the chatter of rapid spanish,
the light streaming through the coffee shop window,
and the little boy with dirt stained clothes.
he held a basket of lollipops in his hand as he journeyed from table to table with a smile that showed his rotting teeth.
“no garcias” i said as he approached me. unshaken he moved on to the next table.
and with the nod of a head, glint of an eye, and yet another dismissive finger the boy began to exit the cafe when the barista ran to stop him. instead of coins, the man handed the boy a glass of water. but that glass was full of so much more than water. the glass was full of Love.
–
Love is that “one thing” that empowers us, fuels us, and convicts us.
Love is as simple as a glass of water because it’s a sweet Love-
a “hey, let’s talk” kinda love.
a “can i help you clean carrots?” kinda love.
a Love so sweet that a few teenagers fundraised thousands of dollars to fly thousands of miles just to knock on a stranger’s front door and share a Gift so simple yet too powerful not to share.
& a lot of times sharing that oh so sweet Gift means stepping outside of my comfort zone.
…aka, fully embracing my limited spanish abilities & eating “mystery“ food.
but Love doesn’t end there. in fact, it doesn’t really end anywhere. it’s an everyday choice to be joy, be patience, and be kindness to people.
…it’s seeking to understand instead of acting out of emotion.
…it’s walking in interruption instead of solely focusing on self.
^^^that means taking out the bathroom trash for the millionth time. it means stopping to talk with the beggars on the street and meeting people where they’re at.
since being on the race, God has shown me that Love doesn’t always look like a superhero saving the day, most of the time it’s equivalent to sweeping a house because in reality, Love just looks a whole lot like willingness, availability, & sacrifice.
…like when Sav & Cat volunteered to wake up three hours early on a weekend so that i can make my 9 am hair appointment.
…& that time Kate threw away a bag full of my throw up in the middle of the night.
…or even when Britt eagerly jumped out of bed at one in the morning to check in on me as i sobbed during The Notebook.
through instances like these, i constantly find myself both humbled and inspired by the simple sweetness of Love. through instances like these, God has taught me more about what it means to live like Jesus loved. after all, Love is a pretty powerful way of life. it’s a simple yet demanding truth that God asks all of us to chose into daily. to pick up our cross, follow Him, and love on people around us is a choice. a decision to die to ourselves in even the tiniest of ways.
in the book of John, Jesus tells us that to love is to lay down our lives for those around us. i always thought that was a little extreme. but as time went on, God helped me realize that dying for those around me didn’t necessarily mean a physical death, but rather dying to my own selfish desires and wants for the sake of uplifting others. aka, death just looks like choosing generosity. death looks like choosing grace. death looks like choosing a servant’s heart. and the good news is that all those things aren’t death because they’re some scary, intangible expectation, but rather opportunities to not only know but also show the sweet Love of Jesus Christ over and over again. if only we could see that opportunity as a royal Gift rather than a chore on a checklist- oh how Kingdom would come and how sweet it would be!
—
“give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty. the smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. you won’t lose out on a thing”
-matthew 10:40-42 (msg)
