The milkmaid - Servanthood

I have this painting by my living room. I love oil painting depicting human beings going about in their daily lives. It reveals alot in peoples' lives.

I am a mother of two sons. I have a maid. Our maid and I have something in common. We serve. I serve my family - I make sure that the roster at home serves our needs; children are asleep by 9pm. I keep watch of their poo - since they are so young, this is essential to their health. I pray with them and for them and train them to be people who would come to love and know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I pray that they grow to be more and more like Jesus in many ways.

I make sure our helper has a roster to keep the house clean and serve healthy meals on time. I teach her how to manage her time, so we can run our family effectively in a way that we can spend time together. She also becomes my sons playmate whenever I am occupied, so I train her in ways to play and to speak. This is to ensure that the family's speech and mannerism is always filled with grace and joy. We respect each other, we are polite and we don't shout. We learn to give thanks, learn to clean up after use, and learn to always help each other out.

My helper is a blessing to us. She never complains about the food she eats, she eats whatever we eat although she comes from a completely different culture. Servanthood is assimiliation. Servanthood is humility.

I make sure my husband spends quality time with the children and reminds him of important dates that we need to keep. I organise celebrations, outings, and try to do special things for our family. Things like taking photos together for special milestone, or special occasions.
On days my husband needs to be in Bible college, rush for assignments at home or catch up with reading, I keep watch over the children.

I volunteer myself whenever I can to any ministry in church that needs me. My time, my resources, I give my service unto the Lord. I take great pleasure of co-ordinating gifts and birthday celebrations for our Caregroup, and is always on the lookout for discipling people to serve God in greater depth. I take care of Toronto missions related events. I help to think of ideas to spur the church on creatively.

Do I falter, do I grow weary? Sure I do. In fact so many times. Since I am also breastfeeding my 2 mth-old baby, fatigue and despair from challenges in Breastfeeding wears me down. The truth is Servanthood is not my giftings. It is not even in the lowest score card on my giftings list. Yet, I serve in growing magnitude. I know that it is not myself, but only by the grace of God. I finally understood what transforming power there is in following Christ.

We are transformed not because we are gifted, but because we are willing.

The painting of "The Milkmaid" hangs in my living room. It is God's reminder that servanthood is the mark of Christ. It is God'sBIG assurance that his grace will always be sufficient.

[The Milkmaid shines in quiet beauty, but if you look hard enough you can hear the milk splash as she pours it from her pitcher. Through his dazzling use of light, Vermeer elevates this simple moment of hearty provision into a heavenly vision of God's providential care. Artist: Jan Vemeer .Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1632-1675]