A Drop in a Bucket

I was talking with a young woman this weekend, she was sharing about her job, she worked with women who were in trouble, women abused by men, abused by drugs, women out of prison, women fighting for a better life, women looking for help.  This was her job, caring for other women, women not so blessed as herself.  One of the other listeners there said, “What a noble job choice you have made.” The young woman looked up and said "We are all part of the same job, we each share in the responsibility of caring for others, we all make a difference, at least we all can."  She told us that her work was like filling a bucket…each person in need of help has their own bucket and it is filled one drop at a time from the people they come in contact with.  All sorts of people are putting drops in, but, she added, "If we are the ones who put in those last few drops that fill that bucket we are quick to pat ourselves on the back, ‘look what I did, I've filled the bucket!’ we forget the fact that there are others that have made a contribution...contributions that made it possible for the overflow."

This fact that she was pointing out is thought provoking. 

We all have a noble calling you and me, if we would look and see the buckets that need filling, every drop is noble.

A friend of mine says we need to get away from politics, the politics of life and of this world, we need to get back to simply helping others, to feeding the poor, giving a fair wage to the everyday worker and serving others rather than trying to serve ourselves. I said to him "Jesus said ‘the poor will always be with us.' We can’t do everything, this is the way of the world, of society, the poor will always be with us."  He asked “Why?”

Yes, why indeed.  As far as it depends on us, what can we do for the poor and for those in trouble, the poor in spirit?  What can you and I do?

I like this bucket idea, if we could just add our drops to the bucket and realize that we have done our part; that we have simply done our part whether it is putting in the first few drops, pouring in a lot or whether it is putting in those last drops that cause the overflow.  This may seem a small thing to do, a drop in a bucket, but like this young woman suggested; every drop is noble. Watching for the buckets and adding drops, looking out for the overflow, hoping for the overflow, this is what we can do.

^“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? 

The King will reply 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." 

Matthew 25:35-40

                                                                                                        

Filling buckets…every drop is noble.

I love that.

November

November, this is the month that everything started happening, it is the month that everything happened, the time that everything happened all at once - in slow motion - but in the blink of an eye.

I have been a little emotional this past week, it seems my heart and my soul know what took place at this time three years ago.  And my mind has been taking me on memory tours of a time I shared with a man who grew up with me but who would not grow old with me.

Memories; sad and hard, happy times and good times, friends and family times, troubled times as well as joyous God filled times.

 

I have shared this story a life time ago but I’m telling it again because these years have been on my mind...

On August 21^st 2005 Pastor Rob provided an opportunity for each person in the congregation to spend wisely for God's Kingdom, he gave out $100.00, one hundred talents, to anyone who wanted to participate in this extravagant opportunity  Even though I took up the challenge I went home wondering, what could I do with these talents?

That Sunday we were having all of my family home for dinner, so once I got home, my children would be there, we’d have lunch and then get ready for extended family to arrive…when someone unexpected came.

Some of you know that we have lived on a farm in Sumas Prairie, beside the freeway, the highway that takes all sorts of travelers to their destinations, east and west, near and far.  From the very day that we moved into that old farmhouse God had in mind to prepare us for service…to entertain His angels.

Our neighbors had big metal gates with signs that said ‘Keep Out’ or signs that said ‘Beware of Dog’ but we preferred to keep our yard open and they came…they came to ask for help.  They came for a can of gas, for the use of our phone, for a ride, for directions, one or two asked for a place to keep warm and one asked for a knife…which I gave, with a prayer whispered just under my breath.  For some, we called the fire department and others the ambulance. They drove in the yard and walked in off the highway.  They came before the sunrise and well after dark.  They came on sunny days and cold windy nights. They waded through the rain filled ditches and trudged through the snow drifts.  Some of them came bravely up to the door and others afraid to see who would answer their knock. They never stopped coming and we never turned one away, not even the one who asked for a knife.

.

On this day, as we were preparing for lunch we were all talking about the service in church that morning and the talents, thinking, wondering, planning...when there was a knock at the door.  John went to answer it and came back saying, "there is a young fellow at the door; he wants something to eat."  He didn’t want to use the phone or get directions or ask for a ride, he simply wanted something to eat.

Our kids, all at once said, ‘give him the money!’ 

In my mind I thought, I can’t just give him the money, though my heart was pounding.  No, but I would give him something to eat.

  

John was chatting with him outside in the yard and he found out that the young man was traveling from Montreal to Victoria on foot…just one foot.

I brought a plate of food for him and I asked ‘where will you stay when you get to Victoria?’  His answer to me was this "the Good Lord will take care of me there, just as He has this whole trip…you see"  he said  "I am spreading His word along the way, I’m telling as many as I can about what God can do."  At that moment I felt the rush of God. With my heart pounding, I told him the story of what happened in my church that morning and then I gave him the talents.

He ate his lunch and chatted with John, with me and with the dogs.  By this time the rest of my family were arriving…no one saw him walk off or how he got back on the highway or which way he went, he was gone.

 ‘Always entertain strangers for by doing so, you may entertain angels without knowing” 

Hebrews 13:2

We never will know how that angel fared along Gods highway or how his talents multiplied…but we know this, that story was told many times that day…the story of what God can do multiplied.  I don’t know how many times my children or John told the story, but I know this... faith multiplied. 

That was the last angel we entertained there…what a wonderful way to end 16 years of serving strangers…with the story of an angel, 100 talents and knowing what God can do.

We moved off the farm a month or so later, October 1, just before the winds came, just before November.  

How are you Doing?

We were talking this morning in church, talking about following God, being obedient, doing what He says, doing this, doing that and what popped up was the question we often ask one another, how are you doing?

We often are more focused on what we are doing rather than who we are doing it for.  It seems we are always thinking of what we are doing and often we take it one step further and focus on what others are doing.  When we meet someone new we often ask them, what do you do? What are you doing with your time?  Sometimes we end up comparing their doing with our own doing.

There are all kinds of doing and of course we were talking this morning about doing for God, but the fact is we displace the doing for God to what are we doing, we are almost selfish in the thoughts about what we do, bragging about doing the right thing, even doing the wrong thing, putting the focus on being proud in serving Him, being obedient to Him…or not.  In our obedience, or in our disobedience, besides affecting our relationship with God we are also affecting one another.

 

Yes, really it does matter what we are doing, what we do affects others, what we do hurts others, but hopefully it blesses others. What we do matters.  A friend of mine, just the other day said to me, “I don’t have to do anything, things will happen and play out just as they should.”  But the truth is we do have to do something, and we are all influenced by what the other does, sometimes in just small seemingly uneventful ways but sometimes in large, big picture, hurtful ways.  Sometimes, and hopefully, more often these influences happen in beautiful, life changing, kind ways.  Truly, small or large, what we do matters, there are those who will be affected…affected by you, how are you doing?

I read a quote the other day; it comes from a book that has recently been made into a movie, a book called 'Cloud Atlas' by David Mitchell…

“Our lives are not our own.  We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness we birth our future.”

I have been affected by these words, how we are bound to one another, bound by what we do, crimes or kindnesses have effects that can last into the next  generation and the next, not only those that belong to you but also to the generations that belong to those you are doing to.

I want to do better…but doing better is hard work.

Paul says it well, 

“For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep doing.”  

                                                                                                            Romans 7:19

How you are doing matters…

How are you doing?