Created...for you

I felt a subtle tugging at my pant leg and looked down from the stage...Katia peered up from her place on the floor..."Here Brandy...I made this for you." As quietly as she had come forward...she retreated. I looked down at the paper in my hands and read "God created the world...for you." Forgetting about rehearsal and the role I was playing, I instantly leaped from the stage and scooped her up in my arms.

We are preparing for our annual fundraising banquet. With kids and programs and schedules to balance...it is easy to get caught up in the practical tasks of ministry...and forget what remains at the heart of it all...relationships.

This seems to be the theme of this past week as I've realized I've allowed tasks and ministry to overshadow anything that resembled life. And even my ministry has been reduced to the next task that needs accomplished.

In staff meeting yesterday we discussed if we have allowed anything to become our golden calf...any idols we have placed in front of God. Somebody chimed in with an interesting perspective. "Sometimes I think I put the ministry in front of God himself...because I am doing his work...I don't take time just for him." Hmmmmmm.... My devotion today read "Have you ever experienced a unique time of usefulness to God, then found that in a very short time you had gotten quite far from him? Perhaps it was because you became overwhelmed with your service to God rather than with God himself."

As I look down at Katia's artwork this morning...I read the simplicity of her words..."God created the world...for you"...period. Not "for you to accomplish...for you to reach...for you to achieve" No...it ends with a period.

While I'm positive God will continue to provide opportunities to serve...sometimes we need someone to interrupt our oh-so-busy lives and remind us...God created the world...for you.