{"id":2001,"date":"2022-09-27T10:01:45","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T14:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2001"},"modified":"2022-09-27T10:01:45","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T14:01:45","slug":"pick-up-a-broom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/27\/pick-up-a-broom\/","title":{"rendered":"Pick Up a Broom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.

Michael Simone, a pastor in Virginia, calls it Broom Theology.
\u00a0
As a young man Simone worked for a trucking company.\u00a0 On slow days at the warehouse, when there weren\u2019t many trucks to load, he and his friends would tend to stand around.
\u00a0
That\u2019s when one of the older warehouse bosses would always say, \u201cIf you don\u2019t have anything to do, pick up a broom and start sweeping.\u201d\u00a0 The warehouse floor always needed to be swept.
\u00a0
That\u2019s great advice for the Body of Christ.
\u00a0
If you\u2019re not in the thick of using one of your spiritual gifts or responding to a specific call, look around for someone who needs help.\u00a0 Go where something needs to get done \u2013 where your time and energy can be used by God to make a difference.\u00a0
\u00a0
One of the earliest Christian mentors in my life taught me something I have never forgotten:\u00a0 Leave every place you visit better than you found it.\u00a0 When you\u2019ve finished your job, and you\u2019re quite convinced that you\u2019ve wrapped things up in your own little area, figure out a way to add value to something else.\u00a0
\u00a0
Pick up a broom and start sweeping.<\/em>
\u00a0
That might mean pausing to pick up discarded trash.\u00a0 Or offering a word of encouragement \u2013 or just listening \u2013 to someone who seems cut off from the crowd.\u00a0 Or asking someone else who is wrestling with a task, \u201cIs there anything I can do to help?\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
You can always declutter the garage.\u00a0 Or clean up what the dog left in the living room.\u00a0 Or chop the tomatoes for the salad.\u00a0
\u00a0
It\u2019s all too easy to conclude, \u201cIt\u2019s not really my shift.\u00a0 Surely there are people who take care of such things.\u201d\u00a0 But if we\u2019ve answered the call to become lifelong learners of Jesus, it will quickly dawn on us that we all get to be players in a movement of love that is changing people\u2019s lives for eternity.\u00a0
\u00a0
Jesus himself is our model of such servant leadership.\u00a0 He said, \u201cFor even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many\u201d (Mark 10:45).\u00a0
\u00a0
Broom Theology isn\u2019t a passing fad.\u00a0 It\u2019s a foundational principle of civility.
\u00a0
Its meaning is simple:\u00a0 It\u2019s always my shift<\/em>.\u00a0
\u00a0
It\u2019s always the right time, in other words, to do something small that will make the world a better place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here. Michael Simone, a pastor in Virginia, calls it Broom Theology.\u00a0As a young man Simone worked for a trucking company.\u00a0 On slow days at the warehouse, when there weren\u2019t many trucks to load, he and his friends would tend to stand around.\u00a0That\u2019s when one of the older warehouse bosses would always say,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[506,350],"class_list":["post-2001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-servant-leadership","tag-servanthood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2003,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions\/2003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}