A Servant Heart

The other day I read about a Servant Heart, trying to understand what it is, what it is not, and how to develop a Servant Heart.

I learned that Jesus had a Servant Heart in showing compassion and love to the ultimate degree, giving His life for all men, that we might have our sins blotted out and have eternal life. He healed, raised the dead to walk again, had victory over death, so that we, too, might rise to live with Jesus.

What attitude do we display if we have a Servant Heart? One of submission and humility. “Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty. ” Matthew 23:11-12 (Message)

Another quality is availability. Practicing a Servant Heart is not a part time job for it involves being sensitive to the needs of others and meeting them whether or not it is inconvenient.

Recently I read more about my paternal Grandmother (Grosmom) Emilie Brunn as Mother recorded her life. Jacob Siemens (V) married Emilie Brunn in Kansas in 1897. (Pictured – l to right – Jacob V, Johnnie, Emilie, bk row, Herman, Elizabeth, Jacob VI and Dietrich)

She was a young barefoot immigrant girl from Sartov, Russian on the Volga River, who came to America at the age of 16. Her older sister sponsored her by paying for the journey and so it was that for almost five years, Emilie worked as a servant girl like all servants in those days, she was treated as a slave. She did the hard work of cleaning, cooking, hoeing (even in the field), milking – whatever was asked of her. Emilie set the table each morning with dishes, sugar, cream, butter and jelly. While she went out for chores, the family ate. When she returned for her meal all the goodies of bread spread and sugar had been removed from the table. If she wanted any sweetners, there was always molasses.

Emilie never saw a penny of her earnings – it all went to her sister. When Emilie married at the age of almost 21 years to her beloved Jacob V, she had to borrow a pair of her sister’s shoes to stand beside her handsome groom.

Jacob and Emilie moved into their first home – a chicken house – as soon as they had the floor scraped of dung with a hoe and the place was lye-scrubbed and clean – fit for human living. Elizabeth was born nine months after the wedding, Jacob VI followed her 13 months later. Before little Jacob was 2 years old, Dietrich joined the family. Herman followed three years later. Johnny came three and a half years after that. “Annake” or Anna came four years later. There is no record of the miscarriages that took place in the gaps of years.

Jacob V worked hard to provide for his family. He made extra money to add to farming, as the chief mechanic of a threshing crew, getting up at 5 am each morning and often working until midnight. Jacob was an able speaker and someone asked him to ‘cry’ a sale (auction). Although the hours were long through heat and cold, sun and rain, he was able to bring home money for necessities.

Finally God tapped this able Sunday School teacher, “Preach for me!” So Jacob V went to the school with no walls. He had his Bible which he studied. He practiced the art of preaching behind the barn and down the field rows of corn. God blessed his efforts and the Mennonite Brethren Conference elected him as their traveling evangelist.

Always, Emilie was at home with her family, working, cajoling, scolding and keeping the farm and family going. Often Jacob V was gone when he was needed for runaway horses, discovering Jacob VI’s blindness, her miscarriages and infectious diseases. It is no wonder the Siemens boys could not excel at games, they were too tired to play, for they did many chores.

When the MB Conference at Ebenfeld reappointed him as traveling evangelist for another year, Jacob V walked to the platform in that huge packed tent and asked for a word. With tears running down his cheeks, he explained that someone else should carry that burden, for his health was failing. The MB Conference was unrelenting, saying, “You are the best evangelist we have!”

Jacob V was a very handsome man with a shock of curly gray hair and electric blue eyes. His square chin spelled determination, but his life style had punished his body severely. Arthritic pains kept him awake at night. When he spoke at Tabor college chapel, the young student preachers were assigned to listen and outline Mr. Siemens’ sermon, checking later with him to see how they ‘measured up’. Mr. Siemens had an analytical mind that needed no scraps of paper. He logically outlined his sermons in his head. He made each point logically and quietly – then with a voice of thunder, Jacob V would nail that point home!

One day, as Jacob V was ready to board a train, he looked down to see his empty hand – no suitcase! Arthritis had deadened all feeling. He retraced his steps to get his suitcase and bought a ticket for home. He suffered from creeping paralysis that further incapacitated him the next six years from the wheelchair to the bed. Emilie took care of Jacob V with no help for the rest of her life with her sweet loving servant heart. Pulleys were installed over his bed and in the bathroom. Emilie gave him tub baths and tucked him into bed. She saved and fed him. Jacob V was a proud man and wore clothes, not pajamas. Anna Daisy, Emilie’s daughter-in-law, helped Emilie do the laundry the first summer she and Herman were married. Often there were as many as 12 pairs of slacks to be starched and ironed in one week’s washing.

Emilie would not hear of hiring any help, taking care of Jacob V was the work that belonged to her. Anna Daisy found Emilie holding Jacob V in her arms, both were weeping uncontrollably. They were both very strong people and this display was unusual. Jacob V’s mind was razor-sharp until his last illness. He was only 54 years old when he died early in 1930.

The ordeal of caring for Jacob V for six years left Emilie an old woman. Her body had been sacrificed in love. Her education had been in some Russian school, but there was o time for study in America. She knew how to cook, clean house, and in the six years she did some exquisite handwork. And Emilie knew the art of serving.

This is the story of a servant heart, one who finds fulfillment in serving. Emilie knew God and the importance of trusting Him. When I think of the journey Emilie took in this life from Russia to America, from Belief to Trust in Jesus, I know she hears the words, written in Matthew 25:34 – ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom.’