Undeserved

After church this morning we had lunch with friends.  From there on out it was a wonderfully lazy Sunday.

I think the whole family napped before my parents came over to visit late in the afternoon.  I'm glad my kids enjoy quiet, alone time.

It was another tough day with food, though.  I was really hungry today.  However, I found that I was better about turning to God for comfort and strength rather than just fighting the battle on my own.  Delicious food is simply a momentary pleasure, I was reminded many times today.  I wish I didn't miss those moments so much.

Tonight we watched "Saving Private Ryan" with our children.  They are all teens and they asked lots of questions.  It had been a while since I watched that one...in fact, we only have it on VCR tape.  Such a vivid portrayal of the horrors of World War II--specifically D Day and the immediate aftermath.

It was certainly a time of sacrifice in our country's history.  There were sacrifices by parents, brothers, and sisters, friends, but especially of the lives of those soldiers.  

Does my generation realize the depth of those sacrifices?  What about the generations younger than mine?  Is it possible for us to even comprehend the bravery it took to fight such evil?  Would we be willing to make the same sacrifices?  

There are countries with generations of people that only know life with war.  There is evil still out there.  

I'm thankful, so very thankful, for my safety and my freedom.  However, I can't help but think of those who don't know such security.  

Why was I blessed with the privilege of being born in the U.S.?  How did I have the great fortune to be raised in the Midwest?  By loving parents?  With the freedom and simple pleasures that come with living in a small, rural town?  Why?

Did I somehow deserve it?  Was I such a special soul that God looked on me with special favor?

Or could I have just as easily been born in a slum in a big city to a mother on crack?  Or in a desert in Africa to parents who would soon die of AIDS as I slowly starved?  

No.  I don't deserve any of it.  Neither do you.  Quite on the contrary...we have been given much and we have a great responsibility because of it.

The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:47-48 emphasis mine)

Do you know your Master's will?  Are you doing it?  Are we doing it?

It's much easier to sit back and think, "It's not my problem."

But we weren't asked to do what was easy.