For Me...

I am feeling rather tired tonight. Actually, I've felt tired all week. From a beeping smoke detector battery in the middle of the night to a frightened child after a dream at 4am. I work full-time and then come home and run a house and take care of a 5 year old child. I do this day in and day out and it gets a bit tiresome.

But ...and this is a BIG BUT ... tonight as I was nearing the end of my chores, with pain shooting through both my legs and my head starting to ache, I was reminded that Jesus endured more.

He endured untold pain and suffering and death on a cross ... FOR ME.

Much more than working a full day to come home to deal with a child and household duties. I flinched after I had that thought tonight.

He was whipped, beaten, bashed, scourged, ridiculed and spat on ... FOR ME.

The worse that happens to me during the day might be a rude checkout clerk. Or another driver that won't let me in when in traffic.

He hung on a wooden cross with a crown of thorns sticking into His brow and with nails through His hands and feet ... FOR ME.

I watch "The Passion of the Christ" on a regular basis just to remind myself of the 'realness' of what Jesus went through. Some may call me crazy; I'm not. It's my 'wake up call' movie.

It reminds me of Jesus' humble nature, of the sacrifice that He made, of the culmination of God's ultimate plan to save, of what Jesus did ... FOR ME.

"And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!" - Philippians 2:8 (NIV)

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus to earth to be a living example of how we are to live our lives. I pray that I too can live a humbled and obedient existence, just as Jesus did ... FOR ME. In His Precious Name, Amen