How Can We Show Love...

These are dark days but because He lives we can face tomorrow!

"Because I live, you also will live."

John 14:19

 

Have you found it hard to feel encouraged in these dark days? 

 "it's so hard to know how to show love in a city where everyone is afraid"

said Melissa last night as she struggled with ideas on how to show love

in a world where again this week so much of the news 

is heavy and hard and we want to change the world with love but how?

~ "You must be the change you want to see in the world."~
Mahatma Ghandi 

Melissa shared an encounter with her intent to show love the other day...

she heard a lady in a wheel-chair calling 'will someone please help me cross the street?'

so she thought, 'well, that's pretty obvious! I can help her'

but as she pushed the very heavy wheel chair the woman wailed in pain over every bump,

Melissa got stuck in an LRT track and sheer panic forced the chair free!

When she reached the other side one woman was as distraught as the other

and she said 'all I intended to do was show love'.💝

It's hard not to let anger take root in the unfairness-es of life...

but God IS love. 

He IS good!

Psalm 145:8-9

 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
    slow to anger and rich in love.

 The Lord is good to all;
    he has compassion on all he has made.

 

Let's trade our anger in for humble prayer

for a heart of forgiveness and love!

I turned to Psalm 37 yesterday for comfort and encouragement

It begins like this...

Do not fret because of evildoers,...

We are not equipped to stand up for what we believe

until we get down on our knees! 

How can we show love in a world where fear’s dark fathoms roll

With woe and pain, anxiety, chaos out of control

Mountains can seem so hard and high, but we are called to climb

And suffer the strain of its struggle one step at a time

How can we show love in a world where doubt and mistrust mars

The heart where hope should spring immortal, instead of hate’s scars

How can we hold a hand when Covid keeps touch beyond reach

Or comfort one another in death’s losses, dark and deep

How can we show love in a world of love misunderstood

Because broken humanity has not loved like we should

This place where racial prejudice makes people vile of heart

Makes we who want to show love, wonder how to do our part

How can we show love in a world where opinion takes charge

The Word of God rejected/neglected by the masses, by and large

How can we gain wisdom to know how to love without fail

On an ocean of ships tossed to and fro without a sail

How can we show love and not take offense when ‘they’ oppose

When we are crowned with thorns while scorn tramples love’s perfect rose

When evil seems to triumph and the world screams ‘where is God’

When answers are inept when instead of a kiss, a rod

How can we show love in a world that needs it desperately?

We start by looking through lenses of true humility

We start by seeking God to guide, for we are called to climb

One smile, kind word, one retort withheld, one prayer at a time

One heart that trusts the One who battled in Gethsemane

Surrendering His will to Love’s Supreme Authority

One life committed to the call no matter what the price

Where the greatest Command of all begins with sacrifice

© Janet Martin