How Much Do I Have?
A devotional by Jo Huddleston
Nothing else in the house moved as I stumbled up the hall. I stood half asleep at my kitchen sink. Looking through half-closed blinds, I discovered what had interrupted my predawn sleep. On the deck, several pesky blue jays perched atop my patio table, ready to welcome a new day. Aggravated at them for disturbing me, I pecked impatiently on a window pane. With much fluttering, the birds scattered to nearby trees. All but one.
The lone bird pranced around the table top, tilting his head this way and that, beady black eyes searching for his would-be attacker. I raised the mini blind and pecked fiercely on the glass again. There! He looked my way—he’d found me. He stared at me; I glared at him. Appearing to know my threatening noises couldn’t harm him, he didn’t budge.
Then the concert began, his music as crisp and crystal clear as the day’s spring morning. Each warble imitated his previous one.
Each time he chirped, the little bird quivered from the black collar across his throat to the trembling tip of his brilliant blue tail feathers. Every inch of the bird moved to produce his melody.
This little bird put all his body behind each note—he gave it all he had. I forgot the blue jay’s peskiness, enjoying instead my private recital.
Watching from my quiet kitchen, I thought about the tremendous effort the little bird displayed. He certainly didn’t go about his singing in a halfhearted way.
I wondered if Christians could measure up to the blue jay. Are we as committed with our efforts of praise and worship?
I recalled some of Jesus’ examples. I remembered the widow who placed only two coins in the temple treasury as her offering (Mark 12:41-44). Compared to the rich who put in much, the widow’s gift pleased Jesus, for He said she “put in everything—all she had to live on” (Mark 12:44, NIV).
I remembered when Jesus fed the five thousand with only five barley loaves and two fish (John 6:5-14). The bread and fish belonged to a boy in the crowd. Apparently, it was all the food he had, but it proved sufficient for Jesus’ purpose.
Then I pondered, “How much have I given? Have much do I have?”
It makes no difference how much we have. Jesus demands our all when we accept Him as our Savior and Lord. Jesus answered the questioning Pharisees, saying the first and greatest commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37, NIV).
All we have. We must give all we have to love and serve God. Whether in our jobs, raising our children, church work or leisure time, God demands from Christian a 100 percent effort.
Like the little blue jay on my deck with only one song to sing, we must give it all we’ve got.
~*~
Author Bio:
Jo Huddleston is a multi-published author who writes novels inspired by her fascination with the 1950s and her love of her native American South.
Novels in her endearing Caney Creek series, her West Virginia Mountains series, as well as her stand-alone release, Tidewater Summer, are sweet Southern romance novels.
She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, the Literary Hall of Fame at Lincoln Memorial University (TN), and holds a M.Ed. degree from Mississippi State University.
Visit Jo at www.johuddleston.com.
