Bridgeway Christian Church

As many of you know my family snuck away for a quick little trip to San Diego. We had a ton of fun, didn't really do much, mostly just played at the beach and relaxed. We also went to a lighthouse in San Diego, I've seen several lighthouses, this one was nothing special, it is no longer a working lighthouse but a museum now. They had all sorts of facts inside of the lighthouse. They said that the lighthouse keeper would spend an average of 5 hours a day cleaning all the prisms, they had pictures of all of the changes this lighthouse went through -- it was painted several times, the siding had to be replaced several times, 2 different types of lights were installed into the lighthouse as technology changed and yet the primary focus of the lighthouse was still the same. 

And then while walking through and looking at all of this information I found a small sign that caught my attention. I can't remember the exact words but basically what it said was "To be created for only one purpose, the gift of a lighthouse, for its only job is to be a servant"

You hear about lighthouses and Christianity being tied together a lot, usually it has something to do with letting your light shine before men or how a light can't be hidden -- I think we have all heard these phrases, but this quote struck me in a whole new way. Maybe it is because we are in the year of servant hood that the quote stuck out to me, I don't know, but my mind has been spinning since then. 

The quote is completely true a lighthouse has no other purpose but to shine it's light which does mean the only thing a it is created for is to serve. Do we look at our lives the same way? Jesus while on the earth said, "I come to serve and not to be served" Since He is our greatest example of how to live our lives shouldn't our heart be to serve too? Of course the answer is yes but how often do we live each moment of each day trying to serve. 

Right before Ben and I were married this sweet old woman from my church gave me some advice that has stuck with me to this day. She was married at 16 to the love of her life, he served in World War 2, they had 6 kids, and a lot of grandkids. I always loved watching them because they still looked at each other like they were so in love even after 50+ years of marriage. What she told me was that if Ben and I spent every day of our marriage trying to out serve each other that we would always be happy. 

And she is so right you see when you are focusing on serving someone else, looking to see how you can make your husband or your children's day better, suddenly chores like making dinner, doing laundry, cleaning the house don't seem like chores, working to provide for your family isn't work, and serving each other is a joy. 

So I leave you with this - each moment of our day from sun up till sun down isn't about you. Each breath you take is the Lord's and it is His day to use you to be His Servant, so are you going to waist your day on yourself or do what you are created to do?

In Him
Jenny