Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’-Mt 25:34-40
This has always been a passage that touched me. It has called me to go out and serve. To volunteer at a soup kitchen, to visit the nursing home, to tutor struggling kids. To go out and serve. These are things that I enjoyed doing. The people I served brought me joy and I felt as if I was doing God's work.
But this service was not something that I did every day. It was scheduled. I served when it fit best into my schedule and when it worked with theirs. When it was on the calendar, then I served and when I was done I went home and continued with my life.
All this has now changed. As I sit here nursing my new baby I realize that he is a child of God. He is "one of these" that Jesus was speaking about. The last few weeks of my life have been completely filled with feeding, clothing and caring for this little baby. This is service. I am learning that there are times when I am not called to go out and serve but I am called to stay in and serve. Right now I am called to serve the Lord by caring for my little baby. This is not something that I have to fit into my schedule this is my life. Over the past few weeks my life has changed dramatically. The way that I serve the Lord has changed dramatically as well.
