[Faith-talk] Use it or loose it

[WESLEY BURDEN]

Use It or Lose It



"The LORD said to him [Moses], 'What is that in your

hand?' And he said, 'A staff.'"



     I have read how in 1872, at the age of 16, Booker

T. Washington (born a slave and then became the

foremost black educator of the late 19th and early

20th centuries) decided he wanted to go to school. He

walked 500 miles to Hampton Institute in Virginia, and

presented himself to the head teacher. Washington later

recalled, "Having been so long without proper food, a

bath, and change of clothing, I did not make a very

favorable impression upon her, and I could see at once

that there were doubts in her mind about me."



     Finally she said to him, "The adjoining recitation

room needs cleaning. Take the broom and do it." A

lesser person might have been insulted by being

assigned menial work. But Washington recognized

immediately that this was his big chance. He swept

that room three times and dusted it four times. He

even cleaned the walls and the closets. Then he

reported to the head teacher that the job was

finished. She examined that room like a drill

sergeant. She even took a handkerchief and rubbed it

across the top of a door. When she could not find a

particle of dirt, she said, "I guess you will do to

enter this institution."



     As a 16-year-old, Washington could not do many

things. But he could clean a room. And he did it

gloriously. Extraordinary living begins with using

what we have. What gifts and graces do you have that

you have not fully activated?



     Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that you

use ordinary people to do ordinary things in

extraordinary ways as well as using ordinary people to

do extraordinary things. Please use me for whatever it

is you have gifted me to do and want me to do, be it

large or small--and thereby help make my world a

better place in which to live. Thank you for hearing

and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name,

amen."


Stu
<mailto:K5stu at sbcglobal.net>K5stu at sbcglobal.net
Reading your Bible today will help prepare you for A Brighter Tomorrow!
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