obedient

Sometimes I wonder why I blog. And there’s no shortage of blogs, most of them written by people better equipped than I am. And it’s not like there are hundreds of people reading.

I usually don’t think about it very long. Truth is, I just need to write something. I’ve never had the time to focus on writing the great American novel, and the journalism career I started on proved not to be family-friendly, so writing for pay never worked out. But I can’t not write.

And I feel like there’s some small level of giftedness here. Sometimes I managed to string words together in a way that helps someone else. There’s an obligation to use any gift.

This morning I read, in Exodus 4:11-12, “The Lord said to him, ‘Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.’"

God said that to Moses, at the burning bush, but those words seemed meant for me. God gave me a voice. My job is to faithfully open my mouth, or open the word processor. When I do that in service to God’s people, it always seems that the words are there.

That’s true for every gift I have, including the ones I don’t use much. Too often, I’m like Moses, who replied to God, "Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else." (v13).

I remember the story of the boy and the beach full of starfish, and the advice I got a long time ago: Just do the thing you can do. Make a contribution.

So here it is, another small pack of paragraphs let loose on the world as an act of obedient service. May it bless someone as much as the reading and reflection blesses me.