The Salt & Light Snowblower

Several years ago, Ned bought a new snow blower, which is a necessity for the snowy winters of Minnesota.  Previously he had always shoveled his driveway and it took over an hour.  But now, with that beautiful machine, he could get it done in less than five minutes.  The ease of snow-blowing took away the all-too familiar dread of having to shovel.  He even enjoyed doing the drive.

The second winter he had the blower, two elderly neighbors from California moved in across the street.  The couple both had heart problems and Ned noticed them struggling to shovel the drive after the first snow fall.  When he saw them wrestling with the snow, he simply started his blower, pushed it across the street, and did their's too.  It just became a part of the routine; twelve minutes for both drives.  Ned then also remembered that his other neighbor, Mike, left for work at 4:30 in the morning, so he bagan doing his too.  Another four minutes.

A few years later, his next door neighbor, Larry, passed away.  Because his widowed wife, Pearl, was also elderly, Ned just started doing hers too.  Another five minutes.  Later that same year, the neighbors down the block had a baby, so Ned added their's to his routine too.  By the end of that year, Ned was snow blowing about a half hour and doing five driveways.

Ned was happy to be the neighborhood plowman, relishing in the joy of caring for and serving his community.  One night, though, he fell deathly ill and had to be taken to the hospital.  Over the course of a two day bed-ridden, hospital stay he recovered and was eventually released.  As his wife was driving him home, he felt so bad because there had been a huge snowfall the night before.

However, as they arrived back in the neighborhood, he was astonished to see that all of the driveways were done.  To his amazement, Ned's wife told him that in the morning she looked out the front window to see one of their other neighbors, whom they had never even met, doing the driveways.  Ned nearly broke into tears. He never realized the affect that he had made over the past few years.

The point is example.  If we are to be the salt and light of the world, the very hands and feet of Christ, then we need to look at the needs around us and step in to fill them.  Jesus calls us to love as He loves us.  Think of that: He gave His very life, dying upon the cross to serve and to love all humankind.  Laying down our preference and our comfort in order to care for others is what being a Christian is all about.  Therefore, let us seek out opportunities to serve and then seize them for Him!

The Stonecutter

Once upon a time there was a stonecutter who lived alone.  He made his living by forming stone and cutting rocks into various forms and tools.  For years he worked tirelessly in his workshop along the main road of the city.  One day, as he was hammering granite he heard a crowd shouting cries of herald for the king.  He felt such envy and discontent that he cried out: "Oh if I could only be a king with subjects that shouted joys and praise to my greatness."

Immediately, he was transformed into a powerful king with a whole kingdom full of adoring subjects.    "This is power," he would often think to himself.  For weeks, the man enjoyed his new life until one day he realized that the sun was much more powerful than he was, casting its powerful gaze and light upon the whole world.  So, like before, he boldly asked, "If I could be the sun, then I would have all the power in the world and be content."  Instantly, he was the sun.

As the sun, the man enjoyed bringing warmth and light to all the world.  He relished in the fact that everything depended on his presence.  Until one day, a cloud broke his gaze and hindered him from shining his light upon the world.  He could not accept being stripped of his power, so he exclaimed, "If I could become a cloud, then I would be more powerful than the sun and be able to be content."  In a moment, he became a cloud.

As a cloud, he pooled all of his power to form a gigantic rain cloud.  Wherever he went he would pour down rain with such torrential force that the most powerful of men would hide from his presence.  Rivers were cut and grain was watered by him.  Everything was in awe at his power.  Only the massive rocks were unaffected by his power.  So, like the times before, he cried out in a loud voice, "I would like to be a huge rock and then I would be powerful and content."

As a rock, he was massive and powerful.  The sun and the rain did nothing to him at all.  He felt free and strong until one day, a man walked up to him with a chisel and hammer, and began to chip away at the rock.  The rock cried out, "I want to be a stonecutter!"  And he was transformed back into a stonecutter, living out the rest of his life content with making a living by forming stone and cutting rocks.

Sometimes it is easy to be discontent with our life or with our station.  But no matter where we go, there we are.  We should not try to leave the vocational stations that God has called us to but be joyous that God has made us for a specific reason.  As Paul writes, "Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him (1 Cor. 7:17)."  Let us then be content in whatever God has called us to and to do it with absolute excellence!