Honor, Service and Relationships

"Then she came to the end of that concert, singing "Ave Maria" as nobody else can sing it. And they called her back and back and back and back again, and she finally ended by singing "Nobody Knows de Trouble I Seen." And her mother was sitting out in the audience, and she started crying; tears were flowing down her cheeks. And the person next to her said, "Mrs. Anderson, why are you crying? Your daughter is scoring tonight. The critics tomorrow will be lavishing their praise on her. Why are you crying?"

And Mrs. Anderson looked over with tears still flowing and said, "I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm crying for joy." She went on to say, "You may not remember; you wouldn't know. But I remember when Marian was growing up, and I was working in a kitchen till my hands were all but parched, my eyebrows all but scalded. I was working there to make it possible for my daughter to get an education. And I remember one day Marian came to me and said, 'Mother, I don't want to see you having to work like this.' And I looked down and said, 'Honey, I don't mind it. I'm doing it for you and I expect great things of you.'"

And finally one day somebody asked Marian Anderson in later years, "Miss Anderson, what has been the happiest moment of your life? Was it the moment that you had your debut in Carnegie Hall in New York? She said, "No, that wasn't it." Was it the moment you stood before the kings and queens of Europe?" "No, that wasn't it." "Well, Miss Anderson, was it the moment that Sibelius of Finland declared that his roof was too low for such a voice?" "No, that wasn't it." "Miss Anderson, was it the moment that Toscanini said that a voice like yours comes only once in a century?" "No, that wasn't it." "What was it then, Miss Anderson?" And she looked up and said quietly, "The happiest moment in my life was the moment that I could say, 'Mother, you can stop working now.'" Marian Anderson realized that she was where she was because somebody helped her to get there," said Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., about international Singer and Civil Rights Activist Marian Anderson in his speech Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool.

Anderson's life showed that it is not foolish to honor your parents. "Honra a tu padre y a tu madre, para que tus dias se alarguen en la tierra que Jehova tu Dios te da," dice Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you," says Bilingual Bible New King James Version.

On April 4th many honored Martin Luther King Jr., a father of four children, who was assassinated on this day 45 years ago. On April 4th deceased parents and other ancestors were honored for the Chinese holiday Qingming Festival.

Treating our parents well and other people well is also treating ourselves well. John Maxwell, author, speaker, entrepreneur writes in his May 2013 article for Success magazine entitled "Taking the Leap Is it time for your big, bold venture?," "People go along with people they get along with.

"Between 70 percent and 90 percent of decisions not to repeat a purchase of anything are not about product or price. They are about some dimension of service," author and former Burger King CEO Barry J. Gibbons once noted. Yikes! If that doesn't force you to put a smile on your face and some warmth in your handshake, I don't know what will." 

Few smiles, few warm handshakes, a lack of parental respect and other poor service issues impact Christian disciplining. The ways in which we live in or out of love have a direct impact on the number and quality of our relationships.

As a part of Qingming Festival people sweep tombs. Ask God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost if there is anything that needs to be swept out of your mindset that is blocking a more influential love lifestyle. Then allow the power of God to change you and cause you to do more of those things that please Him.

Goodness Comes Back to Us

Mordecai discovered a plot to kill King Ahasuerus/Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia (Esther 2). He informed Queen Esther (who was his uncle's daughter), who informed King Ahasuerus, and the would-be assassins, Bigthana and Teresh, were brought to justice and hanged.

Then Mordecai's good deed was forgotten, but not forever.

Meanwhile Mordecai kept on doing good. He also didn't swell up with a superior-than-others attitude or shrink into self-pity because he was not receiving the recognition due him.

God is just. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 5:25 Amplified Bible, "So also, good deeds are evident and conspicuous, and even when they are not, they cannot remain hidden [indefinitely]." Mordecai's good deed had been written down in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia. One night King Ahasuerus couldn't sleep (Esther 6). So he got up and read the book and was reminded about Mordecai's good deed. Later he honored Mordecai.

Mordecai was a man of God. "When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Proverbs 16:7 Amplified Bible).

King Ahaserus made Mordecai's enemy, Haman, to honor Mordecai for reporting the king's would-be assassins to the authorities in the splashy way that Haman thought he should be honored.

Maybe you are putting more effort into a relationship than you are receiving? Don't worry if you are doing good, but honor doesn't seem to be coming to you. Mordecai protected his king, his queen, his nation and his family through the reporting of the would-be assassins of the king and other good deeds. God knew how to please and honor Mordecai in the perfect timing and way for Mordecai's good deeds. Mordecai also became manager of Haman's estate and a leading ruler of the empire. Likewise in God's perfect timing and way He knows how to please and to honor you.

Please share an on-line comment about a good deed that was honored.