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Powered by LifeTypeI think I have found a key to living selflessly. When there's an emergency, it's easy to serve. I see the great need, and I know it's temporary. It's hard to keep serving in the ordinary, mundane, because it feels like it will never end and the needs don't always seem so great. The key, I just realized, is to remember that these ordinary things are temporary, and the needs are still great; they're just spread over a longer time.
When Barbara and Phil's house burned on Wednesday, all of a sudden the self-pity I had been feeling the previous weeks just evaporated. Helping them and getting our apartment ready for them to live in has made me even more busy than I was, and I'm not less tired at the end of the day. But my attitude is so different and it makes it so much easier!
Now if only I can keep this when life returns to the mundane. It IS temporary - Jeremiah won't be a baby forever (he's already a toddler now!) They do learn. AND, that is part of the great need. I'm their only mother. They need me greatly. They need me to help them learn and grow and discover. They need me to comfort them and rejoice with them. May I remember to rejoice in that and not resent it. And maybe someday I'll ask Jon to hold one of my hands behind my back and tap my shoulder and lean in between my face and the screen while I write a blog post, just to remember the Good Ol' Days.
You nailed it.
Check out Tim Keller's "The Art of Self-Forgetfulness"
Ah - Greg, you said that I said this, but this post was written by Heather, so I can't take credit for it, other than picking a great wife. :)
Picking a great wife is nothing to sneeze at! :)