Jesus-Style Service

When serving isn’t the feel good, extra meaningful kind

“I am not your servant!”

These are the words I half-grunted, half-spoke to one of my kids yesterday as I got on my hands and knees to pick up the crumpled pieces of dry pasta he’d decided to deposit on the floor rather than the garbage can.

Then a thought struck me: I sure hope Jesus didn’t hear me say that!

Unfortunately, this attitude toward servanthood extends well beyond my feelings about cleaning the floor. Most of the time, serving others just rubs me the wrong way. Sure, if it’s some sort of extra meaningful service project (where you can practically hear the soundtrack of inspirational feel-good music in your mind as you work and you experience a rush of good feelings about how great you are for doing this), then it’s not too difficult.

But what about real service? The kind Jesus talked about? The kind that involves getting no credit? The kind that may not be accompanied by any feelings other than a waging battle against your own selfish impulses? The kind that may even involve serious germs or really bad smells?

Serving others Jesus-style is just not easy. And even when we feel excited about serving others in our community, it can be difficult to figure out how. The problems in our world—like poverty, illiteracy, school violence, racial strife, crisis pregnancy—can loom very large and seem impossible for the average Christian woman to address. And add to that recipe the normal demands of life for a busy woman: work, volunteering, parenting, homemaking, church activities, and don’t forget coffee with friends . . . how will service ever fit in?

So how about you? Who’s been a compelling example of service in your life? How has she inspired you to serve others Jesus-style?

Welcome to KyriaBlog.com!

Welcome to the Kyria blog!

This blog is designed specifically for thoughtful, influential women who want more from their faith and who want to make a difference in the lives of others. We strongly feel God's claim on our lives and God's call to exercise influence in ministry to the body of Christ, primarily through the local church.
Kyria gets its name from a word in the original language of the Bible. In Greek it means "honored woman." The epistle of 2 John, for instance, is addressed to one such "kyria," translated there as "chosen lady." You may recognize the similarity of this word to "kyrie," which is the masculine form of the same word, usually translated "lord."

We chose this name because, just like the biblical Kyria, we feel it conveys something about the place of women in the life and ministry of the body of Christ, his church. We are chosen, called, and gifted for ministry.

Kyria blog will be filled with content on topics from spiritual formation to missional life to women's ministry to church leadership to hot topics. We'll cover current events, politics, culture, and media—anything that will help you reach out and disciple and serve others better.

Along with this blog, we're producing a free weekly enewsletter (you can sign up here), a weekly updated website, and if you become a member of Kyria ( for more info or to sign up click here), a monthly digital magazine, in which each issue will cover a specific spiritual discipline or spiritual issue. These resources not only will be useful for you in your faith and ministry, but will also offer you a community of women with the same callings, gifts, and passions so you can grow together and challenge, and support one another.

Ultimately, Kyria is a place to be encouraged, challenged, and motivated. We believe in the power of God to change lives and build the church, a powerful instrument of hope and redemption for the world. As women created in God's image, we've been chosen in Christ, called to influence.

If you believe as we do and are committed to making the most of the gifts God has given you, please join our conversations. As Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:11: "Let's encourage one another and build each other up."

Dead Tree Blooming

Almost every day I pass a certain field. It?s pretty wide open in the center, with some sort of oak trees and some kind of palm trees scattered here and there, which is an odd combination if you ask me.

In the center of the field stand two oak trees, and in the 17 years I?ve passed them, they haven?t changed.

The tree on the right has always been dead-looking, probably hit by lightning. It has remained a skeleton for as long as I can remember, with its branches stripped bare. No leaves, no life, not even any Spanish moss hanging from it.

It?s always been an eerie sight, especially when black birds line themselves on the stark white tree limbs and shriek, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock?s The Birds. It ranks an ick factor of about 5, with a pit of snakes at 10.

It reminds me of how death mocks life, how it haunts our thoughts and tinges even our best of times, a constant reminder that we don?t leave this world alive.

In contrast to this dead-looking tree, the oak tree on the left is lush and green. Its leaves never seem to fall, never fade or turn color. They are ever and always green.

For years I?ve passed this field with these two trees standing near each other, one alive and one dead-looking. For the longest time I thought the dead-looking tree was truly dead. Although it hasn?t fallen over, there?s been no activity or growth. No tiny buds in spring or tender shoots.

I?ve been waiting for it to do something or for something to happen to it?fall over or crumble or do whatever it is that dead trees do. But for years it?s just stayed put, doing nothing?until recently.

I?m not sure when I first noticed, but the dead-looking tree no longer looks dead. It?s covered and surrounded by green leaves, as green or even greener than those of the tree on the left. I?m sure this didn?t happen overnight, although that?s not impossible.

It?s funny how I?ve seen that tree nearly every day but didn?t notice that it had changed, didn?t notice it changing. I?d assumed that once dead, always dead.

Who would think otherwise? Life doesn?t spring from death, except that it does. Jesus said that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds (John 12:23?25).

He was talking about his own death and how it would produce life for the many who would believe. But I also think it illustrates more than that. For example, relationships and situations that appear dead, dead, dead for years and years and years. No change, no life, no hope.

Then just when you think there?s nothing left and you might as well bulldoze everything, God intervenes. He?s the only one who can bring life to someone or something that?s been long dead, or dead-looking.

It?s a good possibility that some type of bush or another smaller tree is growing so close to the tree in the field that it just looks like it?s alive. I?m not about to hop the fence to investigate. Even so, life is happening and life continues to happen, in spite of death.

It could be that the tree wasn?t ever fully dead, that it just lay dormant for the past 15 or so years. Or maybe it really was fully dead and God gave it a good resurrection. He can do that if he wants to.

The point is, God seems to enjoy bringing life where it looks like life can?t be, usually when all looks most lifeless and hopeless, almost always when we least expect it. A lifeless tree suddenly growing leaves, a loveless marriage restored and renewed. It?s a wayward child returning home, a drunk celebrating one more year of sobriety.

One of my friends has been married to an alcoholic for more than 20 years. Many have told her to leave him, that her marriage is long dead, and that she should find happiness while she?s still young enough.

But she says as long as her husband has breath, she?s not giving up hope that God can restore and resurrect. As a Christian, she says, ?Who else will pray for him??

Her life isn?t easy and she?s often burdened and weary, but she believes that God delights in creating life from death.

Meanwhile, she waits for buds to bloom.

For those praying for an unsaved spouse, a wayward child, or an impossible situation, how has God given you hope to keep persevering?

Jesus-Style Service

Welcome to KyriaBlog.com!

Dead Tree Blooming