LOVE WITH ITS WORK BOOTS ON
Well, ain’t you plum a sight for sore eyes! Howdy there! Now, come right on up here to this ol’ front porch, friend, and settle yourself down real good in one of them ol’ chairs right over there before that ol’ screen door starts fussin’ like a lil’ guinea hen that discovered somebody done moved its feed pan. Around here, we know talk can come cheaper than an ol’ sack of yesterday’s turnips. Anybody can say, “Call me if you need anything.” But love gets mighty interestin’ when it takes time to be puttin’ on work boots, grabs a casserole dish, and heads down the road.
John sho’-nuff’ didn’t leave much wiggle room. “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Love ain’t just merely somethin’ we feel. Biblical love moves and makes a difference.
Folks carryin’ real heavy burdens don’t always ask for help. Sometimes grief has ‘em so tired and weary that they couldn’t organize a grocery list if a lil’ ol’ squirrel that owned a clipboard offered assistance. Sometimes embarrassment keeps ‘em real quiet. Sometimes they simply don’t even know what they need.
So, perhaps we shouldn’t always ask.
Bring supper. Mow the grass. Pick up the children. Sit quietly beside the hospital bed. Send the prayer text, then actually pray before an ol’ raccoon could raid the garbage and disappear into the woods.
Jesus downright loved that way. He plum touched lepers (Matthew 8:2–3). He washed His disciples’ feet (John 13:4–5). Ultimately, He gave Himself on the cross. His love had hands, feet, sacrifice, and scars.
And Hebrews 6:10 reminds us that God don’t overlook the love shown when we serve His people by telling us, “God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints.” Heaven notices the casserole nobody applauded, the quiet visit nobody photographed, and the grass cut for a neighbor that never knew whom to thank.
Friend, love don’t need a trumpet. It plum needs obedience. Find one person this week and quietly lighten that person’s load. Don’t wait until your calendar behaves itself because calendars can be about as cooperative as an ol’ cantankerous mule beside a mud puddle.
Father, open my eyes to the needs around me. Give me a love that moves beyond words into humble service. Make my hands willing, my heart attentive, and my obedience quiet and sincere. Let others experience Your kindness through the way I serve. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
So, there you have it, sho’-nuff’, friend. Now, scoot on off this porch today with your heart wide open and your sleeves rolled up. Be the kind of blessing that arrives before somebody has to ask. Let your faith leave footprints somewhere besides the church aisle. And when evening settles over the trees, and the lil’ ol’ whippoorwill starts carryin’ on, may somebody’s burden be lighter because God sent you walking down the road.
With joy,
Gwen
