good and faithful

It's my parents' anniversary today. They've been married for nearly four decades.

The more failed dating relationships I have -- well, let's be honest, the longer I go without dating at all -- the more amazed I am at their marriage.

They found each other, they committed to each other, they stayed together, they worked things out.  They figured out how to live life together, and how to become each other's strongest supporter and closest friend.  They learned how to be faithful. By that, I don't mean just marital fidelity. I mean that they learned how to continue to do the small, unglamorous things that made their marriage work, even when no one else was looking.

One of my favorite parables in the Bible is the one in Matthew 25 where the master says to his servant, "Well done, good and faithful servant...enter into the joy of your master."

Those are the two words I want to hear when I enter the other side of eternity.  "Good and faithful."

Faithfulness isn't glamorous.  It's not high-profile.  It doesn't earn you recognition, and you don't get much attention or credit.

But it matters.

We tend to look to high-profile people to learn how to live our lives.  Best-selling authors, keynote conference speakers, megachurch pastors.

But I think we'd do better to learn from people who are not famous, but faithful.

Want to know how to be a good person?

Turn off the TV and talk to your grandpa.

Want to know how to love others well?

Talk to the widows at your church who rush to their kitchens to make a casserole when anyone so much as sneezes.

Want to know how to be faithful in little things?

Talk to the janitor who's cleaned toilets for decades without ever complaining.

Talk to people who have never held a microphone or taken a selfie or taken the stage.

Admire people -- not for the number of followers they have on social media, but for the faithfulness with they've followed Jesus in their life.  The faithfulness with which they showed up at work, maintained their friendships, nurtured their marriage.

Talk to people like my mom and dad who, through decades of commitment, have learned what it means to be good and faithful.