One Spring Sunday morning when I as a nineteen years old, I set out to go to church. I was wearing a new pink dress, pink high heels, and sporting a white floppy hat.
Though I was all decked out, my mode of transportation was not so stylish. That morning I had to take my dad’s 1947 Ford truck; not only was it not pretty, but it often would also not run properly.
o my surprise, the “ole girl” started with little fanfare, so off I went. But true to form, the rust bucket began to sputter and stammer and came to a stop right on the side of the road. I knew what to do but hated to get my new pink dress dirty. “The carburetor needed “tweaking.” That meant it needed to be smacked with the wrench that we kept on the floor on the passenger side of the old jalopy.
I had to leave my floppy hat in the truck for fear of the wind catching it and blowing it away. I grabbed the wrench, opened the hood, and took the dirty air breather off the carburetor. Trying not to touch the side of the truck, I gave the carburetor a blow with the wrench and pushed the idle leaver a notch to get it to run more smoothly.
After putting all the parts back in their place, I got in, put the truck in gear and I was off to church, floppy hat, pink high heals and slightly dirtied pink dress.
Thinking about this situation, I wondered how many of us are really terrified to getting dirty serving the children of God. Sunday I sat across from a young man with an obvious mental disorder, who periodically raised his hands inappropriately. His arms would flail as his head swayed from side to side. But as he swayed, the loving arms of the woman next to him wrapped around his thin shoulders to comfort him.
Right in front of me was an old black woman in a wheelchair who would clap her hands with the music as she sat alone. A young couple moved so they could sit next to her. They touched my happy heart as the young woman grabbed the elderly woman’s hand. While the praise music brought people to their feet, these unlikely friends swayed to the music, as if dancing in praise. This moment in time, bringing a big smile to an old face.
I wondered, as I sat in church watching these two examples of love, if I would be so compassionate. Would I shy away from the need for fear of being inconvenienced? Would I risk “getting dirty” to love as Jesus said to love?
That morning, an old saint of God smiled with each sway of her frail hands. She was not lonely, but the love of a stranger touched her. A loving woman comforted a young man in his anxiety and he took love home with him, as he remembers even unconsciously, the touch of an angel.
“’For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” (Matthew 25:35-40 NLT)
jeanie@answers2prayer.org
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31