Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Going the Second Mile

In hopes to keep this post from being a book, I hope not to lose you as I share what God so quickly poured into my heart this past Sunday.

Our pastor was talking about when Jews were required by law to carry the Roman soldiers packs, one mile. It was a duty that you had to perform when approached. The Jews hated this law and they knew it was exactly 5,280 feet to fulfill their duty. As Bro. Bill went on to share a story about a Jew carrying the pack of a soldier, exactly one mile. No more and no less. As time went on and he came to know the Lord he was convicted of sharing Christ love and began understanding what it meant to serve. It was a year later this same soldier was crossing paths with this same Jew, although this time was different. The Jew carried the soldiers pack as they shared life, talked, and passed the one mile mark. As the soldier realized the Jew had fulfilled his duty, he pointed out that he had passed the one mile mark...the Jew shared..."The first mile was my duty, this mile is a gift from my King!"

All kinds of thoughts began rushing into my head. This wasn't the first time I have heard this story. But it was the first time that it HIT home in a big way.

As a mom there are certain task, chores, and 'duties' that must be carried out in my day.
How many times do I begrudgingly do the task at hand? Counting the meals that must be prepared. Counting the shoes that I must move from in front of the door the 100th time. Counting the toys that must be picked up. Counting the piles of laundry that flood my floor.
I am counting my steps to fulfill my DUTY.

I am showing my children the first part of my action is my duty. (They must be fed, they need to be cleaned, their world needs to be organized and shuffled by mom.) BUT how many times am I missing out on sharing with them the gift from my Lord?

I had better watch my tongue, my mouth, my eyes, and my heart. Because my response is the gift that can bless my children or blame my children.

Are you blessing your children or blaming your children?

What kind of mom do we want to be?
Here we are as women, begging God to give us a man to love us and children to carry. But it isn't long before we are counting our steps, marking our duty has been covered, stopping in our tracks and pointing out 'we did our part'!

Are we serving out of duty or serving from Christ love to the very man and children we begged God to give us?

Today, will you do the things you have to do and then go the extra mile? Will we do our duty peacefully and then with all JOY go the extra mile as we fold one more shirt, wash one more load, clean another dish, pick up more toys, move those shoes one more time or even correct that behavior AGAIN.

I pray I will be a mom who blesses my children and husband, NOT blame them!

I am off to go the Second mile!

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