LOVE

Yesterday I had the opportunity to eat Chinese food with two of my favorite people. For us, as I’m sure it is with many others, fortune cookies provide eagerly awaited fun at the end of the Chinese dining experience. We each choose our own cookies – no one else can choose one for you, of course– and we read our “fortunes” aloud. Each recitation is followed by a chorus of “hmmm” and “aha” and “oooh, now that’s interesting” …and then move on to whatever is next on the agenda for the day and our “fortunes” are quickly forgotten.

Not so with my fortune cookie message yesterday. It was not quickly forgotten. In fact, my mind has been mulling it over from the moment I cracked open the crunchy, sweet crescent and saw a single word written on the slip of paper inside.

Love.

“How ironic, since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day,” I thought. But there was more to it. I knew it. We have been covering all kinds of love lessons at church lately: God’s love for us, our love for God, love for neighbors, love for family, love yourself, love the unlovable, speak in love, act in love…This word and its meaning has been taking up a lot of my brain space lately and here it was again.
I was confident this was no coincidence. 

Now, with today being Valentine’s Day and finances being especially tight, I decided to do something nice for my precious husband since we couldn’t really afford to exchange gifts this year. I know that he enjoys coming home to an organized, clean home. Admittedly, this is something that does not happen very often due to my work schedules, various projects, kids and my general lack of motivation to do anything as mundane as cleaning. But, today was different. The clean house was a gift for my husband, whom I love dearly. The picking up and straightening and dusting and cleaning were easy and- dare I say - fun! Then came the vacuuming - the only part of cleaning that I really like because it gives my mind a chance to wander wherever it chooses.

My vacuumusing mind settled on this word “Love” and all that it involves. I noticed that the cleaning tasks I had been doing took on a completely different feel because I had been doing them in love, not because I “had to” or “should” or they just needed to be done. I was acting in love and so my attitude toward the tasks had been changed, my burden had been changed, I had been changed.

It hit me that God gave me the command in 1Corinthians 16:14 – Do everything in love – not necessarily to bless others in my life, but to provide a blessing for me…because HE LOVES ME. With this command comes freedom from the oppression of thinking “you owe me” or “I’m not appreciated” and it lifts the burden of never-ending to-do lists. I believe wholeheartedly that adhering to this command will fill my life with the joy and overwhelming sense of purpose that God intended.

Love.

remembrance

Earlier this week I was working on sorting through the enormous piles of papers in my grandfather’s office. I found the newspaper from September 12, 2001. When I looked at the pictures and the headlines, I was immediately transported back to my mother’s family room, watching the live footage of the second tower collapsing. That image will be forever etched in my mind along with the feeling of utter disbelief and shock I felt while watching it.

At the time I didn’t think about the date or the fact that September 11th was only a few days away. Today as I lifted a stack of papers to file, this newspaper again found its way into my hands. Stunned, I sat and looked at the newspaper on the anniversary of the horrific tragedy it was reporting. This time I was reminded of the days following September 11, 2001.

In the midst of uncertainty and fear, people poured into churches, searching for stability and sanctuary from the chaos. We cried for the families that lost loved ones and prayed for God to give them comfort. Their pain was incomprehensible and it seemed that praying was the least…and the most…we could do for them. We cherished the time we spent with our own families and prayed that God would protect them in them in the days to come. We held on tight to our faith and prayed for our country’s protection against an intimidating and faceless enemy. Neighborhood streets were lined with American flags and “United We Stand” was plastered on windows, t-shirts and bumpers. The walls that divide us were gone. We were bonded together by a common experience.

Nine years later, our country is riddled with division: racial tensions, partisan politics, economic disparity, fighting among church denominations. I pray that now, as we remember the tragedy of September 11th, we will also remember the unity that followed.

Deep Cleaning

So, I got a new vacuum (well, actually it was a hand-me-down from my sister-in-law BUT, it is new to me) … one of those Rainbow deals… you know, the kind filled with water and enough sucking power to inhale a small animal? …Well, that might be a slight exaggeration but it definitely has enough to suction to get rid of some serious set-in carpet funk. In fact, I was incredibly shocked and a little bit disgusted when I vacuumed the upstairs and saw the amount of goo and gloppy gunk floating in the water chamber. After seeing that filth, I knew I was not going to sleep well until I degunked the rest of the house.

I gathered my strength, rolled up my sleeves and worked my way from room to room, sucking up grime and dragging my water hauling R2D2 friend behind me (working up quite a serious glisten, I might add). Of course, in true vacuumusing fashion, my mind began to wander. I began to ponder the debris that was hidden deep in my seemingly clean carpet. I began to think about the (good grief) pain in the rear this whole deep cleaning process really was. Then, I started thinking about my own life and the dirty mess that has built up over the years, hidden beneath the surface of a fairly fuzz-free exterior. I thought of the extraordinary efforts I’d exerted in the past trying to sweep away all that accumulated dirt in order to make my life “right”.

Still partially reeling from a powerful study of John in this week’s Bible study, my mind immediately turned to verses in John and Ephesians that talk about the futileness of human effort in the battle of dirty build-up in our lives. I am aware that I could work diligently every hour of every day to correct past wrongs, clean up every mess, follow every rule and observe every tradition; still it would never be enough. Ephesians 2:8-9 says that salvation is a gift from God and is not the result of human works. The good news is that the extraordinary effort has already taken place. The deep cleansing has been done for me. I simply had to accept the offer.

It doesn’t make practical sense. It doesn’t make logical sense. I suppose it won’t really make any sense at all until I have the opportunity to talk to the creator Himself when I reach my final heavenly destination but I do know this: Christ, through His infinite love and compassion, exerted all of the effort needed to wash the gunk from my life and He continues to give my spirit a deep cleaning. There is no other effort required of me...no hauling around of special machinery, following detailed instructions and working up a sweat trying to get it right…simply a decision to follow Him and a request for Him to come into my life. He takes care of the rest. Amazing.