Inclusive

So many people, preparing for events, pray that they can "put aside", "forget", or "ignore" the worries of their day in order to server. We pray it, but is that even the right attitude? If we don't have faith to put our own worries in God, who are we to be attempting to serve others? Are we really so small that we can't live with our own lives and still serve? Should we ask to forget, when forgetting prevents learning?

I refuse to be such a short-sighted person who would ask for my own trials to be taken away in order to help others through theirs. Without weathering life myself, I cannot be a guide or comforter in good conscience. I would rather face the worries and issues my day has stacked up, and say, "Despite all this, I have faith in Your strength!"

How do we deal with our issues then? We can sort them through with God, praying and reading and listening. When we do, we often grasp a deeper understanding of our nature and God's character. We can also ask for strength and healing, and from this we can grow incredibly in strength and faith.

So it is 5.30 and I'm on the bus home exhausted from a long day of work. I know I'll be going straight to Youth to help set up, and I'm so tired I don't know if it'll happen. Do I ask God to take away the worries and stresses of the day? Instead, I ask for a spiritual and emotional healing, so that I can keep on giving. I choose to live my life through grace, rather than asking for the easy way out. Maybe if less people took that easy way out, the church would look very different...