In my last post, I mentioned our neighbor’s new fence. He decided to install a fence around his property as a result, all of our land is within ONE fence! We’re slowly working on finishing it (hopefully it’ll be done in a week or two)!
Monday we went out and added some extra support to the corners. We stretched some heavy-duty wire diagonally across the corner poles and used a ratchet-like device to make it really tight. The process is similar to using ratchet straps to tie down large loads but for metal wire and on a much smaller scale.
And I got to thinking about how supported our new fence is.
The posts are buried a few feet underground in concrete. Then at each corner and every 100 feet of the straight fence the poles are braced again with a 2×4 connecting the two posts. And that’s all in addition to the tension wire we added to each corner Monday!
And it made me wonder: Where is your support coming from?
As Christians, we know that our main support, our rock, the “cement” so to speak is our relationship with Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:24-27, Psalm 18:1-2). Even though we might have a firm foundation in Christ, life is still a challenge. So, God gave us family and friends to offer us support. We are told to weep when others weep and rejoice when others rejoice (Romans 12:15).
While it’s important to know where our support comes from. It’s also important to make sure that we’re being the kind of family member or friend that someone else can rely on. That we’re supporting others like we’ve been supported.
Our preacher reminded us on Sunday where our joy really comes from. He shared an acronym that I’d like to share with you.
JOY:
Jesus first
Others second
Yourself last
In today’s self-care culture it’s all too easy to mix these up. While we do need to take care of ourselves because we can’t serve others from an empty cup. We do need to be aware of those around us and what their needs are. It’s easy to get into a trap thinking that serving God is as simple as attending Church every time the doors are open and praying before each meal.
But Jesus tells us that there’s more.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the Law and the Prophets.”
~Matthew 22:37b-40
Loving our neighbor as ourselves is a way that we show our love for God!
But loving our neighbors can be hard. Opinions are strong and often different. HOW can we love and serve our neighbor as Jesus calls us to? While I don’t know all the answers I think a lot of this boils down to something that we’ve all known since we were children and can recite by heart–The Golden Rule.
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them…” ~Matthew 7:12
Do you want respect? Show respect to others. Want to be accepted for who are and the choices you’ve made without judgment? Accept others and the choices they’ve made without judgment. Love others the way you want to be loved. Do for others what you want them to do for you. It’s not easy. But no one ever said that serving God would be easy. However, the difficulty is well worth the reward.
**Dislaimer: This has NOTHING to do with our actual neighbors who we happen to get along with very well. In this case I was referring more to neighbors in a general term. The people you run into at the grocery store, at church, or just out and about.**
Until next time,
Bailey Sue
