It's nice to be nice...isn't it?

I love being a Pastor's Wife.

I'm sure my husband would like to have that recorded and play it back to me sometimes when being a Pastor's wife becomes more than difficult. Over all though, I love being married to a Pastor. I have an amazing Godly man who leads our home and sets a great example for our sons, and I also have the opportunity to be nice to alot of people. As a Pastor's wife I am made aware of the needs of our congregation and I am often able to meet these needs and/or provided encouragement to those who need it. I love doing that! I love knowing that I was able to show God's love to someone who needed it whether it was by sending a card, cooking a meal, or just saying you mean alot to our family and you are loved.

I often read A Diary of Private Prayer (an amazing book I would recommend to anyone & was recommended to me by my dearest friend Marci). This book speaks to my heart always. It is written in very old English and has many "Ye's" and "-eths" at the end of words, but even the language seeps into my soul and is absorbed to (I hope) the point of making me a better, more Christlike person. If you've never read it I would suggest getting a copy, it has forever changed my prayer life.

The prayer I was reading a few days ago is the eighth day morning prayer.
                                            "O God, give me the grace today to think, not of what I can get, but of what I can give, Jesus Christ said, when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.  O God, grant that what I give may be given without self-congratulation, and without thought of praise or reward.

It goes on to continue being completely amazing, but this is the part that has lingered in my mind for days.  "grant that what I give may be given without self-congratulation, and without thought of praise or reward." I'm not sure about anyone else, but I self-congratulate myself like crazy!!! I didn't even know that a phrase existed to describe this action, but I am most certainly guilty of it! So how do I stop?!?! I have given this some serious thought since I initially read it, and here is what I have come up with:
1. stop self praising. I constantly do this when "blessing" someone. I write a nice card and the whole time I'm thinking about how they are going to think I am so thoughtful for remembering them, or I tell myself they are going to tell Luke he has the best wife etc. etc. It is self-congratulation at its worst.

2. Replace self praise with Thanksgiving to God. Instead of thinking of how wonderful the thing that I'm doing is, I replace it in my mind by thanking God for the resources I have that enable me to cook a meal for a family that needs it. I thank Him for giving me the skill and talent of cooking, for giving me their friendship that has blessed my life so that I in return want to bless their lives.

3. I stop making everything about me. This is by far the most difficult. I don't know why this is so easy to do but WOW, I see my kids doing this constantly and I am no different. I can take any situation and in 2 second flat boil it down to me and my feelings. This step will take much discipline, practice and prayer.

I just read in Great Days with Great Lives by Charles Swindoll where he says that the only place to be that is worse than the end of a self- willed life, is being in the middle of one.

AMEN! He goes on to say that when in life we cannot come up with the answer on our own we always assume we need more education and more knowledge when if fact what we need is more wisdom and discernment and those come from God and knowing Him more and being in His word more, and  listening to Him more.

Being a Pastor's wife has blessed my life in unexplainable ways. I hope that when I bless others they can see that it is God's love in what I do. I hope that I can step out of the way of my own actions and let Christ be seen in my own life.