"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...."
Are you a woman of worship? How do women worship, anyway? Well, there are many ways and each and every one of them is an opportunity to express our love for our Lord.
Here at FBCFloweryBranch, I love to watch the women in our church in action. It is truly a wonder to see them go! Whether it be baking a cake or some other tantalizing sweet just to be a blessing for someone or whether it is a card to encourage someone who has been through a tough time. Whether it is just a kind word softly spoken at just the right moment or a joke to make one's heart merry, our women seem to know just what is needed and when. I am also blessed to watch them jump in and work hard, often after completing a full day at work.
This past summer, we held a night-time vacation Bible School at our church. Not only did our ladies rise to the challenge and come with a smiling face all dressed up in character but many of them came straight from a tiring day at work. You would never have known from their happy countenances that they were tired but I know many of them were.
In so many ways, our women show their love for our savior by the little things that they do for Him by quietly doing it for someone else. Their sacrifices do not go unnoticed or unappreciated.
This past Sunday, I stopped one of the little girls attending our Children's Church to compliment her on the lovely little dress she was wearing. One, I know, that her mother made for her. I said to her, "What a lovely little dress you have on!" She smiled up at me and replied with quiet confidence, "Thank you. God made it!"
It's what women value most in life. We sit down with our husbands to watch television and grimace when he boldly surfs right past that wonderful romance movie that we immediately noticed. We will give him that meaningful stare. Every woman knows about that particular stare. He just looks back with a blank expression and asks, "What?"
Of course they always seem to come through when it counts.......at least most of the time.......like on anniversaries and Valentine's Day! During the month of February, everyone turns their thoughts to the theme of love. But romantic love is not the focus of this article, sacrificial love is. I am reminded of the story of an orphanage that was bombed during the Vietnam War. Doctors and nurses from a nearby MASH unit rushed to the scene to try and save as many of the children as they could.
One child, a little girl, needed a quick blood transfusion in order to live. A frantic search ensured to determine the child's blood type and to discover someone there who could act as a donor. Though none matched among the staff, they soon located several of the surviving children who matched.
Knowing time was of the essence, the medical staff knew that they had to use one of the children from the orphanage and, struggling with the language barrier, they tried to explain as best they could that they needed a volunteer to donate blood for the little girl.
None of the children would step forward at first. Then, slowly, as if in great pain, a little boy stepped forward as one big tear rolled down his cheek. He stared boldly ahead as the nurse grabbed his hand while patting him on the back for his bravery.
Before too long, they had both children laying side by side as the life-giving blood flowed from the arm of one child to the next. Suddenly, the boy gave a great gasp and broke into inconsolable sobbing. Doing their best to calm him, the staff were at their wit's end when a jeep pulled up and a Vietnamese nurse rushed in to offer assistance.
Upon seeing the little boy so upset, she immediately went to him and asked, in his own language, if he was in pain. She listened to his replies and then spoke calm assurances in rapid Vietnamese. Soon, the child's cries subsided to be replaced by a smile and a look of peaceful trust.
The nurse turned to explain, "When you asked for his blood to help the other child, he thought that you were going to take ALL of his blood. I have explained to him that you will only need a little and that it will not make him sick and that he will be fine afterwards."
Completely baffled, one of the MASH nurses asked, "But, if he thought we were going to take all of his blood, why did he volunteer?" The vietnamese nurse smiled and explained that, when she asked the boy the same thing, he replied, "Because she's my friend."
If you open a magazine, turn on the television or listen to the radio, you can't help but hear about the tough times we live in. Walking down an aisle in the grocery store last week, I could not help hearing an older woman say to her friend, "It looks like we'd better to get ready to start living like our parents did during the war."
Yes, times are tough but opportunities to be a friend have never more abounded! Look around you......everywhere you see someone hurting is a chance to be a Christian (like Christ) to that person. Every time you meet someone who is discouraged is a divine appointment God has given you to share the Good News!
How easy it would be to just stay back in the shadows like the rest of the children did on that fateful day in Vietnam. How easy it would be for us to live in fear ourselves, forgetting that Christ holds our hands and walks with us every step of the way. But the one who would be like Christ will not be content to stand in the shadows. Step out in fear, with tears rolling down your cheeks but step out anyway!
If Christ could DIE for us, the least we can do is to LIVE for Him. So, dear sister in Christ……GO….. LIVE…….and BE a friend.
