Unto the Least of These

This week, I was at a Bible study at our local detention center. While I always enjoy the time spent discussing God's Word, to be honest I was wondering why we even bother. It is hard to point to any kind of lasting result from the Bible study. Though we have the promise that God's Word will not return void, so many of the ladies seem trapped in an endless cycle of addiction and incarceration.

But then I came home, and there too is an endless cycle - this time of laundry, diapers, and dirty dishes. Am I the only one who shuffles through a day only to realize that tomorrow promises only more of the same!

Thankfully my morbid thoughts were arrested by the words from Matthew 25:40.

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

When I reread the passage today I was struck by the fact that it came as a surprise to the righteous. They were not feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, and clothing the poor for honor. Apparently they never expected anyone to notice. It wasn't pride that caused them to do good works, but a genuine outpouring of the fruit of the Spirit in their life.

And I wonder, is that why I become weary. Am I, in some way, grasping for some "Good Mom" or "Best Homemaker" award? Or am I allowing God's love to flow through me to the ones around me.

With Valentines Day approaching, take a minute to contemplate the miracle of God's love in giving us His Son. Accept His gift of love to you so that you can have the love that can hug a child, visit and elderly neighbor, forgive an enemy and encourage the hopeless.

May your Home and Heart filled with God's Love.
Gina