I guess everyone in life secretly wants people to wait on them in one form or another. Maybe you are a tired mom who wants to sit back and relax instead of cooking dinner for your family once in awhile. Or maybe you wish that your husband would spoil you with gifts, acts of service or other such indulgences. Perhaps you are jealous of the families who have cleaning ladies, personal shoppers, and lives of luxury…it is easy to get sucked into that trap especially if you are a television watcher!

I would like to remind you that the Bible says “the last shall be first and the first shall be last…” and it also speaks extensively of how Jesus himself came to serve and not to BE served. That has always been a hard concept for me to understand. How could the king of kings allow himself to be a mere servant of the people when he could have had multitudes of followers bowing at his feet and waiting on him? Wouldn’t it have been easier for Jesus to do his ministry if he had many servants assisting him with the dirty work? Maybe so…but instead he chose to get his hands messy and personally serve the ones he came to save.

Last night when we were doing our family devotionals with the children, we were looking at a passage of scripture in Mark chapter 10 where James and John ask Jesus to be seated in a place of honor beside him when they arrive in his heavenly kingdom.  They probably figured if they asked him first, that he would grant their request. The problem is that it was a bold and selfish request for which they were not worthy. Kind of like the kid who always wants the bigger piece of cake and tries to get it before his siblings notice. The other disciples became angry when they heard their request, and Jesus told James and John that if they wanted to be first, they must make themselves like servants here on earth. I’m quite sure that’s not what they expected to hear at all! They must have been taken aback that their request failed so miserably, and now they were being told to become like servants instead of like royalty as they had desired! It was a real wakeup call for them, and it should be a real wakeup call for us also.

We must not allow ourselves to become bitter when we have to do yet “one more thing…” for our children, our spouse, or even our boss at the office. We should remember that when we serve others, we are actually serving the Lord in a real and tangible way. He promises that what we do for the least of his people we are also doing for him. Isn’t it freeing and wonderful to know that our hard work is not in vain? As moms raising special needs children, we may feel that the work never ends…and in essence it doesn’t! Sometimes I fall into the chair at 10pm hoping for just a few minutes to talk with my dear husband, and we find ourselves faced with several more tasks to complete, or else we are so tired that we fall asleep talking! I use to become resentful over this, but now I am learning that we are both so tired because we are both so productive in what we do all day. We are working and raising children for the Lord, and it is not an easy task. We will never be sitting around with nothing to do at night, but that’s okay because our work pays eternal rewards!