My 87-year-old mother lives with me, and I have to give her credit today for this devotional. She was doing her own Bible study yesterday morning and shared with me that it was based on the above verse from the Psalms and how that verse was taking her back in her memory to various points in her life. Because her mother died when she was eight and her father was unable to care for her, she was sent to live with her grandparents. At the time—and for many years thereafter—she thought she was one of the most misfortunate people on the face of the earth. All she could think of was all she had lost and how she didn’t have a “real family” like most of her friends did.

            Now, however, looking back over the nearly eight decades since her mother died, she sees the faithfulness of God and His blessings and care throughout all those years. She said she realizes now that she had so much to be thankful for, but she often missed it because she was too busy counting and mourning her losses.

            Isn’t that just like us? Don’t we all often do the same thing? Instead of focusing on the many blessings God has given us, we bemoan the things we have lost or missed in life. And yet, doesn’t the Word of God say that “the [boundary] lines have fallen” to us in “pleasant places” and that we have a “good inheritance”? Despite the realities of heartache and hardship, trials and tribulations, God calls us “joint heirs” with Christ. Can there be any greater inheritance, any more joyful reason to be grateful?

            Whatever we are facing today, may we open our eyes (and hearts!) to the “pleasant places” and “good inheritance” God has bestowed upon us, and CHOOSE to be grateful people for the many undeserved blessings that have come our way as His beloved children. And one day, when we approach the end of our earthly sojourn, may we too declare that the lines have fallen to us in pleasant places!

"¿Que estas haciendo?" preguntó la madre. "Tu tienes que ir a la escuela." 
"Yo lo se," contestó él. "Pero hoy deseo quedarme en casa. La escuela es muy dificil, y algunas veces es aburrida. Y ademas, toma mucho tiempo." 

La sabia madre se incó y lo miró a los ojos. "Hijo," dijo ella, "tú acabas de describir lo que es la vida. Ahora vete al autobus." 

Ultimamente he echado de ver que muchos de nosotros (incluyendome a mi misma) hemos tenido algunos dias muy largos, extremamente dificiles, y algunas veces aburridos en la "escuela," y hemos estado tendados a salirnos del autobus y volvernos a la casa. Parece ser que no importa cuan tan dificilmente nosotros tratamos o cuanto esfuerzo ponemos o cuanto tiempo invertimos, nadie lo aprecia y simplemente no vemos mucha ganancia en nuestra inversion.

 

Pero Dios si ve lo que nosotros hacemos. Él conoce nuestro corazon, y Él sabe que muchas veces estamos cansados y al final de nuestros animo. Pero Él nos ha dado una gran promesa en Gálatas 6:9 que si nosotros no nos cansamos mientras estamos haciendo el bien y llenando a plenitud Su propósito y llamado en nuestras vidas, entonces, "al tiempo adecuado" vamos a cosechar los reconocimientos por nuestros esfurzos. Vamos a ver al perdido llegar a donde Jesus. Vamos a recibir la provisión necesaria o vamos a recibir la sanidad largamente esperada. Vamos a vivir la experiencia de una relación restaurada. Hasta es posible que seamos reconocidos por las largas horas que invertimos en la obra del Reino de Dios. 

O tal vez no. Esa es la llave – que mantenemos apretada a la promesa de Dios y Su fidelidad, aunque no veamos las recompenzas en ésta vida. Si nosotros sabemos que nosotros sabemos que nosotros SABEMOS que lo estamos siguiendo a Él con todo nuestro corazón, tratando de lograr la meta que Él tiene para nosotros, entonces no tenemos por que perder el ánimo, sin importar los resultados (o lo que haga falta). Nosotros no sabemos el "tiempo adecuado" en el cual vamos a cosechar lo que hemos sembrado en Su nombre, pero podemos confiar que Él lo va a a llevar al pasado en la plenitud de Su tiempo. Y cuando Él asi lo haga, el gozo va a recompensar cualquier lágrima que nosotros podamos haber derramado por el camino. 

¡Asi es que quedense en el autobus mis queridos hermanos! La vida algunas veces es dificil, algunas veces es aburrida, y algunas veces parece ser que dura para siempre. Pero nosotros servimos a Dios todopoderoso – y lo servimos de hombro a hombro, juntos. Es un gran honor sentarse junto a tí en el autobus.            

 

            Years ago I heard a story about a little boy whose mother put him on the bus for school. Before the bus doors closed and the mother could walk away, the little boy turned around and got back off.

            “What are you doing?” the mother asked. “You need to go to school.”

            “I know,” he answered. “But I want to stay home today. School is hard, and sometimes it’s boring. And besides, it takes too long.”

            The wise mother knelt down and looked him in the eyes. “Son,” she said, “you just described life. Now get back on the bus.”

            Lately I have noticed that many of us (myself included!) have had some very long, extremely hard, and sometimes boring days at “school,” and we’ve been tempted to get off the bus and just go back home. It seems no matter how hard we try or how much effort or time we expend, no one appreciates it and we just don’t see much in the way of a return on our investment.

            But God sees what we do. He knows our heart, and He knows that we are often weary and on the edge of discouragement. But He has given us a great promise in Galatians 6:9 that if we will not grow weary while doing good and fulfilling His purpose and call for our lives, then “in due season” we will reap the reward for our efforts. We will see that lost one come to Jesus. We will receive the necessary provision or the long-awaited healing. We will experience that restored relationship. We may even be recognized for the long hours we put into working for the Kingdom.

            Or not. And that’s the key—that we hold tight to God’s promise and His faithfulness, even if we don’t see the rewards in this lifetime. If we know that we know that we KNOW that we are following hard after Him, pursuing the goal He has set for us, then we don’t need to lose heart, regardless of the results (or lack thereof). We don’t know the “due season” in which we shall reap what we have sown in His name, but we can trust Him to bring it to pass in the fullness of His time. And when He does, the joy will more than compensate any tears we may have shed along the way.

            So stay on the bus, beloved! Life is sometimes hard, sometimes boring, and sometimes seems to take forever. But we serve a mighty God—and we serve Him shoulder to shoulder, together. It is an honor to sit next to you on the bus.

 

            As is my usual daily practice, I spent quite a bit of time this morning praying and reading/meditating on the Word, but when I finished and came to my computer to write this devotional, I had to confess to God that I had “nothing”—no word, no thought, no insight to share with all of you.

            That’s when I heard God whisper to my heart, “Why are you surprised? Don’t you remember that I told you that without Me you can do nothing?”

            We humans are an amazing bunch, aren’t we? Despite the fact that those of us who consider ourselves dedicated disciples are careful to set aside that quality time with God, we still come away thinking we should have “something” to offer. And, of course, because we serve a faithful God who desires to impart more of Himself to us all the time, we truly do come away with something worth sharing with others. But occasionally we need to be reminded that whatever “something” we may have to offer has absolutely nothing to do with us.

            Jesus was quite serious when He said that without Him we can do “nothing”—and nothing means nothing. We say we believe that, don’t we? And yet…don’t we really imagine that it means “nothing much”? Surely we can do one or two things on our own…can’t we?

            Not according to Jesus. What a clear reminder that anything we initiate on our own is, when it’s all said and done, NOTHING. It is only those efforts we expend and accomplishments we achieve as a result of loving obedience to the Savior that bring about any sort of lasting results. If the desire of our hearts is to hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant” at the end of our earthly lives, then we need to prayerfully consider these words of Jesus (“without Me you can do nothing”) and ask Him to help us comprehend and apply them to our lives today, and always.