Going the extra mile!

On a recent trip to Switzerland some of our team were very moved by the hospitality of those who had invited us to speak at their Ministry. Our hosts couldn’t have done more to welcome us and bless us with their very best. We went to serve them but it was they who served us, with the warmth and generosity of their spirits.

As we thanked them profusely for their abundant generosity to us they turned to us with eyes shining with the love of Jesus and said “it is our joy”. It wasn’t just that they had gone the extra mile, but that they did it with such joy!

I had a similar experience at home recently when a friend offered to wash my car for me – not just her own car, but mine as well! Now this is a job that always ends up at the bottom of my list of priorities so it rarely gets done, and my car was very dirty. Yet she delighted to do it for me, and it blessed me so much.

Maybe as you read this you could think back to the last time you went the extra mile for someone. Or maybe you feel challenged, as I do, to do this more often - today even. Maybe we could ask the Lord to show us how we can bless others in this way, not reluctantly, but with joy in our hearts and eyes, showing the love of Jesus.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to think of others more often than myself. Show me ways to bless those You bring to me, so that I can radiate Your love to them. And help me to do it with joy. In Jesus’ name, Amen.