March 2009

03.24.2009

Last summer I planted a small herb garden in the back yard. I have never planted a garden, but since I enjoy cooking, I thought having fresh herbs would bring a lot of flavor to the party. It’s true that fresh-grown anything always tastes better than buying from the store. I have to be honest though; there was NOT a lot of hard work involved in my small herb garden. I remember pulling weeds out twice the whole year, and once was prior to planting the garden. The whole weed pulling thing is what has kept me from planting a garden for a long time. It’s not that I never want to do hard work, I just didn’t want to work hard in a garden.

On the other hand, my garden was not as simple as tossing some seeds around and “Bam!” - lo and behold there are some plants! There is more work involved than simply throwing seeds in the ground; specifically, watering. You know, I have learned that Colorado is pretty doggone dry, and every living thing needs some water. My little plants needed to be watered daily or they would quickly begin to wither up and eventually die.

I suppose about now you are thinking, “that’s mildly interesting, but why are you telling this story?” I tell you this because it reminds me of ministry and especially Sunday School. There is a little bit of hard work involved in Sunday School, but most of the work is not difficult. It does take time, however, just like my garden – I had to water it daily, and in like manner, in your Sunday School class you have to make weekly contact with the people whom God has given you. When I say “you” I am not just talking about the teacher or director. I’m talking about every member within the class. If you notice that someone is missing or has been out for a while, you should call them and tell them you missed them. Perhaps that’s God way of telling you, “it’s okay, you have permission; you don’t have to be the teacher, go ahead and call them.”

Here is a simple truth. Deep down inside, we all want to know that other people care about us. The greatest way you can show others you care is to call them, email them, talk to them – just make contact with them to let them know that you missed them and you care about them.

Until next month,
Danny Joe

Posted by arbc at 08:49 AM