A few years ago, on a Monday morning, I woke up early to spend quiet time with God. Remembering the events of Sunday and the spirit of enthusiasm blowing through our growing church, I was feeling good about myself – maybe a little too good. I was getting cocky.
Lord, here I am; use me! Use me to be just the leader our church needs. Help me become an example of Godly commitment and love for our community. Let me serve you in some special way today! I am so eager to serve you that I cannot wait to see what will happen next!
What great service would I accomplish today? Write a stimulating devotion that would inspire thousands of lost souls? Maybe I could teach the Bible to a spiritually hungry group of disciples?
A look at my schedule would reveal my first task for God. Surely there would be a special job befitting the role of spiritual leader. First appointment: “Take the dog to be clipped and dipped.”
“There must be some mistake, God. This is no job for an ordained minister! Where are the crowds? Where is my ministry?””
But Jesus said to someone else who was getting cocky: “For everyone who tries to honor himself will be humbled; and he who humbles himself will be honored.” (Luke 14:11)
So, I took my dog to be clipped and dipped.
On the way back, my thoughts returned to the morning prayer. “The day is young. I can still do something special to serve God.”
However, when I returned, my wife and my daughter were on their knees in the back yard. They were watching over a baby bird fallen from the nest. They both looked at me with relief in their eyes and immediately asked: “What can we do?”
“Nothing!” I too quickly replied. “If you do anything, the mother will abandon it.”
For me, that settled the matter, but as we sat around the table eating lunch, there was a distinct sound: tweet, tweet, tweet just outside our window. Did I mention that it was raining?
My wife said: “Larry, you cannot leave that helpless baby bird out in the pouring rain with no food.”
I wanted to ask about other wild animals caught in the rain but seeing the hurt look on their faces I did what any spiritual leader would have done. We spent the rest of the afternoon putting the bird in a comfortable box and digging in the pouring rain for worms the little fellow refused to eat.
When I called to ask for help: The SPCA recommended I call the local veterinarian who gave me the phone number of the state wildlife service. In other words, I was going to get no outside help. The bird was now my responsibility: Tweet, tweet, tweet for me!
At the end of the day, frustrated and confused, I cried out to God. “I was supposed to serve You, not spend the day, clipping and dipping and listening to the tweet, tweet, tweet of a little bird!”
The words of Jesus struck me: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of God.” (Matt 10:29) I remembered an earlier prayer.
Lord, here I am; use me! Use me to be just the leader our church needs. Help me become an example of Godly commitment and love for our community. Let me serve you in some special way today! I am so eager to serve you that I cannot wait to see what will happen next!
This was a necessary experience for me. Sometimes, serving God means being willing to accomplish little chores as if they were big events.
Tomorrow, I will be more humble and say: “God use me any way You can!”
Now, will someone tell me how to make this bird eat?
