Minutes with the Master

"Minutes from Martha"

Not long ago I was asked to visit the teen wing of a local detention center as part of a project to share with Community Awareness Workshops, My assignment was to go to the high school boys' area and ask them to write a poem comparing being in a detention center to being handicapped.  It seemed like a very creative idea until I started across the bridge over the Red River.  I began to panic.  How am I going to get the attention of 10 or 12 boys in high school and especially when I suggest that they write poems?  My hands began to sweat on the steering wheel; so, of course, I went to the Lord.  My pleading prayer went somewhat like this: "Lord, I am asking, begging you to prepare those boys for me.  Soften their hearts, give me favor with them. Help me to find creative ways to engage these young men, and if all else fails, help the M&M's work."  I travailed all the way to the center.

To sum up, I was a hit! The boys loved it and me.  They wrote profound poems and were interested in the project.  Actually, they were nicer and more responsive than the Sunday School class I taught the Sunday before at my church!  When I left the boys, I had to pick up all of my belongings that I had given to the guards with shaking hands.  The guards began to brag on me!  They told me that I was the best they had ever seen.  They said their jobs would be easier if everyone was as talented as I. By the time I got to my car, I was puffed up and strutting.  Man, I was good!  Yep!  I have a talent!

As I started across the same bridge that I had earlier used, God put His hands on my shoulders.  It was so strong that I first thought someone was in my back seat. I got my yellow pad and pencil because I knew what was coming. God called me into His office, and I began to take minutes.  He did not ask me to respond.  He just started talking. "Did you not remember that you cried out to me to make a straight path for you? Did I not prepare the boys' hearts for you? Did I not anoint you with favor and creativity?  Did I not do all that you asked?  I had your audience so prepared that a five-year-old could have gone in there and been a success.  A robot or a ghost could have been a favorable facilitator.  You did nothing on your own to be a success except pray, and that was your only godly trait.  Why did your success surprise you?  Do I ever fail to answer your prayer? Take this down, Martha.
If you ever become proud of yourself instead of acknowledging me as the means of your success, you will begin to fail, and I will not be able to use you anymore."  Be Ye Humble and I Will Lift You UP.

I cried all the way across the bridge, and since that meeting I have maintained a humble spirit.
It hurt so bad I never want to feel that way again....Meeting Adjourned.


Would you share with me an experience that you learned from a meeting with God?  I would love to take down the minutes!

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