The Quiet People

Before I started to listen to my Pray as you go App I sat in my chair and thought about the gift of the morning already.  I had taken my 6 year old granddaughter Maggie to school again today.  This time I was with Audrey and that was the big surprise for Maggie.

We three talked in the car on the way over and as we dropped her off - in her pink coat, carrying her pink back pack - we reminded her to put on her mask.  As Audrey said to me as we drove away - "What a cutie!" and what fun to take her.  Then I remembered that when Addie, her sister, was in kindergarter Chuck drove her to school every day that year.  Sometimes I was able to help (I was working then) and often our friends, John and Ella Mae also took her.  They loved spoiling Addie and Reagan.

All of this is in prelude to the reading of today which was about Joseph - the husband of Mary.  Today is, apparantly, the "Feast of Joseph."  Joseph never speaks in the gospels but is an important figure as he responded to the angels and the dreams and married Mary and later took Mary and baby Jesus to Egypt to protect them.  He was described as one of the "quiet people" in the background.  Doing God's work of loving and protecting others in a very humble way.

It is good to reflect on the quiet people in our lives who do so much that is rarely noticed and often taken for granted.  That has been one of the blessings of being part of a church again.  It doesn't take long to see the people who are working in the kitchen, arranging for worship, doing the yardwork, working as treasurer and financial secretary.  There are so many "secret servants" in a church who are necessary and not often recognized.  And also in the work place, in the neighborhood, in our families.  Soon I will be playing pickleball with a changing group of players who are - thank God - organized by Katy.  She makes sure that we have enough to play and does the organization of having us change partners throughout the two and a half hours of play.  She is not a quiet person - but she IS a real servant to us all.

Interestingly, the devotional today was title "Don't Hope for Results."  It starts with these words:

"Not eveything we do in life is of equal value, and sometimes in the more important things, the results are unseen."

It seems to be that this journey with Christ is often about us doing the next right thing that may be helpful to others - like taking children to school, baking a meal for a loved one, mowing a lawn or even organizing pickleball.  To go back to Joseph - I am a believer that God does speak to us through dreams and angels and random thoughts and nudges.  And often the message is not a big "save the world" direction - but rather a call a friend or help out in a simple way.

The devotional ends like this:

"Do not hope for results, but rather ocncentrate on the value, the rightness of what you are doing.  Think of what you do for God in this way and you will be free from the need always to see meausrable results.  You will be more open to God's grace.  

The real hope, then, lies in our trust that God will accomplish something through us."

May it be so.