Friday, May 7, 2010

A Servants Heart

     Yesterday, I told you about 12 women who was a part of my life through some sort of mother role. I actually skipped one. I didn’t tell you about my mother. My mother was a mother and wife at 18 years of age. The problem was, her husband was 17 and still a kid, who was not ready for the commitment of a marriage. By nineteen, she was a single mother with a young daughter. She worked hard to provide for me while having no help from my birth father and her family was not in a position to help her. She later married when I was three. My mother will be 68 on Mother’s Day. The thing that I have learned from my mother is a servant’s heart. My mother would do anything for anybody in need. I saw it early in life when we would adopt a child from the children’s home at Christmas. She went crazy. Some man out there has a football signed by several pro football players and a Hall of Famer because of the extra effort my mother put into making this boys dreams come true. I have seen my mother sacrificially give monetarily to people in need. I have seen her clean someone’s house until she can’t move. I have seen her sit by loved ones death bed and hold their hand to Heaven. I have seen her give up her days off to help a sister in her business. I have seen her take care of an old man’s garden so he could have the joy of having fresh vegetables. I have seen her cook for people. I do not believe there is anything that she would not do if she saw someone in need. I am very pleased to say that I have been the recipient of her serving more times than I can count. If I served her the rest of my life it could never pay her back for what she has done for the people she has blessed.
     I have known people who think they are too good to serve someone. They have too much power, too much pride, or too much money. They are to be served! Recently, my daughter did an amazing job of being a servant. She was in a village and was visiting with an extremely old woman, probably over one hundred. She wasn’t for sure exactly how old she was. She spends her days lying in bed hoping that someone in the village will bring her food. She had a hole in the ground to use for a toilet but many times she would not make it. Brittne and her friend bathed this woman, washed her hair and combed it. That was so pleasing to the woman. Then they took her incredibly heavy blankets and scrubbed them for hours. The water would continually turn black and they would have to get clean water and star all over. The blanket stunk so badly with 2 year old urine that they would gag; but they kept cleaning. The woman felt someone cared for her for the first time in a long time.
     My mother has passed her heart of serving others down to her granddaughter. What a gift to serve. In the world we live, people strive to be the best among all. Jesus tells us how to do that; it is achieved by being a servant. When was the last time you gave sacrificially to others? Do you serve others or do you feel you deserve to be served? I don’t know about you but I would rather be great in Heaven than here on earth. Look around you today. Who can you serve?

Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant - - Just as the Son of Man came not be waited on but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Mathew 20:26-27

1 comment:

Steph said...

Bless Brittne for doing those things for that woman. Serving is such a humbling experience and most often when you serve someone else you get more out of it than they do. I think that is becuase that is what we were meant to do was help and serve those who need us.