I'm tired, but...

I knew this was going to be a busy end of summer. Work is ramping up, I'm taking two graduate courses, helping our church launch a new location as well as help with the online services, and then there are family "things" going on. I admit it, I'm tired. Not like the kind where you can lay down for 30 minutes and then bounce back. I mean the kind where it doesn't go away. The bad news is that around this stage I can become a crybaby (ask my wife).

Last night as I was flipping the channels I ran into David Barton who was talking about the founding of this country. He quoted a parable of Jesus:

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "

(Luke 17:5-10)

I'm not a theologian, but I find this very interesting. If you work hard you'd love for your boss to say, "Hey let's get something to eat and take it easy." What happens if you've put in more than a full day's worth of work and your boss says "And when you're done come on over because I've got a few more things to do."

sigh

Another translation better suited to modern English dialog called The Message has it translated this way:

"Suppose one of you has a servant who comes in from plowing the field or tending the sheep. Would you take his coat, set the table, and say, 'Sit down and eat'? Wouldn't you be more likely to say, 'Prepare dinner; change your clothes and wait table for me until I've finished my coffee; then go to the kitchen and have your supper'? Does the servant get special thanks for doing what's expected of him? It's the same with you. When you've done everything expected of you, be matter-of-fact and say, 'The work is done. What we were told to do, we did.'"

(For those of you who think The Message is not up to snuff notice I'm not using it as the sole source. Plus with other translations online you can look up any other version and let me know if you get anything different.)

In essence, Jesus is telling us to suck it up and get tough. The "guy on the TV" asked if our founding fathers put their lives on the line for comfort. They were thinking ahead to what they were driven to do and didn't give up.

So when I feel tired I do look at my list and assign priorities to see if there's anything I can put on hold. I'll ask God to increase my faith, but what I have to do is follow through. All you need is that tiny bit of faith.

I hope this helped someone today.