I peered out the front windows, ivory sheers in right hand, forehead furrowed. In the street my tan car sat forlorn and sick. Wide shoulders hunched over inspecting, replacing, fixing. Hydraulics long gone, a jug of windshield fluid held the hood open.
He should have been somewhere else. But he’d answered my distress call. Like a bound woman lying on the tracks unable to escape, he’d rushed in to save me. “I’ll be there as soon as my meeting is over.”
I’d sat in the car and tried again. Just in case I’d turned the key wrong. Anything is possible with me. Dead as the grass under the foot of snow in my yard. Dead for now, but life in there somewhere.
Crinkled sheer in my fist, I waited for the wave beckoning me forth. I stood over the vent blowing warm air. He stood in the cold, making numb fingers work against their will. A wave of love rushed over me. A thousand roses couldn’t have been more romantic. A mountain of chocolate couldn’t have been sweeter. A card with a prize winning rhyme couldn’t have been more poetic. These shoulders hunched in determination at my expense were the most romantic of all.
Jesus said, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:12-13
I used to think that meant I’d have to throw myself in front of a bus, and literally die in some way in order to live up to that kind of greater love. And since you can only do that once, I wrote it off. But with the frost on the window that frigid day, I saw that greater love in action.
He had other things he could have been doing. In more comfortable places. Less frustrating. He could have told me just to call a tow truck. Or forget my plans.
Instead he layed his plans down. For me. His bride. He did something for me that I couldn’t do on my own. Rather than leaving me stranded, he came.
He stepped in to fix what I could never repair.
What might you need to lay down today for someone else? Where is God asking you to step in and be His hands and help someone with something they can’t do on their own?
I love this post! How awesome! Thanks for the great thought provoking post.
Oh! This was very nice! Thank you. I think I’m going to make some cookies for Jeff (he fixes everything around here without complaining).
Very well written.
Thanks Holly 🙂
Oh cookies that would be so nice Susie 🙂
That was beautiful and true, love is those little and big sacrifices. I’m sorry, I have to ask why did you have ivory scissors in your car and why were you holding them while he worked on your engine… Were you crocheting while driving?
Oh Jessie, that was ivory sheers, as in curtains. I was watching him out the window. Although, I usually do have a pair of scissors in the car with me since I’m normally knitting!