"But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matt 20:25-28
“Lord, teach me what it is to be a servant. Just to do what You want,” I prayed. It had been a wonderful quiet time. God had met me in a wonderful way. His presence was sweet and when He spoke to my heart, it was about His heart. His servants heart. Oh, how I wanted to be like Him. If I was to be like Him, it was the servant’s heart I had to learn.
It was Saturday morning. And Saturday was wash day. Now that my DTI was finished and I was on its staff things had changed just a bit. It was hard work being part of the DTI staff. Not much free time. But Saturdays were at least partly mine and I had my plans all made. I got my things together and headed for the van. When we reached town I would throw my clothes into the wash and quickly run to do some other things I needed to. I threw my wash in the back of the van, my mental itinerary set in stone.
“Bron, could you do me a favor?” Terry asked breathlessly. “Could you do my wash for me. I can’t go into town today?”
“Oh, no, no. I can’t,” I thought, “I’m too busy. I’ve got to do my own laundry and I’ve got to do all these other things.” But God spoke to my heart. “Remember what you prayed just this morning. You wanted to have a servants heart. Well, here’s your first opportunity.”
“Sure, Terry. No problem,” I heard coming out of my mouth.
Terry gave me her big bag of wash and God started teaching me what it was really like to have a servant’s heart.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:20 (NASB)
Not long after, I was outside again for my quiet time, praying and looking out across the lawn, watching the ducks. They walked around and pecked at the ground happily, totally at ease. Lovely ducks having a lovely time.
Suddenly, and all together, they started walking down the hill. I watched them wondering where they were off to. They were certainly filled with purpose. I learned more than where they were going.
As those ducks went along I noticed that there were several obstacles in their way. Some they had to walk around. Some they jumped over. Some were harder to get over than others, but eventually they walked across the road.
Their destination was a pond on the other side of the road, but they weren’t quite home free yet. Their biggest obstacle was the last. On the other side of the road, was a fence. They had to work at getting under that fence. Finally they made it. Then they hurried to the pond and jumped in.
Somewhere in the middle of all this I realized that the Lord was speaking to me. He was trying to show me something - speaking a word into my heart about my life - our lives!
We were just like those ducks, walking around and doing our own thing in our own little way. Then spiritually, we start walking toward a goal. We’ve got purpose. We’re on our way. However, there all always things that get in the way. We never really noticed them before. We weren’t going anywhere.
Sometimes these are big things we have to climb over or under or around. Sometimes they’re just small things. Irritations. The problem right before the goal, however, is always the biggest. Those ducks were persistent. I needed to be persistent too because once you get over that last hurdle, you can get down into it and swim around for awhile in the pond of your success. Viewed correctly, the struggles only serve to increase the joy.
Even after all these years I remember these special times of instruction the Lord gave me, so sweetly, as I worked or prayed or sat out on the lawn and pondered the wonders of His love as revealed through the things that He made.
Bronwyn Karri