A Grand Gesture of Goodness

One day recently, I was loading my groceries into the van, and trying to think of some way that my family could help in some grand way.  I thought we could go to another country and help with something.  But, my shoulders aren't in great shape and I can't lift much, and I have no medical skills.  Then I thought maybe I could help with communication.  This thought was followed rather quickly with an inner chuckle and the acknowledgment that I only know English.  I wondered what Dan would do.

Finally, I came to the question, "Why it is that, when I am doing ordinary every day things, I often try to think of some grand thing my family can do to help somewhere else?  Why is it that I always seem to desire to make some grand gesture of goodness?"  I came to the conclusion that it is because, at such moments, my life seems ordinary in the extreme.  I am a daughter of God.  Shouldn't my life be extraordinary?  Unfortunately, I expect that I don't just want to seem extraordinary to God -- but I want to be extraordinary in a way that is recognized openly by His other children!

When I was talking to Derek about this he mentioned Naaman.  He was an important man.  The captain of the Kings guard.  He was also a leper.  A maid in his home knew that the prophet in Israel could heal him, and so Naaman went.  But the prophet didn't come out and proclaim him whole as he had expected.  He didn't come out at all, but sent a servant to tell Naaman to wash 7 times in the River Jordan.  Naaman was insulted.  He was a great man, and that wasn't even the best river!  He would not do it!  And then his servant asked him, "...if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?"  Naaman saw the truth in that question, washed in the Jordan, and went away free from his disease, and with a new found trust in the living God.  He discovered that doing something that he thought was ordinary, accomplished something extraordinary.

Like Naaman, and all of you, I am important.  I am a child of God.  I believe that I have been given some tasks to do that center on my family.  Yes, these contain a lot of ordinary things.  I go grocery shopping every week, and do laundry, and dishes, and cooking, and scrubbing.  I hug my children goodbye, and hello.  We share stories, and music, grumpy times, and good times.  And some days it all seems extremely ordinary!  But, I expect that to God, the task of taking care of, and teaching His children is not just ordinary.  It is extraordinarily important!  He loves them!  He loves me!  He wants us to come home to Him.

I may not ever be asked by God to do anything that seems extraordinary to anyone else.  I may never on my own do anything that is recognized by God's other children as being grand.  But I do believe, that in doing what I feel He has asked me to, even though it sometimes seems ordinary, I am doing something that God finds extraordinarily important.  I am taking care of His children.

*Photo of the river Jordan from www.yardenit.com