thoughts on service...

At the shop... we try to make service... and excellence... our goal...
keeping margin in our work... so we can serve those... who need it same day...
and we try... to do things well... really excellent...

But service... is something I don't always do well at home...
those I care for most... are at times... hardest to serve...

So I think on what the Word says about serving...

... through love serve one another.

Galatians 5:13 ESV

Through love... His love... we serve...

This one's tough... when we look at His definition of love...

it's patient... kind...

not envious... boastful... arrogant... rude...

it does not insist on its own way...

not irritable... resentful...

doesn't rejoice in wrong...

rejoices in truth...

it bears all things... believes all things...

hopes... and endures...

Love... it's hard to give...

when it's something I want... feel lacking in...

Of course I only feel lacking... because I'm seeking love from the wrong ones...

The ones I'm called to serve in love... my family...

are the ones I want to love me... serve me...

Yes... it's ugly... I know... but it's true...

I can't serve at home as well... because I want to be served...

As I serve at the shop... I'm learning to serve better at home...

He reveals how I fail... to lay down my life for those I love...

lay down my wants and desires... for theirs...

and how I fail so often... to be satisfied... by His love...

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Psalm 90:14 ESV

and so I can serve... freely...

For you were called to freedom, brothers.

Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,

but through love serve one another.

Galatians 5:13 ESV

Amen...