Friday, December 1, 2017

Devotion ~ How to Make Something Beautiful



I think many of us who are in our senior years often look back and think of all the things we should have / could have done with our lives. As the years run by, we long to do something that will count, and yet can we? Do we have time left to make a difference in today’s world?

Challenging Sermon

Yesterday in church, the minister quoted from a book by Malcolm Muggeridge titled, Something Beautiful for God. It seems that this worldly skeptical author experienced a dramatic conversion to Christianity because of Mother Teresa’s exemplary influence. He hails her as a “light which could never be extinguished.”
 Something Beautiful for God
He first interviewed her for the BBC. The interview became so popular that a year later he traveled to Calcutta with a film crew to produce a documentary about Mother Teresa’s work among the poor people of that city. The documentary was called “Something Beautiful for God,” a title which would subsequently be given to his book about Mother Teresa.

One of Mother Teresa’s favorite Scripture verses was “Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). She lived and died according to that Scripture. Muggeridge’s book covers mostly the author’s conversations with this Nobel Peace Prize Winner (1979) and contains many of her quotes.


Yet it was not Mother Teresa’s life that yesterday’s preacher chose to draw attention to, but her belief that we each are able to do something beautiful with our lives. Mother Teresa stressed it didn’t need to be something big or heroic.

Mother Teresa’s philosophy in life:

"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing."

In the same line, she also said,

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."

At the end of the sermon, the preacher urged us to look for the “something beautiful” God has called us to do. If we couldn’t identify it, the minister urged us to look for it. It may be something small, like that little pencil (which, in God’s hands, did a tremendous work for the Lord). But if the Lord has called us to do it, its value is priceless, and its effect will be immeasurable. But if we could already identify it, herein lay the challenge. Were we using it to grow something beautiful? Or were we just seeking to make the best of it?


I was truly challenged and immediately identified two areas where the Lord had called me.

1. He’s called me to write for Him.

I admit I never saw my writing as “something beautiful.” I write the best I can, and produce the most professional work I am able to do, but something beautiful? Is my writing sending a gift to the world? An action of love? A beautiful thing? I find that concept challenging as well as exciting. It increases my desire to write, and to “write to inspire” (my tagline). Not everyone is called to write amazing trilogies or blockbuster movies. Even a “little pencil in the hand of a writing God” can send “a love letter to the world.”


2. He has also called my husband and me to a ministry called Prime Timers

Here we seek to reach the over 50’s in our community. We deliberately don’t try to turn it into a Gospel meeting. We’re wanting people to come to the meeting who would normally never darken a church door. For a nominal donation, they receive top-rate entertainment, a good morning tea with cakes and snacks, and fellowship around tables. And we see to it that there is something inspirational in each program to point them to God and showcase their need for Him.


Suddenly, a light bulb went off for both of us.

Is what we’re doing something beautiful? And are we doing it for Him? If the answers to both of those are “Yes,” we’re on the right track.

“There is always the danger that we may just do the work for the sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in – that we do it to God, to Christ, and that’s why we try to do it as beautifully as possible.” ~ Mother Theresa

How about you?

What are you doing that is beautiful? Share with us in a comment box below.
I close with one last quote.
"There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those." ~ Mother Teresa

After you’ve left a comment, do yourself a favor and click on this link to hear a wonderful rendition of “Something Beautiful” by Bill Gaither.

SHIRLEY CORDER lives on the southern coast of South Africa with her husband, Rob. She has recently embarked on a series of eBooks titled, Out of the Shadow. Available now:

20 comments:

  1. Wonderful post, Shirley. Inspiring and beautiful! Thank you for sharing your minister's message. It is, indeed, a re-director.

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    1. Thanks for visiting and commenting, Judith. Have a great weekend.

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  2. This was beautiful. Mother Teresa was a very wise lady and a true servant of the Lord's. I think I try to encourage others. I try to make sure things I do and say on here are God honoring and will bring souls to Christ. Your writing is wonderful. Writing about people in the Bible you do a beautiful job of it. Puts me in a place and time and what they must felt and went through. You bring it to life. A lot of authors can right it but is not like yours. Thank you! I;m really enjoying reading about these ladies.
    Blessings
    Diana

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    1. Thank you so much for your visit and encouraging words, Di. I'm glad you're enjoying my latest books.

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  3. There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those..That is a lovely quote. And so true indeed.

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    1. Yes Balaka, she seems to have created many sayings that have become well-known quotes. Thanks for the visit.

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  4. I think you have a really clear understanding of what you are called to Shirley - you are living such a great example of balance in your life and doing what God has called you to do in the process.

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    1. Thanks Leanne. I often feel as if I'm swimming upstream, but then perhaps that's what the Lord wants me to do! Have a great weekend.

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  5. What a beautiful example! I love the reminder that we don't have to do something big to serve God. We just have to be faithful with what He has given us and use our life for Him.

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    1. So true, Lisa. I find that so encouraging. Have a wonderful weekend.

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  6. Prime Timers sounds like a wonderful concept, Shirley. I would love to be a part of something like that.
    My work with the NGO, Divya Disha (I'm grateful for your shares about it) adds a lot of meaning to my life.
    Mother Teresa had a lot of critics, none of whom had the courage to get their hands dirty the way she and her nuns did.

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    1. Thanks for visiting, Corinne. Yes, I'm sure she had lots of critics. Anyone stepping on toes and as you said, getting her hands dirty, is going to garner critics. But then someone needs to ask them what THEY are doing to help the situation! Have a great weekend.

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    1. Thank you for visiting, Aritha. Have a great weekend.

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  8. Beautiful post, Shirl. Thanks for sharing your encouraging words with us. :)

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    1. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read and comment, Narelle. Have a great run up to the Christmas festivities.

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  9. I love your post, Shirley. God is leading you to do something beautiful with prime timers. He is so good and he knows where and what he wants us to do. I volunteer on a team to help people with eating disorders. They come for a week and with God's help start a journey to recovery. At the beginning of the week they are closed buds, by the end of the week they are flowers that are in full bloom. To me they are beautiful people that God loves and wants to see healed. Feel humbled and priveleged to be a part of this ministry. Thank you so much for sharing your journey.
    Lorraine

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    1. Wow, that is indeed a beautiful ministry, Lorraine. Thanks for sharing, and every blessing as you seek to support this largely ignored group of people.

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  10. I love the illustration of being a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. For the last 36 years I've been serving Filipina household servants, helping them with job and family problems. In the last 10 years I've also been helping asylum seekers.

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    1. Fabulous, Karen. That really is being a pencil in God's hand!

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