Wednesday, January 9, 2013

What if I did what I could?

I am a sucker for a good fictional story...I really am! I have ALWAYS loved to read and most definitely  fiction is my favorite. I can just get completely and totally lost in a good book. In fact, one of the funniest stories regarding my reading obsession was as a young teen I prayed for the characters in my book at our family breakfast table...Yep! True story.

Yet, as much as I love to read it is often hard for me to get into a book that isn't fiction that doesn't tell a story...however, the book "She did what she could" by Elisa Morgan has reached out and grabbed me. It's a short little book - just over 100 pages. I was given it for Christmas by my sister.

The background of the book is the story of Mary in Mark 14:3-9. Having been a Christian for over 30 years and having grown up in a Christian family, for the most part I think I have heard or read almost all the stories in the Bible. However, this particular story was one that if I have read it I certainly didn't remember it. The scene is Jesus and many of His followers reclining a dinner table. As was custom, women were in the background and not necessarily a part of the meal. Yet, Mary knows and realizes who Jesus is. She quietly and yet with determination goes to him, breaks open a jar of nard and pours it over His head. Those at the table are indignant! How could she waste such expensive oil? Yet Jesus says these words that are SO captivating...

  "Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. She did what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be remembered and discussed."

Without going into the entire premise for the book, you can read it for yourself, let me just highlight what the Lord has shown me through this passage:

1.) "Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me?" - Confession time...I often find myself "criticizing" other believers and what or how they give. I can even say - why wouldn't they save that for people who need it - why did they donate it to this particular ministry and not that one. Yet, God alone knows their heart and it is HIS to receive as He wishes.

2.) "She did what she could..." - oh this resonated for me. I am NOT the picture of a minister's wife. I don't play the piano or sing, I don't like to cook, I am horrible at sending cute little cards to those who miss Sunday School, I am not creative in doing a bulletin boards, I don't know cutesy little crafts that kids can do, I don't sew costumes for the children's programs, I am not quiet and behind the scenes, I do speak my mind and later regret it...etc. So, when God revealed to me that I would be a minister's wife for life...that was hard to swallow. I was a lot like Moses - a long list of what I COULDN'T do. Somehow, in all His grace and mercy God reached down and sort of said "Are you done telling me what you can't do? I am ready to show you what you can do!" As I read this book, I was reminded that instead of focusing on what I can't do - God wants me to do what I CAN do! I can listen, I can organize, I can type, I can teach a Bible Study, I can go help a new mom with household chores, I can babysit so that same mom can have time to herself, I can encourage...He only asks for me to do what I can do in that moment at that point in time.

3.) "wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world this woman's deed will be remembered and discussed." Notice that her deed was a small one - she only anointed him with oil and yet her deed is still remembered. A small, little deed. Something that she probably thought insignificant and unimportant but she felt led to do - remembered for all time. I don't want to be remembered for the amount of my tithe, I don't want to be remembered for the wife that I am, I don't want to be remembered for the hours I donated...when people discuss my life - I pray that they will say "She did what she could, with what she had, in the time she was given." Nothing more, nothing less.

As I look at this book - my prayer is that I will chose every moment of every day to do what I can for the the Kingdom of God. May I no longer focus on the things I can't do but instead choose to do what I can in that moment.

3 comments:

Becky Dietz said...

Can I borrow your book? ;)

Ronnie said...

Yes you can!

Anonymous said...

AD Chronicles by Bodie & Brock Thoene may be of interest to you.