URC Daily Devotion 28th December 2018

Anna was one such woman.   She, before Elizabeth or Mary were born, gave her life to serving God.  She had married, yes, but she was widowed at a young age. Instead of remarrying, as was common practice, she dedicated herself to serving God.  She lived many years in the Temple, praying, waiting, and hoping for a sign from God. One day she saw that sign in the face of a child.

Many of us have spent our lives serving God.  We have catered meals, prayed, led worship, mowed lawns, painted rooms, moved chairs, washed dishes, visited the sick and imprisoned.  No job has been too big or too small as we have cared for the community gathered in our churches. We do all this because we want to serve God, the one who loves us.  

Yet sometimes we may struggle with all we are called to do—especially, as we, like, Anna, age.  We may even wonder what it is all for—who will come behind us? When we are gone, who will serve God?  We pray, we wait, we hope. And then one day, like Anna, we catch a glimpse of the future, a glimpse of hope, in the face of a child running around the church, in the smile of a stranger who receives a cup of tea at the coffee morning, in the tears of a young mum relieved at being heard, in the lonely man who shares a joke.  And we know why we keep doing it—love. Love for the stranger; love for the friend. Love for the young, the old, the in-between. God’s love calls us and God’s love keeps us serving.