I read a story the other day.
Before the turn of the twentieth century, an asylum in the suburbs of Boston housed severely retarded and disturbed individuals. One of the patients was a girl who was simply called Little Annie. She was totally unresponsive to others in the asylum. The staff tried everything possible to help her, yet without response. Finally she was confined to a cell in the basement of the asylum and given up as hopeless.
A Christian woman worked at the asylum, and she believed that every one of God’s creatures needed love, concern, and care. So she decided to spend her lunch hours in front of Little Annie’s cell, reading to her and praying that God would free her from her prison of silence. Day after day the Christian woman came to Little Annie’s door and read, but the little girl did not respond. Months went by. The woman tried to talk to Little Annie, but it was like talking to an empty cell. She brought tokens of food for the girl, but they were never received.
Then one day a brownie was missing from the plate the caring woman retrieved from Little Annie’s cell. Encouraged she continued to read to her and pray for her. Eventually the little girl began to answer the woman through the bars of her cell. Soon the woman convinced the doctors that Little Annie needed a second chance at treatment. They brought her up from the basement and continued to work with her. Within two years Little Annie was told she could leave the asylum and enjoy a normal life.
She chose not to leave, though. She was so grateful for the love and attention she was given by the Christian woman that she decided to stay and love others as she had been loved.
Nearly half a century later the Queen of England held a special ceremony to honor one of the most inspiring women in the United States, Hellen Keller. When asked to what she would attribute her success at overcoming the dual handicap of blindness and deafness, Hellen Keller replied, “If it had not been for Anne Sullivan, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Anne Sullivan, who tenaciously loved and believed in an incorrigible blind and deaf girl named Hellen Keller, was Little Annie. Because one selfless Christian woman in the dungeon of an insane asylum believed that a hopeless little girl needed God’s love, the world received the marvelous gift of Hellen Keller.
(from Victory Over the Darkness by Neil T. Anderson)
In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul talks about spiritual gifts. He lists off things like prophecy, miracles, healings, tongues, and interpretation. He then goes on to describe how we, as members of one body, are given these gifts to work together. At the end of the chapter Paul possess some questions to his readers, “Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.”
The famous chapter 13 that follows opens with this line “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
It has been easy for me to glorify spiritual gifts such as healing, tongues, and miracles. I have witnessed them and held those that walk in such giftings in high regard. I desire God to bless me with more and more of them. Despite my prayers and seeking I have experienced little of them coming by my hands. Why? Do I lack the faith? Probably part of it, I could definitely use more faith in my life. Do I have selfish motives? Probably part of it too, there are times where, admittedly, I enter with selfishness. But I talk with God about these often and strive for growth, especially regard the gifts of the spirit. There had to be something else, but what?! I could feel myself becoming confused and frustrated as I did my best to trust God through it.
After reading the story of the Christian woman it hit me. I had found the missing piece to the my puzzle; love. Without realizing it I had belittled the gift of love. However unintentionally it was, while being so focused on the things that dazzle the eye, I had neglected the true depths of the power of love. In the midst of seeking what was good I forgot about what is the greatest.
I was aware of the inspirational story of Hellen Keller. I knew the name of Anne Sullivan. The Christian woman, however, I had never heard of. She doesn’t even have a name in the story, yet she played the most important role in the story. She never forgot about the most excellent way of love.
