that would probably get us in trouble with everyone, things like, “Keep that up and I’ll give you something to scream about.” The problem is, that laxness in training has brought us a whole generation that makes demands of God too, demands just as insufferable and spoiled, like “How can God let me suffer like this?”
I have a friend, a sister in Christ who has her own medical problems—not the kind that could steal your vision, like mine, but the kind that could steal your life. She is a bit older than I so the aches and pains and increasing exhaustion of old age plague her as well, but here is her attitude:
“I pray to God for just a measure of health. I don’t expect to be what I used to be. We all get old, that’s just part of life. I just want enough energy to do what I need to do to take care of others and help them.”
We live in a world of increasing self-absorption, where “Poor little me” is plastered all over Facebook and peppers every conversation. Instead of being grateful children, we have become demanding children who think God owes us for our faith. “I’ve been so good and done so much. Why is this happening to me?”
Thanks to the words of my friend, this is now my prayer: Lord, just give me enough vision, for long enough, to do what I need to do to help others. And someday soon, it will likely be, give me enough faith to keep helping others despite my lack of vision.
If you are having a rough time, remember why you are here, remember whom you are following, and if you can’t find a good example among your peers, use this beautiful moment courtesy of my beautiful friend, a true disciple of the Suffering Servant and faithful daughter of God.
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. (John 13:14-15)
Dene Ward
I have a friend, a sister in Christ who has her own medical problems—not the kind that could steal your vision, like mine, but the kind that could steal your life. She is a bit older than I so the aches and pains and increasing exhaustion of old age plague her as well, but here is her attitude:
“I pray to God for just a measure of health. I don’t expect to be what I used to be. We all get old, that’s just part of life. I just want enough energy to do what I need to do to take care of others and help them.”
We live in a world of increasing self-absorption, where “Poor little me” is plastered all over Facebook and peppers every conversation. Instead of being grateful children, we have become demanding children who think God owes us for our faith. “I’ve been so good and done so much. Why is this happening to me?”
Thanks to the words of my friend, this is now my prayer: Lord, just give me enough vision, for long enough, to do what I need to do to help others. And someday soon, it will likely be, give me enough faith to keep helping others despite my lack of vision.
If you are having a rough time, remember why you are here, remember whom you are following, and if you can’t find a good example among your peers, use this beautiful moment courtesy of my beautiful friend, a true disciple of the Suffering Servant and faithful daughter of God.
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. (John 13:14-15)
Dene Ward
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