As Easter Sunday approaches, I look back over the past few weeks of this service focus and feel to express my gratitude. For good people, every day, who make my and my family’s lives happier and better by their “small and simple” kindness. Have you experienced a similar feeling? From on-the-ball carpool women, to my church calling partner’s easy solutions, to my daughter cleaning the laundry room without being asked. This is the oil of love that soothes the sometimes grinding machine of daily life. THIS is what makes life joyful!
Which brings me back, as always, to Jesus Christ. No matter the time of day, the delicate situation, the weariness of the way, He continually served and loved and inspired. In our temporal way, we can see this as maybe exhausting—how much He was working and doing every day. But when I see it through His eyes, that service was exactly the rejuvenation needed to continue His mission.
In this final week, I thank you in advance for ALL the good I know that you already do!!! And I encourage you to continue to look for those daily services—the ones you are receiving, and the ones you are able to give. Then take a moment to experience the rejuvenation—to truly open your heart and feel the always attendant love and joy they bring!
A Joyous Easter,
Connie
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DAY 26: HE LOOKS ON PEOPLE’S HEARTS
Mark 12:42
And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
I marvel how, even in the busyness of the moment, Jesus noticed this poor woman. I marvel how He called the disciples and pointed out her actions to them, using the experience as a teaching opportunity. And I marvel how He commended her offering as a rightful sacrifice. The Savior was mindful of each and every person. No one was too poor, too unknown, too beneath His loving watchcare.
Time after time, interaction after interaction, we see the Savior get right to the heart of the matter. With the rich young man who asked how to get into heaven, He knew the one thing that would hold him back. Jesus rightfully told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor. With the woman at the well, He knew her receptivity and used the experience to teach gospel truths. With the woman taken in adultery, He knew the whole truth yet spoke clearly of the only thing that truly mattered—for her to go her way and change her life.
He knows you and me thoroughly. We are important to Him. In fact, we are His entire focus, even if we aren’t well-known by the world, even if we don’t have the perfect family or the loveliest home or the most spectacular accomplishments. Society judges our efforts and devotions by these measures, but He “looketh on the heart” to know our sacrifices, our hopes and dreams, and our goodness. Then showers us with tender mercies and surprising blessings that are best for us, now and in the future.
What is one evidence in your life that Jesus knows you personally?