Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Dear God,

I sit at my kitchen table typing away. When I lift up my eyes, I see my contemplative garden. A single yellow Iris is in bloom. All the rest can hardly wait to fulfill your plan for them. Every thing is clean, washed over night. The sun's rays are reflecting on the pines just outside my kitchen window. The birds are singing.

Is there a more beautiful picture anywhere? Isn't my own little haven of heaven picturesque giving me hope and beauty, joy and contentment? Absolutely.

But wait. What about the pictures in the newspapers showing rescue workers pulling people from the rubble left in the wake of a cyclone? What about an older child taking care of his little brother because his parents and family are all dead? What about a soldier giving aid to a child in Iraq needing specialized medical care? What about people handing over well-earned money to aid people starving around the world because of the global food crisis? What about people putting themselves in harm's way just to help another?

My little idyllic world is not the most beautiful picture. Helping others is so much more beautiful because it shows your people at work comforting, loving, giving their best gifts to others. I can put a value tag, a small one on my garden, yard and home. But the price tag of aid, love, sacrifice, and help can't be reduced to a price. It is indeed priceless.

When I become too comfortable in my own little setting, I need to remember the harsh conditions some people are living under. I need to pray, to open my pocketbook (forgive me when I am stingy) and offer to others the gifts you have given me. What I will discover is that your gifts always mutiply, making them plentiful for others around me. I'm not in this world to enjoy my own surroundings, my own gifts, my own everything. I'm here to serve. Period.

Let my beautiful little world call me to a greater world of service. Let my heart always be filled with gratitude that plunges me into sacrificial giving and living. Let my soul be ever unsettled until I listen, learn and follow. Let my life be a testimony to your greatness.

Help me refrain
from becoming
too comfortable
in my little world.
Teach me
that I was
never destined
to live
in a world
according to Andrea.
That I
was never
destined
to just eat,
drink
and be merry.
God forbid
that I be selfish,
self-centered,
all consumed
by my own desires.
Teach me
again
and again
and again.
Until
I am able
to perk up,
respond "here I am"
every time
I hear
your voice.
Let my major word
become YES
every time
you ask.

Yes, Lord, Yes, Andrea