The only one left

Have you been working hard for the Lord with little or no support? Have you ever felt that you are the only one bothering to do anything? Have you got to the point of giving up – like Elijah?

1 Kings 19:9b-10

And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

We all reach that point at one time or another. That’s when God reminds us that we are not the only one – we never were. There was always another, maybe ploughing the same lonely furrow. In fact there were probably many others doing the same thing. So the question we find springing to mind is, how do ‘they’ manage while ‘I’ struggle on, always feeling low; always feeling left out; unappreciated and seemingly ignored??

To me it’s probably that some of us love to feel used, trodden on, doormats. The rest of ‘them’ don’t deserve ‘us’ but ‘we’ keep ploughing on regardless. On the other hand there are some in this position who are always cheerful; always positive; always ready to take on even more !!

How do they do that ??

I believe it’s down to attitude – their attitude towards God, life, other people, everything really. People with the more positive attitude always seem to be able to say please and thank you – as if they really mean it too. They are always willing to go the extra mile – to find the extra pennies – to give out far more than they can ever receive back. And - they somehow seem to be thankful for everything. Maybe we can sum them up as having the attitude of gratitude. It’s almost as if they are the living epitome of the ‘Proverbs 31 wife’ – always ready for anything; not fazed by life; never seeming to worry; always lifting people up. The sort of person who has an open door to anyone needing a shoulder to cry on; a sympathetic ear; and a good cup of tea or coffee always ready for you.

And, wouldn’t you believe it, its nearly always a woman. We men aren’t good at that. Too much testosterone – stiff upper lip – nothing ever wrong attitude. Men cannot relax like that – men are mostly lone birds whereas women are birds who flock together, usually chattering noisily. Oh I know I’m stereo-typing – but it’s true.

So what’s to do?

Well God showed Elijah that he was far from alone and, if we could only listen to Him, He would tell us the same thing too. May I encourage all of us to appreciate the people around us. We take so many of them for granted – old Frank always puts the chairs out for the meeting. Tom & Doris always look after the after service refreshments. Pastor always does this and that. We take all these people for granted. Especially those who do the thankless tasks like putting the chairs out and preparing the refreshments. Let’s show them a little more gratitude. Let’s show them that they are not alone and unappreciated. In fact why not honour their selfless efforts in front of the whole church and just thank them publicly. Actually, I think we should all have a kind of Pastors & Helpers Day when he or she is invited to do NOTHING while we do everything for him/her. A day on which we simply show them appreciation for who they are and what they do to make our lives a little bit better.

Let’s all adopt an attitude of gratitude and stop taking all around us for granted.