The Little and Big of Serving

by | Oct 25, 2024 | conclusions

MY THOUGHTS

SERVE OTHERS –  (Day 6 of 6)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)

What did you learn this week?

Who you love, I’ll love. How You serve, I’ll serve. Christ Tomlin, I Will Follow

I renewed a love of small ways to serve others. Small helps are easier to give and receive. They’re also far more impactful than we often give them credit.

I have a good friend who bakes cookies. Little bags of cookies make it to my purse on occasion, and that small gift means so much to me. She routinely uses her time to serve her family and friends in sweet ways.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

I also spent some time thinking about the heart attitude of service and what larger acts of service could mean.

Our extended family recently took in a teen and will likely end up with another. I’d appreciate your prayers as we navigate this new responsibility.

What did you learn about service this week? Were you able to serve your spouse with genuine care?

I have been terrible about taking pictures lately, so I started looking through old files. I ran across this one of Paul.

PAUL IN A GRANDPA T-SHIRT

He’s heading out for a men’s retreat today. Pray for him. Pray for me. (I have to make my own coffee while he’s gone and he is a far better barista than I am.)

 

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Image credits – chocolate chip cookies © dmarr515 / Pixabay, Paul in a grandpa t-shirt © Lori / Doing Marriage Well
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Serve Anyway

by | Oct 24, 2024 | second try

SECOND TRY

SERVE OTHERS –  (Day 5 of 6)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)

Let’s take a minute and consider our spouses.

Who you love, I’ll love. How You serve, I’ll serve. Christ Tomlin, I Will Follow

Back in the day, when Paul and I were struggling in our marriage, God told Paul to massage my back whenever he got angry at me.

HUSBAND MASSAGING WIFE

I got a lot of massages. 🙂

I share this to remind us all that serving others isn’t so much about what they’re doing or not doing for us. And sometimes God asks us to serve when serving is difficult. It’s hard to serve your spouse when they’re not living up to your expectations. It’s difficult to give when you’re feeling mistreated or unheard.

Serve anyway. In doing so, you open the door to blessing and health. (If your spouse is particularly troubling, please do seek help.)

How can you serve your spouse today (even if you’re angry at them)?

It’s hot drink weather where I live. What’s your favorite?

AUTUMN SCENE

I’m a coffee lover (with eggnog as creamer) and I just started enjoying Acai, Blueberry and Pomegranate Green Tea.

 

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Image credits – husband massaging wife © Alessandro Biascioli / Adobe Stock, autumn scene © Melk Hagelslag / Pixabay
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Choose to Serve

by | Oct 23, 2024 | road blocks

WHAT'S STOPPING YOU?

SERVE OTHERS  (Day 4 of 6)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)

What keeps us from developing a servant’s heart and being available to others?

Who you love, I’ll love. How You serve, I’ll serve. Christ Tomlin, I Will Follow

A couple of years back, I had surgery and I got used to people serving me for several weeks. It was being out of the habit and getting a little lazy that stalled me out. I had to choose to step back into servant mode.

I’ve also known a few folks who felt they needed permission to serve.

PERMISSION STAMP

Well, this is your permission. Get out there and serve. If you want to serve on someone else’s turf, ask how you can help.

A more serious issue, is where people are disdained, rather than served, because folks don’t like them or don’t feel they deserved care. That’s a hard one, because in that moment we have become judge over others. Yes, we need discernment, but we are called to be kind to those we love and those we don’t. Jesus reached out to some of the unloveliest of people and He died for us when we were covered in the muck of sin. If we’re going to love like Him and serve the way He served, we’re going to have to step out into our broken world and serve broken people.

Where do you struggle? Where are you scared or shy about serving?

We are finishing out our garden fence and Tilly’s at it again.

TILLY ON A POLE

She’s queen of the garden.

 

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.
Image credits – permission stamp © outchill / Adobe Stock, Tilly on a pole © Lori / Doing Marriage Well
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Large and Small

by | Oct 22, 2024 | first try

 GIVE IT A TRY

SERVE OTHERS  (Day 3 of 6)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)

Yesterday, I wrote about God nudging me to be willing to serve largely and sacrificially.

I spoke down a bit about “picking up milk for someone while at the store,” as though small service is not as important as the big stuff. Totally didn’t mean to dis small service. Those little acts can do great good and show sincere love.

If you cannot feed a hundred people, feed one.  Mother Teresa

My point was, if that’s all I do, I’m missing the heart of service. Sometimes God calls us to great sacrifice as well as service in the small things.

PEOPLE SERVING

Let’s spend the day looking for opportunities to serve others, starting with our spouse. Small sacrifices are good and opportunities are usually plentiful. Learn from them and continue to practice being of service to others.

What needs are you aware of now that you could help with? If you don’t see anything, ask around.

Every Sunday evening, we feed our grandsons dinner and keep them for a couple of hours.

DRAGON FRUIT

We try to expose them to new things and generally have a bit of fun. This is dragon fruit. I’ve never had it before, so it was new to me too!

 

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Image credits – people serving © alisaaa / Adobe Stock, dragon fruit © Lori / Doing Marriage Well
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Serve His Way

by | Oct 21, 2024 | self-examination

SELF-EXAMINATION

SERVE OTHERS  (Day 2 of 6)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)

So I was sitting in church yesterday and the worship team lead us in the song I Will Follow. Here are a couple of lines from the song.

Who you love, I’ll love. How You serve, I’ll serve. Christ Tomlin, I Will Follow

I spent the rest of worship just bowled over. Do I love everyone He loves? Do I serve the way He serves?

Now, I know He doesn’t expect me to go to a literal Roman cross for others, but does He want me to go to a metaphorical cross? Have I set down my life in service? Am I willing to sacrifice my time and energy for others? Or do I just do the comfortable, easy kind of service. Yeah, I’ll pick up some milk for you while I’m at the store.

WORD SERVE

I’ve served in a lot of ways in my life, but this bit of lyrics has wrecked my heart. It reflects a higher heart standard.

I’m going to be singing I Will Follow all week.

Where are you in your journey of learning to serve? Where has it been easy? More difficult? Are you able to joyously serve your spouse? Others?

I mentioned that I went thrifting with a friend. I picked up several ceramic serving dishes (unintentional pun).

SERVING DISHES

I’m looking forward to the holidays and sharing lots of goodies. (This is a gentle reminder that the holidays are coming, and it’s helpful to plan ahead. Decide ahead of time what you will and won’t do. Be sure to have that conversation with your spouse so you can be on the same page.)

 

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Image credits – word serve © thinglass / Adobe Stock, serving dishes © Lori / Doing Marriage Well
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Serve Others

by | Oct 20, 2024 | concept

CONCEPT FOR THE WEEK

SERVE OTHERS (Day 1 of 6)

There’s a lot of “one-anothering” going on in the New Testament. Love one another, honor one another, forgive one another, and so forth.

I thought we could spend a week on this one.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Galatians 5:13 ESV

Serve one another.

SERVE SIGN

Let’s take the day and take to God about serving others.

What does He intend for us to do? What could that look like in the church, in our homes and marriages, out in the world? Who models service well? In scripture? In real life?

More fall color.

MAPLE TREE

This is our lone maple tree. I’m hoping to plant a few more in spring.

 

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.
Image credits – serve sign © Chris Titze Imaging / Adobe Stock, maple tree © Lori / Doing Marriage Well
We’re Donation Supported