the instrument and the musician

Today it has been 4 years.  It one way it feels like this has been our way of life forever.

It other ways it feels like we just started doing this.

We have been living/working at Gateway Woods for 4 years.

As this organization's motto states, we are in the business of turning lives around.  Helping change families for the better.

This may be a bad PR move, but the truth is, in the 4 years we have worked here

we

have

not

changed

a

single

person.

Except maybe ourselves.

Because, the truth is, we are not the ones who make others change.

We just work at introducing these kids to the One who can help make that change.

Oftentimes I forget this. We had a great reminder this past week when the houseparents on campus got together.

God does not need us.

There it is.  To some it may offend you (what? I'm not needed? I thought I was important in this work of Christ!)  Others, you may be relieved (whew! sounds good.  I'll just sit in my little world a bit longer then if you're not needing my right now...)

But it doesn't stop there.  He doesn't need us but he wants to use us.  We were created BY God, FOR God.  To glorify Him in our actions and words.  He wants to use us, although He could do all His work all by himself. 

We can put ourselves on a pedestal sometimes thinking that we are the ones saving souls.

Ahem.  We are the instruments.  Not the musician.

No one is nearly as impressed with the piano as they are with the pianist. 

Same goes for this miracle of salvation.  This isn't about us.

It's all about Him.

This video puts it into better words than I can do. (thanks, Sarena, Nicole, Maria, and Amanda!)

Comments

Post a Comment

Tell me how you live intentional. I'd love to know!

Popular posts from this blog

The jig is up

Image
OK, I've kept it a secret for 6 months, but now that it's over, I'm bragging on my man. : ) Since April, Paul has been training to run the Columbus Marathon. We were able to get a few days off of work, grandparents watched the kids, and on Saturday morning Paul and I headed down to Columbus. We headed downtown to pick up his race packet and then spent the rest of the day and night with Ben, Jaime, and Alayna . Dark and early (5 AM) Sunday morning we rolled out of bed, Paul got geared up, and we headed downtown again to find a decent parking spot. Thankfully we found a good place to park and had Paul to the starting area at 6:30 AM (an hour before start). Ben graciously came along so I didn't have to wander around Columbus on my own -thanks, Ben! It was mid-30's at the start with a slight breeze, but skies were clear and the sun came out once it rose. Ben and I saw Paul off at the start and then headed to the halfway point (got some coffee along the way) and
Read more

Madeline Nichole Suvar

Image
The newest addition to our family came into this world on February 1st. She weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 19 inches long. She surprised us all with having black hair - Owen and Hannah were born with next to nothing for hair and even then it was real light. She impressed the doctors at the hospital by gaining back her birth weight and passing it by an ounce (a rarity, I guess). Our first day at home (today) went well. She was awake for most of the morning and through lunch and then took a nap in the afternoon. She nurses well and doesn't get upset by all the noise Owen and Hannah make. Hannah loves to come over and pat her on the head and Owen will talk to her and hold her hand. I am working on wrapping my mind around the fact that I am a mother of 3 - it makes me feel old! :) I'm healing well from my C-Section, the hardest part is forcing myself to stay put and letting Paul do things for me. He's a great nurse, cook, father, husband.... : )
Read more

Of loss and hope

Image
Thank you to those who have reached out to me, prayed for me, since my post on Sunday. I am humbled yet again by the love of Christ, and His followers. I spoke of hope. And truly I am learning more about hope as life goes on.  I understand it more than I did 10 years ago. And even now, this week, I feel I am seeing new dimensions of it that I did not know existed. I am a realist. With a small dose of optimism.  And I think that it is that sprinkling of optimism that is keeping me from swinging way over to the pessimistic side of things. Because I truly want things to work out, HOPE that things will work out.  But I keep my hand on the shift knob, because I just may have to throw things into a lower gear because well, I'm just hoping for things to work out, but kinda doubt they will. I hope that made sense to someone.  You may need to go back and read it.  I'll wait. .......... I think I live most of my life, and approach most circumstances, like that.
Read more