..If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant to all. -Mark 9:35
Rushing, zipping, swerving, bumping. Airports are full of action. And everyone seems to always be in a hurry, well except maybe that person right in front of me when I have 10 minutes to make a connecting flight that is, inevitably, on the other side of the airport. Since I was not in a hurry yesterday I had time to observe. Parents were herding children, people were checking the time as they ran through the crowd of people yelling, "excuse me!", some were in heated arguments with airline workers, still others were sleeping. But one thing we all had in common was a very important personal itinerary.
Which got me thinking about this up-side-down Kingdom we belong to, one where the last is first and the first is last. A Kingdom that requires us, individually, to crawl up on the alter daily and die to self, where the phrase "not my will but yours be done" should not only be coming from our mouths daily, but was actually spoken before the greatest mystery and sacrifice history will see, ever. A sacrifice made for me. A sacrifice made for you.The spilling of the perfect Beloved One's blood in order that you and I might live. And this love sacrifice was so great that not even death could defeat it--and today our Savior lives, having experienced an excruciating and humiliating death he now bears the scars of our random. Scars of love..truest, purest love.
If love is patient and kind and not self-seeking, how am I truly loving and serving those around me. I happen to spend a lot of time in airports, (as the doodle below of my next 9 days illustrates), where it's easy to stay in my own bubble. Yesterday I felt challenged to actively look for ways to serve others, perhaps others that I will never see again, perhaps others who are seeking and need to see the love of Christ active and alive. Maybe chasing the lady down the terminal to give her the coat she dropped reminded her that there is still good in the world, maybe helping the Chinese student find the train gave him a little more confidence to keep trying English, maybe the conversation with the Tennessee fan encouraged him enough to encourage someone else who is struggling. Maybe, just maybe our little acts have greater effects that we will never know, and maybe that one little act will be the very thing that softens a heart, helping to prepare it to hear the best news of all..the Gospel.
I don't know where you are or where you've been, but let's serve those around us when it is convenient, comfortable and easy, but especially when it requires sacrifice--of us.
Lord, teach us to be servants to all.
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