Can I Quit?

This morning was a little on the rough side. Mess after mess, meltdown after meltdown - and that included my own. By the time the milk incident happened I was ready to quit. As I got down on my knees to clean I thought, "What am I, a slave? All I do is pick up after others and clean their messes. Such a waste of my time and where's the thanks?"

About as soon as those not-so nice thoughts ran through my head, an image flashed through my mind.

                Christ
                               Bended low
                                                        With a towel 
                                                                                  Washing dirty feet.

Outrage from the disciples! Peter says "No way will you wash my feet, Lord!" And yet, Jesus insists and says, "Don't you know what I am doing? You call me teacher and Lord, for so I am. If I then, your teacher and Lord, wash your feet then you ought to do the same for one another." This dirty job for the lowest servant- Jesus stooped down willingly to do for others.

Another longer thought broke in after that. I remembered this incredible post I read from a blog called Kisses From Katie. Although her exacts words didn't come to mind, the intent of them did. Here is just a portion:

"I bend to sweep crumbs and I bend to wipe vomit and I bend to pick up little ones and wipe away tears. I bend over a big pot of stew and I bend to fold endless laundry and I bend over math books and spelling sentences and history quiz corrections. And at the end of these days I bend next to the bed and I ask only that I could bend more, bend lower.

Because I serve a Savior who came to be a servant. He lived bent low. And bent down here is where I see His face.

He lived, only to die.

Could I?

Die to self and just break open for love.

This Savior, His one purpose to spend Himself on behalf of messy us. Will I spend myself on behalf of those in front of me?" ~Katie Davis

And so, humbled by my Savior, I ask forgiveness and strength to live as He did- giving myself for those in front of me.

A few years ago a friend gave me some cds from Songs for Saplings. One of my favorite songs is on the Volume 3 cd, on Philippians 2. It is an excellent reminder to me and I love to listen to it over and over. Here is just a portion of that song: 

"Do not be selfish, don't try to impress. Don't think of yourself as better than the rest. Care about others, not only yourself. Let the mind of Christ be in you, that's best. Let the mind of Christ be in you, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to grasp. Christ humbled himself, he became a servant. Born in the likeness of men, he became a servant."

So, am I a servant, a slave? Am I here to impress everyone and do all the important things, and be in the spotlight? No, I'm here to serve, to empty myself just as Christ did. So, bring on the milk spills and the tons of laundry and piles of paper and everything and everyone else that is screaming for my attention.

God grant me this same mind of Christ!