The Slow Martyrs

I have a heart for the persecuted and for the martyr.   Movies like "Brave Heart" stir up a fire within me that makes me want to yell, "Freedom!"   To die for a cause and for a reason.  

To live and die so that others will be able to say, "Wow, their life meant something." 

People with fortitude and grit and dedication, even to death, inspire me.  

Please know that I am not minimizing the martyr by any means.

It is the boring, mundane and unsung life that frightens me.  

What if my entire life consists of standing on the land that God called me to stand?  What if I'm only a wife and a mother?  What if I'm only a Pastor's wife or a teacher?

What about the slow martyrs?  Those faithful and dedicated and unsung martyrs.  The faithful saints who sacrifice their health and life for the work they believe in?  Great and noble men and women who lay themselves on the altar. 

This thought was running through my mind over and over this week at Kids Camp.   My job was dishes, and I lived a little of the life of the Camp Director and family.   

These people work tirelessly and from morning until night preparing food, unplugging toilets, cleaning and repairing.  Working hard, hot and long hours.  They are heroes!  Unsung. 

I met an older couple living in a RV, traveling the country to volunteer where no one else will go.  This couple skipped the golf retirement, for service.  They doggedly fixed and cleaned and volunteered.  

 Don't let the sweet old woman fool you; she still has fire coming out of her eyes kept the dishcloths and towels washed, painted and cleaned.

The director, dorm leaders and volunteers who have spent a month here at camp giving and serving so kids have the best week of their lives.  

The world is full of unsung heroes and slow martyrs.  

Lives spent on serving others.

Look around.  There are true heroes among us.