“And love, by its very
nature, always reaches out.’
David G. Benner
In my
former church I often watched Kevin, an eight year old boy go around the church
emptying trash cans into a large plastic trash bag. I looked forward to those
evenings when he would come after school to the church to help his mother, our
sexton, with her work. He was always pleasant, with a large beautiful smile that
was occasionally punctuated with a near breathless excitement to share with me
something he experienced that day in school. Kevin and I became friends and he
would always brighten the day when he showed up with his mother.
His mother,
a single mother of two young children,
worked hard to provide for her family. The church provided her with ‘flex-time’
so that she could meet the needs of her elementary-aged children and complete
her responsibilities for the church. This occasionally meant that she would
have to pick her children up from school and bring them to church as she
completed that day’s work. What fascinated me was that all she asked her
children to do at the church was their school work. Yet, Kevin was compelled to
help mom with her work in some way. The vacuum cleaner was larger than he was
so that didn’t work. The soap dispensers in the bathrooms were out of his reach
so that wasn’t a possibility. And there was no way she, being a responsible
mother, would let Kevin near dangerous cleaning chemicals. What remained was
emptying trash cans.
My
fascination was Kevin’s unmistakable love for his mother. He adored her. And
love, suggests David Benner, by its very nature, always reaches out. As Kevin
“dwelt” in his mother’s love and his love for her, he could not help but to be
caught up in his mother’s work. He participated in his mother’s work according
to manner that he was equipped and had ability. He emptied trash cans and did
so with sheer delight.
Kevin is an
inspiration to me. When I become weary by endless church committee meetings and
have listened to innumerable people who always seem to know how to do my job
better, Kevin reminds me that I am loved by God, and that I have been invited
by that God to be “caught-up” in God’s work in the world. When I remember this,
the spring in my step returns and once again I experience delight as a pastor, a
pastor that serves our Lord in the manner in which I have been equipped and in
which I have ability.
Joy,
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