We drove over to the place where grandmas and grandpas live, as she explained it, to sing them songs about the One who loves them greatly, and I prayed, to be reminded of what we are to be about on this earth.
She sang along with all her classmates, each holding a pink or red ballon, sang about how much Jesus loves them, loves us, loves everyone. Sang about how someday we're going to heaven. As they sang I looked over and saw a woman, her eyes closed and a smile on her face. Her hair was white and deep lines traced her face but when she opened her eyes, I was stilled by her beauty. In her eyes was what the children sang about, as sure as the sun, there it was, a woman who knows the love of God and has the hope of her future in heaven with Him.
They were to pass out treats to the residents and I went to help give my red and pink girl the courage to love. I told her to hand them to the grandma or grandpa and to tell them her name, to tell them happy Valentine's day, and to give them a hug. Around she went speaking to one after another after another, hugging each one, even the ones who couldn't speak, even the ones who made her uncomfortable.
I wanted her to understand something today, I wanted myself to understand something today, that loving people is more important than our own comfort. That it is in loving the ones hardest to love that we begin to understand God's love. To start to be able to feel it's weight in our hearts, and begin to be changed. And when we understand God's love, then the rest will follow, it is then we can be used, it is then we find freedom.
On the way to drop her off for the rest of her school day, I told her again and again, how proud I was. "Thank you for the way you talked to all those people you didn't know and thank you for hugging them, it was very special for them." Someday I will tell her, that when I look at her I can already see the gifts He has gifted her with and if she will only let Him, He has big plans for her life, because the the gift I see biggest when I watch her, is His love.
"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
7 comments:
you made me cry again!
And this post reminded me of an awesome children's book that we just bought called "Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge" by Mem Fox. It is about a boy who lives next to an old folks home. I bawled when I read it to Isaac. You should look for it at the library.
Beautiful! It is a difficult thing to look past one's own comfort and show love anyway.
so much beauty in this post, so much truth in your words. you are the best sort of mama, raising your small ones to make their lives all about Him.
thank you Julie and Nic, your words means so much!
I'm stopping by from Imperfect Prose...thank you for reminding me of this tonight-
loving people is more important than our own comfort
I needed that reminder as I'm facing a long "to do" list of things my family needs done tonight and when sleep seems a far off thing.
Your daughter must have been such a blessing today to the people she hugged and served.
oh jenny i love, love, love that you are teaching your daughter this... that you are helping her to see the ones the world skips over... you are Christ's handprints on this world, on her world... what a beautiful post.
love is the key to so much. How I struggle to love those that are different sometimes and then how my children can do it so easily. other times not so much. thank you for your beautiful story celebrating true love.
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