It was a number of years ago I heard about a woman who was washing
dinner dishes.
She got toward the end of the pile, and stopped.
She stopped with a coffee cup in her hand, and asked herself, "How many
times have I washed this cup?" That question was followed by another.
She asked, "Is this all there is to life? Is this who I am?" The lady
went to her bedroom, packed a small suitcase with a few of her
belongings and, quietly, walked out the front door and without a plan,
drove off.
That evening, from an undisclosed location, she called
her husband and told him she wasn't coming home. During the next weeks
she would occasionally call to check up on her little ones, and her
husband assured her he still loved her and wanted her back. She
declined. Worry had a stranglehold on her.
Eventually, the
husband hired a private investigator to locate his wife. It was easy
enough for him to find her. She was holed up in a budget motel in a city
about 200 miles away. The husband dropped off the children at grandma's,
and went for a drive. He knocked on the door of his wife's room, unsure
as to how he might be received.
The door slowly opened; his wife
looked at him in silence and then fell, sobbing into his embrace.
Days later he said, "I am glad you're home. I wouldn't change
anything. But, I've wondered, when I called you, I told you I loved you,
but you wouldn't come home. What changed?"
The wife had known the
question would eventually come, and she had her reply. She said, "When
you called, I heard words. When you showed up, I knew how much you loved
me. You had sought me out; you had come for me."
Has it ever
occurred to you that the Lord has done the same for us?
We all
have run away from things; we all are worried and afraid. True, the Lord
had always told us He loved us, but somehow just words weren't enough
for many. Their worries were real and personal and far too close.
This, in part, is why the Lord sent His Son to seek and save the
lost -- to bring light to those in darkness, to recall wandering sheep,
to share our burdens, and give His life so you and I might be saved.
A real Jesus, a living Jesus told His disciples they could cast
their cares upon Him because He cared for them. His life, death and
resurrection were undeniable proof of His caring. Now, this day, Jesus
says the same to us.
No matter how big is your fear or how long
you have been running, Jesus' invitation still stands. He comes, He
cares, and He can change your heart and mind so those anxieties are put
into a proper perspective.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, Heavenly
Father, thank You for loving me not just with words, but with actions as
shown in the life of Your Son. May His sacrifice and commitment be
motivation for me to respond in faith and cast my anxieties on Him. In
Jesus' Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Lutheran Hour Ministries All rights reserved;
not to be duplicated without permission.
