Recently, when talking to my mother, she expressed to me that she often feels discouraged at the end of the day when, despite her best efforts, she feels like she accomplished little of what she set out to do that day. Those were not her exact words but that is what I got out of the conversation.
Knowing my mother and what she does in a day I had to say something. You see my mother is the hardest working woman I have ever known. It appears to me that she is always serving in one way or another. My sisters and I often say that our mother works circles around us. She reminds me of the “energizer bunny” that just keeps going.
So I then invited her to take a look at Matthew 9 with me. I have as my heading for this chapter “A Day In The Life of Jesus”. This chapter will walk us through one day in Christ’s life and all the unplanned events that happened in that day. At the end I will explain how this relates to my mother and often times to us all.
Verse 2 of Matthew is explained in more detail in Mark 2 where we learn that Jesus was preaching in a house that was so full there was no room left. I don’t know what He was teaching or how far He got with a His lesson but all of the sudden a hole in the roof was developing and a man was being lowered down. Jesus heals the man. At the side of this verse I have written “Unplanned healing”.
Then in verse 9 while passing by He sees a man named Matthew and says to him, “Follow me”. Next to that verse I have “Unplanned missionary work”.
Then in verse 10 He sits down to eat and “publicans and sinners came and sat down with him”. In the margins I wrote, “Unplanned friendship”
In verse 14 John asks Him a question about fasting. He then takes the time to answer him. I wrote, “Unplanned teaching”.
While He is teaching (verse18) a man named Jairus comes to Him begging Him to come and heal His dying daughter. I wrote, “Unplanned compassion”.
On His way to heal the daughter (verse 20) a woman with an issue of blood reaches out to touch His clothes and He stops to talk with her and heal her. I wrote, “Unplanned compassion and healing”
At this point I invite you all to finish the chapter and see all the “Unplanned” events that occurred in a day in the life of Jesus Christ. Opportunities to serve, teach, heal and bless that He did not plan on.
Let’s head back to my conversation with my mother. After going through this chapter with her I told her that I knew all the children, grandchildren and family members that she blesses and serves every day. Yes, she may not have gotten her list finished but like the Savior who was constantly interrupted with opportunities to serve, she gives her life every day in service to others.
We all have days like this where at the end of the day the bathrooms didn’t get cleaned because we spent the afternoon at our kids soccer game or we didn’t get our errands finished because we took cookies to a friend in need. Instead of getting down on ourselves for our unfinished list we should remember Jesus and how that’s what His day looked like every day. Not a day went by that people didn’t come and beg for His help or ask Him questions or need Him in some way. He would stop whatever He was doing and He would focus on those in need. So as we have spontaneous opportunities to serve, teach, and bless others, let’s rejoice in the chance to follow in the footsteps of our Savior.
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