Love. . .

I write this post at risk that some dear sweet friends are going to think that I write about them every time we spend time together.  But they are so inspirational.  The thing is that I don't even think they know how amazing they are.  They just do life. . .loving out-loud their Savior.

So through the night I was thinking (yes I know I should have been sleeping) about all the little snippets of conversation and what makes spending time with them so special.  By morning, the Lord in His great mercy and grace showed me.  They really get it! They understand more about Jesus than any lay person I have ever known.  They don't speak Christian-ease or rush around doing church work.  They definitely serve at church but they serve with their lives.  They live so much like our Savior would if He walked earth in the flesh today.  It leveled me with humility. It made me re-evaluate the way I think and what I do.

Do my actions, motives and words show my love for the Savior? I want to guard those more closely but how?  And then I wept before the throne. For only He can change those things.

When I choose how to spend my time, talents and resources. . .who does it serve? What difference does it make? Is it the way Jesus would spend them? Am I willing to do the hard stuff to really serve Him and the least of these? Or do I do the easier stuff? I especially see this with my passion for orphan ministry (my friend showed me this). It is easier to try to motivate others to help than get dirty in the trenches myself. But my friend, well she is like Jesus telling the children to come to her.  She is their shelter even when she is dead tired herself,  She and her husband awaken the love that was nearly forever lost in these children.  The love that their fragile little hearts had almost decided to be a myth.  Because of these sweet lovers of Christ Jesus, these children know love and thus will be able to understand that God can love them too.  It is a clear reminder that working with orphans has eternal consequences.