The heart of a servant

In the Christian world there are many instances when pastors talk about having a servant's heart. Some times they are simply trying to recruit new volunteers but that is such a small part of it. To me, having the heart of a servant is doing things for others without wanting or expecting anything in return.

One of my favorite stories from early in our marriage is one in which I was in the tiny bathroom of our tiny apartment and saw that there was no toilet paper on the roll. I called out to Michael who came in to look in the (rather) large closet where we stored such things. After looking through every shelf and basket, he turned to tell me that there was none.

It was in that moment that I realized that toilet paper didn't just appear in the closet.

You see, I lived with my parents until I got married and moved into an apartment with Michael and growing up, every single time I went to the closet to get toilet paper, it was always there. It's funny now just how naive I was about such things but it demonstrates in a very real way how much of a servant's heart my mama has. She did thousands of things for me and my dad. Every single time she washed our clothes, or cooked our meals, or vacuumed our floors she showed how she loved us. The flip side of that was all the times my daddy carried things, in the hot of summer or in the cold of winter, out to the front of his store and didn't sell anything or was told that it could be purchased cheaper at Walmart. And all the other things that he did for us besides just earning a living.

I really do think that I always knew what good parents I have but it hasn't been until I grew up some and became a parent myself that I learned just how good.

I still suffer a bit from not knowing my place in the world without a paycheck coming in. But I hope that I have a servant's heart. I hope that every time I take out the trash or wipe up spilled milk or change a dirty diaper that somehow my kids know that I love them.