Thank God for … Service Providers.
Have you ever imagined if none did the work they do everyday?
Imagine if you woke up one day and there were no traffic officers on the road, no cleaning crews, no hairdressers, no caretakers, no restaurant owners, no valets, no business owners… see where I am going with this?
It can be tempting to live unappreciative of the role other people play in our lives, to feel gratitude that there are many others responding to God’s call to live a life of purpose.
If no one else did what they do, perhaps it would fall to one person to do everything and most certainly that person would not stand. Surely, there is a reason why the instruction to man to be fruitful and multiply came before that to replenish and subdue the earth.
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
In the same way, the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 speaks of the church of Christ as a body, the eye cannot say it is the body for then how will it hear. While it may be easy to pick out a body part and decide to live without it, it may be feasible but it does not make it God’s best.
1Cor 12:27 Now you [collectively] are Christ’s body, and individually [you are] members of it [each with his own special purpose and function].
I remember quite appreciating the work of others recently when upon return from a work break, I found that the natural hair salon that has been a great place for my hair and I was closed for a holiday. Had I attempted to fix my hair on my own, it would have taken me over 5 hours, punctuated with much frustration to make myself presentable overnight and still show up energetic at work the next day. I decided to leave the hair be and work on it the when the salon reopened. The salon was open the next day and my appointment was over in 3 hours and I had the energy to go to work refreshed.
As I sat in the steamer (not dryer, a special hello to my fellow naturals) during that hair appointment, I realized that perhaps I could have done the work myself but it would have been a burdern yet here was a group of ladies for whom the task was better handled because they had invested time, effort and will skill, believing that one day, every day, a client like myself would walk in the door in need of their expertise and also to earn a living.
We too often assume faultily that because we pay for services and goods, service providers are to be more grateful yet in truth, because they do what they do, we have time and energy to dedicate ourselves where we have been called.
I am grateful today for everyone providing a service, seen or unseen, mundane or rare, wherever you may be, your investment to perfect a skill or product is as a miracle to another and plays a part in the accomplishment of purpose in their lives. Don’t give up!
#GiveThanks9 #PhanerooAt9
