Warning: Admission of guilt and soul-bearing ahead!
This post is kind of a rant that I should be ashamed of, but it really irks me, so I’ll just get it all out and ask for forgiveness in the last paragraph.
At my church, we have a ministry similar to a “Meals on Wheels” sort of deal, where people can ask to have meals delivered to them in times of crisis, such as illness, a death in the family, etc. There is a squadron of willing ladies that are ready to cook up some delicious Christian fellowship at the drop of a hat.
I am one of them. Being that I am somewhat chained to my house all week running a home daycare, I thought this would be the perfect ministry for me. And it has been. I can still serve others in spite of my restrictive working atmosphere. I have even incorporated the cooking portion into my daycare activities and the children get to learn how to help others as we cook together.
On one particular busy Wednesday, I received a call to provide a meal for one of our fellow church families. The wife had just come home from the hospital after giving birth to twins, with two other preschool kids at home.
I called their number to make delivery arrangements and spoke to the husband who had taken the week off to help with the adjustment of two new babies. I then proceeded to prepare a meal for them during naptime at my daycare. After all the children were picked up, I packed the meal and proceeded to follow the directions to their home. Here’s where it gets fuzzy.
Now, my house is a nice middle-class abode. We can afford to throw a few chicken breasts around to our congregation now and then. But after a day of caring for eight kids from 3 months to 5 years old, I was a little tired. Imagine my surprise when my driving directions brought me to a gated community of “McMansions!”
These are the times that try Christian’s souls. I took some deep breaths and rang the bell. I was escorted into their “magazine layout-ready” chateau to see two sweet newborns fast asleep and the rest of the family waiting around for me to bring them sustenance. There was not a thing out of place anywhere. I mused about the cleanup waiting for me at home after my long daycare day. Yep…
Was it un-Christian of me to think that this was taking advantage of a church ministry? This family could have made a phone call to any of the one hundred restaurants in our town and ordered a wonderful take-out meal (which I am sure would have been a few pegs up from my standard “chicken sautéed in olive oil” fare.) Was this really an emergency that needed the aid of the body of Christ? I can’t even drive by their neighborhood without mouthing off again about my sheer amazement of their unmitigated gall. Just ask my husband! I’m sad to admit that I even “went on strike” for a while from the meal ministry.
BULLETIN: This screed has been temporarily interrupted to feed afternoon snacks to my DCK’s (daycare kids.)
I’m back (‘cuz it’s naptime.) Trying to tie this whole blogpost up neatly into a Christ-centered package is harder than I thought! Surely these angry feelings are not in keeping with living a life abiding in Christ like I should be. Or, could it be that God arranged this event for my benefit?
So what to do? Methinks that I shall spend today’s naptime searching the Good Book for an answer to my dilemma. I’m sure that Jesus had something to say about ministry recipients gone wrong. My part in this little drama is another thing. This troubled me so much that I grabbed my tiny Gideon Pocket Bible to check for verses in the “Where to Find Help When:” section! Let’s see, Anxious, Afraid, no, not those. How about Backsliding? Nope. Bitter or Critical? Ouch, that fits me to a “T”!
Good, only one verse listed to look up. Uh, oh. 1 Corinthians 13, the Love chapter. I can feel the guilt rising up my neck like a hot flash, but here goes:
1 Corinthians 1:1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
1 Corinthians 1:4-5 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
1 Corinthians 1:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. NIV
I have only put some of the verses up that apply because I’m feeling about two inches tall right now. I guess the second half of the title above refers to me. It is not my place to decide who is worthy of my giving. There should not be a litmus test for serving a fellow brother and sister in Christ. I thank God that He doesn’t have my high standards when it comes to deciding who is worthy and deserving of HIS love. Thanks, Lord. I ask for your forgiveness.
So that’s that. Gotta go, my chicken is ready and I’m off to the next town to deliver another meal to a church family in need!
Bon appétit…
*Image of chicken breast fillet
*SCHLEMIEL Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster