Late Night Pondering

What a journey we are on.  Having just returned from Kenya about 2 weeks ago, I am attempting to adjust to life in a completely different world.  I ponder the sights I saw, the lives I was privileged to touch and the voices I heard and one thing continues to play over and over in my mind – it’s all about love. 

Love.  It’s not nearly as complicated as we would like to sometimes think.  It’s not an idea – it’s an action.  Love IS patient.  Love IS kind.  Jesus said that they (the world) would know we are Christians by our love.   This leads me to this question: What does love look like? It looks like meeting the need of the one in front of you. 

Love looks like a cup of hot porridge to a street boy who may not get anything else to eat or drink that day.  Love looks like holding a Muslim woman’s baby on a place while she helps her toddler in the bathroom.  Love looks like hugging someone with AIDS.  Love looks like giving a loaf of bread to a blind grandmother. 

So what does that have to do with me here in America?  I haven’t run into many of those situations since my return.  But I have seen someone who is feeling as though they can’t go on another day.  I have seen someone who feels as though no one cares.  I have seen someone who just wants someone, anyone to listen to what they have to say. 

While the issues may be different, the answer is still the same.  The answer is Jesus – He IS LOVE.  So, as I sit here and ponder my purpose for being here in America, I find that it is absolutely no different than my purpose for traveling half way around the world.  My purpose is to love the one in front of me.  What if we all went through our day with one purpose - To love the one in front of us? What a journey that would be.  What a journey that would be indeed.