It's so safe here

It's so safe here.

To love means setting your hearts on building relationships with people, and then to find a way to live into it.  God doesn't give us a blueprint.  He tells us to be humble and connect with people who might not have been our first choice.  Put on kindness and humility and let love lead the way. Your expression of love will look a little different from mine.  That's not a bad thing. It's a great thing. 

Bob Goff

There's something wonderfully practical and real about this approach to a life of love.  At its core is an appreciation of other people.  That may seem rather obvious, which I suppose it is.   A lot of great truths though are a bit like Dr. Who's Tardis...once you get inside it, well,  all sorts of things open up.   Kindness and humility would seem to be the keys to opening up the rich wonders of connections with other people. Those who are already in our lives (by our own choice or not!) and those who may be yet to enter our lives.   We learn by, as Bob says, "finding a way to live into it."

I've just come off the phone to a dear friend who is in a hospice now.  Her husband gave her the phone when I called and through the tears and breathlessness we had a short conversation before I prayed with her.   She is someone who, over her long life, really lived this life of love.   She had a lovely humble and kind personality and even her voice had a softness and gentleness to it.  It didn't surprise me that she had worked as a pastoral worker among old people for many years and even in her retirement volunteered to support an outreach work.  Such a character does not come quickly but grows over time, through difficulties and the constant deciding to opt for kindness and the humble road again and again.

As we looked back on our friendship I said something of all this to her and that at the end of the day it is the people and the relationships that really count in life.  Investing in others and finding our unique way to express and receive love is never a waste.   And as we talked about the joy that lay ahead for her I said you are like a high altitude climber, high up on a ridge leading the way for those of us left behind. And then she replied,  Oh Paul that is so true, and I am so safe here. 

 Isn't that wonderful?   With all the slopes of life falling away around her, as the ridge gets narrower and narrower and the air thinner and thinner she felt safe, so safe.   Someone who had lived out her faith in service and love for others in the hour of her own death felt held in the love of God.   Or to use the wonderful maternal words from Zephaniah 3:17 ‘(S)he will quiet you with her love. 

I believe this lockdown period can bear fruit for many years to come… love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5.   None of these come quickly, but if we value others and live out that valuing we too may find ourselves one day on the high ridges and know that we have been safe all the way through our lives.  Allow God to quiet you with her love as we all move into an unknown tomorrow.