May 16, 2010

  • A Sweet Aroma

    It seems like the start of summer as the day begins...mine started peacefully, but for others there was the stress of a seemingly endless day....many meals to be made and mouths to be fed and limited labor due to sudden sickness.   

    We are a family, not by blood, but by His blood and He has given us an opportunity to lighten the load and we embrace the opportunity to labour in love for Him and for each other. To serve as He has served us.

    We wash dishes, silverware and trays, washing away the smudges and stains of the food that has sustained the hungry.  The dishes now clean will be used again, a new opportunity to serve.  And we who have been washed clean, can be used again, will be given the opportunity and called to serve.

    Beans are sorted, tomatoes chopped,  cucumbers cut up, onions sliced and stir-fried til soft and tender, popcorn popped, food prepared for lunch, for the coming Sabbath and farewells to those who are leaving.  

    I work in silence, pondering, praying, looking for lessons to learn, listening.

    Swift strokes of my knife blade cut deep into the smooth red flesh of the tomatoes which are ripe and ready to be crushed and broken that others may be filled and live. With each stroke of the knife,  tiny little seeds, spilled out, dispersed, set free by the brokenness.  A sweet aroma rising as a result of the crushing. 

    And what of our times of our brokenness and crushing....are we willing to be emptied of self  and poured out that others might live?  What seeds are sown in the hearts of those whose lives we touch?  Does the sweet aroma of faith in a faithful Father reach the fainting, faithless and fatherless?

    Father wash me clean, give me a servants heart.  In my times of brokenness and crushing keep me faithful, that seeds of faith might be sown wherever I go and that the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ might be shared with those who are seeking.

    For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 2 Cor 2:15