At the Well - There IS Something You Can Do

Today's topic At the Well is about serving. The questions center around ways God has led you to serve someone which was not quite expected.

What can you do today to serve someone else without spending a dime?

How have you benefited or been blessed by God after serving someone else?

We are all familiar with the truth - "It is better to give than to receive." We try to teach this to our children when they are young and we remind ourselves of this often. Giving of ourselves and serving others is truly the right thing to do.

Through some recent Sunday School lessons, I have been reminded of the important role grace plays in the life of a Christian. Grace is not a concept or a doctrine or an event. It is a continual reality to be experienced and shared. It should be a way of life. Grace recognizes the full ugliness of sin, yet it offers undeserved pardon and blessing. Here are a few examples of how we can live out grace:

• Grace is a gift of kindness to someone who does not deserve it.
• Grace seeks to help people reach their potential. Grace does not condemn those who have not yet arrived.
• Grace focuses on the solutions, not the problems.
• Grace is the lubricant that eases friction in any relationship.
• Grace expects the best, but offers the freedom to fail.
• Grace celebrates success and does not keep score of wrongs.

Finally, grace leads to action. Grace can be viewed as a fountain flowing from our hearts into the lives of those around us. If we look through "grace filled eyes", we will see needs of others and will be ready to move to meet those needs.

As we go through our day, perhaps we will see the struggling mother in the grocery store who is hollering at her children. It is easy to judge her actions, but honestly, how many of us have been in her shoes? Trying to shop, worried about food costs, juggling children who are asking for everything imaginable, who are reaching for items on the shelf, seeking independence from the confines of the buggy...many of us have been there and know how easy it is to snap an unkind word of irritation to the kids. Grace is what gives that mom a smile or a kind word or even say a quick prayer for her.

There are a million ways to serve up grace to those around us. Putting the needs of others before our wants is a great beginning. Training ourselves to be alert to ways to be a blessing will yield an abundance of opportunities to show God's love and that in turn will be a blessing to us. It is the little things that make a big difference. The prayer for others, the smile, kind word, card sent to let someone know they are in our thoughts, the phone call or visit are all ways to freely give to others. Practice being gracious in every situation. And always remember - we are blessed to be a blessing!