Taking care of...

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There seems to always be something that needs to be taken care of be it the lawn or the laundry, the bills or the baby. At no time does anyone sit down and say "Well then, I have nothing to do!" because it's all just unending.
And then while there is stuff to take care of there are also people to care for; friends, children, spouses, neighbors, co-workers, etc ad infintium...

But who cares for you?

There are days (like today) when what I want most in the world is to be taken care of; to have someone else come along and say "Don't worry about that stuff, I'll take care of it." For when people help us care for what we have to take care of, they are actually taking care of us. For me it's a huge thing when someone else decides what we're doing for dinner (and I know that sounds ridiculous but...). Sometimes it's nice to have someone else say, "Let's do this so you won't have to do that."

My son started washing the dishes, on his own!, yesterday - taking care of that was in actuality taking care of me. My editor girlfriend Karen was working with me on an academic paper that I'd worked on so long that I could no longer see straight. She brought fresh eyes and suggestions so that when it was done I didn't just think it was good, I knew it was because she thought so too. This morning Kathy left a bag of clothes on my doorstep as she is passing down items from her son to mine. And all these events, some quite simple really, are people taking care of me. I, who is most often I feel, taking care of everyone and everything else, being taken care of.

I think this is one of my favorite things about God; how He takes care of me. God loves me, cares for me but He also takes care of me which is like love in action.

I don't know if I saw it in this light particularly before but look at Psalm 23 - He makes me lie down, He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul, He prepares a table for me ( as it, wow! someone else is making dinner?!) He anoints my head with oil - which for a sheep was both curative from bug bites and as a repellent to other nasty insects (which I found out thanks to Philip Keller's A Shepherd Looks at Psalms 23 which is an quick excellent read).

The whole Psalm says one thing - God is taking care of me.

So although I need to do more dishes, plan dinner, help with homework, prepare for the weekend and all the things I do to care for others; I can work with this peace in my heart that He will take care of me be it through the peace and comfort that He sends to my heart or a clean dish, handed down shirts, or an edited document from my favorite "poofreader".

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.
You place your hand of blessing on my head (Psalms 139:5)

Comments

the johnson crew said…
yes, he does take care of us!
March 25, 2010 at 10:18 PM
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