This Is How It's Done

This is perfect. Someone well outside our common fellowship gave my bride this as a tribute a few days ago.

This is who she is: the epitome of "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" (Matthew 6:3). The unspeakably countless people she has touched - the “seeds” she has planted - behind the scenes is a powerful testimony to me...and to many others, judging by how many I’ve seen give witness to her tireless care. This is how it’s done.

It seems that ministry has drifted toward branding or marketing: taking care at all times to make sure people know all the things we're doing for the Kingdom (it's not always clear whose kingdom). I'm certainly guilty. Paul, however, does speak of a "quiet life" (1 Thessalonians 4:11; 1 Timothy 2:2). My bride doesn't have to make much of her loving on others, but they surely know, even if others don't. I suspect she's more on track than the rest of us, who spend a lot of time constructing image, labels, slogans, graphics, and consider it vital to spread all of that as far as we can, seasoning our acts of serving others with a bit of self-serving.

I keep coming back to this simple little jar of mustard seeds. To steal a phrase from a popular show, "this is the way."