With Gladness

Last week and the past two weekends were full.  I am used to being a girl on the go, but my mind was almost at capacity with details.  I mentioned that I was in prayer for a Girls Retreat that I was involved with both in planning and in bringing a group of girls from our youth group.  It ended up being an absolutely wonderful retreat!  There wasn't a ton of sleep involved (middle school girls have an astounding amount of energy, especially after Mountain Dew), but there was a change of pace as we got to bring teenage girls to camp and help them refocus on what matters.  My friend Sandi and several other ladies worked so hard to pull it all together.

Our speaker was my friend Cindy, and she blessed my heart.  The theme this year was "What Grows In Your Garden?" and she made us all laugh as she recounted her not so successful tales of trying to keep plants alive (I could relate)!  She talked about how gardening is not really her thing, and of the work and patience and waiting it takes. Then much of her message revolved around the Biblical concept of waiting.  It was so needed for our girls.  Waiting is not something we hear a whole lot about in our culture today, but something you read a whole lot about in God's Word.

My friends Cindy and Sandi at the retreat.

Last week in all the planning and swarm of other life responsibilities and details, I sipped water from a cup I picked up at the Christian bookstore.  On it were these words from Psalm 100:2...

Serve the Lord with gladness.

It was a good and timely reminder for me.  I had lots to do.  My time was not my own in any way last week.  My lists of tasks and necessary details were for my husband, my kids, their school, our church, the girls in the youth group, the girls who would come to retreat, and more.  As I served them, I was ultimately serving God.  And I'm not called to serve God with a grumpy heart or stressed out spirit.  

I am called to serve Him with gladness!

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

And speaking of gladness, we always laugh a lot at Girls Retreat!  One particularly funny moment this year came when we were playing some Minute To Win It games.  In my years as a student and over a decade of youth ministry I have seen tons of games - but this one I had never seen before and it cracked us all up!  There were several teams of two chosen and in one minute, each team had to see how many pieces of cheese the one partner could catch on their head that the other partner lobbed at them.  It was hysterical.

Cindy I joined in the fun after the other teams went.  I couldn't stop laughing at her baseball catcher stance and attempts to catch the flying cheese that kept skimming off of her hair.  She couldn't stop laughing at me because we had to use already thrown cheese which was warm and linty and making me gag like crazy. Gross I know, but so funny!  These are definitely the type of memories camp is made of!   :)