Seemingly Small Offerings

Well, today is that day again. For over a year now, I have published a blog post every Monday. However, as I type away this evening, I have in front of me 6 half-written drafts and less than 5 hours of Monday left to accomplish the task.

I haven’t felt well for a few days now, and tonight I’m drained, weak and really tired. I can barely stay awake, and I really just want to curl up under my pink electric blanket and fall asleep in my striped flannel pajamas and floppy-ear bunny socks.

On top of the physical struggles, a battle is raging in my mind over the fact that I’ve been blogging for over a year and my audience seems to be dwindling lately rather than growing. That’s not exactly a confidence booster. In fact, it would be quite easy to throw in the towel and convince myself that no one would even notice if I never blogged again.

Please don’t misunderstand my intent. I’m not seeking anyone’s sympathetic words or praises in sharing these thoughts with you. Rather I hope to encourage you by sharing with you why I continue to peck away at my keyboard tonight when quite honestly, I have no promise this rambling will produce any fruit at all.

You see, there are a few things that I really love to do. I love to create, to write, to doodle, to paint and to encourage.  I believe that God wired me to use those passions that burn in my heart and ooze out my fingertips and my mouth. However, I am not the greatest at any of those things. That’s just the truth of the matter.

But…. here’s a really cool thing that I have realized. God doesn’t raise everyone up to be a Billy Graham, Mark Hall, Beth Moore or Lysa Terkheurst… Not everyone who writes a blog is going to draw a huge following. Not everyone who writes a book will end up on the best-seller list. Most people who doodle and paint will never have their work on display in a gallery or even sell a single print. And though there are many, many wonderful musicians, most of them will never be heard on the radio.

There are many amazingly gifted people who will never be famous for their wonderful talents and never be remembered after their life on earth is finished, but that doesn’t mean that their efforts are of no value. Whoever we are and whatever we do, we must take those gifts and passions that God created us with and put them to use for his glory. We simply present our sometimes seemingly small offerings to God, and we leave the rest up to him.

We may not reach millions, or thousands or even hundreds of people. But, if out of the sincerity of our hearts and our love for our incredible Lord and Savior, we do what we believe God put on our hearts to do, God just might work through us to show someone his love, his goodness, his peace or his hope. He might use the words we write, the encouragement we speak, the masterpiece we paint, the song we sing or the grace we extend to let someone know he is near and that he loves them.

We may not always know when God uses our offering to him to touch a life. There will most likely be times when we put forth our best to bring glory to God, but we do not see any fruit at all. However, we must remember that we do what we do, not for us, but for him. We are simply broken jars of clay yearning for his light to shine through so that others can see the Glorious Living God and be drawn not to us, but to him.