When the woman with the alabaster jar poured the expensive perfume on Jesus’ head, she was criticized. People around her were saying indignantly to each other, “Why this waste of perfume?” And then they had their opinions about how it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. (There’ll always be somebody that has an opinion about what we do!)
Jesus appreciated what the woman did. He called it “a beautiful thing.” I especially like these words of the story: “She did what she could.” (See Mark 14:1-11.) And that is all that is expected of any of us.
On November 25, 2001 I was awarded Bear #160. You can see my little bear on the picture. It’s a very special bear, a “Burden Bear” that reminds me that there is a lovely senior lady in Stillwater, Oklahoma, that prays for me. Here’s the inscription the little bear carries:
I’m your Burden bear.
I’m not a fancy bear.
I’m plain and rather small.
Even so, someone who likes you
Said that I should come to call.
Hide me underneath your pillow
Or set me on a nearby shelf.
And when you get discouraged
I will do my best to help.
I brought my favorite blanket
That I snuggle when I’m sad.
My Granny always told me,
“Life is like a patchwork quilt.”
Sometimes I don’t see the pattern,
Sometimes He seems far away.
Then I clutch my favorite blanket
And pray… and pray… and pray.
Thought I don’t have all the answers
(For I’m just a Burden Bear)
I’ve been sent here on a mission
From someone who really cares.
When you see me, please remember,
You are in my thoughts and prayers.
What a creative idea! This dear, sweet lady is doing what she can in service to the King (and I’m not talking about Elvis or Michael Jackson but the King of kings!). I don’t know her, but for the yearly Christmas greetings we send each other. But God knows her name and I am sure she is just as precious in his sight as the woman that poured the expensive perfume, made of pure nard, on Jesus head that long ago day in the town of Bethany.
I try to use my talents at the best of my ability to serve my Lord and Savior. I have just started a web page in Spanish for children. It’s nothing fancy—I don’t know how to do fancy stuff. I could sit around waiting for the day I hit the jackpot (no, I don’t gamble!) and could hire a professional to do a fancy kid’s page, and probably never get it done. Or I can just “do what I can” and use the talents I have been given. So I have decided not to sit around and wait for the jackpot to hit me, but just do something to the best of my abilities.
Years ago in Bolivia I used to have a kid’s club. Children would write me and send me pictures and drawings. Some of them I would publish in my Sunday school take-home-paper La Perlita (nothing fancy, because I don’t know how to do fancy stuff). I want to pick up from where I left off more than 20 years ago. I’m hoping to have the kids of my club members join my cyber club. What a thought!
This is a small beginning. The most majestic tree started from a little seed. Even you and I where once just a little seed! Just as the little Burden Bear, a small token of a big heart, you and I can do something. There is an interesting question in Zechariah 4:10, “Who despises the day of small things?” Let’s not do that? I’ve decided to let the “big people”, the ones with the money, the great talented designers, do their “big” things! I’m just going to go ahead and do what I can. Even if it’s just a drop in the sea, the sea is made up of drops!
I’m not going to give an account for what I was not talented to do. If God gave ten talents to some people, five to another, and he only gave one to me (to be honest, I believe I have more than one talent!), that’s the talent I will use. I will not go and bury it because I think somebody else got a better deal!
Pray with me that God will use Club Perlita to reach many children with the Gospel. It’s a small beginning but with God’s help, and the help of talented people I will meet on the way, it will grow and accomplish the purpose for which I am doing this effort.
When Jesus asked me, as a ten-year-old girl, if I would go tell boys and girls about him, I could never dream that my wholehearted “yes” would one day bring me to reach the world through cyberspace. I want to thank my friends Jorge and Malena because if it were not for them, my desires and dreams would be just that, desires and dreams! But now I am on my way and I have a blog for children, in my favorite language: Spanish!
If you feel you are just a Burden Bear, that’s awesome. Be the best Burden Bear in the world! Whatever God has put on your heart to do, do it to the best of your ability—in the end, that is all that matters. If others do it better or fancier, that’s not your problem. Each one of us is only expected to do what we can.
Club Perlita is under construction but feel free to visit: http://clubperlita.com
Kerstin Lundquist's Blog 