For the last week, I've enjoyed vacation with my family at the Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. It was the first time in my life that I have had the opportunity to go to Disney and let me tell you, that was one awesome place! My Mother-in-law coordinated the arrangements which included the, "Dining Plan", our stay and Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter Resort Hotel, and transportation to and from the resort. Early on, we all decided to fly to Orlando on Southwest Airlines (which by the way was an awesome experience in and of itself). When we arrived at the airport, there was a nice charter bus waiting on us which took us to the resort. We never touched our luggage once we dropped it off at Greenville Spartanburg airport until it was delivered to our rooms! Everywhere we went, we rode on timely ferry boats, transit buses, or mono-rail. I was absolutely amazed at how immaculate, courteous, and informative each Disney employee was. The Disney, "Machine" (as I've affectionately come to call it) blew me away. Long story short, it was an absolutely amazing trip because I felt like a King the entire time we were there.
Tonight, I was packing my bag for a work related trip I have to take next week and something occurred to me; I should feel like a King each and every day! Other than my toys (phone chargers, ipad, laptop, etc), I didn't have to pack a single thing for the Disney trip. Did it just magically appear? Nope, every stitch of clothing I needed had been packed by my wife. Not only was my luggage packed, but so was Will and Katie's and Traci's (my wife). AND, not only did she pack all the clothes we needed, she figured that I didn't need to wear 5.11 pants at Disney and bought me brand new shorts and shirts just for the trip. AND, (ok, this is the last "and") she knew just the right size I needed. Now this single event doesn't even come close to all the things she does around the house each and every day, like cleaning house, washing 411 loads of clothes a week, getting supper ready, giving Katie a bath, and much more. But, packing my own bag has made me think about just how much like a King am I treated each and every day? I tell people all the time that even if I could have, I wouldn't have been smart enough to special order her as my wife; (and no, I'm not making up for something stupid I've said or done; at least not that I know of....)
Seriously, with all this talk of excellence, feeling like a King, being married to a wonderful wife and all, I want to get to the point. You see, all of the things I mentioned above are acts of service and not all of us recognize them. Not all of us are programmed to see those acts and then some of us simply choose to focus our thoughts on the things that are not the way we want them. We cast shadows on so many wonderful things (much like I do to my wife at times) and fail to see the wonderful things that we have been blessed with. There are countless stories in the bible describing exactly this kind of behavior. The story of, "The Prodigal Son" comes to mind which can be found in Luke 15 beginning with verse 11. Now without telling the whole story, the man's youngest son thought he knew best and wanted his share of the inheritance now. The son left with the money, wasted it, ate hog slop, and then begged to become one of his Father's servants. You see, the son didn't recognize how blessed he was until he lost everything and had to come pleading to his Father for work just to eat. Now here's the best part of Jesus' illustration here. In Luke 15:20, the Bible says, "So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began." (NLT) The point of all of my rambling is this. Don't lose everything to realize how blessed we really are. Jesus wants to have a relationship with you and to share his wealth of blessing with you.
My prayer tonight is that I will not take for granted how blessed and how much I feel like a King thank to my my Lord and my wife. I pray that each of you will take the time right now to think about how blessed you are and maybe even send somebody a thank you note to tell them just that! Have a great week everybody!!!
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