GROWING SEEDS: How We Treat Others Is How We Treat Jesus

 

How - We - Treat - Others - Is - How - We - Treat
JESUS

This was the dogma my friend Sandee Casey lived every day of her short life on this earth.  I was gifted with knowing this beautiful woman who lived down the road from us for many years.....and calling her my friend for life.

It's easy to remember the first time I met her......she carried such a presence about her.  Once you moved past her external beauty; her crisp, starched blouses and colorful shoelaces, you couldn't miss how even more stunning her internal beauty was.  She had a sweet enduring way of always saying, "Well, bless her heart" that will forever make me smile when I think of her.

But the thing that set Sandee apart from most of us was her massive love of others.  How she treated everyone who crossed her path.  She actually lived Matthew 7:12:

"Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. 
This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets."

Did you catch that word "essence"?  It means, "Soul, Spirit, Nature, Core, Heart".  Sandee's essence was making sure others felt special.  Little gifts in the mailbox for the friend who had lost her "Fun".......hidden sterling silver treasures in the backyard for the new step-granddaughters to search out and find as they joined their new family.....Mardi Gras beads and glow necklaces were always on standby in her garage stash and her clown outfit wasn't far behind.  Her essence was like glitter falling down on everyone who met her.

See, Sandee knew the secret......she knew that when she loved others, she was loving Jesus Himself. 

And what about the verse right after this?  "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate.  The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.  But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it." (Matthew 7:13-14).

Truth is, Sandee made the decision to travel on the narrow road.  She treated others as she wanted to be treated.  She knew that the narrow road was all about Jesus - loving Him, serving Him, giving Him control.  And that's the road that led to her life.

GROWING SEEDS: W-O-R-R-Y

 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Matthew 6:25

"One morning, Death was walking into a city when a man stopped him and asked what he was doing.  Death answered, “I’m going into the city to kill 10,000 people.” The man replied, “That’s terrible that you would kill 10,000 people.” Death responded, “Taking people when their time has come is my job. Today I have to get my 10,000.”  Later, as Death was coming out of the city, the man met him. Again, he was furious. He said, “You told me this morning that you were going to take 10,000 people, but 70,000 died today.” Death answered, “Don’t get mad at me. I only took 10,000. Worry killed all the rest.” (1)

W-O-R-R-Y.

My friend, Beatrice is a 92 year old worry-all-the-time lady on my Meals on Wheels route.  She worries she's going to have a stroke one day....she worries about who called and hung up.....she worries about when the trash truck is going to show up and she worries about her doctor firing her.  Beatrice is the most worrisome person I've ever met.

And yet, she has a great and deep love for the Lord.  This - I - know. 
She just has a problem with trusting Him. 

And don't we all!  We've all been Beatrices at some point in our lives.  Being a recovering worrier myself, I'm learning how to replace that space within me that's been reserved for Worry....with Trust.  It's like when my granddaughter Brie was little.  She would stand on her bed, arms stretched out wide, and say, "Lele, I'm going to jump into your arms and you're going to catch me, right, Lele?"  She showed her trust in me by taking that leap off the bed and into my arms.  And I never dropped her.....not once.

It's the same with God.  He simply asks us to trust Him.....to catch us when we jump off the cliff of sorrow, anxiety, and worry.  And when we do....He catches us.  Those great big strong nail-scarred arms are outstretched as if to say, "I love you THISSSSS much" and He catches us as we trustingly fly through the air to His waiting arms.  And He never drops us....no, not once.

¹ Haddon W. Robinson

GROWING SEEDS: "Walter"

 

"I am the resurrection and the life. 
Those who believe in Me, even though they die like everyone else,
WILL LIVE AGAIN." 
John 11:25 NLT

I called him Walter.  He called me Veronica.

Neither of us could ever remember why.......such random pet names we gave each other so many years before.  To everyone else, he was Troy Arterbury.....but he was always Walter to me.

We first met 17 years ago......neighbors living three doors down from each other.  He had this infectious laugh that made everyone around him laugh.....and when this Arkansas Razorback cupped his hands to his mouth and did his "hog-call"......Goodness, I'd get the hiccups laughing so hard. 

I find myself waffling between extreme sadness for me and extreme happiness for my friend Walter who passed away a week ago.  The tears flow easily and the memories flood back quicker than I can process them.  And I remember reading about a time when Jesus felt these same emotions.  It was for His friend Lazarus....and the Bible shows Jesus' heart spilling out His eyes. 

 "Jesus wept". 

"His tears give you permission to shed your own.  Grief does not mean you don't trust; it simply means you can't stand the thought of another day without the Jacob or Lazarus or Walter of your life.  If Jesus gave the love, He understands the tears.  So grieve, but don't grieve like those who don't know the rest of the story." (Max Lucado)

My friend Walter kissed his sweet wife good-night last week, closed his eyes, drifted off to sleep, and awoke in heaven.  What a glorious beginning to the rest of his journey.....

Goodbye my friend......I know I'll see you again.  

"He will wipe away every tears from their eyes, and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore,
for the former things have passed away."
Revelation 21:4