Category Archives: A Recycled Heart

A Model for Caregiving

October 30

Casting all your cares upon him,  for he cares for you.

I Peter 5:7

Jesus Christ is such a healthy example of a care giver.  When He deals with us, he comes alongside us.  In fact, he became  a human being and related to us as human beings.  We didn’t have to become more spiritual to reach him.   He became human to touch us.

When he was on earth, Jesus accepted his human limitations.  He chose twelve disciples to assist him in his work.  He took time to rest, to eat, to relate with friends, and to renew himself. He often would pull away to pray even when people were pressuring him to give more.  When he did give to others, it was out of fullness rather than emptiness-out of love, not duty.

Jesus respects our boundaries.  He never forces himself on us, and he never pressures us to see things his way.  He supports us and loves us even while he allows us to face the consequences of our choices.  Because Jesus is this kind of care giver, we feel enriched after being with him,  and our self respect is increased.

Not only is  Jesus an incredible model for each of us as we give care to others, he is a trustworthy Lord on whom we can cast our burdens.

MY PRAYER:  Jesus, today as I reach out to others in my life, help me to model my care giving after yours.

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Don’t Take it Personally

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:34

What other people say about you usually reflects much more about them than it does about you. Your reaction to them, however, usually says much more about you than it does about them. Think about the last confrontation you had. Instead of taking it personally, step back and analyze what really happened.

Say, for example, that it is late on a Monday afternoon. You’re traveling the speed limit in the right-hand lane on the freeway, and a car behind you starts honking. You continue to drive within the limit, and he continues to honk and ride your bumper. The driver of the car behind you is telling you by riding your bumper that you are going too slow. But what is he saying about himself? He’s saying he wants to disobey the law and he feels you are keeping him from it. By not being swayed by the honking and the tailgating, you are saying, “I’m not going to do what’s right for me no matter how much pressure I get from you.”

The man on the freeway was riding your bumper was probably not mad at you. He was probably mad at the authority figures he grew up with or the people he thinks limit him in his life now. But he is taking it out on you. Don’t take it personally. You’re a great driver of your car and your life.

Thought: I will not be offended today by other people’s problems. I have enough trouble of my own to deal with.

Freedom To Choose

 

Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorities, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Josh. 24:15.Two young men had heard stories for years about the wise old hermit who lived up in the mountains. Rumor had it that he was very eccentric, but there wasn’t a question that the old man couldn’t answer. The young men decided to test the old man’s brilliance. They decided to catch a little bird and hold it with their hands. Then they would ask the hermit if the bird was dead or alive .If he said it was alive, they would crush it to death. If he said it was dead, they would leave it alive.

Pleased with themselves, the youths stomped up the mountain until they arrived at the hermit’s cabin. When the elderly man answered their knock, the bravest one said, “Sir, we have a little bird in our hand. Is it dead or alive?” The man looked right into their eyes and said, “Whether that bird is dead or alive is in your hands. The choice is yours.”

As women on the journey, we too have the choice in our hand. We can choose life through Christ or death by turning our back toward God and his provision for us.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the freedom to choose whom I will serve.