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| Old Keys |
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Keys have such an amazing purpose! They open pathways, keep out danger, and allow access to our home and our family. They provide a means to turn on the car, allowing us to ride in comfort, accompanied by our favorite music. Keys offer our children the freedom to arrive home first and to enter their home unaccompanied, which offers a feeling of independence some have not known before. But some keys have out “lived” their purpose. We all have keys like this…keys we keep because they may be important but no one really knows what they were once meant to lock or unlock. Do you have a place at your house where you store old keys whose real purpose is long forgotten? We have a hook full of them in the kitchen. Long ago, they were vital for opening those locked areas of our lives but now hang forgotten and unused. Sometimes I feel that I’m like those old keys, hanging around where I once had purpose and meaning, but now I’m just taking up space. Some people are called to follow God to the farthest corners of the world, reaching people for Christ in the midst of poverty, wealth, political turmoil, and even in times of peace. But my purpose is different. My purpose involves volunteering at my church, driving carpool on Fridays, and in being a friend to my neighbor who doesn’t know Christ. My purpose is found in taking meals to friends who are sick, sharing meals with those that I love, and cleaning up meals that have been devoured as my family rushes to a school function. I have felt God’s call, and God’s hand on my work right here in my home town. I used to feel like I wasn’t living up to God’s plan because I wasn’t giving my all in some foreign mission field, but this life, as I’m living it, is my mission field. Ephesians 2:10 isn’t about something in the distant future. It’s about today and every choice I make as I drive the kids to school, volunteer, sit in traffic on the way to pick up my daughter after practice, and as I do the laundry. My good works are the things that I do every day...the stuff on my “To Do” list. These are the things God has called me to do. Knowing this, my “To Do” list looks a bit different these days. The things I committed to do and over-committed to be are still there, but the focus has changed. These are the works through which God will work in me so that I don’t feel like I’m spinning my wheels or hanging around like some old key. Janet Sikes Anderson Copyright February 29, 2008 |
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| February 29, 2008 |
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| Janet, this is a pretty amazing blog. I too feel like an "old key" sometimes! Wow, great analogy. Like sometimes we forget our purpose, feel disconnected from the things we were truly made for. Hanging around doing nothing useful. "created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ah to have purpose and meaning! |
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| February 29, 2008 |
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Mike & Laurie, Do you know how much it means that you took the time to read and then say such nice things about my blog? To be able to pour my heart out and for someone to say, "I get it" leaves me speechless. I am humbled and very, very blessed. |
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| February 29, 2008 |
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I heard Elizabeth George speak about this once. She was answering a question someone in the audience asked about how we can minister to the world as women with families, especially with young children. She said something that stuck with me. To paraphrase: Women are like birds, free to soar in ministry as God calls us. However, when we have families, we have to consider the possibility that God clips our wings for a time. Not for forever, because these wings will grow back. We just need to minister close to home for a time. I know families on the mission field - I have family members ministering secretly in another country, so I do know we can do those sorts of things with children if God calls us. But, even in that foreign country, the wife/mother in that family sticks close to their home while the husband/father reaches out more widely throughout the country. She ministers to her children and provides a welcoming place for the other women in her community. No one will ever convince me that her ministry (or mine here in the states) is less important to God than what her husband and others with less ties to home are involved in. They are simply different ways to minister. Our purpose is to glorify God and share His salvation message with others, around the world or at our dinner table.
Great blog and great springboard for conversation. Thanks for sharing! |
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| February 29, 2008 |
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Soozanne, I think you've hit the nail on the head....God has allowed us, as moms, to minister in ways that men cannot....We bond with our friends and neighbors, nurture our families, and raise the next generation of Christians BECAUSE we minister in and from our homes.
Sometimes I like to think I'm being selfless as I clean the potties and fill up the dishwasher for the millionth time...but the truth is I am blessed beyond measure and am fulfilled more than any amount of money could ever pay. I enjoy freedom to make choices (at times) and the support of the man that I adore. I am honored to be the mom of the two children who call me by that name because God has made them to be such great people! |
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| February 29, 2008 |
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We all at one time or another seem to get caught up in thinking that we should be doing something other than what we are here for. Our Father knew what our purpose would be before we were in our mother's womb. We seem to tire so easily of what we call a mundane life when in fact this is exactly what the Lord had planned all along. Our everyday life may seem common to us but if we stay focused on keeping our families together, treating our neighbor as we would like to be treated, praising our GOD and telling of his goodness and mercy to the saved and unsaved alike, WE HAVE PURPOSE.
Thank you for such a great blog and thanks Mike for directing me here.
Much Love |
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| February 29, 2008 |
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This blog is fantastic! It is exactly how I have felt for the last seven years. I love that... old key thing!! This week I got a card, for no occassion what so ever, from my son (who by the way is giving my first grandchild this year) the card itself was beautiful, but the words that he wrote from his own heart were incrediable!! I felt that all I did and try to do doesn't matter and I talked to God to help me get over that feeling and then outta the blue I get The Card of Alltime! God is so GoOd!!  GoD'S PeAcE aNd LoVe bE bLeSsEd!! |
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| February 29, 2008 |
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mstovall20... You said it so simply and yet so eloquently. God puts us in the place we call home and says, I will bless your hands and feet as you reach out to those who are near you. Bless you, sweet Grandmother! |
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| February 29, 2008 |
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DebB, I am so excited to hear that God is reminding you of His love through my blog. I am thrilled to hear about your grandchild who is on the way to you this very minute, AND I am the mother of a son so I know how important that relationship is to our very heart of hearts. I think I began to know a little of what it cost God when He gave his son for me the day my baby son was born....He's 17 now and still a tremendous source of joy and pride in my life...but I'm like you. A loving word from him means so very much because he is my son. (I don't want to leave out that I also have been blessed with a daughter who should have been named Joy, for that is what she is to us. Thank you for letting me know that God spoke to you today! |
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| February 29, 2008 |
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This message truly touched my heart. Yes, I have felt like an old key and then God would open a door. The Lord has placed me as director/teacher in our children church and I am so excited about working with these beautiful children. I have learned so much from them!! Then, a couple of days ago my grandson called he had strep throat and his words to me were "BigMama I know you have me on the prayer list!" We then talked about some of our prayers and answers we have received. Dalton is only 9 years old but is definitely a prayer warrior. Thank you for allowing me to see this old key in use! |
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| February 29, 2008 |
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| Janet, you express such humility, such a heart of devotion, it is enjoyable and refreshing to read your comments to people! |
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