A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
In 1936 Texas marked the 100th year of their independence with celebrations the whole year long. I was 9 years old. All of us little Texas girls got to wear cowboy boots to school that year. (You do understand, don’t you, that Texans are so independent, they wouldn’t join the United States until they were given the right to fly the Texas Lone Star state flag on a pole the same height as the U.S. flag flies?)
My cowboy cousins on both sides of the family often opined they would die with their boots on. They said it so often and so casually, I decided it must be a pleasant thing to do. I did wonder just how it was supposed to work. So one Sunday afternoon, when I was sent to bed for a nap, I carefully put on my genuine cowboy boots, climbed into bed, pulled up the covers, and lay there quietly for a long time, wide-eyed and curious. What was so great about dying with your boots on? No great revelations occurred. No small revelations occurred. I concluded only that it was very uncomfortable to try to sleep in cowboy boots.
I was a teenager before I realized maybe my Texas cousins were simply saying, “I want to live my life profitably. I don’t want old age to handicap me.”
I inherited that Texas mindset. It’s in my DNA. It was demonstrated to me by my father’s and mother’s cheerful commitment to serving God with all their hearts. It was reinforced by Daddy’s admonition to “Carry your share of the load.” It had the unintended effect of making me feel I had to run very hard, work very fast, endure from morning to night all day, every day, or God would not be pleased with me. When I went to bed at night, if I hadn’t accomplished a demonstrable amount of work, I felt that in God’s sight it was a wasted day.
But these days I have physical handicaps; I don’t always have much opportunity to talk to others about God’s grace; I fall in bed exhausted, with nothing I can see done for Him. I can’t “carry my share of the load” anymore. My expectations of what God really wants of me needed a drastic revision. Perhaps you face the same handicaps.
That’s why I was so delighted to find John 6:25-29. The chapter relates the remarkable story of how 5,000 men, plus women and children, ate and were satisfied with five small loaves of bread and two small fishes. Afterward, the people all looked for Jesus. They found him on the other side of the lake. Here’s the rest of the story:
“Jesus told them, ‘I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of His approval.’
“They replied, ‘We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?’ Jesus said,
“This is the only work God wants from you:
Believe in the One He has sent.” —John 6:25-29 (nlt)
What is “the only work” God wants of you and me? It’s simple. Just believe in Jesus! Trust Him. Obey Him. Let Him tell us what He wants us to do. (And what He wants us to do will be within our ability to accomplish!) We can only do His work when we trust Him. And whatever it is He wants us to do, Jesus promises us He will give us the strength and the wisdom to do it.
How sweet it is to fall asleep at night, resting in the assurance of His love and acceptance!