Gospel Reading John 13:16-20
"He is coming after me, and I am not good enough to take his sandals off his feet." Acts 13:25
As I meditated this morning on the baptism of Jesus, I was in awe that Jesus humbled hiself in front of John and had John baptize him. Can you imagine how John must have felt at that very moment? Not worthy, inferior, nervous. I am reminded today how "worthy" we make ourselves feel. The phrase so overused in today's society..."I deserve this...". Deserve a new pair of shoes, deserve a diamond necklace for our anniversary, deserve a spa treatment, deserve a night out with the girls.....ya da, ya da, ya da. We don't "deserve" anything. If you break down the word deserve it is to de-serve....to not serve. What does Christ call us to do with our lives? To serve others. I just can't stand it when I hear that phrase "Well, I deserve this..".
Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our ninth anniversary. Maybe I am weird and crazy, but I didn't expect some fabulous gift. Clint shows his love to me in so many other ways that I frankly didn't want anything. For one, we are financially strapped and it just doesn't make sense for him to go and purchase something we can't afford and two, he is such a busy man running a bakery that runs 24/7, that I didn't want that added stress on him of finding the PERFECT gift for me because I was just waiting around the house, tapping my toes with my arms crossed saying, "By golly, I deserve diamonds this year!". It truly is absurd what couples go through on meeting expectations of materialism for anniversaries, birthdays, christmas. And in alot of wives minds they can't wait to tell their friends what their husband got them for their anniversary. It is just one more game of "One Up". Who is going to out-do the other. There are not many more things more annoying to me than when you are out to dinner with some friends and the guys are all talking about baseball, work, etc., and the women are all down at the other end of the table showing off their new diamond watch, bracelet, earrings. This is complete nonsense to me and a waste of breath and energy. But this is majority of our world and I am sick of it and that is why I am writing about this today. Yesterday was the most perfect day for Clint and I. I greeted him yesterday morning with a steaming cup of coffee in his special cup, I had picked roses from my rose bush and placed in a crystal vase that we received for our wedding, I had our wedding album out and we reminisced with our children about our special day, and ofcourse we listened to April in Paris because that is where we went on our honeymoon. Clint took the day off and that was truly the greatest gift that he could have given me... his precense. Yesterday evening he cooked us all pizzas in the brickoven and we all cheered with silver goblets....Clint and I were drinking wine and the kids had orange soda with a slice of lime on the rim. I was the happiest I had ever been in my entire life yesterday. So this is proof that not everyone needs diamonds or fancy things for that matter to celebrate their anniversary. These are all "things" of the world that will pass away. But the love between a husband and wife shared with their children are moments that are eternal. For in sharing this special day with love of each other and sharing time as a family, these are the moments that will shape and mold us all into the people God has created us to be. I am not saying every anniversary will be like this for us and some day if we have a little more funds and a little more time, I am sure we will buy each other special gifts, but for this year not having that stress on either of us of buying the perfect gift was just right. This will more than likely go down as one of the best anniversaries ever.
So let's remember the baptism of Jesus the next time we are ranting and raving thinking we deserve something for all that we do as mothers and wives. Jesus wasn't saying he "deserved" to be baptized in a palace by a king, he simply approached John with humility out in the river and asked this lowly, bearded, smelly disciple to baptize him.
Blessings to you this Thursday.
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