The Irony of it all...

Today I had one of those beautiful moments that seem to come way too rarely lately.  A moment of complete and utter fullness.  (No, I was not finishing the buffet line at Ruby Tuesdays!!)  It was a moment in which the great irony of life caught me completely off guard.  I was standing in the hallway of my church talking on the phone to a woman in need, looking at a smiling family there to plan a wedding, and knowing I had another gentleman in my office wanting help filling out a job application.  Three visitors - don't you love biblically perfect numbers? - at the same time...all needing something from me.  Normally, I would have been stressed and maybe even annoyed at all the interruptions to my day of planning and organizing...and for the briefest moment a scene from Jesus Christ Superstar popped into my head.  It was the scene where Jesus is praying, he's gone off alone for some down time and then the lepers come...all crying out in need, begging for him to help them...soon, they overwhelm him - I watched the play last Friday with my daughter and that scene haunted me...Jesus emptying himself completely for the sake of the poor lepers.  I was moved because, while I dare not compare my ministry with that of Jesus, I often feel like I am emptying myself completely for the sake of others in need...and sometimes I am afraid one day only a shell of me will remain.  But the image of the lepers only lasted for a second....then I heard the bride-to-be laugh and I watched her and her future husband look adoringly at each other...then I heard the woman on the phone sound relieved that help was on the way...and then I thought of the man in my office waiting patiently for my attention.  Am I emptying myself - absolutely - but the irony is, I've never felt so full.  Full of God's love and gifts and amazed all over again that I have the great honor of being called as one of His ordained servants.  There are no lepers pulling me down - there are only brothers and sisters pulling me closer.  Thanks be to God