Behind the Scenes

I like to build things.  I started out years ago framing houses.  I worked for Dick M. and his crew in the summer when I was not teaching school.  It was hard work but rewarding.  In the morning we would arrive on the jobsite to a pile of lumber, plywood, and a keg of nails.  In three days, we would leave a two-story house ready for roofing.  I have since moved on to trim, complicated stairs, and handrails.  After I nail boards and trim together, I caulk and paint everything.  My goal is to paint and never see the nails that hold the piece together.  So, how do the nails feel about me covering them up?  It’s the nails that hold everything together, but it’s also the nails that I am trying to hide.  “Not fair!” the nails could say.  “Here we are doing an important job, and no one sees or appreciates what we are doing!”  But the nails never say that.  Nails just go on quietly doing their job.  Just like many members of our church.  Hey, who cleaned the bathrooms at church last week?  Who vacuumed under your pew the day before you put your feet on the clean carpet?  Solid Christians are like that.  They serve the Lord, not for recognition, but for God’s kingdom.  Paul said in I Corinthians 12:18, “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.”  God has pastors and singers up front in church, but God also has janitors and prayer warriors behind the scenes.  And all are important in God’s kingdom.  So, do your job, not for recognition, but for the dear Lord.  And someday, you will hear the Lord say, “Well done!”  What a day that will be!