When my wife came down with a stomach bug yesterday, I blush to admit that irritation initially trumped compassion. This is no time to get sick, I have things to do. I don’t have time to serve, I have to write about the discipline of service!

I like to serve… when it is planned and has a clear ending and doesn’t interfere with my regularly scheduled life. But serving others isn’t usually so convenient, is it? (In fact, several of you wrote last week and shared difficult life circumstances that require sacrificial service. If you’re in that situation, may God give you fresh hope and strength.)

It’s good and right to schedule intentional times of service, especially hidden ones. But let’s pair those pre-planned acts with the daily prayer, ​“Lord, bring me someone I can serve, and grant me a willing and cheerful spirit.”

The answer to that prayer is likely to be unglamorous — and might be right under our roof. The result of our simple, daily acts of service, Richard Foster reminds us, is ​“that the grace of humility will slip in on us unawares.”

May you have grace to serve well,