“I don’t have much to offer,” the aging, retired widower thought to himself as he sat down at the small table to address a few cards to shut-ins and sick friends. Placing stamps on the cards the widower walks outside to the mailbox still contemplating the preachers sermon. “Lord, I don’t know what I can offer. I don’t have much.”

He turned and saw his neighbor and her little preschool daughter. He waved and said hi! Both, the woman and her young daughter smiled, spoke and waved back.

A few minutes later he drives to the home of his long time friend, Fred, who now suffers from Alzheimer’s. Every Tuesday, he arrives around 10:00 and stays for a couple of hours, giving Fred’s wife a break and a chance to go shopping.

Fred’s wife asks her husband’s friend to stay for lunch where they share conversation and laughs. On the way home he stops at the store for a few things. It is starting to rain. He assists a young mother getting her groceries and children in her car out of the rain before entering the store.

Back at home he makes a few calls to his church friends and some retired work buddies, ending each conversation with, “I love you, and I’m praying for you.”

Before retiring for the evening he reads a couple more chapters from his Bible as every night. Then he turns to the passage his pastor preached from on Sunday. Reading it, he leans back in his chair, looking to the ceiling he prays, “Lord, I don’t quite understand what I can do for you. I don’t have much to offer. But if you’ll show me I’ll do what you call me to do.”

In the quietness of the night he receives this word, “I want you to keep sending cards. Those cards of encouragement carry my special healing for the heart.

I want you to continue bringing smiles to the parents and children in your neighborhood. Each smile shares my love with another soul.

I want you to keep visiting Fred and his wife. You are my messenger of hope and comfort in that home.

I want you to continue doing good deeds for others – in parking lots, grocery stores, and everywhere you go. At these times you are a courier of my love in action.

I want you to continue praying to me for your friends – churched and unchurched, and continue calling them. Here, you are my advocate and my seed sower.

Most of all, I want you to continue spending time with me each day. If you will , I know you will continue doing for me as I call on you each and every day.”

This is Mission Minded Ministry.

We all, young and old, have much to offer. The question is how are you using what God has given you to offer? Share His love this day and every day of the year with everyone you come in contact.

Merry Christmas