The Law

I like to get here early. I have always been like that. I just don't ever really like to feel rushed. I’d much rather be relaxed. Sometimes, when I arrive early, I like to just walk the halls. I feel like God puts things on my heart when I am walking those halls. I feel like He teaches me how to be more aware of people. After all, it’s a lot of people to look after. And if God gave it to me to do, I want to do it well. His way...not my own.

Probably the single greatest thing that has changed my walk with Him is praying for eyes to see the world like He does. Sometimes the enemy intervenes and I see things through the old self-centered lens. But I can tell a difference when the Holy Spirit really has control in my heart and soul. I can’t explain it so well, but I know it changes things like no other. So I walk the halls and I ask for more ability to see, hear, and think as He does. Mostly because it’s all His. All the children. All the adults. All the people are His. And I’ve been tasked with watching over His for here, for now. 

This morning I walk on the last day before Fall Break. A thousand things on my mind. I have only been here a little over a year, but I am reminded of all the ways people have been suffering in that short time. We have seen it all in a year that seems like a decade for some, I’m sure. A house lost to a fire. Two mothers who lost a child. A wife who lost her husband. Soon to be mothers who lost their babies. A few who lost parents. A few more about to. Several still trying to recover from past life tragedies. And that doesn’t even include the normal daily walk of life difficulties that we face with our health, the health of our loved ones, the development of our children, the stress of life, and the challenge of relationships. Life is hard. Life is good. But life is hard. 

Our staff is a fairly small group. A little over  one hundred. But all those challenges are the challenges we face...as people. No matter what we choose each day. The minute we get out of bed, before we even come to work, this is what we are dealing with. And I say, “We,” because I believe God wants us to do it together. I believe that was what He meant when He said, “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Jesus.” In other words, for me to see the world the way He sees it, is for me to see each person’s burdens and walk with them through it. 

We have a job to do every day. A job that requires loving, protecting, teaching, and embracing over nine hundred of His greatest possessions. And we love what we do. But for us to do it at a high level, for us to give our best and give it from our soul...we have to love, protect, teach, and embrace each other too. We have to bear each other’s burdens. Because that is the way Jesus would see it and hear it...it’s the way He would live it. 

I don’t know what circle you live in. I don’t know if it’s big or small. I don’t know where you see yourself in that circle and those relationships. But I do know that no matter where you are, God called you to be where you are. And in keeping with that, if the Creator of the universe called you then I would say there isn’t a better person to be there. And what I want you to take from this today, is that He called you to minister to the people around you. They need you. You need them. We all need each other. 

So...in the moments where it’s hard to see clearly...you’ve been called for the person next door, down the hall, across the way. You’ve been called to minister to the woman suffering from the miscarriage, the dad who lost his son to a tragedy, the brother who lost his best friend way too early, and even the weary, disheartened woman trying to get over shoulder surgery. Maybe you bearing their burdens will help them bear someone else’s. Maybe you can live out your calling and, in turn, they will help someone else live out theirs. 

Here’s my point. You have been called. You have been chosen. No matter who you are, there are people around you that need you. Carry one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Jesus (Galatians 6:2).