Guest Devotional - Building Eternity

by Molly

“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. ‘Why this waste?’ they asked. ‘This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.’”

Matthew‬ 26‬:6‬-9‬ NIVUK‬‬

Message:

While chatting with a friend recently, she expressed the wistfulness she felt when she read posts, describing the success of home-educated “graduates”. Family WhatsApp group photos engender similar emotions. She’s not the only mum I know for whom the success of others, while we can feel happy for them,  can bring about a whole cascade of feelings of inadequacy in our own lives. 

Our conversation brought to mind a story about a mum who’s life was spent caring for her profoundly disabled child. Some (like the disciples) sniffed at the time she devoted to this wonderful yet unseen ministry…what was the point? She could be earning and contributing to the economy and wider society…but she knew that she was giving her all, her alabaster jar, to a precious and God given life.

If you sometimes feel you are pouring your all into a child or loved one and seeing only imperceivable changes, please be encouraged. Ours may not be the stories which top the social media likes (but let’s face it, these platforms can be gone in a flickering of an eyelid!) but they are the ones our God has tasked us with, knowing we can do them. 

Point to ponder:

As you pour out your alabaster jar today, maybe with tears, frustration or weariness, remember you are doing a uniquely beautiful thing and are seen and loved by the One who created the heavens and the earth. 

Prayer:

Father God, help me to remember that in all the mundane tasks of the day you are building eternity in our hearts and in the lives of our loved ones. 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Ecclesiastes‬ 3‬:11‬ ESV‬‬