So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
John 13: 14
I love remembering the last supper, Jesus is my ponder for how to live my life. He made food, feeding crowds, washing feet, lifting prostitutes off the dusty ground, holding squirmy babies close, giving His life, as a servant king. I realized His life was my example of how to serve my children, friends, neighbors.
Servant leadership starts with a choice to serve Christ by giving my time & energy to my children, husband, friends, neighbors, not when I feel like it but when they need me. I sacrifice my own needs, desires for the purpose of giving them what they need. I model for them the depths of Christ's love.
Choosing servanthood means sitting quietly on a child's bed, listening to sorrows & loneliness, encouraging with gentleness of spirit, administering love— when I would rather have time to myself. It means being exhausted from caring for three children under six, yet still getting up at midnight to soothe pain of an ear infection, without complaining about how tired I am. It means planning an outing—a picnic lunch, a drive to the mountains, a favorite audio book when we moved to a new area and my children felt friendless, even though I had a million other things to do or would just love time by myself. I became the friend my children couldn't find in others. I gave my time freely. It means taking time listening to a friend pour out her heart, taking flowers, writing a note.
Choosing to be a servant leader means willingly giving up myself, my expectations, my time to others, & the task of mothering, It means that, by faith, I have already made a decision to make myself available in the routine tasks, myriad interruptions of daily life and needs of others because I believe it is God's will for me to serve Him this way as he served when He lived on earth.. Making this choice ahead of time means I will expect problems & needs to arise, and be ready to deal with them in peace instead of impatience, resentment. I give up expectations.
Ministry to others rarely happens at convenient times, but it changes lives forever.
A joyous Easter to you, friends.