Time to do the Dishes

We all love to sit down and enjoy a delicious meal. There is something special about partaking in a meal that not only taste exceptional, but that was prepared in a spirit of Love by someone who we know loves us. The food seems to come to life and is filling to not only our bodies, but it has the ability to touch our hearts, minds and souls. As we finish off our plates and the meal comes to a close we usually have two thoughts:

“NOW THAT was some GOOD FOOD!!!!” OR

“Are there anymore left for SECONDS?”

After one of those meals, unless I’m really focused on demonstrating Love, I don’t beeline straight to the kitchen and begin to wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen area with the same vigor in which I devoured the meal. While I’m thankful for the meal…Washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen are not tasks that I typically enjoy.

Over the years, I have found that two things have made cleaning the kitchen more enjoyable. One, when I reflect on the blessings that God has allowed in my life to even position me to purchase, prepare and partake in a meal in my own home, with family and friends, my perspective changes. In addition, I have found that when I share the cleaning tasks with another person, the two of us can work through the tasks and we can enjoy each other’s company, while we “serve the household” together.

This past week our study explored the idea of Serving Together. The keys to successfully Serving Together are:

· Being Available (ready and willing to step up to the task)

· Working as a Team (Maximize our strengths and make allowances for our weaknesses) Ecclesiastes 4:9-10: You are better off to have a friend than to be all alone, because then you will get more enjoyment out of what you earn. ¹⁰If you fall, your friend can help you up. But if you fall without having a friend nearby, you are really in trouble.

· Being Humble (seeing, placing and meeting the needs of others before your own and being someone else’s “BIGGEST FAN”) Hebrews 10:24: We should keep on encouraging each other to be thoughtful and to do helpful things.

· Performing all tasks with the same level of dedication (both the tasks that “get the glory” and the “behinds the scenes” tasks are of equal importance, so do both with equal diligence)

Vince Lombardi said, “Build for your team a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another and of strength to be derived by unity.”

We are “good” alone, but we can only be “GREAT” together. We are not served because we are Great…We serve because of our greatness. One of the main obstacles to service is pride. We think “too much” of ourselves so we begin to put certain “acts of service” beneath us. We pick and choose who is “worthy” of our service and what tasks are “worth” our precious time. God has equipped us with all that we need at this moment to serve immediately with others in some capacity. Take yourself off the pedestal, lace up your boots, clear your calendar, put on your work gloves and make yourself available to serve.

There is no greater joy than the joy that springs from experiences centered on helping others. This is because joy is a byproduct of Love. If you Love you will serve others. If you choose not to serve, and you build your world around “you”, your life will be filled with emptiness, loneliness and a lack of joy.

The world needs each and every one of us to make a difference, in our own way. We can only make a lasting difference when we choose to put “self” on the “bench” and to put “service” in the game. When we serve together and begin to trust and depend on one another the power of our united Love can spark an unstoppable Movement of Love. We were not designed to work this life alone. We were made to “Serve Together”.

SO…Now that dinner is over…how about you dry the dishes after I wash them? :-)

Be Blessed,

B