Give Your Best to Make It Better (01/21/2026)

I thought my dad was pretty spectacular as a child. Then I went to visit his workplace with my mother and siblings. Dad asked us to come and bring mother’s homemade sticky cinnamon rolls for coffee break for his employees. And as I watched the adults interacting with my dad during those visits, I thought that maybe I wasn’t the only one who thought he was pretty spectacular. But the last time the family went to the plant for my dad’s farewell party, there was no doubt when the spokesperson for the plant employees told my dad, “You gave your best and you made us better.”

I knew that line. My father taught it to all of us kids. He taught us and challenged us to give our best no matter what and to try to leave everything and everyday better than we found it. He encouraged us to do little things like pick up trash we didn’t create or use our allowance to do something nice for another. He showed us through his example that chipping in when there was work to do was natural and that we didn’t need to be “invited” to help when work needed to be done.

I remember well when he found out that Ethel, my mother’s helper with special chores around the house, wanted to be a nurse, he helped with her application and paid her tuition to nursing school. He instructed us, his kids, to help Ethel with her homework. I tutored her in math. And when it came time for us to move back to Iowa, Ethel had a new profession, she was a nurse. He gave his best for her and her family and he made things better for everyone.

We don’t all have opportunities like my dad had. We don’t all have employees we can help along the way. But I believe we all do have opportunities to do our best every day and everywhere we go. And I do believe we can make things better through our loving care of others.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus encountered a man with a withered hand at they synagogue. Jesus saw the man; Jesus felt compassion for the man and healed him. We may not be able to heal another as our Savior did, but we can see the other, we can feel compassion, we can act on that compassion, and in doing so, we can make things better. The LORD created us and gifted us for this journey, and I, like my dad, believe that when we do our best in the moment especially to see one another and to honor the other’s gifts and address the other’s need, we can be instruments of the LORD’s loving presence in the world.

So, as we continue our journeys of faith, hope and love, let us commit to doing our best and using all the LORD has given to us…time, talent, treasure…in loving service to our LORD and to one another. We all know how important others can be on our journey. Let us be our best and help others be theirs.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.