Confession. Yesterday was Gary's posting day. I'm late.
Piled high with magazine article deadlines and my own GenDads blog, Friday faded dark. Today was "legacy day" in the Taylor-Pettit clan, but Legacy Dad was shoved to the end of it. Let's see, there was 
submitting an article query to Christianity Today around the subject of my book, "Generational Fathering." Then an hour on Skype Webcam with a missionary in Turkey. Then the hike, the one with four adults and four 6 to 12 year old boys and girls on a famous cattle trail in the ruggedest of buttes...straight up. Four hours. At the top of the high meadow with majestic views for miles, we did five minutes of silence with comments to follow. Theirs were unforgettable. On the way down, the loveliest of 7 year olds sang spontaneously and endlessly to the Lord as she and "Popi" walked way ahead of the others. The glories of God's creation have never been lifted so high. Then Narnia. Then discussions. Wow! They got it.
You can see why I glow so late this night. Now for the topic. Turn the page; it's short and sweet. I hope I trapped you into reading on. I want you to look again (or first time for visitors) at Lance's last post, PLENITUDE. It could be called Attitude about Plenty. "PLENTY-TUDE" has a convicting sound to it. It should. But there's more.
I Tweeted and used his piece to send to many others, including a missionary mailing list as I tried to help them raise funds. I printed it off for reading tomorrow in our little three-family home church. Were I not skipping out with the short version for time and space sake, I'd add a full treatise on SERVITUDE to accompany. Really, they go together. Opposites, technically, because those in power and opulence are the captains of plenty-tude, but seldom of servitude.
Let me turn it to a question that makes a sermon on servitude unnecessary. WHO ARE YOU SERVING THIS SEASON? I used to do bell ringing for the Salvation Army as a Rotary assignment. Loved it. It was really cold and inconvenient. Servitude. My missionary friends have no financial margin, survival is their game in these hard times. They gift their neighbors, decorate a tree, set up a feast for a Christmas celebration because Muslim understand feasts, but not sacrifice. Servitude. Any our grandkids, as I reported last week, took their eyes off of presents (asking for, mainly) and wrote cards to soldiers in Afghanistan. Servitude.
We all know that the term for Christmas emerged from the practice of mass to honor the birth of our Savior, The Servant. The only plenitude he knew was the loaves and fishes he distributed...servitude.
I ask again (of myself included) WHO ARE YOU SERVING THIS SEASON? Any chance you're hearing the Lord nudge you to SERVITUDE by distributing your PLENTY-TUDE?