I'm a very busy girl. I am the wife of a minster to a small church which usually means that if the church is doing something we are heading it up. I am a home schooler which means I have lessons to plan, school outings to attend and teaching to do. I am mom to two children involved in 4-H & Boy Scouts which means there are meetings to attend, projects to complete and badges to be sewn. I am a babysitter which means there are snacks to be given, wills to be battled and love to be given (often through gritted teeth). I am the church fellowship ministry leader, Sunday school superintendent, Sunday school teacher, children's church director/teacher, Home Extension secretary/treasurer and the sole driver in the household. I am a Christian, a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister, a friend.

So often, I look at this list and at my very full calendar and think to myself that I am really doing a lot. Poor, little, under-appreciated Michelle. Shouldn't there be a day where everyone just stops what they're doing and applauds my noble efforts? Hmm, maybe not...

I came across this blog today http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/. Wow! I was taken for a loop. I feel humbled and ashamed. I'm sure she's not perfect or infallible but she does what she does for Christ. She sheds real tears for those around her and then takes action to help. She is probably much busier than I'll ever be. She has given all and continues to look for ways to give. I admire this young woman, but I sincerely doubt that she wants or needs my admiration.

So, am I ready to jump on the next flight to Uganda? Probably not. That is the way God is using her life for the Kingdom. Do her gifts and sacrifices make mine any less important? No. So what is the lesson to be learned here?

The first is this...

I need to come down from my self-constructed pedestal where I worship my time and my efforts and me, me, me. Christ needs to be on the throne in my heart and all I do should be for him and him alone.

Col. 3:23-24

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

The second is this...

I am very busy and do a lot, but so much of that is just busy work because I do not do it out of love. It's true that some people are very hard to love. We all are! But, I am called to love. I am not called to keep busy and have resentment and anger in my heart.

1 Cor. 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

So, this is my prayer; to be used by Christ for Christ and to do it all in love.